A rookie’s view of sport: Combatting CrossFit

Kara Martin 17:02 26/02/2014
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  • I love that new sports are still being invented because it means I sometimes get to play a different role other than rookie.

    For example, being of the younger generation of sports fans, I can tell you a thing or two about one of America’s fastest growing sports today – CrossFit.

    Be honest, did you just roll your eyes?

    CrossFit’s been around for decades now as a form of training, but really only recently passed the test in being recognised as a sport.

    Why that is, I don’t know because these guys pluck elements from many different sports – weighlifting and gymnastics, for example – and put them in a tumble dryer on high.

    In other words, CrossFitters are crazy talented.

    They’re conditioned enough, and have the ability to do a ridiculous amount of work for various amounts of time in various amounts of ways, because the goal of CrossFit is to be functionally fit and prepared for the unknown.

    As for the CrossFit Games, basically the guy or girl who can put in the most work when thrown a surprise (and they will be, with the routines announced something an hour before competition), wins at being the fittest.

    Love it or mock it, the sport of fitness is here to stay, and the number of practitioners grows each day, even right here in the UAE. And this weekend marks the start of the CrossFit Open – a global hunt for talent ahead of the Reebok CrossFit Games in a couple of months, which determines the world’s fittest male and female. 

    That said, being a fan of ‘the sport of fitness’ is almost as hard as being the athlete.

    They speak a whole other language and have a serious love affair with not just squats and burpees, as well as letting everyone know they do CrossFit through a quirky t-shirt or bumper sticker, but also with acronym usage and giving genders to their exercise routines.

    For example, you should at least know that WOD means Workout of the Day, while AMRAP stands for As Many Repetitions/Rounds As Possible.

    These are some of the things that will be written up on the blackboards that any standard box (CrossFit facility) will have, and which are littered with gibberish-like homework scribbles and scores.

    Know that any Fran, Grace or Isabel you encounter at a CrossFit facility should be approached with caution.

    Fran, for one – a 21-15- 9 rep scheme of thrusters (95lb weights for men, 65lbs for women) and pull-ups – is considered Cross- Fit’s most famous workout.

    Meanwhile, that guy Murph – a one-mile run followed by 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups and 300 bodyweight squats, finished off by another one-mile run – is considered one of CrossFit’s toughest WODs.

    Wait, rewind, don’t know what a thruster is?

    It’s a barbell lift starting from shoulder height, in which one performs a front squat, then pushes the barbell overhead during the rise to standing position.

    Oh, there’s a front squat and a back squat then?

    Yes, but don’t worry, it doesn’t see the body do anything too unnatural. Simply, front squats put the bar in front of the body, while back squats have it on the upper back.

    Yeah, CrossFitters love lifting weights… They also love nicknaming the different beasts to be found in the building, for example you’re a ‘firebreather’ if you can grin and bear the toughest workouts and still have a little left in the tank for more.

    Clearly CrossFit’s mantra is tough, tougher, toughest, and that’s why I’ll finally say that if you yourself are thinking of giving it a go, it’s strongly recommended you do your teething at an ‘Affiliate’ – a ‘box’ that’s officially affiliated with the CrossFit brand (and thus given founder Greg Glassman’s blessing to spread the gospel).

    What you’ll find there is that with a little hard work, there’s an athlete in all of us.

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