CrossFit Newbie FAQ Answered

CrossFit Newbie FAQ Answered After familiarizing literally 1,000’s of people with CrossFit over the last 4-5 years I have noticed a handful of reoccurring questions that seem to keep popping up. These are actual emailed questions posted with names removed.  Hopefully this will help answer some questions for those that are afraid to ask. Q: How many days a week do you recommend? A. Everyone is different. It is DEFINITELY not designed to do it at 100% intensity 6 days a week indefinitely. Listen to your body. Everyone’s recovery is going to be different.  Factors like Stess, Sleep, Nutrition, etc all play a critical role in your work capacity. Short answer is that 4-5 days a week seems to provide to most results in my experience, but everyone is different. 3x a week is good for a beginner. Q: Do I need to lift weights/Do cardio on my off days? A: Unless you are specifically training for something….nope. The programming is extremely thorough in that all movement planes/Muscle groups are work 1-2x a week as well as the different energy systems. Now if you are training for the MS-150, doing a bodybuilding competition, triathalon, etc you are going to need skill specific conditioning and 4-5 days a week CrossFit is probably not going to be your best bet anyway. So give it a month without extra work and see how you look/feel. Q: What is your slowest class? I am afraid I will be left behind and people will laugh at me. A: We don’t have a smallest class. Every day the classest vary in size. We cap the classes at 12 so that you are getting an ample amount of 1-on-1. Once you come in and give the class a try you will learn two things: 1. NO ONE in the class is paying attention to how you are doing. Everyone is focused on their breathing, if their back is tight enough, etc.  30 secs into the workout the world disappears.  As long as you are working hard, you are doing awesome. 2. 95% of the people in any given class have been doing CrossFit less than 2 months.  So we are literally 90% beginners. You will fit in fine. Q: I came on Monday and all you did was bodyweight stuff. I can do that at home. A: We get this a lot. My statement is simple. If you can not master your bodyweight, why am I externally loading faulty movement patterns? If you squat improperly against GRAVITY is giving you are barbell going to fix it? We are not to build fitness on dysfunction.  Our job is to create fit athletes that move well not create people that move weight quickly and poorly. Also, bodyweight movements are part of the CrossFit Gymnastics curriculum that must be mastered.  Show me a weak competitive gymnast. That and come another day….. there are plenty of weight being used. Q: Today was easy. Does it get harder? A. Your first session or two are going to be compartively easy compared to what everyone tells you about Crossfit.  We are checking to make sure you are fit to turn up the intensity. In our experience, a good portion of the population has a “skewed” version of their own fitness level. Also, every workout can be turned up or down in intensity. If pushups are too easy, do clapping pushups. Air Squats= Jump Squats. Every movement can be made easier/harder. There will be plenty of time to push your limits once we/you learn your ability levels.]]>