Ways To Start CrossFit

Hi Folks! 

Now I wanna discuss the most minimalist way you can get on the path of CrossFit. Of course the best way to do this is to join an affiliate but in most cases it can be hard to find one near you or you just can not afford it but it's all good as long as you have the determination you can do some steps to "improve your work capacity across brad time and modal domains".

I'm gonna address different scenarios and I'm gonna provide a possibility to most likely be able to mimic CrossFit type workouts in each one of them.

I'm not going to mention any specific workout programs you should just look them up online. Crossfit.com is a great source for that.

So let me start from the very bottom.

This pyramid is very useful to show us where a person should start to get involved into CrossFit lifestyle. It shows the steps to achieve maximum Fitness in order of importance.

 The very basics of a healthy lifestyle and any physical performance id nutrition.

As only nutrition is a whole another topic itself and I don't want to get into the detail in this article I'll just refer to the basics with this brief little summary of the basics. Master healthy nutrition first then you can move on to physical exercise.

Step two being Metabolic Conditioning or as crossfitters call it "MetCon". Basically it's all the activities that you do repetitively and it has an aerobic response to your body such as running, swimming, biking, rowing, jumproping... Do as many combination of short and long distance with vary pace and rest intervals as possible. 

Moving up the pyramid we find gymnastics. Gymnastics is sometimes called "Calisthenics" is everything you do with your own bodyweight such as pushups, pullups, airsquats etc. As you're just starting your CrossFit journey you don't need any special equipment for mastering the basic gymnastic skills and techniques, the only salad thing you need is a bar where you can do pullups.

Here, just as in every of the pyramid you have to apply the basic CrossFit training methods to your training to really achieve maximum Fitness.

As far as the gymnastic strength goes I really reccomend getting your hands on the book Convict Conditioning By Paul Wade. For the various training principles of CrossFit visit Crossfit HQ.

As you may or may not know CrossFit exercises can be divided into 3 major categories: Monostructural(aerobic), Gymnastics and Weightlifting.

The beauty of it is if you are consistent and determined enough you can acquire 66 percent of that with no equipment nor serious coaching needed.

As far as the third exercise category, weightlifting goes it can be described as any physical activity where you are moving and external object.(barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell, medicine ball...) Despite the fact that I'm a great fan of autodidactic learning I would not recommend you jump right into doing any weightlifting without at least a practiced friend's help but I would highly suggest you to visit a coach or attend some weghtlifting classes so they can correct you and you can master the skill and techniques required to move an external object effectively and efficiently. If you don't do so, you can have a great risk of injury by working with weight because of the restrictions and imbalances in you body due to inactive and unnatural lifestyle.

If you can not afford membership to a weightlifting community of any kind and your goal is not to be a CrossFit athlete it's absolutely not necessary. You can achieve great levels of fitness without touching any weight or going into any gym, box or fitness facility. For this I'll put some very useful and handy resources below.  If you fell like you need to do weightlifting the best thing I can advice you is to commit beside the thought that you gonna do whatever you need to get the membership, go out there and do the work!

Finally, the top of our pyramid is Sport. Sports of any kind what you like doing weather recreationally or or competitively. Here is where all the other part pays off so that you can move efficiently and effectively.

Resources:

Crossfit HQ

Extensive CrossFit Training Guide  Everything You Need To Know About CrossFit Including NUTRITION, EXERCISES, PROGRAMMING...

Convit Conditioning by Paul Wade  Basic Gymnastics Strength Program That Gives Good Foundation

Hope that was helpful   Thanks for reading!!

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them in the Comment section!
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peace out

Rob Kiss