Fitness trends come and go, and some stick around longer than others. Crossfit surfaced years back and appears to be taking over as the king of fitness routines among weekend warriors. Crossfit gyms are opening up all over the country, with franchises available for entrepreneurs looking to diversify their portfolios and add more value to an ever growing industry. The results are insane, and the die-hard folks that train Crossfit are absolutely nuts about the workouts and the competitions. If you have never tried Crossfit, or even worse, never heard of it, it’s basically like boot camp, competitions with plyometrics style workouts. It’s high intensity, shorts bursts, with few breaks in between. Circuit training is comparable if you have ever tried that before.
If you haven’t, then imagine that you are working out in an open warehouse with multiple stations. Each station has a workout, there may be weights, jump ropes, ladders, box jumps, climbing walls, and anything else that would require bursts of energy to complete as many reps as possible. Each station is a static workout that lasts anywhere from 30 seconds to 90 seconds depending on the gym you train at. When the clock starts, your goal is to pump out as many reps as humanly possible, then there is a 30-second break, just enough time for you to switch stations and move on to the next workout.
These short bursts with little break in between keep the heart rate up and the body burning calories like you wouldn’t believe. In competitions, teams compete to see who can finish each station the fastest with the most reps, or the most weight. Crossfit has taken off across the country and has almost gone viral. Some gyms have tried adopting the workout in their traditional atmosphere which isn’t as successful as gyms starting out as a Crossfit gym and opening up in a warehouse or a space with an open floor plan. The requirements are little and most of the equipment used to train are free weights and bodyweight, there are no complicated machines or workout routines.
Crossfit is affordable to start in your garage if you wanted to try before getting out and joining a Crossfit gym. Some simple free weights, medicine ball, jump rope, and some homemade wooden boxes would be enough for you to start your own Crossfit gym right inside your garage. As popular as the sport has become, it’s often plagued with injuries. It’s common for athletes to pull muscles or throw a lower back disc. If it’s a back injury, it’s advised that you seek chiropractic treatment for chronic pain. Recovery times for these injuries are typically pretty quick depending on the condition of the athlete and the extent of the injury. Training together in a group environment is a great way to prevent injuries and keep safe while training. Having seasoned veterans in the gym with you offering advice on reps and weight will be important to keep your body healthy and fit for competition if that’s something that you intend on doing.
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