If you’re looking for an intense fitness regime, to quickly and safely get yourself into shape you might want to consider crossfit. In an effort to better understand what crossfit is I took a class and although it will leave you sore and stiff the benefits are worth it.
Crossfit is one of the newest fitness regimes working its way into mainstream culture. In North America it has already taken off in popularity and it has arrived to Nosara as well. It’s intense, daily and punishing but those who practice it, called ‘crossfitters’ swear by the regime.
At its core crossfit is a functional fitness program designed to work all your muscles and their layers in an intense and direct way. By using different workouts every day, crossfit provides a diverse exercise regime.
For those in Nosara, crossfit has found its way here. Brenda Burnside who runs the Enchanted Forest boxing gym has recently set up a Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning class at 10:30 intended to introduce people to crossfit.
The class was born from demand she had from some of her students in other fitness classes who were looking for something more intense. She gave them just that.
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Ian Britton completes a pull up during his fourth round at a crossfit class at the
Enchanted forest on Friday 13. |
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Brenda Burnside, owner of Enchanted Forest, demonstrates some of the new
exercise equipment she has in her gym. In addition to being used as strength
training |
I personally had never attended a crossfit class before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Although I am not an elite athlete, I’m not in poor shape either. To put it simply, crossfit destroyed me.
The workout of the day I took the class she chose to complete 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 whole sit-ups and 50 squats, and then repeat that cycle five times. The goal was to complete 100 pull-ups, 150 push-ups, 200 whole sit-ups and 250 squats in half an hour. I collapsed about two thirds of the way in.
The next two days were spent in recovery with very tender muscles the feeling immediately after the work out and the recovery was great. There was this new sense of strength from one work out. Plus a strange lingering desire to keep tackling that workout until I could complete all five rounds in half an hour.
Burnside says she likes crossfit because it fits in with her philosophy about fitness. As a boxing and pilates instructor she believes the best way to work your muscles is through, ‘functional exercise.’ Which in a nutshell means exercise that allows natural muscle movement with resistance.
Crossfit’s premise though is also about intensity and working through the pain, ideally a crossfitter will try to complete one work out per day despite the pain. These workouts can be found in gyms and online.
In part the workout of the day is another reason for crossfit’s popularity, people who grow bored and lose motivation by doing the same exercise’s every day will find crossfit to be a nice change of pace.
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