The Crossfitter.

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Eric L

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I can't really say that I've earned the right to call myself a crossfitter yet...in any case I start today.

For those who don't know crossfit, it is, in my opinion, one of the most insane and yet efficient methodologies that I've ever heard of.

If a crossfitter performs a workout at a gym, they would most likely come across as stupid or extremely unorthodox. For this reason, a good number of them have home made gyms or train at the chosen crossfit affiliate. If one would compare this methodology to software the closest thing would be an open source program. The method is open to all, criticism is encouraged and using data, or logs, as a reliable source of indication of what works and what doesn't. One of their quotes goes along the lines of "The world’s most successful athletes and coaches rely on exercise science the way a deer hunters rely on the accordion.”

They, the people/trainers at crossfit, post a WOD (workout of the day) for everyone to follow. If one cannot follow this workout one can choose from a scaled down version which brings about the same work in the desired muscles or energy systems. Your grandma could follow this methodology just as well as the most elite and capable athlete.

They promote the posted workouts along with a paleolithic diet. And they do so freely.

I'm going to be benchmarking myself with a "Tabata" workouts with air squats. (BW Squats). Mastery in the squat is a very important thing in crossfit. If one wants to see if they have the most basic needed capacity for crossfit they would perform a basic "Tabata" workout with air squats.

Tabata = 20 seconds of effort and 10 seconds of rest x 8.
Then you take the set with the least reps and that is your score. If you score more than 12 then you have the most basic movement mastered and are ready for the next step.

Today I will test myself with the tabata workout and will look into what is next.

I'm surprised to come back here yet again, I see a lot of you have kept going, good work!

:D
 
Crossfit looks great, I'll be watching your progress!!
 
Hello and welcome JohnnySolo, thanks for stopping by and looking forward to seeing you again. :)

Just finished the benchmarking session.

I scored a puny 6. Which means I have a good ways to go - My legs are completely done with, ATP and glycogen completely depleted and it feels like a river of lactic acid in there...it's getting better by the minute. :cool3:

So...a quick run down again: I did a "Tabata" workout with Air Squats (weightless, BW squats.)

A Tabata is 20 seconds all out and 10 seconds rest x 8. When I score 12 I can move on to the next step. Scored a flimsy six but I feel the benefits already, my heart is pounding, my legs throbbing, by far the best workout in a while. My score is the lowest amount of reps I did in any of the sets, my highest with 15 and lowest was 6.

Now I go back to my weight room and finish off with some assisted pull-ups and some BP...will post afterwards along with some photos of the setup that I made.

In love with crossfit already.

Paleo diet book has been ordered and anxiously waiting on it so I can start eating like a caveman :)

Stay tuned.
 
Why are you only using tabata squats as a benchmark for performance?

Xfit does not promote the paleo diet IIRC, rather The Zone diet. But the paleo diet summed up is: Eat/prepare foods in the form that you hunt, kill, catch, pick, or gather them in.

"The world’s most successful athletes and coaches rely on exercise science the way a deer hunters rely on the accordion.”
Click to expand...

This is true for archaic swimmers, maybe. But for the most part, the wor'd's most successful athletes in track, field, and lifting events all rely heavily on exercise science.

Eric, xfit is a good way to get in shape for sure. But be aware that there exist fanatics within the organization of crossfit who are actually rather militant about their way of training. In other words, don't drink the punch at crossfit. Do your work and keep a level head about.
 
In other words, don't drink the punch at crossfit. Do your work and keep a level head about.
Click to expand...

Agreed. This is why I prefer to keep myself in here. The ambiance here is a little more relaxed, but eventually I might take these workouts really seriously and might find myself going over there a bit more. We will see.

In the "Start Here" Section of their site the specifically specify the caveman or paleo diet model of nutrition...I see the Zone model as well pretty often on their site and most of the time in the forums...But they really specify that the paleo diet is consistent with the crossfit method. Both are widely used by crossfit it seems. I'm going to start with this model of nutrition for now and look into the Zone diet a little more in the meantime to see what's the deal. Are they similar?

Why are you only using tabata squats as a benchmark for performance?
Click to expand...

They have a series of articles for beginners of crossfit and it specifies that this is the most basic requirement for starting crossfit and it is a test that you can use too see if you can move on to the more advanced exercises. If you are at 11 or lower then you should work on your squats before moving on. I really want to start at the bottom and learn everything from their approach.

I use this benchmark because, frankly, it is the only one I am aware of atm.

Also, I know squat (pun intended :) ) about olympic lifts - this benchmark will help me with mastering the squat since I've never done much of them. I'll keep doing this benchmark every time I workout for the time being.

I am feeling some serious DOMs in my legs today and I only expect it to get worse in the next 24 hours.

