Benefits of CrossFit for your Fitness Level
Nowadays, CrossFit is one of the most popular physical activities around the world. In recent years, these kinds of high-intensity training sessions have grown exponentially. Because of this, in today’s article, we’ll cover some of the benefits of CrossFit for your health and physical condition.
What is CrossFit?
CrossFit is based on the execution of constantly varied exercises performed at high intensity, usually for short periods of time. It brings together different movements gathered from a variety of disciplines such as Olympic lifting, powerlifting, gymnastics or triathlon competitions.
CrossFit is practiced in a box. A box is a center part of the CrossFit brand where people perform the routines or WOD (Workout of the Day). These WODs are usually quite short and include very diverse movements that are usually performed at fairly high intensity.
The high-impact bursts of explosive activity have given CrossFit a reputation for being a very harmful discipline. This is because executing complex exercises with a bad technique and at a high intensity can be very damaging to the joints.
However, by learning each movement well and making slow progress you could help prevent possible injuries.
Benefits of CrossFit for your fitness
Understanding that any sport practiced with regularity will have a very high impact on the body and health in general, CrossFit has certain peculiarities that allow us to improve some capabilities more than others.
And, although this is a sports activity that presents itself as a way to enhance all physical abilities, the truth is that CrossFit favors the development of certain abilities over others.
Benefits of CrossFit: increase in aerobic and anaerobic endurance
Depending on the routine of the day, CrossFit can improve aerobic or anaerobic endurance.
Aerobic endurance is one that allows us to endure performing a low-intensity exercise for a longer time. This type of resistance depends on the oxygen supply to the muscle cells. Practicing exercises such as rowing, skipping rope or running at a gentle pace stimulates aerobic capacity, especially at the cardiorespiratory level.
On the other hand, anaerobic resistance allows us to endure a very high effort for a shorter time. Because of this, the muscle is able to function only with the energy provided by aerobic pathways. This means you’re using oxygen coming from the lungs. Exercises such as burpees or Olympic lifts help us to increase the time we endure at a high intensity.
Develops strength
Because it uses a variety of strength training moves, CrossFit can help us obtain spectacular strength gains. If you follow a proper fitness plan, you’ll gain muscle and a range of motion all over your body.
With CrossFit you’ll focus on strengthening the legs, because the training involves a wide variety of squats performed along with other exercises such as deadlifts, loaded or torn.
Benefits of CrossFit: improve flexibility, coordination, and proprioception
Many exercises in CrossFit require challenging coordination and flexibility, especially for a newcomer in this sport.
However, with proper time and practice, you’ll be able to make complex movements such as muscle-up in rings, double jump rope or pine push-ups. Just stick with it and you’ll soon see the results!
Improves body composition
Both aesthetically and in terms of health in general, your overall improvement is visible in a few months. Because CrossFit is mainly high-intensity interval training, fat burning continues even after exercising. Muscle mass gains (although not as spectacular as what’s achieved in a conventional gym) are lean and functional.
Better quality of life
Some of the benefits of CrossFit might surprise you because they have little to do with your gym performance. In fact, the majority of moves that you’ll learn in CrossFit are called “functional”. This means that you’re exercising muscles used in everyday life, to make everyday movements. Jumping, squatting or lifting a bar from the floor are movements that we can use daily.
When we get up from the sofa or carry a bag, we’re making the same movements that we practice in the box. Therefore, in your daily life, you’ll feel stronger and more agile. Give CrossFit a try and see how your overall wellness level takes a turn for the better!
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Feito Y, Heinrich KM, Butcher SJ, Poston WSC. High-Intensity Functional Training (HIFT): Definition and Research Implications for Improved Fitness. Sport (Basel, Switzerland) [Internet]. 2018 Aug 7 [cited 2019 Aug 5];6(3). Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30087252
- Claudino JG, Gabbett TJ, Bourgeois F, Souza H de S, Miranda RC, Mezêncio B, et al. CrossFit Overview: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Sport Med – Open [Internet]. 2018 Dec 26 [cited 2019 Aug 5];4(1):11. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29484512
- Maté-Muñoz JL, Lougedo JH, Barba M, Cañuelo-Márquez AM, Guodemar-Pérez J, García-Fernández P, et al. Cardiometabolic and Muscular Fatigue Responses to Different CrossFit® Workouts. J Sports Sci Med [Internet]. 2018 Dec [cited 2019 Aug 5];17(4):668–79. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30479537
