CrossFit was founded by Greg Glassman in the 1970s. He was a gymnast who realized that he could get ahead of the competition by expanding his exercise regimen. He added dumbbells, cycling, and other aerobic exercises. Glassman opened his first gym in the year 2000 in Santa Cruz, California. Soon he was no longer able to train clients one-on-one because of the number of people booking spots at his gym. He began group training and “incorporated his multidisciplinary approach to fitness.”
The first affiliate gym was opened in Seattle, Washington. In 2005, there were 13 CrossFit gyms. In 2012, that number had grown to 3,400 gyms worldwide.
Workouts are different every day and are tailored to each individual. CrossFit is “characterized by safe, effective exercise and sound nutrition.” Focusing on creating a more overall athletic person, CrossFit has been growing in popularity over the last few years.
“CrossFit is the principle strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.” CrossFit is ideal for people who want to achieve overall fitness through steady, consistent progress. The workouts vary every day and are designed to be scalable to each athlete.
The CrossFit Open is a worldwide competition for all Crossfitters. “The CrossFit open consists of five workouts over five weeks.” Athletes complete each exercise and submit their best score within a certain period of time. All scores are ranked in order to find the fittest athletes to move on to the next levels of competition.
The following is from fellow TPSer and avid CrossFitter, Lauren Knudsen.
“CrossFit is just straight up awesome, and it doesn’t just train for something; it trains for everything! Each workout provides a unique physical and mental stimulus, and that combined with consistency over time, together form incredible progress. Coaches also emphasize the importance of quality in all movements, which provides a thorough starting place for beginners to learn and keeps the advanced athletes accountable on every rep.
In the year and a half I have been a member of “Always Forward CrossFit,” it has made a tremendous difference in my overall athleticism. From shaving nearly 7 minutes off my 5k time… getting my first toes to bar and double unders, to improving the strength and technique in all my Olympic Lifts, it is fascinating to see the progress and it is easy to enjoy the process. Training at CrossFit has also easily translated into the other sports I play and pushed my mental endurance to another level.
I personally love CrossFit for the constant variety of fun workouts, awesome community of people and coaches, and constant overall improvement that I can easily apply in my other sports.”
Homeschool mom, Amy, and her daughter, Grace, are active CrossFitters.
“CrossFit has brought us together as a family because we can all go to the gym and do a workout together. Fitness is an important part of my life and I love being able to share that with my girls. The girls have learned a lot about Olympic lifting and that knowledge will help them as they become adults, because they are not “scared” of the “big” weights.
Grace likes CrossFit because of the friends she has there and because it keeps her body healthy.”
Interested in learning more? Visit crossfit.com for more information!
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