But I Already Play Sport, So Why Would I Need CrossFit?

Sports come in all forms, shapes and sizes, requiring many and varied movement patterns to accomplish specific tasks. In general, the majority of sports include some form of running, jumping, throwing, pushing, pulling and/or twisting and turning. It would therefore make sense to train the movement patterns that reflect the requirements of your sport – and most sporting teams would do this with at least 1-2 training sessions a week during their season. Further, there may be some sort of strength and conditioning training programmed by the coach that athletes can do outside of their normal training sessions to add some extra volume (i.e. weights session, 5km run, etc.).

So, how does CrossFit fit into all of this? At it’s core, CrossFit is a strength and conditioning program designed to increase your capacity to do “work” across a broad range of time domains (i.e. from 1sec to 1hour, etc.) and modes of activity. It is a mix of Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, gymnastics and cardio conditioning programmed in many and varied combinations, aiming to improve skills such as endurance, strength, stamina, flexibility, speed, power, co-ordination, accuracy, agility and balance. The majority of the movements and exercises that CrossFit trumps involve some form of running, jumping, throwing, pushing, pulling and/or twisting and turning. Sounding familiar?

CrossFit is based on a constantly varied format, performing functional (i.e. everyday) movements at high intensity. By it’s nature, CrossFit helps develop a general physical preparedness, giving a sense of being ready for any situation that life (or sport) throws at you. Examples of improvements you can expect to see in your fitness from training in CrossFit methods include, but in no way are limited to, the following:

  • Olympic weightlifting:
    • Quick-fire force application in your muscles (if you want to jump higher, or sprint faster, train Olympic weightlifting)
    • Speed and power development
    • Improved fast-twitch muscle fibre development
    • Efficient muscle strength and co-ordination application via the central nervous system
    • Increase in bone density
  • Powerlifting:
    • Increased raw strength, power and stamina
    • Increased power output in your muscles
    • Increase in bone density
  • Gymnastics:
    • Improved awareness of how to move your body through space efficiently
    • Increased static strength
    • Improved flexibility, speed, power, co-ordination, accuracy, agility and balance
  • Cardio conditioning:
    • Increased cardiovascular and respiratory endurance
    • Improved ability to just keep “grinding” away
    • More “go” and an increased “engine”

Further to this, every CrossFit session are generally done in groups and follow the format of a warm up, skills and tech, strength, conditioning (workout), and a cool down. Most sporting team training sessions follow much the same layout.

So the question shouldn’t be why CrossFit? The question should be why not CrossFit?

- Adam

Guest User