Learn Crossfit

Basic benchmark fitness test

admin — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 00:46:08 +0000

Starting next week I’ll be training 5-6 friends, 3 times a week for a month. Since non of them are fitness buffs nor have they done any crossfit, the program will be more tailored at an introductory level with the aim of fat loss and increased strength. It will be all based outdoors, utilising equipment in parks such as benches, tables, hills, chin up bars etc. I have purchased a small suite of equipment such as kettle bells, skipping ropes, exercise mats, dumbells and a 4kg medicine ball.

For their first session i’ll be timing them with the below benchmark circuit, I’ll get them to do again after 4 weeks to note their improvement.

The session will be:

For Time:
Run 400m
21 Push ups (the females will do these on their knees)
21 Squats
5 Burpees

Run 400m
15 Push ups
15 Squats
5 Burpees

Run 400m
9 Push ups
9 Squats
5 Burpees

This is a basic circuit that involves a number of core exercises and it doesn’t involve a great level of technique. So all improvements over the 4 weeks will be fitness based and not technique based, as improved technique will give better results but not indicate a higher level of fitness.

Starting out guide to Crossfit

admin — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 21:34:04 +0000

1) Visit our warm and stretching page, learn how to get warm and flexible.
2) Check out our intro exercises for demos/videos on basic crossfit exercises.
3) Ease into some beginner and basic crossfit WOD’s (work out of the day). Even though they look easy on paper they will give you a nice workout
4) Once you’ve mastered the beginner WOD’s, its time to start incorporating some equipment into your circuit. It’s best advised to visit a proper gymnasium to learn the correct lifting techniques. Start off with light weights and concentrate on achieving great form. Use youtube for tutorial videos.
5) After a couple of months after your fitness and form has improved its time to start attempting some of the more difficult WOD’s. Good luck.

Excellent body weight circuit

admin — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 11:38:06 +0000

Found this video today surfing the net. Its a great bodyweight circuit with plenty of different exercises which will give your body an intense workout. Can’t wait to try this circuit in a few days. Post your times / comments if you decide to give it a go too. Good luck.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=moCCKTOmdBU

20 x Burpees
20 x Pushups
20 x Star Jumps
20 x Bicycle Crunches
20 x Split Jumps
20 x Dips
20 x Mountain Climbers
20 x Situps
20 x Squats
20 x Spiderman Pushups
20 x Lunges
20 x Hip Thrusts
20 x Jumping Lunges
20 x Reverse Crunches
20 x Squat Jumps

Bench mark Fran WOD

admin — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 11:11:08 +0000

The bread and butter WOD of crossfit. Seems easy in numbers but is very difficult to complete in a good time.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo_-SfQN7yY

What is Crossfit?

admin — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 09:38:42 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xShmoddPPbQ

A nice motivational video

Excuses excuses

admin — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 09:25:17 +0000

Recently I was chatting to a stranger about exercise and fitness, a subject which is easy for me to talk about as it’s my hobby and something I strongly believe in. I was asking him about his training history, his current lifestyle and his work hours. He has being carrying extra kilos for a number of years and has tried a number of methods to loose weight, non of which has bought him success. It became pretty clear that, in him opinion, he has little time to exercise due to his long work hours. It’s a common theme I’ve heard a number of times in the past, and I have to admit it’s a great excuse.

One of the main reasons for this is very simple: Most people, from beginners to intermediate athletes, believe that they need to exercise for at least 45min – 1 hr to achieve weight loss and muscle growth. This stems from the traditional gyms we are well used to, how we are taught to work out and pump iron. I can remember countless times I would work out when I was younger, bench press for my chest, bicep curls for arms and maybe throw in overhead pull downs for my back, most likely ignoring my spaghetti legs in the process. A session would take me well over 45min and at the end of that session I would feel pumped and great, but in reality I would have only worked on 1 energy pathway and only 3-4 muscle groups. Simply put it: much time for little overall benefit.

Let’s face it in a perfect world, where you could hit the gym for 2-3 hours a day, I’m sure you’d have a pretty darn good body. Simple reality that ain’t the case. What we need to do is learn how to get the maximum benefit for our body in the shortest amount of time / duration possible. I’m slightly confident that 99% of people would rather work out for 20min vs 1hr IF the results were the same at the end of the day.

The great news is, exercising for 20min a day 3 times a week is all you need to achieve fat loss, increased strength and muscle tone and improve your cardiovascular endurance. The trick is knowing how! Crossfit is a great fitness ideology which improves the ten fitness domains for your body: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy. This basically means: By completing a 15 min Crossfit circuit you would have pretty much used most of your muscle groups along with the two main energy pathways – Therefor providing a total body workout. It involves doing lots of things, fast, getting sweaty and breathing very very hard, its not rocket science but you do need to push your self.

If it sounds interesting then start reading up on Cross fit, check out some beginner WOD’s and exercises on this webpages, get onto youtube and watch some WOD’s. Read. Study.

No more excuses.

Starting from Scratch?

admin — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 23:46:09 +0000

Absolute Beginner WOD’s
Starting out from scratch or have you been out of the game for too long? These are some simple and easy WOD’s to get the blood flowing and to ease into the more rigorous Crossfit WOD’s down the track.

For a list of introduction WOD’s click here

3 Week Tabata Challenge

admin — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 16:41:47 +0000

What is Tabata?
A popular regime based on a 1996 study uses 20 seconds of ultra-intense exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated continuously for 4 minutes (8 rounds). Its also the most intense by far, and surprisingly its the shortest in duration, it only last for four minutes… but those four minutes produce remarkable effects. You can use the Tabata protocal for any forms of training, running, weight lifting and crossfit circuits.

The Challenge
Day one conduct benchmark tests, in listed order with a 2 min break between each exercise. Max pushups, max situps, max air squats and max burpees. No resting, continuous exercise. Record numbers reached for each exercise.

Then, for 5 times a week for 3 weeks, carry out the following exercises using Tabata protocal of:
20 Seconds exercise, rest for 10 seconds, 8 rounds (4min total). Rest for 1 min after completing the 8 rounds for each specified exercised

It should look like this:
Push ups, 8 rounds in 4 min (20sec exercise, 10 sec rest)
Rest 1 min
Sit ups, 8 rounds in 4 min (20sec exercise, 10 sec rest)
Rest 1 min
Air Squats, 8 rounds in 4 min (20sec exercise, 10 sec rest)
Rest 1 min
Burpee, 8 rounds in 4 min (20sec exercise, 10 sec rest)

For a little variety and muscle shock, mix up the order of the exercise.

Then at the end of the 3 weeks, carry out the same benchmark test as done at the start of the 3 weeks.

Post both pre and post benchmark results below.

Fartlek and Tabata – what’s what?

admin — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:48:10 +0000

Check out the TRAINING THEORIES menu to get the basics on some proven training methods

Don’t have equipment?

admin — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 14:11:47 +0000

Check out our Body Weight Workout section for a list of excellent circuits which you can do with no or very little equipment. Get fit for free.