CrossFit is a training philosophy that trains people of all shapes and sizes and helps them in improving their cardiovascular health. It also improves their overall fitness in an encouraging but tough environment. It includes varied and high-intensity movements. Crossfit for women has been slowly gaining popularity.

Should Women Participate in CrossFit

If you are a woman, you will be happy to know that CrossFit attracts both men and women equally. The number is almost equal. Therefore you will also be able to get both male and female CrossFit coaches in equal numbers.

Understanding What Happens in a CrossFit Class

Before you start a CrossFit class, you should know what exactly happens in it. You can check out the discussion below to understand what happens in a CrossFit class.

Mobility Work and Warming up

The class will begin with a warm-up, followed by some stretching and mobility work. Mobility work is the movement that is done with the joints and also the ligaments. These help in ensuring that they are moving properly and also help you to understand the range of motion.

The warm-up session will be different each day. The coach will help you to get a clear understanding of the various exercises. They will guide you, instruct you, and will also provide you with proper feedback.

Skill Training and Strength Exercises

The CrossFit workout is divided into two parts – metcon portion and strength training. For the strength training part, the coach first talks about the right technique and might then provide you with a demo where you will understand how it is done. 

Here the coach will also explain the various scaling options as everyone will not be able to lift the same amount of weight. The trainer will also help you correct the exercise form when needed, and will also encourage and push you to do better. But they will ensure that you do not overdo the exercise.

Metcon or Metabolic Conditioning

Metabolic Conditioning might include several exercises. It could include anything starting from burpees to rowing, running, wall balls, air bikes, and others. Each day it is very different. Even for this, the coach will provide you with a demo.

Cooling Down

Once your group finishes, you will have a cool-down session and after that your workout for the day is over.

Things You Should Know Before You Start CrossFit

CrossFit is extremely important for both men and women. If you are a woman planning to start CrossFit, you should go through the points mentioned below:

Cross Fit is Everything 

The best part about CrossFit is that it is different every day and therefore this can never get boring. Here you will be challenged to perform certain movements that will get translated to real life and some others like handstand push-ups that will not get translated to real life. Doing this will help you to develop strength, endurance, aerobic capacity and you will also have a lot of fun with it.

Need Not be in Shape

Cross Fit is substantially scalable. If you are unable to do a handstand push-up or a regular push-up, you will be asked to perform scaled-down movements by your trainer. This will help you to get prepared for the more difficult versions of the training. So if you are a woman who has never tried working out, then CrossFit is certainly the best option to start a fitness regime.

It Boils Down to your Coach

You should be aware that all cross gyms are not equal. We can take the example of a cross-fit lift called the snatch. Learning the correct Snatch technique is one of the hardest skills to master. A snatch is a combination of the squat and the overhead squat. Bodybuilders rarely do the overhead squat. The snatch requires the athleticism of gymnastic type movement and requires you to lift the weight overhead and hold the weight in position while your arms are almost straight overhead and pushed back slightly.

We Suggest Using the Jefferson Squat

The Jefferson was given some popularity of late by bodybuilder and Mr. Olympia competitor Kai Greene. According to Kai Greene, doing very lightweight Jefferson Squats at the beginning of his leg workout helps him to lift the weight from the bottom position of a squat.

Many promising bodybuilders like Jean Pierre Fux, Johnnie Jackson have got with weight more than 600 pounds in this position and have seriously hindered their careers. The reason for recommending champion bodybuilder, Kai Greene’s use of Jefferson squat is that his leg development is thicker than a tree trunk. The muscular definition is his legs are more detailed than a road map and he has remained free of injury despite handling weights over 450 pounds for repetitions. 

The Key is in the Progression

You have to keep a score of how many full rounds and the number of reps you completed in around. If you completed three rounds and you did six reps on the fourth round, you score 3+6. This is your AMRAP score. AMRAP is short for as many rounds as possible or as many reps as possible.

There is also an EMOM or every minute on the minute score. The EMOM workout challenges you to perform a given number of repetitions for a certain exercise within 1 minute. The remaining time within the minute is the time given to you for your recovery. Then you start again at the beginning of the next minute with a different exercise.

A round in CrossFit is a group of exercises that make a workout. RFT stands for rounds for time. Your RFT score is the amount of time it took you to complete the entire workout. 20 minutes and 12 seconds to complete the rounds means that your RFT score is 20:12.Use these parameters to track the progression of your workouts. Focus on making small improvements in your workouts.

Maintain a Training Diary

Rather than leaving your progression to the vagaries of your memory, we recommend that you keep a training and diet diary to keep track of the progress you make. Arnold Schwarzenegger used to maintain a training diary and also included how he felt, what he ate etc. and he is someone we can follow to reach our physique goals. Since the cross-fit workout is more of an athletic functional workout, we recommend that you spend 5 minutes after your workout to note the details of your workout in your training diary.

Work on your Grip Strength

We recommend that you use chalk as your palms will be used to grip the heavy pair of kettlebells, pull-up rigs, rowing machines, etc. apart from the heavy barbells and dumbells. Use chalk to help maintain friction as your hands get sweaty and slippery. However, chalking your hands can only get you as far as the other person. Almost every CrossFitter does it. We recommend that you work on your grip strength separately for 5 minutes at the end of your workout to give you a competitive advantage. 

Stimulate, Recover and then Stimulate Again

It is normal to get sore when you do a new workout. Make mental notes of your muscular imbalances and work on correcting them. Ensure that you do not get so caught up riding the weight-loss bandwagon that you do not feed your body adequately. Stay away from the mentality of torturing yourself. Get adequate sleep. Make smart food choices. Eat healthily but eat well. 

Summary

Your body is a resource. Have long term goals. Break them down to smaller goals. Building a palace takes time and effort. So stay away from things that abuse your body and build the palace of your dreams. Stay consistent and focus on making small improvements.