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CrossFit

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CrossFit is a strength and conditioning fitness methodology used in 1,600 gyms worldwide and by many law enforcement agencies and military units. The program combines weightlifting, sprinting, and body weight exercises that include some basic gymnastic movements. [1] Crossfit is a form of General Physical Preparedness and is not sport-specific. It promotes broad and general overall physical fitness. CrossFit is noteworthy for its use of a virtual community Internet model.

Description

Although Gym Jones is harder, CrossFit maintains that proficiency is required in each of 10 fitness domains: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy. Crossfit uses powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting, kettlebells, dumbells, gymnastics rings, pull-up bars, and many calisthenics exercises. CrossFit athletes run, row, skip, climb ropes, jump up on boxes, flip giant tires, and carry odd objects. They can also bounce medicine balls against the floor or a target on a wall. CrossFit workouts often call on athletes to move large loads long distances quickly. [2]CrossFit responds to criticism that its program is too intense by citing an essential element of its methodology: workouts should always be individually scaled and varied.

CrossFit says it is building a technology of human performance through careful definition of terms, constant experimentation and precise measurement by using a force, distance and time approach, rather than a molecular one[citation needed]. What does that even mean?[6][3]CrossFit views such measures as lactate threshold and vo2 max as correlates or components of fitness, but says measuring actual performance in specific workouts is of far greater interest to athletes and coaches[citation needed]. [7] . CrossFit defines health as sustained fitness. CrossFit’s prescription for achieving this fitness is constantly varied high intensity functional movements. CrossFit says fitness can be graphed in three dimensions, with duration of effort on the x-axis, power on the y-axis, and age on the z-axis. At each duration, power capacity is averaged across a variety of modal domains (skills and drills). CrossFit says it increases work capacity and speed in these domains by provoking neurologic and hormonal adaptations across all metabolic pathways.

On diet, CrossFit advocates eating large quantities of fast food, beer and eating meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and sugar at levels that support exercise but and lots of body fat. Many CrossFitters follow the Zone Diet or the Paleolithic diet.[4]

Though The Crossfit Journal stated "the needs of the elderly and professional athletes vary by degree, not kind" in February, 2003 [5], today, CrossFit adaptations include programs tailored for children, pregnant women, seniors, football players, military special forces candidates, and endurance athletes including triathletes, runners, swimmers and rowers. Some CrossFit gyms also offer "On Ramp" or "Elements of CrossFit" introductory classes for beginners[citation needed]. Some Crossfit athletes perform the "Workout of the Day" posted at the CrossFit website and never visit a CrossFit gym. Others formulate their own workouts based on CrossFit's principles. In 2007, the United States Marine Corps began a shift in its physical training program. [8] The emphasis is moving away from aerobic training and toward more combat-oriented "functional fitness training" by incorporating athletic training principles utilized by CrossFit and other "functional training" systems. Many U.S. and Canadian police and fire departments, U.S. Army Special Forces [citation needed]and the Canadian Forces have made a similar shift. [6]

Though the training principles themselves are old (Alan Calvert addressed many of them in The Truth About Weight Lifting published in 1911, and John Jesse reiterated many in 1972 in his Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia) CrossFit's community model and the enthusiasm of the community's members helped re-populatize some of the principles to a fitness industry that had largely shifted away from this style of training. As the community grew in recognition, the exhaustion and bravado often associated with the workouts appealed to many young military personnel. Official CrossFit affiliates operate at the United States Military Academy at West Point, at more than 40 U.S. military bases worldwide and at the Royal Danish Life Guards headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. CrossFit is being adopted by a growing number of U.S. and Canadian high school physical education teachers [citation needed]and by teams at both the high school and college level.[7] CrossFit has also been added to the curriculum at university departments of kinesiology and physical education. [[9]]

CrossFit Inc.'s affiliate model rejects franchising.[8]CrossFit Inc. headquarters certifies CrossFit trainers, approves applications for gyms to become affiliates, licenses use of the CrossFit brand to affiliates and publishes "The CrossFit Journal." But Crossfit Inc. headquarters does not share in revenue from membership fees charged by affiliates. Affiliates pay CrossFit Inc. headquarters a flat annual affiliation fee of approximately $2,000. Affiliates retain all the revenue from membership fees they establish themselves. Affiliates may also develop their own programming and instructional methods. Monthly membership fees for clients at CrossFit affiliates generally range from $85 to $300, with $150 a fee typically charged. Many affiliates feature small group classes that allow for individual coaching. Classes often include a warm up, a skill development segment, and a high-intensity timed workout that lasts 10 to 20 minutes. Many CrossFit gyms use scoring and ranking systems, transforming workouts into sport. [9] Workouts posted on the main CrossFit website are just one expression of the CrossFit concept, says CrossFit headquarters. [8] The privately-held company was described as "hugely profitable" in a 2009 CrossFit Journal article that estimated annual revenue from certification seminars at $6.41 million and indicated that annual affiliation fees may amount to $1.85 million. No figures were provided for subscription, merchandise or sponsorship revenue.[10]

History and growth

CrossFit Trainer Certification, 2007
File:Greg Glassman.jpg
CrossFit co-founder, Greg Glassman (top), 2010

