NAVIGATION
PREVIOUS POSTS
ARCHIVES
BLOG SYNDICATION
 Subscribe in a reader or
Subscribe by email
 del.icio.us
google SEARCH
NEWSLETTER
Subscribe
to receive regular fitness tips & special offers.
INTRODUCE SOMEONE
Send this page to a friend.
THE FIRST CROSSFIT
STANDARD OF FITNESS
There are ten recognised general physical skills. They are cardiovascular/respiratory
endurance, stamina, strength, speed, flexibility, power, coordination,
agility, balance, and accuracy.
You are as fit as you are competent in each of these ten skills. A
regimen develops fitness to the extent that it improves each of these
ten skills.
Importantly, improvements in endurance, stamina, strength, and flexibility
come about through training.
THE SECOND CROSSFIT
STANDARD OF FITNESS
The essence of this model is the view that fitness is about performing
well at any and every task imaginable. This model suggests that your
fitness can be measured by your capacity to perform well at these tasks
in relation to other individuals.
The implication here is that fitness requires an ability to perform
well at all tasks, even unfamiliar tasks, tasks combined in infinitely
varying combinations. In practice this encourages the athlete to disinvest
in any set notions of sets, rest periods, reps, exercises, order of
exercises, routines, periodization, etc.
THE THIRD CROSSFIT
STANDARD OF FITNESS
There are three metabolic pathways that provide the energy for all
human action.
Total fitness, the fitness that CrossFit promotes and develops, requires
competency and training in each of these three pathways or engines.
Balancing the effects of these three pathways largely determines the
how and why of the metabolic conditioning or “cardio” that
we do at CrossFit.
Favoring one or two to the exclusion of the others and not recognising
the impact of excessive training in the oxidative pathway are arguably
the two most common faults in fitness training.
|
Tips, news & views
One thing that seems to get overlooked in the rush to parade the best gym fashion is appropriate footwear. I see this time and time again in the gym. Come to think of it, I see it outside the gym too. Just why are all those women limping to work and still wearing high heels? Anyway, appropriate footwear in the gym is essential. Just which type of shoes to wear depends entirely upon what kind of workout you engage in. If you are going to run on a treadmill, circuit through some machines and then jump on a spin bike then a solid pair of running shoes will do the trick, crosstrainers are okay too. If you intend to lift heavy weight (via squats, deadlifts and the like) then you'll need something on your feet without a squishy sole. You should invest in a pair of weightlifting shoes. Now admittedly they won't win you the flashiest footwear title, but they will help you lift better and that's why you're at the gym...right? Now, don't get me started on the guy who wears jeans while working out.
In the previous post I mentioned training logs and I asked - nay implored - you to maintain one of your own. Maybe you're wondering why I think these little books filled with your own scribbles are so worthwhile. Here's the deal: how can you tell how much you've improved if you have nothing to compare it to? Worse still, how can you tell if you aren't improving? A training log contains all the information about your workout as you see it, not your trainer or your training partner...you! That's important. You can detail when you worked out, how you felt before, during and after, what caused you trouble, what made you feel good and so on and so on ad nauseum. There's a whole heap of information that you can record. So, one more time: A TRAINING LOG IS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF YOUR PROGRAM! Now, go out and get yourself an exercise book and start scribbling. If your handwriting isn't messy then you're not working hard enough.
If you are struggling to keep up the intensity of your workouts a great solution is to workout against the clock.  It's a simple concept: set-up your workout, start the clock and go! Work as hard and fast as you can whilst not compromising form or safety. Stop the clock when you've finished the workout and write the results in your training log (you ARE keeping a training log, right?). Next time you attempt the same workout, try to beat your current best time.
Are you struggling to come up with interesting workouts? Are you stagnating at the gym? If you are looking for a spark or something new in your training, then check out our daily workouts blog.
It was a small turn out today. Just the one CrossFitter showed...but what an effort Tim put in.  Here's the workout: 5 rounds for time - 400m run 10 supine ring pullups 15 ring pushups 20 squat jumps 5 burpies Next week is the last charity day for the year, try out CrossFit for just $5 and know that all the proceeds are heading to the Cancer Council of Victoria. REGISTER NOW!