Tonight, I'll be doing my usual 13KM of biking.
 
I see - I'll look into it this weekend.

Thanks for the info.

Little comment on my Tabata test: DOMs nearly unbearable - looking at a flight of stairs makes me cringe O_O

Not going to workout the legs until DOMs gets better. In the meantime I'll keep doing some pull ups, BPs and some core work.

Sounds like you've done xfit before Lei, am I right?
 
Yes I did a lot of their WOD's and metcon for a period of about six months.

As far as The Zone diet compared to the paleo diet goes, I don't really know too much about the zone.
 
I hadn't done my 13km bike run the day after my Tabata test due to DOMs.

Did it yesterday and completed the run 4 minutes sooner than last time.

13km done in 41 minutes which equals about 19km/h.

Last time I finished it in about 45-46 minutes...Still got lots of improvement to get with this flimsy bike run.

Will rest today. Will do Pull Ups, BPs and some core work on Saturday and will redo the Tabata test once again on Sunday.

Cheers.
 
Eric lad, good to see your still trying to keep fit etc.

I'm slightly confused with this 'Crossfitter' subject. Where/how do you get your daily workouts?
 
Some of their WOD's are pretty stupid and random. If you want to train to be as legit as they say doing this will make you, you need to train like Jason Khalipa, Jeremy Thiel, Josh Everett, etc.

That is, the WOD's are rarely done. They train for strength and to get better at the girl workouts.
 
The idea behind xfit is to always increase an individuals capacity for functional work, any work; known or unknown.

Everything about their workouts suits my needs.

-Short and efficient workouts.
-Randomized every time so you never get bored.
-EASILY scalable.
-Tested and true; I've had the pleasure of meeting a crossfitter and he has been following their methodology for quite sometime and he is, easily, the fittest person I've ever met. He is not huge nor thin; he is a very balanced and capable athelete.
-You don't HAVE to follow their WOD; use what works for you and discard the rest. As Lei said, don't swallow everything someone tells you; use what is good for you and ditch the rest. There are always ways of making their approach more effective as Lei pointed out.

BigT- The daily workouts are posted on their main site; Johnny already did the honors of giving you the link. Also, in the FAQ section you can find a very complete list of their named workouts.

g8r80- A "bike run" is just the usual 13km of biking I do...Been doing that for a while now, maybe 2-3 times per week. Nothing special.





Tonight I'll be doing another Tabata-style workout. I've decided I'll be doing a tabata with squats as well as push ups, sit ups, bench press and pull ups.

This workout will most likely kill me. I will do these tabatas individually with at least 5 minutes of rest in between each exercise.

I hope my brain doesn't run out of glucose :rolleyes:

I'll make sure to sip some diluted Gatorade during my 10 second resting periods.

Good day everyone! :boxing_smiley:
 
Oh yeah- I got my Paleo Diet Book.

Sounds like a fairly decent diet.

Simple and easy to follow.

Lean meats, fruits and vegetables only. No fabricated foods. No sugars. etc.

I didn't read the whole book, but I am pretty sure that somewhere on a forum I read that, eventually, flour was invented and it turned the food market into a piece of garbage - If you walk in a grocery store the only good foods are foods in the meat, fruits and vegetables sections, the rest is made-up, processed and carb-rich garbage. Even canned foods are garbage. Seriously, if you compare the amount of good food to bad food in a grocery store it is ridiculously out of proportion.

Media, profit and psychology is behind most of the planets problems when it comes to health problems, IMO.

I don't think I will even give myself the trouble of shopping for food outside these sections anymore.

The book doesn't encourage counting calories and/or macronutrients at all. In fact it says eat your fill, it doesn't matter, lol -> we will see. :cool:
 
Some interesting post about Xfit and some very interesting points by all.
From personal experience I use a Xfit based program. I love it and I have achieved good results from it. Its varied, intense and enjoyable (sometimes)
 
I used it for about 6 mo, on and off, and I saw some good results translate to my grappling game (could keep up intensity, better strength endurance, etc)
 
I have been having some sleeping issues lately - I always thought I needed less time than most. ie. 5-6 hours of sleep max. I went to bed way earlier than usual last night and, well, I never felt so re-charged in a while. I got a good 8-9 hours of sleep.

Seems I have been depriving myself of some needed sleep.

I'll go to bed even earlier tonight so I can get up early and get my tabata workout ( the one I was supposed to do yesterday :p ).

I haven't started the paleo diet yet, I need to get myself a good vegetable steamer before I can start it consistently. Found one on ebay made of bamboo and it costs less than a top sirloin steak :rolleyes:

Anyhow, good day everyone!
 
Yea sleep is so important Eric, i've been finding that out lately. How much sleep i get determines how good a workout i have for the most part.

What is your goal exactly?
 
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