 Crossfit NH |
Yes it is true, I have joined my local Crossfit. They call themselves The Savage Society, and they are based out of Manchester, NH.
Why Join Crossfit?
Crossfit is a place we can go to use revolutionary exercise ideals to create an elite level of fitness. This is not so much about strength and size, as it is fitness, which is a goal that I think has been lost to the majority of gym goers nowadays.
Rather than paying $10 a month for access to treadmills, ellipticals, and some free weights, with virtually no help or planning unless you pay $100s for a trainer, Crossfit has a formula to help you attain your personal fitness goals with workouts of the day and special routines to help you. It takes some of the thinking out of designing the perfect routine.
This will definitely be a new, positive experience, and I will probably end up getting Crossfit certified myself some day.
Goals and Motivation
I have recently lost the motivation to get in the gym and lift big weights day in and day out. That’s the reason, straight up. Crossfit offers a new style of training and a certain level of brotherhood and I feel I need in my training right now.
Once upon a time I grew sick of lifting back when I used to train primarily with a 5 day split, using hypertrophy training for bodybuilding style gains. Then I went to college, developed some camaraderie with other athletes, started training for strength instead of size, and training became fun again.
Another time I grew tired of the same old weightlifting workouts every week. Bench on Monday, Squat on Tuesday, Pull Ups on Wednesday, Deadlifts on Thursday, and Military Press on Friday. Try to lift more each week, yada yada yada… At this point I really started to learn about full body training, functional training, and conditioning workouts like HIIT and kickboxing. Shortly thereafter training became fun again.
Recently I’ve just been unmotivated to get in the gym for a full body workout three times a week. I mean I have trained a bit, but I’m not gung-ho about it. I lift alone, I can’t make thai kickboxing workouts anymore, and quite honestly I think I am more interested in conditioning and being lean, than strength and being big.
Therefore, I am moving on once again. Now I am going to give Crossfit training a try. Using Crossfit training I hope to learn new skills and new training styles to attain a level of conditioning that I have not experienced since I was attending kickboxing workouts thrice a week. I also hope to increase my jumping ability, my abdominal strength, and the number of pull ups I can do (currently around 14 strict).
My only fear is that I won’t be able to do the level of strength training and powerlifting that really does still interest me, but I’ll ask the owner about that tomorrow.
My First Crossfit Workout
My first Crossfit workout ever was 8 sets of Tabata squats for reps.
Tabata training is when you pick an exercise and do as many reps as possible in 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds and repeat. Today I did 8 sets, pausing at the bottom position for the duration of my first 4 rest intervals. I also consider Tabata workouts to be HIIT training, but not all HIIT workouts are Tabata training.
As a side note, I’ll have to write up a piece on Tabata training later, as I’ve never really covered Tabata in detail on Project Swole.
It started off pretty well, when I got 20 reps for my first set. Then my numbers dropped to something like 18, 15, 12, 12, 10, 8, 10. At the end I was huffing. Two hours later I nearly fell down the stairs at work after I got my coffee at the cafe.
They aren’t letting me do any other exercises, even though when I am home I usually like to bust out some sets of bench press, pull ups, rows, military press, ab wheel, and some other work with Powerblocks and stretch bands. Guess I’ll have to give it a chance.
That’s it for now. Feel free to give Tabata squats a try on your own. I promise it will burn.
Tags: Conditioning, Crossfit, Workout Routines
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so almost a month later, what’s the verdict on your Crossfit experience? I’ve been considering Crossfit also, but I still like to lift heavy occasionally, and I still want to be big and strong.
Crossfit is awesome for conditioning, and they do lift heavy occasionally. It’s not always max effort, 90 seconds of rest training like you might be used to, but it is good and it works. Crossfit is not for bodybuilding – at least not full time – nor is it for powerlifting – full time – yet it does have applications to both, but Crossfit IS awesome for fighters, sports athletes, and anyone who want to lose fat and increase strength for their own goals. I recommend Crossfit for everyone, at least for a couple months out of every year. You will learn a lot about yourself, to say the least.
Crossfit is like having a personal trainer with you through your whole workout, at least at my gym. We have maybe 20 people training at any given time, and 2-4 people who will watch you and correct your form or give you a tip when you can use it.
Got to love the Tabata protocle. I’m not sure it works any better than other timed HIIT circuits, but is deff difficult if you are doing it for 8 minutes or so straight, per set. I’ve never tried it with squats, I’ll have to check that out.