A few months back I put together a document to detail my thoughts on how to achieve health & fitness in a sensible, structured manner. I thought about what we each need to consider and then the order of precendence required to be successful in our health & fitness endeavours. The result is called "The hierarchy of health & fitness" and you can download the document for FREE from the Fluid Fitness website.
Gaining muscle mass is not an exact science. Results will always vary from person to person. One thing will always remain constant - you cannot change your genetics. However, there is one things that you can do that will see you gaining strength and size if you are prepared to work hard. I am talking about squats. That's right the good old squat in all its variations (front, back, overhead and let's include the deadlift for good measure). Too many people neglect to include these basic compound movements in their program. Why? Firstly, they are hard work. You simply cannot cheat a squat. It's just you with a bar and some weight plates...lift and repeat. Secondly, all those whiz-bang machines are just so shiny...and, er, easier to use (read less beneficial). I could prattle on for hours about the joys of squatting but it won't prove anything. You have to try it for yourself and see the results. Don't be one of those people who spends day after day curling when you can be squatting.
Are you controlled by your habits? Most people are! We all have established habits - both good and bad. And they tend to run our lives without us even realising. Sometimes our habits keep us stuck in the same place, never moving forward or backward. Habits can also cause us to have trouble reaching our health and fitness goals. In order to break your habits (the bad ones of course), you have to purposely try to do things differently. This will start to breakdown the complex web of habits that you have built over time. Once you have started to break those habits, you can replace tham with more positive activities which in turn may form positive habits. For example, if you religiously have 2 coffees first thing in the morning, have 2 glasses of water instead. Or perhaps you always have a Mars bar on your morning tea break. How about replacing that with a piece of fruit? A great place to start with your habits is by ceasing to do something that you ALWAYS do. Turn the TV off for 24 hours. Walk the dog morning and night rather than just once a day. Go out with friends instead of staying at home. There are any number of ways that you can positively alter your behaviour and bring about great changes to your lifestyle and your health and fitness. Start today.
I believe that will power is a myth. What is the point in avoiding the temptation of something you know is not good for you when you can simply remove it from your sphere of existence? For example, if you know that eating sweets, chocolate, cakes and Danishes is going to stop you from reaching your goal weight then why have them in your house or frequent places that stock them? The easier and more sensible method is to remove the temptation. There is no need for will power. If you drink too much coffee, then stop going to the cafe and throw out your tin of Nescafe. Believe me, it's a lot easier than smelling coffee at 6am. You can apply this principle to almost anything. Try it.
A few posts back I wrote about the benefit of keeping a food diary. The same is true of a training diary. If you maintain a log of all the physical training that you complete your results will improve. Not only that, you'll actually know that you're improving. Think about it: how can you possibly make any progress if you don't know what you've been up to for the past weeks, months and years? Do you know what your max bench was 12 months ago? What is it now? What's the difference? Get it? Maintaining a training log will show you where you are excelling, where you need work and where you are stagnant. Without the log, you are training blindly. So, head down to the local store and hand over 85c for an exercise book and start your training diary NOW.
Are you tired? Getting worn out at work? Not performing as well as you know you can? I bet you don't get enough sleep. Not many of us do. Work it out...how many hours did you sleep last night? How many hours in total this week? You should be aiming for 9 hours every, single night. Yes 9. Not 8 or 7 or even 6 but 9 SOLID hours of sleep. Are you any good at maths? 7 days in a week, 9 hours sleep each night, that's 63 hours of sleep each week. If you only sleep 7 hours each night, you max out at 49 hours each week. If you only sleep 6 hours each night, that's 42 hours a week (you're missing almost a full day of sleep). Egad! "But I'm sooo busy, I don't have time to sleep that long". In the end it's your choice, but think about what you are doing to yourself. The specifications of your body have remained relatively unchanged for millions of years. Our ancestors used to rise and retire based on the movements of the sun. Some nights - those cold, winter nights - they even slept 14 hours. These days, you rise, go to work, come home, watch the tv, go to bed late and repeat. Which do you think is healthier? Don't believe me? Try it out for yourself... For one week get 9 hours of sleep every night. Be honest with yourself. How do you feel? How do you feel afterward? Did you lose weight? Are you more energetic? Best of luck.
|
