The methods of losing weight, burning fat, gaining muscle, and developing physique is as old as time. The first known story of any type of weight lifting goes back to the greek, in which a man carried an ox on his back from calf to adult to prepare for an upcoming fight. Beautiful isn’t it? ..Growing together. Teamwork makes the dream work. You may be asking yourself: whats the best way to lose weight, gain muscle, and have a healthy cardiovascular workout all in one without having to block them separately; and that my friends, is the birth of cross-fit. High intensity, circuit training; hitting as many as 4 muscle groups during a single workout, with minimal rest in between reps/ sets; and training can either be strength (low rep) or volume (high rep).
In the gym in honor the quote, “never sacrifice balance and symmetry for size” -Lee Haney (8 Time Mr. Olympia). With that being said, volumetric strength training is my specialty. The benefits of cross-fit go beyond gaining lean muscle mass, or burning fat in those hard to reach places (midsection, thighs, love(ly)- handles, or even getting an intense hour of cardiovascular training which will improve & enhance your mood, sex drive, and overall quality of living. Health is a life style, maintaining ones body is your own medicine. The saying goes, make time for fitness, or make time for illness, and that couldn’t be more true. Many illness have been proven linked to obesity (natural and unnatural), so with that said i would credit fitness to your own necessary survival.
Doing cross-fit not only gives you a sure quality workout, but also leaves you feeling like you accomplished more than if you had a basic structure of weight lifting, or doing cardio on the elliptical, or the same workout routine you run bi-yearly. The idea of cross-fit is to CHANGE IT UP PEOPLE! To NOT DO the same thing, the same workout, set, routine, IS CROSS-FIT. Think outside the box, get out of your bubble, and get on your toes.
Cross-fit involves much more core control, stability, and strength than just basic training. It involves and engages nearly every muscle in your body, but core is key; without it we would all keel over. Think of your abs as a girdle; we all have them but some are just more visible than others; its whats on top (or not) of the abs that makes them so coveted. Without a strong core you will be prone to weakness all over; like a tree, the trunk is the foundation.
Cross-fit, in my opinion, could be one of the healthiest, most effective ways to burn fat and get in shape while having the body you’ve always wanted or greater if done effectively. I’m talking you need to leave it all at the gym every time, every set, every workout. Give it your best, all, sweat your brains out till you nearly pass out or puke; and if you puke do some more until you pass out. You cant have the body, the health, and peace of mind that you will prevent illness and have a strong, healthy heart and body, without the price to pay, and that price is your blood, sweat, and tears (mostly sweat in my experience, little blood, and some tears; but also factoring in x which is the occasional vomit). Cross-fit is very mainstream these days, especially living in Hollywood (land of hot bodies), there is a local cross-fit gym on every corner, classes at nearly every gym, and countless articles and methods being written and developed by the hour. cross-fit is the next aerobics of the 90s. We’ve all seen the videos and remember.
Cross-fit has a huge public, and health appeal; its highly beneficial, and can be modified to fit each person individually based on strengths and future strengths (no weakness; out of sight out of mind). Which means it only exist if you believe it does, and when training with me, it doesn’t. For those who want to spice up your workout routine, or throw a little curveball in your physique, I’d definitely recommend adding a little bit of cross-fit in your life. Work those dormant fibers, turn slow twitch to fast twitch, have better abs, a stronger, tighter, leaner physique, and over all greater gym confidence. Be quicker, faster, more explosive, more muscle responsive. Cross-fit goes beyond standard weight training with your average 3 sets of 15 reps, with 5 workouts.
Cross-fit is the grail of athleticism and or fitness; ESPN even going as far christening THE CROSS-FIT GAMES. There is no end to your cross-fit workout career, or max rep, or any basic goal in which you don’t surpass. In my experience it always seems to exceed what you’re chasing, and is practically endless. There is always a new ideology, you can always be more in shape, have a better time, do more reps, go higher weight. The idea is to push yourself beyond capable thought; its a never ending conquest with limitless potential. Cross-fit is fun, new, exhilarating, fast-paced, and extremely challenging (if you let it be).
