An everyday challenge! A training that is dynamic, different and fun.
A combination of Olympic gymnastics, weight lifting and aerobic exercise. It is the Crossfit training method, developed by the North American coach Greg Glassman, which emerged in the 1990s in the United States and, a few years later, arrived with its full force in Brazil, in order to lead the practitioner to know and overcome his or her limits daily, as well as in life.
According to the Physical Educator, James Gramiscelli, co-owner of Annex CrossFit in Belo Horizonte, and ambassador of Reebok in Brazil, there are 350 crossfit gyms throughout the country, performing functional movements of high intensity and with constant variation. “It works as a collective class, divided in warming up, practicing of a technique or strength training segment, and the WOD (workout of the day), known as a challenge of the day,” he says.
The athlete will come across with differentiated training practice of strength, flexibility, speed and stretching, using specific equipment such as bars and Olympic rings, kettlebells, free weights, ropes, boxes, balls, tires, rings, rubber exercise bands, chains and more. “Every movement has its adaptation so that everybody execute the target exercise, but in its proper intensity,” says Gramiscelli.
The success of CrossFit comes from the variety of the exercises proposed, thus escaping the monotony found in other activities such as weight lifting training. And the benefits are obvious, says Gramiscelli : “It improves the physical conditioning, cardiovascular (respiratory) and muscular endurance, strength, flexibility, precision, power,agility, balance, coordination and speed. Also, there are the aesthetic purposes as fat reduction and mass gain. “
This result can be seen when faced with an everyday situation as when you play ball with friends, carry groceries, climb stairs or pick up your child in your arms. CrossFit athletes generally have their fitness above average in health and quality of life.
This strength training is used in many police academies, groups of tactical operations such as SWAT, special operation units of the US military, by martial arts champions and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.
Perhaps it’s because of this that many lay people consider CrossFit a program that is too heavy and with a good chance of hurting you.
But the ambassador of Reebok ensures us that there are risks in any sport, it is for the coach and the participants to understand a person’s limits, and to make the necessary adjustments in all the exercises to an individual’s own pace.
The idea is to promote health! Moving the body in a healthy way, in full workout training, for you to evolve physically and to be in a good state of mind.
American children are also entering the world of “crossfit kids”, just because the sport provides the feeling of “street game”, not much practiced these days because of video games and many other stimuli.
This opportunity to live experiences like jumping boxes, jumping, climbing and passing under strings, transferringlight weights from one side to the other, interacting with other kids, makes the classes enjoyable, more motivating and with great challenges.
So, when the training becomes fun, it gets even better. The quality of life is not only associated with physical exercise and healthy eating but also to do something new, to try and to be happy in what you identify yourself with. How about challenging yourself?
Article by Patricia Albuquerque. Collaborator Journalist of Blog Sport & Health
Want to know more about crossfit? Follow the Crossfit Brasil website.
