What Is CrossFit And How Do I Get Started?

There’s a plenty of discussion around CrossFit exercise at the moment and for good reason. What once started as a simple workout concept has now grown to engage entire open workout communities; all with one goal – building a supportive and multidisciplinary workout. With more than 15,000 affiliate CrossFit gyms across the world and over 500 in the UK, you’d probably assume everyone knows what the workout involves and how you can get started right?   

Well…

Despite its popularity CrossFit still remains one of the most misunderstood workouts around. Asking someone to explain its meaning will 9 times out of 10 give you a long ‘uhh’ followed by words like “tough”, “intense” and “athletic”. It’s this preconceived notion that it’s only for those at the peak of their fitness that can make the prospect of starting so intimidating.

What if I instead told you that CrossFit offers the optimal full-body workout for everyone – especially those looking to begin their fitness journey? We at Innermost have prepared this all-in-one guide to clear up a few misconceptions about the workout and make the prospect of getting started a breeze.   

What Is CrossFit?

It’s important to understand exactly what CrossFit actually is, what it involves, and how it can benefit your workout routine. Unlike strength training and cardio exercises that target specific muscles in the body, CrossFit aims to build entire body muscle mass through sequential high-intensity workouts.

Established in 2000 by Greg and Lauren Glassman, what also makes CrossFit so unique is that individual routines are entirely flexible and as such no two workouts are the same. While training will be tough, you and your trainer can create perfectly scaled CrossFit workouts to improve your relative fitness. These alterations could be based on the duration, type, speed, load, and frequency of your training. You will thrive in a genuinely varied but personalised training program that is crafted to improve your functional strength and conditioning.

It’s also important to remember that CrossFit improvement is based just as much on diet and nutrition as the training itself.  By pairing your workout with supplements like Innermost’s The Fit Protein you will be able to push your workouts comfortably further than most.

Benefits Of CrossFit

Whether you’re looking to lose weight, keep fit, or build muscle, it’s no surprise to say that CrossFit workouts have plenty of benefits. This is because the variety of functional high-intensity exercises within each session allows for positive physical effects all across the body. CrossFit functional workouts benefit these 10 core fitness areas:

1. Cardiovascular endurance – Your ability to gather oxygen.

2. Stamina – The processing, storing, and utilising of body energy.

3. Strength – Your muscle’s ability to apply force.

4. Flexibility – Maximises the motion of your joints.

5. Power – The speed to which you can apply maximum muscle power in the quickest time.

6. Speed – The efficiency of repeated movements.

7. Coordination – Merging multiple movements into a single motion.

8. Agility – Minimises the transition time between your movements.

9. Balance – Control over your body’s centre of gravity.

10. Accuracy – Your control over movements.

While this might sound like a lot, trust me, getting into it is not as complicated as it sounds. Most of these core tenants are built into multiple individual exercises, providing a diverse range of benefits for your body. With a strong sense of community within each gym, taking part in CrossFit can also greatly improve your mood and even mental health.  

How To Get Started

Now you know why you should give CrossFit a go, you might be anxious about how exactly to start your workout routine. Remember, everyone has to start somewhere, so don’t go pushing too hard at the start before you can walk. With that in mind, here are a few key pointers to get started.

First of all, get some appropriate training gear.

Those who try CrossFit training in standard Vans will quickly realise the need for versatile and durable footwear. Your cross shoes should be fully supportive of multiple movement patterns and applied forces. You also want to look for workout tops and bottoms that are fully adept at soaking up a sweat – the last thing you want is to be itching the whole time.

The next step is to find the perfect personal trainer and CrossFit gym. This is something unique to everyone. Will you be motivated more by a gym with a supportive or competitive culture? When do you want to attend and what is the standard of coaching like? Most CrossFit facilities provide a trial period which we recommend you use first to get a feel of whether the gym works for you.

Before the first workout, it’s a good idea to work out what you want to achieve. As previously mentioned, exercises are completely scalable meaning they can be tailored to you. Are you looking to build strength, endurance, or speed? Do you want to focus on concentric or eccentric exercises? Even if you’re recovering from injury, CrossFit can be altered to speed up rehabilitation rather than force you to push through the pain.

Getting started with CrossFit is all about having a journey-based mindset to develop ability and fitness. No one is reaching the stars on session 1, but by tracking your training ‘firsts’ and personal bests you’ll have added excitement and motivation to keep going from the get-go. Tracking your progress from the start has also been scientifically proven to drive improvement in performance and goal attainment. We’d also recommend monitoring you’re nutrition and protein intake and looking at how it improves your workout. Consider adding one of Innermost’s many supplements such as our Fit Protein Powder to your daily routine.

CrossFit Exercises For Beginners

For individuals just being introduced to the world of CrossFit, knowing which exercises and training plans to go with can feel intimidating. To make things easier for you, here are just a few workouts to try that are perfect for those at the start of their training.

EMOM workouts are fairly self-explanatory but perfect for your development plans. These workouts see individuals deviate between start and rest exercise intervals while completing as many reps as possible. By measuring performance across a defined time period, progress and recovery can be closely monitored.  

While AMRAP exercises can be tough they make for the perfect introductory CrossFit workout. Essentially, it’s all about quick-time high-intensity aerobic exercise. The focus is pushing yourself to complete as many exercise reps as possible within a given time and monitoring your progress.

Ladder workouts are also a good choice for CrossFit beginners, as they provide the best of both training plans. Instead of high-intensity or interval workouts, muscle workload is increased or decreased over a given amount of time. This change in muscle demand offers great benefits to speed and agility.    

Interested to learn more about Innermost The Fit Protein? Looking for the ultimate gym bag essentials? Maybe you want to share your own experiences of getting into CrossFit? Message us on our Instagram @liveinnermost.