Not so Travelled, but well learned

So I have been home in Pittsburgh for a few weeks as you can tell.  I've made some life changes, redecorated a little, set some PR's and even done some school work.  I wanted to share this short paper about CrossFit that got me 2.5% (that is a good thing) of my total grade.


CrossFit and Innovation.  CrossFit is one of the most innovative ways to incorporate many things you thought you knew about fitness and a lot more you never thought of.  Former gymnast and creator of CrossFit, Dr. Greg Glassman, introduced this revolutionary idea to the fitness world in 2002.  Dr. Glassman took a required proficiency in the ten fitness domains of cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy and created something that took the worked by storm.  Incorporating gymnastics, Olympic and power lifting, and everyday functional movements along with a healthy diet, Dr. Glassman gave the fitness world his own "Fitness in 100 word or less"

World Class Fitness in 100 Words

• Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and NO sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.
• Practice and train major lifts: deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics:pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstands, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast.
• Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. ROUTINE IS THE ENEMY. Keep workouts short and intense.
• Regularly learn and play new sports!
  ~Dr. Greg Glassman, CrossFit, Inc.

The innovative ideas that CrossFit has spread can be shown from your everyday "soccer mom" picking up the little ones with proper deadlift to a soldier on the front lines passing ammo cans up with a push press in the pursuit of protecting our freedoms.  I can tell that the methods the use are working because before I was a trainer at a CrossFit gym, I was a client.  I was that overweight guy coasting thru on fast food and video games.  The constantly varied functional movements, made for any age or ability, that they incorporated into their everyday workouts help push their clients to be better in and out of the gym.  They are always finding new ways to make you strive harder than you were yesterday and that's what puts CrossFit on the cutting edge of fitness innovation.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. BTW, I'll be back on the road for 105-108 this weekend!