We shouldn’t be intimidated by fancy social media posts and impressive Games athlete’s performances. If we decided that CrossFit is not for us based upon those facts, we would deprive ourselves from the many benefits the sport has to offer.
Behind the massive athletes and the complicated workouts hides the principles of functional fitness which we can define as such: Functional fitness means that the goal of working out is preparing your body so it can perform daily activities — walking, bending, lifting, climbing stairs — without pain, injury or discomfort.
CrossFit is for any individual willing to acquire a healthy lifestyle through exercise and a unique community experience.
Everyone needs a support system The community in CrossFit is like no other. Weightlifters and gymnasts are in fact envious of how close everyone is, not just in one gym but all over the world. If we ever need to work out while on holiday, we can drop-in in any CrossFit affiliate and will instantly be immersed into the workouts as if we were at home. During training, we are never alone. There is always someone to motivate and cheer us on. When we quit on ourselves, the community takes the relay. It is a beautiful solidary environment.
Everyone needs to be accepted as they are No mirrors, no ego, no judgement. These values are not printed in any CrossFit gym walls but they are sure part of any member’s consciousness. When it is easy to feel scanned from head to toe when training at a global gym, in a CrossFit setting performance takes over looks. This means that whichever our body type or brand we are wearing, we will never be judged. When we are training, the focus is on the workout. How we look, which face we make doesn’t have any kind of importance (except perhaps to ourselves). It is liberating to move and learn new skills without being self-conscious.
Everyone needs to start somewhere 95% of people in a CrossFit class don’t have a fitness background and have never played a sport professionally before. There is no need to start working out to build foundations prior to attending a first class. Coaches are well aware that everyone start at different levels and it will never matter to them if there is anything we are struggling to do. On the contrary, they will always have our back and show, demonstrate over and over until it becomes second nature in our training.
Everyone needs to be fit One of the interesting factor of CrossFit is the fact that women, men, competitors, beginners, young adults, kids, masters, seniors, and disabled can all perform the same workout, at the same time, within the same time frame. The only difference is the type of movements which are infinitely scalable. CrossFit understands and spreads the word that any human being can become fitter than they were yesterday. All that is needed is the courage to believe in oneself.
Everyone needs a strong mind set Through the workouts, we learn how to push ourselves. One of the rules of our gym is that we are not allowed to quit before the timer goes off. It doesn’t matter if we slow down, break up the reps of take a brief break before getting back into it. What matters is to maintain that “I will not let my mind give up” mentality throughout the hour that we are in the gym.
This mind set is important because it not only gets us through a workout which will benefit us physically but it teaches us resilience. With CrossFit, we are able to push ourselves where we never thought we would have gone before.