For this segment we will be listening to a podcast interview with John Romano’s thoughts on drus use in the relatively new sport of Cross fit.CrossFit is a branded fitness regimen created by Greg Glassman and is a registered trademark of CrossFit, Inc., which was founded by Greg Glassman and Lauren Jenai in 2000. Promoted as both a physical exercise philosophy and also as a competitive fitness sport, CrossFit workouts incorporate elements from high-intensity interval training, Olympic weightlifting, plyometrics, powerlifting, gymnastics, girevoy sport, calisthenics, strongman, and other exercises. It is practiced by members of over 13,000 affiliated gyms, roughly half of which are located in the United States, and by individuals who complete daily workouts (otherwise known as “WODs” or “workouts of the day”).

CrossFit is a strength and conditioning program consisting mainly of a mix of aerobic exercise, calisthenics (body weight exercises), and Olympic weightlifting. CrossFit, Inc. describes its strength and conditioning program as “constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity across broad time and modal domains,” with the stated goal of improving fitness, which it defines as “work capacity across broad time and modal domains.” Hour-long classes at affiliated gyms, or “boxes”, typically include a warm-up, a skill development segment, the high-intensity “workout of the day” (or WOD), and a period of individual or group stretching. Some gyms also often have a strength focused movement prior to the WOD. Performance on each WOD is often scored and/or ranked to encourage competition and to track individual progress. Some affiliates offer additional classes, such as Olympic weightlifting, which are not centered around a WOD. CrossFit programming is decentralized but its general methodology is used by thousands of private affiliated gyms, fire departments, law enforcement agencies, and military organizations including theRoyal Danish Life Guards, as well as by some U.S. and Canadian high school physical education teachers, high school and college sports teams, and theMiami Marlins.

“CrossFit is not a specialized fitness program, but a deliberate attempt to optimize physical competence in each of 10 recognized fitness domains,” says founder Greg Glassman in the Foundations document. Those domains are: cardiovascular and respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy.CrossFit appeals to both men and women alike and a recent statistical analysis showed that CrossFit participants were almost equally 50% male and 50% female

In many ways, that question lies at the heart of CrossFit training. The programs jack of all trades, master of none approach defines the strategy it uses to achieve fitness. Glassmans early athletic experiences directly influenced CrossFits goal of achieving greater work capacity across broad time and modal domains. In CrossFits view, the goal is not to achieve specialized abilities and fitness that applies to one particular set of movements. The goal is general physical preparedness.

The CrossFit ethos holds that adherents train to enhance 10 key physical qualities: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance and accuracy. This list may be well-known to the CrossFit community, but members of that community will be the first to tell you that its borrowed from Jim Crawley and Bruce Evans of Dynamax, makers of the medicine balls found in boxes across the nation. However, early CrossFitters understood that they could build these skills by incorporating movements from a variety of disciplines: gymnastics, weightlifting and sprinting or high-intensity work in various forms, among them. In addition, CrossFit also emphasizes repeatable, measurable results. There is heavy emphasis on specific weights, specific distances and specific movements over specific times. This allows for a clear measurement of performance.

In 1995, Glassman established a gym in Santa Cruz, Calif., and that same year, he was hired to train the Santa Cruz Police Department. Most of his civilian work had involved private training with individual clients. But as he began to get overbooked, he started doubling up clients and found that not only could he make more money (charging a reduced rate to two clients still equaled more money per hour for him), but those clients also often enjoyed the group activity. He found that he could still offer enough individual attention to each client to ensure safe and effective training. Thus the CrossFit community was born.

CrossFit was formally established in 2000. The companys first affiliate was CrossFit North in Seattle. By 2005, there were 13 affiliates. In 2012, a mere dozen years after the company started, there are 3,400 affiliates worldwide.

