When thinking about how to explain what CrossFit® is, we like to start with what CrossFit is not:
CrossFit is NOT…
◾…for people expecting results without hard work
◾…for people unwilling to try new things
◾…for people afraid to leave their egos at home
Greg Glassman, a former gymnast, founded CrossFit®, Inc. In his years coaching elite athletes, Coach Glassman found that the best way to achie
ve optimal fitness was not through specialization but rather through “constantly varied, functional movement, performed at high intensity.” In short, this means combining elements of Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics, sprinting, rowing and core conditioning to improve overall flexibility, strength, speed, endurance and agility.
“Constantly Varied” means that every day brings a different workout (or “WOD”), incorporating any combination of these elements. At CrossFit Philia you will get to jump rope, climb ropes, swing kettle bells and flip tires. You will work at pull ups, muscle ups, hand stands, pushups, and hand-stand pushups. You will practice squats, dips, cleans, jerks, snatches and deadlifts as well as rowing, running and box jumps. Each day will bring different exercises always specifically designed to work on different muscle groups and/or cardiovascular strength.
“Functional Movement” refers to maintaining the safest, most-efficient position to power through a movement. There are plenty of misconceptions out there about CrossFit; the truth is much of what we do in our workouts mirrors activities in our daily lives. But if you’ve ever had to move a furniture up a flight of stairs, you have already experienced the movement. Cleaning a medicine ball and throwing it in the air may appear odd, but if you have ever lifted a mulch and placed it on a shelf, no one needs to tell you the importance of a strong and healthy back. CrossFit Philia will help you maintain the correct position in a workout – both to keep you and other safe as well as to maximize efficiency.
“High Intensity” is a concept that at first can be difficult for new CrossFitters to grasp. For many people, a workout’s efficiency is only proportionate to the amount of hours spent in the gym. You will never hear a CrossFitter say, “I had a great workout; I was in the gym for four hours!” You are much more likely to hear, “I finished in 8 minutes.” People come here skeptical that a high-intensity workout, done in a fraction of the time as they are used to, can lead to faster, better results. But results don’t lie. The beauty of our sport is that we are all in it together, motivating one another. It’s a sport where the person last to finish the workout receives more high fives than the person first to finish.