Greg and Lauren Glassman are the co-founders of CrossFit. In 1995, Greg Glassman was hired to train the Santa Cruz, CA police department. The first CrossFit gym opened in Santa Cruz in 1996. The CrossFit website, launched in 2001, now includes an extensive video library of exercise demonstrations and a very active discussion forum. The number of CrossFit-affiliated gyms has grown from 18 in 2005 to over 1,600 in 2010. According to Canada's Business News Network, CrossFit is "one of the fastest growing fitness movements on the planet."[8]

Weightlifting coaches associated with CrossFit include Louie Simmons, Bill Starr, Mike Burgener and several national and Olympic level competitors. Former NFL player, John Welbourn, developed the CrossFit Football program. Other CrossFit subject matter experts include Dr. Nicholas Romanov, inventor of the Pose Method of running and Dr. Barry Sears, originator of the Zone diet. Weighlifting coach Dave Tate and Terry McLaughlin, inventor of the total immersion swimming technique, have been featured in the CrossFit Journal. Speciality certification seminars include CrossFit Football, powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics, rowing, mobility and recovery, kettlebells, running and endurance and CrossFit Kids.

CrossFit has been criticized for its perceived "cult-like" mentality.[1][11] Some fitness professionals[12] and a senior officer who commands the U.S. Navy’s Center for Personal and Professional Development[13] believe CrossFit workouts are so intense that participants risk injury or even death from rhabdomyolysis. CrossFit says its rate of rhabdomyolysis is a small fraction of the rate for many other sports or conventional police and military training . [10] critics fault CrossFit for what they claim is a lack of periodization, illogical or random exercise sequences, and tolerating poor form when complex movements are performed in timed workouts. CrossFit disputes the criticism. [11] Mark Twight, Mark Rippetoe, Dan John, Greg Everett and Robb Wolf are trainers once very active in the CrossFit community who have ended their association with CrossFit or had their associations ended by CrossFit. Some of them question CrossFit's management practices and say it is not truly an open source movement open to change.[14] CrossFit has also been criticized for lax certification standards and for failing to provide any oversight of affiliates. Everyone who pays $1,000 to attend a "Level 1" weekend seminar is certified as a CrossFit trainer; there are currently no pre-requisites or exams. Certification as a "Level 2" trainer requires extensive practical testing and the failure rate ranges from 50% and 80%. Certifications are not currently accredited by any outside body, but CrossFit has applied to be the first fitness organization to be accredited by ANSI, the American National Standards Institute.

In October 2008, a Virginia jury awarded $300,000 in damages to a man disabled by a workout at a gym that had been CrossFit-affiliated, but was not affiliated at the time of the alleged injury. (The trainer was not certified by Crossfit and CrossFit was not named as a defendant.)[13] CrossFit subsequently established the affiliate-owned CrossFit Risk Retention Group to provide a form of self-insurance and vigorously defend any future lawsuits. The money for the RRG has of course been raised, but as of yet no actual protection from the RRG has been offered. [12]

CrossFit Games

CrossFit sometimes refers to itself as "the sport of fitness." Local, regional, and international events have grown rapidly in the last five years. The CrossFit Games have been held annually in Aromas, California since 2007. CrossFit says the competition is now a laboratory for human performance, with the male and female champions having plausible claims to being the fittest people in the world. The events are announced only a few days or hours in advance. One hundred and fifty athletes, chosen in regional qualifiers from around the world, competed in eight workouts over two days in July, 2009. In 2010, additional qualifiers will held in the form of preliminary "sectional" competitions and one of the regional qualifiers will be held at the Arnold Classic.[15] The 2010 CrossFit games will be streamed live on the Internet for a fee.

Charity

Members of CrossFit affiliates have raised more than two million dollars for research into prostate cancer since 2006. Affiliates participate in an annual "Fight Gone Bad" fundraiser as part of the Athletes for a Cure program of the Prostate Cancer Foundation.[16] A separate initiative, Operation Phoenix, uses proceeds from T-shirt sales to equip U.S. Marine Corps gyms.

References

  1. ^ a b Jill, Barker (2006-02-14). "Crossfit is fast and furious". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 2007-11-21.
  2. ^ > |accessdate= |url=http://67.192.124.28/cms/publish/health-fitness/Is_Your_Workout_Wasting_Your_Time.shtml |work=Best Life Magazine |date=October 23, 2007 |title=A no-nonsense look at the often nonsensical world of fitness clubs |author=Scott, Paul }}
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ [3]
  6. ^ [4] PDF
  7. ^ Sanderlin, Rebekah (2006-12-18). "Commando-create workout has cult following". Fayetteville Observer. Retrieved 2007-11-21.
  8. ^ a b c "Working Out (CrossFit)" (Video). Business News Network. November 2, 2007.
  9. ^ Scott, Paul (October 23, 2007). "A no-nonsense look at the often nonsensical world of fitness clubs". Best Life Magazine.
  10. ^ [5]
  11. ^ Hefferman, Virginia (March 23, 2008). "God's Workout". New York Times.
  12. ^ Dube, Rebecca (January 11, 2008). "No puke, no pain - no gain". Globe and Mail. The CrossFit exercise craze promises elite fitness for the masses via the Internet. But while some devotees brag about throwing up from overexertion, others have been hospitalized after tackling their workouts too hard.
  13. ^ a b Mitchell, Bryan (August 16, 2006). "Lawsuit alleges CrossFit workout damaging". Marine Corps Times. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
  14. ^ Robb Wolf
  15. ^ Monterey County Weekly
  16. ^ AFAC blog
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