“What’s your WOD today?”

No new fitness program can have such an impact as CrossFit. You have probably heard of it, and everything related to it. You will hear some strange words, such as "Boxes" (CrossFit gym), "WODs" ("Daily Workout") and so on. You may have a friend or colleague who participated in CrossFit, or even tried a new diet or fitness challenge through their "Box". This may sound scary, or you may think that this is just another fitness fashion, but CrossFit has many advantages, and it will continue to exist.

If CrossFit hasn’t attracted you yet, let us take you through it in a comprehensive way and make you a CrossFit fan!

CrossFit is a high-intensity, constantly varied workout regimen combining weightlifting, cardio, and bodyweight exercises. The goal? To improve overall fitness and prepare your body for any physical challenge that comes your way. CrossFit’s philosophy is grounded in “functional fitness,” which means the exercises you do mimic the movements you use in real life.

For example, a squat isn’t just a squat—it’s training your body to lift something heavy off the ground safely. A push-up isn’t just about chest strength; it’s preparing your body to push itself off the ground if you fall. This focus on functional movements is why CrossFit is so effective at building strength, speed, and stamina.

One of the defining features of CrossFit is the Workout of the Day (WOD). Each day, CrossFitters face a new WOD—a unique, intense workout designed to push you to your limits. These WODs are usually short, lasting anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, but don’t let that fool you. They’re packed with a punch.

For example:

• "Fran": 21-15-9 reps of thrusters (a combination of a squat and overhead press) and pull-ups.
• "Murph": A 1-mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats, and another 1-mile run—with a weighted vest if you’re up for the challenge.

These WODs are designed to be scalable, which means whether you’re a beginner or an elite athlete, you can adjust the exercises, weights, and reps to match your fitness level. But one thing remains constant: the intensity.

CrossFit is built on a foundation of nine core movements. These exercises form the basis of most WODs and are designed to work multiple muscle groups, improve mobility, and increase overall strength. Here’s a quick rundown:

1. Air Squat: Targets the legs, glutes, and core.
2. Front Squat: A variation of the squat that adds an upper body component by holding a weight at chest level.
3. Overhead Squat: Involves holding a weight overhead while squatting, increasing the challenge to your shoulders, core, and balance.
4. Shoulder Press: Focuses on building strength in the shoulders and triceps.
5. Push Press: Similar to the shoulder press but adds a slight dip in the knees, allowing for heavier weights.
6. Push Jerk: A more dynamic version of the push press, involving a dip and jump to press the weight overhead.
7. Deadlift: Works the entire posterior chain, including the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back.
8. Sumo Deadlift High Pull: Combines a wide-stance deadlift with an upright row to target the legs, back, and shoulders.
9. Medicine Ball Clean: Teaches you to explosively lift a medicine ball from the ground to your chest.

Mastering these movements is crucial for success in CrossFit, as they form the foundation of the more complex exercises and WODs you’ll encounter.

CrossFit exercise is ideal for lean people. Hypertrophy. You may not be as big as Phil Heath, but you can have lean and clear muscles like Hugh Jackman in Wolverine.

Exercising muscles requires proper resistance to achieve muscle fatigue.

Since CrossFit exercises are based on the principles of high-intensity interval training, you can rest assured that you will reach muscle failure every time you exercise. Be sure to focus on nutrition and rest just like doing CrossFit exercises

When researchers at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse observed women who performed CrossFit, they found that they burned 12 calories or more per minute. Their conclusion is: "CrossFit is effective...Based on tested high-intensity exercise, [we] concluded that CrossFit does a very good job of helping exercisers improve their aerobic fitness while burning in the process. Quite a lot of calories."

Tony Carvajal, a CrossFit trainer certified by RSP Nutrition, says that the reason is the fact that CrossFit uses compound exercises. "The more muscle you use, the more calories you burn," he said. For reference only, you don’t have to lift weights to get the benefits of compound movements; self-weight CrossFit staples, such as poppy jump, muscle lifting, and handstands, will also refresh your entire body.

Most CrossFit exercises (also known as same-day exercise or WOD) will include some weightlifting. Weightlifting will not only burn calories during the exercise, but also burn calories after the exercise. Wickham explained that it is because your muscle mass is one of the main determinants of your metabolic rate-how many calories you burn just by living.

"In CrossFit, you gain muscle. More muscle mass means faster metabolism," he said. "Faster metabolism means burning more calories throughout the day." (Here is everything you need to know about metabolism, muscle and fat.)

There is also the "afterburn effect" (also known as excessive post-exercise oxygen consumption or EPOC), that is, the greater the exercise intensity, the more oxygen the body consumes, so the more calories burned even after exercise. Leaving the gym. (You only need to watch the training of two-time CrossFit Games champion Annie Thorisdottir to know that CrossFit is intense). The calories burned after exercise is usually 6%~15% of your total calories burned while exercising. Not too shabby, CrossFit.

