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Five Things to Know Before Joining a CrossFit Box

So, you’ve finally worked up the courage to sign up for CrossFit in Singapore. Yay, congratulations!

CrossFit may seem intimidating to many. But trust me, be ready for some real intense fun, unlike anything else you’ve tried. If it’s your first time heading to a CrossFit box, here are some things you need to know.

What is CrossFit?

“Constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity”.

That’s the prescription of CrossFit. A translation for that would be: CrossFit is never boring!

Functional movements are natural, effective and efficient. It is also an important aspect involved in our daily life! But no aspect of functional movements is more important than their capacity to move large loads over long distances, quickly.

Because of how varied workouts at boxes are, every day will be different.

This means that CrossFit workouts are not necessarily designed to get you better or fitter specifically in a way, but rather to be prepared and ready for any random physical challenges in and out of the gym.

CrossFit’s speciality is not specialising. Instead, it’s being more of a generalist in everything! 

P. S., CrossFit can also be really good for your back pain.

CrossFit is for everyone!

seniors crossfit, crossfit for all
Jacinto Bonilla started CrossFit at the age of 67 years young defeated cancer two years later and is still training today at 82 years young

As chiropractors, we often see people with pain and injury. Most of these can be prevented with regular exercise!

Increased power, strength, endurance, speed, agility, balance, and accuracy are not only important to the fittest athletes around the world, but also yourself!

From young children to office worker and grandparents, strength, endurance, agility, and all key aspects of our physical well-being. Whether you’re injured or a complete beginner in fitness, you will benefit from CrossFit.

This is because of CrossFit workouts are varied, and each workout can be scaled or progressed in many different ways to make it work for you.

CrossFit is widely practised by elite athletes and professionals. Cyclists, triathletes, tennis players and others competing at high levels are using CrossFit further advance their strength and conditioning.

The methods of CrossFit have also been tested on sedentary, overweight and pathological individuals. They found out that these population met the same success as their athletes!

What you practice grows stronger

 

 

Because CrossFit is defined as “constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity”, once you’ve finally mastered the basics of how to do one of the Olympic lifts, you might not see it again in a workout for weeks.

This means that you will feel like you’re starting from scratch very often to learn new lifts. Yes, although this will not get you bored, you may start to feel frustrated.

Here’s one thing to keep in mind – with constant variations comes a learning curve. Adapt and embrace the process!

New skills take time to master. Even with someone with an athletic background, learning to at least partially let go of pride and ego to accept criticisms, constant practice and time commitment would help to make the entire process more wholesome and rewarding.

CrossFit terms you should know before your first workout

Various fitness and wellness worlds come with their own complex lingo. They all have a culture of their own. It is completely normal if you step into a box and wished you brought a dictionary along. But slowly, by reading the workouts, watching videos and asking lots of repeated questions, the language will come naturally to you. 

Here are some common CrossFit lingo:

WOD: Workout out of the day. Probably the most common acronym that is used in CrossFit and adopted across many workout programmes. It’s design to include all elements of fitness from strength to metabolic conditioning, so you can meet your exercise needs for the day.

AMRAP: As many reps (or rounds) as possible. A workout protocol that allows you to challenge yourself to the fullest. As the name suggests, it’s about how much work you can do in a given time.

EMOM: Every minute on the minute. Also super taxing on the body, EMOM is a form of interval training that emphasises speed. You get a fixed amount of time to complete the reps, once you are done you get to rest. The earlier you finish, the more rest you get.

RX: Borrowed from medicine, RX means medical prescription. In CrossFit, it refers to doing the exercises as prescribed. This means completion of the workout without any modification.

MetCon: Metabolic Conditioning aka the HIIT workout of CrossFit.

PR: Personal record, same as PB (personal best). Refers to the best you have done.

CrossFit movements and workouts that you can expect to learn

Every training methodology has its own preferences for certain movements. CrossFit is no different.

With an emphasis on functional movements, you can expect to learn lots of multi-joint, compound movements.

 

C&J: Clean and jerk. Borrowed from olympic lifting, clean and jerk is a combination of two exercises — (1) clean and (2) jerk. You can think of a clean as an explosive deadlift followed by a deep front squat. Once you have completed the clean, the jerk is about getting getting from the deep squat position to and overhead press position.

Needless to say, the C&J is a super technical exercise that will work your work body from head to toe. While intimidating for beginners, most CrossFit boxes will have technique classes to help you achieve your first olympic lift.

DU: Double-unders is a skipping exercise where you have to jump high enough so the rope can pass under your feet twice in a single jump. Sounds straightforward but does take a whole lot of coordination! While not particularly functional, it’s a great cardio workout.

TTB or T2B: Toes to bar is a movement drill to help you get to the kipping exercise. Hanging from a pull up bar, the objective is for you to bring your toes to the bar. While not particularly functional, it’s a great workout for spinal mobility and range of motion.

DO NOT SKIP REST DAYS

Starting out, you’ll probably experience soreness in just about every area. Muscle imbalances will suddenly feel prominent, and when you realise your weaknesses, you swore you didn’t have, you’ll feel like you’ve been fooled. 

Learn to love rest days! Rest is key to allow your body to properly recover and grow back stronger after repair, and also to prevent overtraining and injury. Be sure to get enough sleep and consume enough nutrition to properly rebuild your body. Just make sure you don’t stay away for far too long … or you’ll find it hard to get yourself back on track. 

BOOK A CHIROPRACTOR IN SINGAPORE

Based in Singapore, Square One Active Recovery offers treatments with a very big difference. With our evidence-based exercise approach, you can achieve your recovery goals in just 12 weeks. Not getting results from your chiropractor, TCM doctor or physiotherapist? Talk to us and find out how we can take your recovery to the next level.

Our goal? To make our own services redundant to you.

*We do not offer temporary pain relief such as chiropractic adjustments, dry needling, or any form of soft tissue therapy.






    author avatar
    Dr. Jesse Cai
    Chiropractor

    Jesse, a chiropractor with a unique approach, believes in empowering his clients to lead functional and fulfilling lives. Jesse worked with high-level Australian athletes, including roles such as Head Sport Trainer for Forrestfield Football Club, board member of Sports Chiropractic Australia, and member of Sports Medicine Australia.

    author avatar
    Dr. Jesse Cai Chiropractor
    Jesse, a chiropractor with a unique approach, believes in empowering his clients to lead functional and fulfilling lives. Jesse worked with high-level Australian athletes, including roles such as Head Sport Trainer for Forrestfield Football Club, board member of Sports Chiropractic Australia, and member of Sports Medicine Australia.
    author avatar
    Dr. Jesse Cai Chiropractor
    Jesse, a chiropractor with a unique approach, believes in empowering his clients to lead functional and fulfilling lives. Jesse worked with high-level Australian athletes, including roles such as Head Sport Trainer for Forrestfield Football Club, board member of Sports Chiropractic Australia, and member of Sports Medicine Australia.