Justin Rundle Talks about Cross Fit
If you’ve ever engaged in an exercise program you know there’s lots of them out there. Amongst the workout jungle of Yoga, Insanity, aerobics ect…there’s one I discussed in detail with fitness expert Justin Rundle called CrossFit. So what exactly is CrossFit? CrossFit describes its strength and conditioning program as “constantly varied, high intensity, functional movement,” with the stated goal of improving fitness. There’s always the definition then there’s the reality of an exercise program. I hope you enjoy Justin’s article on this challenging strength and conditioning program
As my wife and I have contemplated the decision to try CrossFit over the past few years, there have always been a few lingering questions holding us back. Will CrossFit interfere with our mass building regimen for bodybuilding? Are their injury preventive techniques taught during CrossFit workouts and exercises? Also, what are the odds of the two of us being able to compete in an event as big as the CrossFit Games? Unfortunately, we bought into some of the negative hysteria surrounding CrossFit and from that we allowed our own inflated concerns to hold us back in the past. However, this was the year for change! Even though we did not start CrossFit until a week ago, we did change our mindset for a more powerful and positive attitude (thanks to books like The Secret, Power of Positive Thinking and The Four Agreements) embracing positive motivation and a new determination to conquer life goals. One of these goals, to embrace CrossFit to its fullest!
Recently, we have been attending local CrossFit classes, starting with CrossFit 509 then CrossFit Spokane. So far, we love it! Our first concern listed above is no longer an issue. Due to our long history as athletes and fitness professionals, we are starting CrossFit with an adequate amount of lean mass and muscle maturity. We are in a prime position to be molded into elite CrossFitters. With the overall demands of the workouts and blend of training day to day, we do not believe we will lose much ground if we want to continue competing in Men’s Physique (men’s physique is a much leaner look then typical bodybuilders) and Women’s Figure. In fact, due to the variation of workouts as well as the incorporated power lifts, we will probably improve our muscularity. We are still adding some of our original lifting routines to CrossFit, but working on the appropriate blend to not interfere with optimal recovery time.
What about preventing injury? I hear most of the exercises are high impact, or Olympic lifts? Well, both of these factors are true, but the workouts are scalable. Also, each workout consists of warm-up exercises geared towards flexibility and mobility. That being said, I have worked with clients in the past who have had some severe joint injuries prior to training. For them I would recommend building up to an adequate level of balanced total body strength. After that, they could go for it. As stated on www.crossfit.com, “The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We’ve used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs. The needs of Olympic athletes and our grandparents differ by degree not kind. Our terrorist hunters, skiers, mountain bike riders and housewives have found their best fitness from the same regimen.” For specific sports goals, I believe there are programs better tailored to the team sport athlete. However, for most fitness goals CrossFit is ideal.
One of the main factors that lead us to CrossFit is the growth of the sport and the visibility of CrossFit on ESPN for the Reebok CrossFit Games. Everyone should have fitness goals, no matter what those goals are. Without them, it’s difficult to stay healthy or strive for improvement. With CrossFit being scalable, the ultimate level of the sport is trying to qualify and compete in the games. We realize that a number of the movements require impeccable technique and routine practice, but if it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth it. Nor would it keep our attention.
Follow along as we dig deeper into CrossFit staple workouts and record our experiences and progress. If you have an urge to try CrossFit, go for it! You’ll never know until you try. Remember, everyone starts a new program at some basic level. So that being said, true triumph is self-improvement.
You can follow along at Rundle Performance Training: www.jrunfitpro.com, Facebook: Rundle Performance Training or Twitter: @JRUNFITPROoCOM.
Popularity: 1% [?]