One of the cornerstones of CrossFit is strength training. Not every exercise is weightlifting, but I hope to be familiar with free weights and weightlifting techniques. Don't think of CrossFit as "muscle gain"-it's much more subtle than that, and it won't give you huge biceps.

The CrossFit strength training program is mainly to help you tone and get strong. Of course, this will help you look better, and if weight loss is part of your goal, then improving muscle tone will help you.

CrossFit strength training uses a diverse and comprehensive plan based on some basic movements, so there is no need to worry about having to learn many new skills. You will soon master the basics of "Olympic Weightlifting" techniques, and you will probably be surprised how much weightlifting is fun and how quickly you see the benefits!

CrossFit is about all-round "functional fitness." The strength training you will do at Box will not only make you stronger and healthier, it will also help prevent injuries in other sports and activities. Most importantly, you will enjoy this newly discovered power in your daily life, whether it is lifting a toddler, moving the sofa, or just impressing your friends!

Although many of us are looking for slim and muscular aesthetics, we don't realize how we can benefit our cardiovascular health.

CrossFit exercises are intense and help increase your target heart rate and maximum oxygen consumption. Each time you complete a CrossFit exercise, your heart health, breathing rate, and blood pressure will improve.

This is critical because the Centers for Disease Control estimates that more than 200,000 people die from preventable cardiovascular diseases in the United States each year.

Remember the next time you exercise: it's not just the muscles you can see; it's also related to your heart health.

Okay, let’s say you’re looking at the schedule of your local CrossFit Box, and you see that most courses are about one hour long. We just described the type of high-intensity exercise you can expect, and you might be thinking, "I need to work hard for an hour?" Well, no. Remember the powerlifting and HIIT training we talked about. Can you get a lot of benefits from a shorter training time? Well, this is the case of CrossFit. You will work hard for about half an hour, but your class will start and end with a well-designed warm-up and relaxation plan to protect your muscles and joints and help prevent injuries.

However, these are not your daily stretching exercises, and the role of CrossFit to warm up and relax is much more than that. Based on the premise that to prevent injury and maximize performance, you need to build a combination of flexibility (muscle movement) and mobility (joint range of motion and stability). This means you get more than just flexibility, you can also get another aspect of exercise, helping you stay active longer!

CrossFit may not look like traditional activity building exercises like yoga and Pilates, but "CrossFit is one of the best exercise programs to enhance activity," says Wickham, who is also an online mobile program Movement Vault. Founder.

Quick review: Flexibility is your ability to move muscles or muscle groups with strength and control through a series of movements (ROM) in the joint socket. (Here are more basics of movement you need to know.) Many actions in CrossFit enhance ROM and power at the same time. For example, try this squat therapy exercise to improve your mobility in a way approved by CrossFit.

In ordinary gyms, most people train at their own pace and train randomly, and many of them also have their training partners, which is great. But this is not the way to cooperate with Crossfit training. Crossfit training cooperating athletes will have more mutual promotion and support. These friends can help you push your limits, because everyone is focused on training. This experience cultivates a special kind of friendship.

Going to the gym, putting on headphones, and stepping on a treadmill are the most common choices for many people. Joining a group of like-minded people to pursue health results can be very different. Of course, you will not be everyone's best friend. However, the training experience of most Crossfit fans not only improves their physical health, but also improves their social life. But this is not all. Even if you are alone, you will find yourself looking for healthier food, sleep better, and be more engaged at work.

Because Crossfit is a high-intensity training, you will see faster results than you take the "lazy" fitness method. Going to the gym once a week and doing some strength training, maybe 10 to 20 minutes on a treadmill, and then going to the shower, is better than no exercise. But it will take some time to produce significant results. Crossfit training makes you unable to relax easily. The more you invest in it, the faster and more obvious your goals will be achieved.

There is no doubt that one of the greatest benefits of Crossfit is that it can burn calories most efficiently. When you lose weight and enter a better body state, your metabolism will also undergo benign changes. The food you eat will be used more efficiently. Lose weight and get the body you want. Crossfit does my part.

One of the greatest advantages of CrossFit exercise is diversity. This is not the kind of program where you come to do almost the same exercise over and over again, or just run on a treadmill. As we mentioned, exercises are designed to build a complex process of strength, aerobics, and flexibility training, but most importantly, they focus on "functional fitness." This means that CrossFit WOD can be creative sometimes.

Of course, there will be power or aerobic exercise days where you will spend time on rowing machines or free weights, but you will soon throw weight balls, drag or flip tires, skip rope, carry sandbags, use rings, or climbing ropes . Sometimes you will work as a team or in pairs, and sometimes you will work alone. Sometimes you are outside, on other days you explore all the equipment in the gym. The scope of practice is almost endless. But one thing is certain, that is that you will never get bored with CrossFit!