From its early days, CrossFit sought to create workouts that simulated the feelings athletes and fighters felt during real competition. As Glassman described in a 2009 discussion, coming off a two-minute gymnastics routine in front of judges, you felt spent but had to look solid and strong or points were deducted. The short-duration, high-intensity workouts of CrossFit achieved that goal. Athletes often say that the workouts simulate the feeling at the end of a competitive event. Law-enforcement officers will describe a CrossFit workout as similar to a foot pursuit and fight with a suspect. Fighters will tell you that these Workouts of the Day are similar to the feeling of being in a fight. In fact, the WOD Fight Gone Bad was named when that particular routine was developed for mixed-martial arts fighter B.J. Penn.

The WOD known as Fran (21-15-9 of thrusters and pull-ups) is an example of this intensity. Glassman has described developing this workout in his garage as a teenager. He did the workout and promptly threw up. As soon as he was able, he jumped up and ran to his neighbor, brought him over and put him through the same routine.

As all CrossFitters know, Fran is not the only WOD with a girls name. There are other names, of course, including the Hero WODs, named for those whether military, police or firefighter who lost their lives in the line of duty. But girl-named WODs tend to be benchmark workouts designed to measure improvement through repeated, regular appearance in your medium- and long-term regimen. They first appeared officially in the CrossFit Journal in September 2003, and that early list included Angie, Elizabeth, Barbara, Chelsea, Diane and Fran. The motivation for naming them, as Glassman said in December 2009 discussion, was simple: He wanted to be able to explain the workout once to his group, give it a name, and then refer to the name next time the workout came up. Its easier to say Fran than to say a front squat into push press followed by pull-ups.

Why give them female names? Glassman has said that Fran leaves you crushed and exhausted and joked that any workout that leaves you flat on your back, staring up at the sky, wondering what the hell happened, deserves a girls name.

The CrossFit Games have taken place every summer since 2007, and the growth of the games has been faster than a CrossFit champions Fran time. At the initial games in 2007, first prize was $500 and the male and female winners were James Fitzgerald and Jolie Gentry. In 2010, with a sponsorship from Progenix, first prize was $25,000. In 2011, with Reebok as the sponsor, the games went online and the Open round debuted. For the first time, the CrossFit world was divided into various regions, and athletes posted times to narrow down the field, with the best competitors (based on their online scores) moving on to the Regionals, where they competed head-to-head in an effort to move on to the finals. In 2011, the top prize was $250,000, and the games were televised on ESPN. This year, the prize purse totals $1 million, and thousands of hopefuls entered the Open.

CrossFit has taken the fitness world by storm not only by becoming popular (jogging was popular, step aerobics was popular) but also by clearly defining what fitness means. With its solid, functional movements, clear results and growing popularity, CrossFit looks like it will remain fitness champion for years.

5 Killer Crossfit Workouts

ByCassie Smith

Love it or hate it, CrossFit has found its place in the fitness world. Not sure what you think about it? Before you decide, try one of these workouts.CrossFit requires a certain level of “crazy.” Not serial killer crazy, but crazy in that hardcore, “won’t quit ’til I’m dead, and even after death I’ll burst from my coffin and train like a freaking machine,” kind of way.Because CrossFit workouts can be so brutal, I sometimes feel damn near silly for almost killing myself three times per week. Generally speaking, however, I’m proud that I can kick more @ss and take more names than “Joey Dudebro” doing curls in front of the gym mirror.

WOD, WTF?

If you’re a CrossFit virgin, you’ve probably never heard of a WOD, or workout of the day. Basically, you can head to a CrossFit gym or check out CrossFit online to grab a complete daily workout.

I don’t always do the CrossFit-prescribed WOD; sometimes I fish through the backlog and look for particularly brutal sessions. Otherwise, I might chat with CrossFit vets and get the lowdown on an awesome workout.

These 5 CrossFit workouts have stuck out in my mind, maybe because my body keeps reminding it.

Some were chosen because they are difficult, others because they are fun, and others because they’re an excellent demonstration of what the human body can do.

So drop the dumbbells and give these WODS a shot, I dare you!

Kalsu

1)Barbell Thruster– shown with kettlebells – 1 set, 100 Reps for time (w/ 5 Burpees on the minute, every minute. Start with Burpees.)