Cross Fit Ultra Fit 2013-05 J_eng.pdf

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CrossFitWhats It all-about?

To an outsider, Cross Fitters may appear like an obsessed bunch of hardcore

enthusiasts who are prepared to work out to breaking point and sometimes

beyond. As a fitness professional I have been aware of Crossfit for many years,

have dipped my toe in the water several times and even tried the occasional

workout (they like to call them a WOD workout of the day) but in order to really

find out what its all about I needed to check out my local affiliate gym.

By Paul Mumford


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CrossFit is the brainchild of GregGlassman, a gymnastics coachbased in California who set up hisgym in Santa Cruz 18 years ago.

After studying the training routines of manyelite athletes he realised that compoundexercises (those that require many differentmuscles at once) coupled with high intensity

primal movement patterns are key toestablishing an elite level of fitness. Glassmandefines this as, work capacity across broadtime and modal domains. He then begandevising exercise routines using manydifferent methodologies including powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics andkettlebells. Many have questioned hisprinciples as dangerous but Glassmanexplains that it (CrossFit) can kill you; Ivealways been completely honest about that.However there are now enough peoplehungry for his way of training to support over5,500 affiliate gyms worldwide.

My local affiliate, CM2 in Chelmsford,Essex is run by Rob Manlove and his gymnow looks after a wide range of people withmany different goals. He began by explainingmore about Glassmans methodology.CrossFit is based around 10 general physicalskills: strength, speed, power, balance,accuracy, agility, flexibility, co-ordination,stamina and cardio-respitory endurance. Theidea is to build capacity in all of these skills,no one is more important than another. Ifyoure lacking in one thats seen as chink inyour armour. For instance, a lack of flexibilitywill prevent you from getting into the

positions required and a lack of strength willprevent you from moving the weight.

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Burpee Box JumpsStart by standing in front of the box and then send your legsback descending to a face down position on the ground withyour hips and chest contacting the floor. Now stand up and jumpwith both feet onto the box. Once on the box stand all the wayup, fully extending the hips and knees and showing controlbefore stepping or jumping down to start the next rep.


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I asked him about the type of people thattake part in CrossFit. Is it for everyone? Alldifferent kinds of people come with lots ofdifferent goals and although CrossFit is notdesigned to be sport specific, it will improveyour ability in many sports. For instance; wehave a basketball player, Kojo that comes hereand although CrossFit wont help to increase

his shooting percentage, it has certainlyimproved his co-ordination, balance, staminaand many other skills needed for his sport. Weaim to create a well-rounded athlete who iscompetent in a number of different skills.

CrossFit also promotes competition amongstits members. Kojo can compete againstsomeone like Helen, another of Robsmembers, who is in her late thirties and isworking to lose weight. Even though they bothhave very different goals theyre doing the sameprogramme and getting their own desiredresults. They can compete against each otherby lifting their own level of weight and going

head-to-head on endurance and time. Robadded, Generally people who do CrossFit arecompetitive in nature and because of that thisenvironment motivates them to push harder.

I spoke to one of Robs regulars, ChristineCope who is a 36 year old mother of two. HerCrossFit journey is a bit of a revelation. Idseen loads of stuff on the internet aboutCrossFit and thought it looked cool but wayout of my reach. Even though I knew therewas a gym on my doorstep it took six monthsbefore I built up the courage to get in touch.Now its like my second home. Its an amazingcommunity, more like a club than a gym.

So what has Christine achieved so far andhow does it really help a busy mum anyway?Pulls ups were a biggie for me and I reallylove the Olympic lifting, she said. At first thatseemed so difficult but because its technicallychallenging it gives me the opportunity to stepout of my everyday life and really focus onsomething Im doing for me. Before CrossFit Icouldnt do things like lift my children over myhead and put them on my shoulders. Theyresix and eight now and I can lift them noproblem. Its also helped me in many practicalways. If I get a puncture on my car, Im nowstrong enough to take the wheel off myselfand put the spare on. CrossFit is very relevantto my everyday life. UF

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Before CrossFit I

couldnt do

things like lift my

children over my

head and put

them on my

shoulders.

How to do a Power CleanSet-up: Start with your feet just outside hip-widthapart (try jumping up and down a few times to find yournatural foot position). Your hips should be slightly aboveyour knees, back flat, shoulders in front of the bar, eyeson the horizon and hands gripping the bar just outsideshoulder-width and evenly spaced. Then extend yourknees, ankles and hips to move the bar to the take-offposition, this should be a controlled movement. Armsshould remain straight and back flat at the same angle.

Take-off position: With the barslightly above your knees, armsstraight, back flat and shouldersstill in front of the bar, fully extendyour hips, knees and ankles in adynamic triple extension andshrug the bar upwards. Then dropquickly under the bar into thereceiving position.

Receiving position: The barshould now be supported on yourshoulders in the front rack positionusing your fingers solely as a guide.Feet in the squatting stance with

hips, knees and ankles in a quartersquat position. To achieve the finishsimply stand all the way up by fullyextending your hips and knees.


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The CrossFit GamesEvery year the cream of CrossFit across the globe enter TheCrossFit Games and this year over 100,000 people worldwide aretaking part. The competition starts at the affiliate gyms with a 5-week programme overseen by a judge. Then the top 48 male and48 female Cross Fitters go onto a regional heat in Copenhagenwith the top 3 from each region then travelling to California for the

CrossFit Games. A lot of the people in our gym aspire to makingthe games, explained Rob, but its very tough. I came 16th inEurope last year but one of our members here, Scott who is 42years old, is currently ranked 30th in the World.

What really impresses me about CrossFit is the attention andimportance they places on technique. Every newbie regardless ofage and experience goes through a thorough foundation coursethat teaches the basic skills required and the progressions neededto master them. All this is done before you can even start tocompete against other Cross Fitters. Rob and Christine both tookme through some of the basic movements including cleans, deadlifts and box jumps and Im not ashamed to admit that even Istruggled to keep up. Ill definitely be back for more. CrossFit isclearly not just for the boys.

Both Christine and I are wearing Inov-8s Bare-XF 260 shoes.They are designed with CrossFit in mind and have a zero drop heel(for optimum proprioception and balance) along with a Rope-Tecgrip system to help with rope climbing.

Dumbbell ThrustersHold one dumbbell in each hand at shoulder-height and squatuntil your hip crease is clearly below your knee (or belowparallel). Then thrust the dumbbells upward, fully extending yourhips, knees and elbows and locking the dumbbells out over yourhead. Your ankles, knees, hips, shoulders and the dumbbellsshould all be in a strait vertical line at the top of the movement.

Robs WODTry 4 rounds of the following:10 Dumbbell Thrusters:

20kg for men, 12kg for women.

12 Burpee Box Jumps:60cm/24" for men, 50cm/20"for women.

Paul Mumford is an elite trainer, writer andbroadcaster. He owns the Mumford Phys. Ed.Training company in Essex.

To find out more about Paul go to:www.mumfordphysed.com

Documents

Cross Fit Ultra Fit 2013-05 J_eng.pdf