In CrossFit, you will do more basic barbell strength training exercises, such as squats, deadlifts, and presses. As I always say, as a natural trainer, your first goal is to slowly increase the weight in the multi-joint compound movement. Therefore, when you enter the box, you can at least learn basic barbell strength training moves. This is very beneficial for future training.

Most of us want to stay in our comfort zone. When training is tiring, we want to give up. However, this kind of mentality does not exist in CrossFit attitude of "no pain, no gain" is also one of the reasons why CrossFit works.

When you are doing WOD, you need to do it heavier, harder, or faster as much as possible. And when your name is written on the blackboard and compared with others, you may work harder.

However, not everyone needs or wants this environment, but for those who are not motivated, CrossFit can help them overcome it.

Different from traditional gyms, the people who exercise in the CrossFit gym are those who love sports. The gym has a large population base and a low threshold. There are all kinds of people, such as those wearing high heels walking on a treadmill, lying on a bench press and playing with a mobile phone.

Therefore, when you train in the box, you are surrounded by a group of people who love sports. When you are in such an environment, it is easier for you to keep exercising.

CrossFit received a bad reputation of being insecure, but the 2018 review concluded that although the sport has been reviewed and found to have a higher incidence of injuries, these claims are supported by empirical evidence.

Another study found that people who worked with actual coaches who helped them complete their movements suffered fewer injuries-which is exactly what most CrossFit boxes provide. As for striated muscle, it is not more common in CrossFit than in any other type of high-intensity exercise. 

CrossFit improves your head-to-toe strength, which means that whether you are an endurance athlete or a sprinter, you can improve your performance. Studies have shown that when runners add two to three days of strength training to their daily exercise every week, running efficiency will increase.

Not to mention "CrossFit can help you strengthen your core strength," Ebner said. "A strong core helps to transmit power and utilize the power of other parts of the body-including arms and legs." Translation: More power per step. In addition, a stronger core can improve your running style-which means a lower risk of injury. 

Many lifestyle factors affect the quality of your sleep," said Kevin Turcio, a CrossFit Level 2 certified trainer and CrossFit Affinity owner in Stamford, Connecticut. "In terms of personal experience, CrossFit Help me fall asleep. "This may simply be due to the intensity involved in this type of training, as increased exercise intensity has been shown to help deep sleep.

According to Carvajal, this effect is particularly evident in people who have not exercised regularly before. "Any type of exercise can improve sleep quality; however, high-intensity training like CrossFit seems to be the most effective."

CrossFit can train not only your muscles, but also your brain. "CrossFit creates mental resilience," Wagner said. This is because CrossFit training allows you to engage in positive self-talk and push yourself through challenging moments.

Wagner said: "Once you overcome any obstacles you have accomplished, it allows you to evaluate and reflect on yourself." "We have seen incredible changes in the self-talk and psychological positivity levels of women and girls in particular. "

Toned. Lean. Jacked. Built. Defined. Muscular. Whatever word you use to indicate "looks fit AF," CrossFit will get you there. 

Combine those muscle-building, fat-burning benefits with sound nutritional choices, stress management, and proper sleep, and you'll earn a defined look, says Wickham. 

While CrossFit has a loyal following, it’s also garnered its fair share of criticism and misconceptions. Let’s clear up some of the most common ones:

• Reality: CrossFit is scalable, meaning workouts can be adjusted to match your fitness level. Coaches are trained to help beginners ease into the program safely.

• Reality: CrossFit builds lean muscle, not bulk. The combination of strength training and cardio actually helps you burn fat and tone up.

• Reality: Like any exercise regimen, CrossFit can lead to injury if performed incorrectly. However, with proper coaching and attention to form, it’s as safe as any other type of exercise.

• Reality: CrossFitters are passionate about their workouts, but that’s because they’ve seen the results. The community aspect is strong, but it’s all about mutual support and encouragement.

If you’re ready to dive into CrossFit, here’s how to get started:

CrossFit gyms are called “boxes.” Do some research to find one near you that has certified trainers and a welcoming community.

Here are some of the top CrossFit boxes in the United States, offering a blend of excellent facilities, skilled coaching, and a supportive community.

Most boxes offer a beginner’s course to teach you the basics of CrossFit. This is essential for learning proper form and understanding the workouts.
 

Don’t try to do too much too soon. Focus on mastering the core movements and building your strength and endurance gradually.
 

CrossFit is intense, so it’s important to pay attention to how your body feels. Rest when needed, and don’t push through pain.

CrossFit isn’t a quick fix—it’s a lifestyle. Commit to showing up regularly, challenging yourself, and embracing the community.

We hope this content inspires you to check out your local CrossFit Box and give it a try.If you are looking for a plan that can improve your overall health in an all-round way, then CrossFit is for you. You don’t need hours of training to do hard work, but most importantly, you will become a member of a brand new fitness community that shares your interests and supports you in achieving your goals. CrossFit is more than just a fashion for a reason-it works! IFAST provides many strengthing training equipments for CrossFit training ! Come and buy it!