Crossfit on your own?
I’ve lost a lot of weight lately due to stress. Now that I’m feeling stronger (emotionally/mentally), I’m ready to really work on my body. I don’t need to lose weight (I dropped to 98 pounds), but I really do want to tone and build muscle (but not huge body builder muscle).
I’ve looked into doing crossfit, but I know I won’t be able to go to a training center (too expensive) and would need to do some sort of fitness program on my own.
Would crossfit be a good program to do on my own?
Cross-fit is a good program to do on your own but just keep in mind that it will work best if you individualize your workouts. By individualize I mean start with minimal weight and repetitions. Alot of cross-fit exercises work muscles you would never otherwise feel and to that extent, starting too hard can injure them. I personally like cross-fit because it strengthens muscles that support joints and your core which in the long run will prevent alot of back and knee pain. Cross-fit focuses on muscle endurance and dynamic movements so unless you start using large amounts of weight you won’t start developing huge muscles. One last benefit of cross-fit I like is that it gives you a good cardio workout. I hope my answer helped, good luck.
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December 21st, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Crossfit is a prgram you can do on your own, assuming your comfortable with the technique of all the lifts. Their websites of workout of the days for just that reason. However there are pros and cons to crossfit, and if your goal is to gain muscle there are programs that are specifically for this.
And don’t worry about becoming a "huge body builder". Eat enough so that your muscles grow, when you reach a size your happy with, eat enough to maintain size but not gain.
My personal opinion on crossfit is that is lacks sensible progression, programming and isn’t easily adaptable to your own specific goals. Contrast this with other programs, that lay out exactly how your supposed to progress, with a specific reason for why it’s structured the way it is.
Crossfit also will encourage a certain amount of sloppy technique, and things that just aren’t right, like high rep olympic lifts and sumo deadlift high pulls.
On the good side they train a variety of qualities, at a high intensity, and it’s good for building GPP (general physical preparedness, which means being well rounded physically)
There is Starting Strength, an excellent strength training program, which is associated with crossfit. You could then do Crossfit like conditioning work on off days, or after your workouts.
There’s also performancemenu.com which is like crossfit, except (1) it focuses almost exclusively on olympic lifts for strength work, and (2) It’s bettered structured giving specific reps, sets and intensities.
Other good Strength training programs include
Bill Starrs 5×5
Wendler 5/3/1
Texas Method
Sheiko
Westside for Skinny Bastards
Also if your interested in Crossfit check out Rosstraining.com.
References :
December 21st, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Cross-fit is a good program to do on your own but just keep in mind that it will work best if you individualize your workouts. By individualize I mean start with minimal weight and repetitions. Alot of cross-fit exercises work muscles you would never otherwise feel and to that extent, starting too hard can injure them. I personally like cross-fit because it strengthens muscles that support joints and your core which in the long run will prevent alot of back and knee pain. Cross-fit focuses on muscle endurance and dynamic movements so unless you start using large amounts of weight you won’t start developing huge muscles. One last benefit of cross-fit I like is that it gives you a good cardio workout. I hope my answer helped, good luck.
References :