For those wanting to take your health & fitness to the next level, learn cross-fit. For those wanting to be in the greatest shape possible with strength, and endurance; do cross-fit. For those who want to be in lose weight, burn fat, and get back in the swing of things; do cross-fit. It can be done: outside, inside, with weights, balls, bands, kettle bells, calisthenics, stairs, rope, bars, jumps; basically whatever you’d like, really, but the most effective “cross-fit” way would be; to find a way to join them all and make a workout with the entire tool box not just the hammer. That itself, is cross-fit in a nutshell. The most well rounded athlete on the planet would be an athlete who trains cross-fit chew on that for a minute. Where do you think p90x, insanity, even tae-bo, are stemmed from? Many of these workout fads and trends are based on cross-fit methodology, with have a high rate of circuit training. Circuit training is the bread and butter of any cross-fit workout (hitting multiple muscle groups, with minimal rest in between, working your body and muscles both anaerobically, and aerobically).
The idea of cross-fit is very basic, but the deeper you get, the more advanced your workouts become. Your muscle recovers 90% with-in the first 10seconds; remember that when venturing off in to the world of cross-fit. You CAN do it. Push you body, and mind; and be the best in which you are meant to be. A body in motion stays in motion, so get up and get moving!!
Here is your cross-fit sample pack!! (if you’re a boss you will do each bracket thru and thru with 2min rest at the end of each section. if you’re kind of a boss you can take 1-2min rest in between each workout)
A.
5min- Endurance jumprope, or speed rope for the less experienced (warmup)
4min- Stair variation (every stair/ skip a stair) (weighted or unweighted based on experience; i carry 90lb load)
3min- 15lb weighted ball variation (underhand ball toss to the sky + ball slam) switch every 30sec throw/slam
2min- 16lb sledgehammer to tire (or tree stump in my world) switch stance every 30sec
1min- Speed/ punch extension with 10lbs in each hand (goal is 60)
B.
5min- jump rope 2min + 1min of box/ bench jumps + 2min high knees jump rope
4min- Resistance band variation: IMO (inner, middle, outer), mixed with single arms rows, and tricep kickbacks; rotate every 30sec.
3min- Ball variation ( throw against wall, slam to ground, toss up) rotate every 30sec.(remember we are going for reps here)
2min- Sledgehammer; switch stance every 15sec (going for numbers)
1min- 10lb open air arm bicycle (upper body conditioning)
C.
5min- Jump rope 2min (high knees) + 1min bear-crawl + 1min box jumps + 1min high knees (HIGH INTENSITY)
4min- Step ups 1min, polymeric push ups till fail 1min, stair jumps 1min, reverse stair climb (head facing down climbing up stairs) 1min
3min- Ball variation (big circles, push from chest, slam, throw, toss) rotate every 30sec.
2min- Sledgehammer (switch stance every 30sec)
1min- 10lb Speed punches
D.
5min- High knees jumprope 2min, lunges 1min, 2min rope high knees high intensity
4min- Stair variation: Bunny hops up stairs, every stair / skip a stair, big jumps, high knees (rotate 30sec)
3min- Resistance band variation (pull apart, pull up, over head, behind butt (over&under hand), row, or curls (30sec spurts)
2min- Sledgehammer (switch stance every 15sec) (going for numbers)
1min- Reverse stair climb, or arm bicycle (your choice just make sure you’re near-puke status and give it all)
BONUS***8min Abs:
1min- plank ( all limbs touching or 3, or 2; based on experience)
1min- reverse crunch
30sec- kick outs (knees to chest then extend straight out not dropping feet below 12″
30sec- open/ close (legs 12-15″ off the ground straight on open and close working the hip-flexors and lower abdominals)
1min- V-Ups with medicine ball transferring from hands to feet each up (or can use weighted ball)
***REPEAT***
