What Do You Know About CrossFit?

One of the first questions I ask when someone comes into CrossFit Final Call for a No Sweat Intro is; “What do you know about CrossFit?”

The answer usually goes one of two ways.

First, they might say that they googled CrossFit. In which case I slap my forehead and say, “Ok, we’ve got some stuff to sort out!” Usually, when someone googles the word CrossFit and clicks on the images, they will see some big jacked dude doing some crazy movement. Or, they might see a big jacked lady doing some crazy movement! They might say to their self “I don’t look like that, and I can’t move like that, so I can’t do CrossFit.” This couldn’t be further from the truth. What they see there is a fraction of a percentage of the people that make up the CrossFit community. These are competitive athletes that live, eat, and sleep CrossFit. They have special coaches for gymnastics, Olympic weight lifting, distance running, sleep, nutrition, recovery, and sprinting.. just to name a few. Comparing ourselves to these elite athletes is like comparing your daily drive to drop the kids off at school to a NASCAR driver! I love the games, but this is not what we do at CrossFit Final Call.

The second answer I usually get is; “Nothing.” And that’s fine by me.

So, we get into it.

CrossFit, by definition, is Constantly Varied, Functional Movement, Executed at High Intensity.

So what does this mean to us?

Constantly Varied: The workout changes every day! Every time you walk in the doors at CFFC there will be a different workout already written for you. We use a combination of gymnastics, weightlifting, and monostructural movement.

  • Gymnastics is gaining the ability to control your body in space. We want you to be able to walk down the street without falling! And if you do happen to take a fall, we want you to know how to take it well. When we talk about gymnastics, we’re simply talking about body positions and things like planks, push-ups, pull-ups, handstands, and dips.
  • Weightlifting for us is moving any external load to include dumbbells, kettlebells, sandbags, medicine balls, and barbells. We understand that a lot of people are intimidated by lifting heavy weights. We aren’t going to ask you to put ALL the weight on a bar and try to lift it! We don’t use a barbell every day. We also know that everyone is coming into this at different ability levels, and that is just fine.
  • Monostructural movement – Think cardio. This is where we’re going to get you breathing heavy and get your heart pumping. We’ll do things like riding the stationary bike, rowing, running, and jumping rope.

Some days we might just focus on weightlifting. Other days we will just do a monostructural movement. You might show up to just a gymnastic day. We might combine weightlifting and gymnastics, or monostructural movement and gymnastics, or weightlifting and monostructural movement, or gymnastics and weightlifting, or all three! The possibilities are endless, and we’ll change it up every single day.

Functional Movement: While the workout may change, some things that won’t are functional movements. We’re going to squat, pick things up from the floor, press things over our head, run, jump, twist and turn, and do all the things we were designed to do as humans. These are functional movement patterns.

It is our coaches’ job to help ensure that our clients are moving through full ranges of motion and getting in the best position for them. The choaches are there, leading every class, and helping every person be in the safest and most challenging position for them. Not everyone that walks in the door can squat through a full range of motion, and that’s ok. It is the coaches’ job to help each person get into the best position for them and improve ranges of motion over time.

As I mentioned before, we are not a competitive gym. We don’t do CrossFit so we can be good at CrossFit. We do CrossFit so we can be good at life. Our goal is to help each client get fit, strong, and healthy for LIFE. We want you to be able to do whatever you want, whenever you want to do it!

High Intensity: Intensity is important in our workouts because it stimulates change in our body. Here is a challenge:

Do 10 burpees (lay down on the floor on your belly, then stand back up, give a little hop at the top of the movement and clap your hands over your head) at a slow and easy pace. When you’re done, rest for five full minutes. Then, do 10 burpees again as fast as you can. Go ahead… I’ll wait…

Did you feel the difference?? THAT is intensity!

We understand that intensity is relative to the person. So, what might be intense for you, and what is intense for someone else are different things. That’s ok. We are going to meet each client at their current fitness level.

One of the best things about CrossFit is the ability to scale infinitely. This means we can modify movements and tailor each workout to meet each of our clients needs. Our coaches are experts in helping clients find modifications that work best for them. We even plan time during each session to allow the coach to help you find those modifications.

If you and I met on the street or in the grocery store and you asked me what CrossFit is, I’d say; “It’s a really fun workout that changes every day that I get to do with all of my friends.”

You ready to give it a shot?

Book a free consultation here. No workouts, no pressure, just a time for you to chat with a coach about your goals. It’ll give us time to build an action plan to help you become fit, strong, and healthy for life.

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