Today, exercise has the opportunity to be anything but boring, and Crossfit is no exception. This innovative form of working out was founded and developed by Greg Glassman. Crossfit is known for its varying, high intensity functional movements. In 2000, Crossfit gyms began to open and spread Glassman’s ideas across the world. This was just the start to what is now a popular name in the fitness community.

Crossfit is about being fit, but they have their own definition of fitness. They use four different models to evaluate fitness. These four models are the 10 general physical skills, the hopper, the metabolic pathways and sickness-wellness-fitness continuum.

Many gym junkies focus on building one muscle, but Crossfit does it all. They vary the movements and muscles worked each session. At a Crossfit gym, you will notice that the workout of the day (WOD) is different every single day. An example of a WOD is “Fran”. Fran is 21 thrusters and pull-ups, then 15 and finally 9. The goal is to complete this as fast as possible. They change the WODs everyday because the goal is to improve your competency for all physical tasks in the world. 

A cross country runner can run a four minute mile because he/she has been training for just that, but he/she wouldn’t be able to lift a heavy amount of weight if he/she hadn’t been lifting weights. Crossfit is not about being the best at one certain movement but being able to perform all of the exercises and movements above average. 

Crossfit uses a triangle to describe the best way to develop as an athlete. There are 5 stages. The main stage is nutrition, then metabolic conditioning, gymnastics, weight-lifting, throwing and the sport you play.

Every year, Crossfit hosts the Crossfit Games to prove who’s the fittest across the world. In this event, there are multiple sessions over the course of days. Each event tests the competitors in different ways. The events are not released until a couple of days before the games, so all competitors have a fair chance of preparing. This year, the games began on September 18th. In previous years, Matt Fraser dominated the men’s side, and Tia Toomey dominated the women’s side.

In Tallahassee, there are multiple Crossfit specific gyms: 850 Crossfit, Crossfit Black Box and Red Hills Crossfit. 850 Crossfit is on Bannerman Road and has a 5 star rating on Yelp. Crossfit Black Box is on West Gaines Street and has a 4.5 star rating on yelp, and Red Hills Crossfit is on Capital Circle and has a 5 star rating on yelp. 

Crossfit can look intimidating, but don’t stress. Crossfit employees are trained in being able to assist you to perform every movement correctly and also to scale workouts for you to be able to handle the intensity while still getting a good workout in. Crossfit tracks your data to make sure you are improving as you train.

SOURCEhttps://christianstewart.org/2020/06/18/what-is-crossfit/
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RJ Hosay was the former Online Editor-in-Chief (2022-23). RJ previously led the sports writing team. Every writer on the team received the All-Florida award from the Florida Scholastic Press Association in 2022 which is unprecedented in Andalusian history. RJ has received multiple FSPA All-Florida Awards during his tenure. He also served as the business manager of the newspaper. RJ was a Maclay Scholar Athlete and serves as Captain of Maclay’s varsity soccer team. He is also a multi-year letterman on the weightlifting team. RJ works as a licensed soccer referee and is a CrossFit Level 1 Trainer. Outside of the Andalusian and a rigorous academic schedule, you can find him spending time outdoors, working with his yellow lab or with his family and friends.