How to Work out with the Crossfit Program

CrossFit is a strength and endurance conditioning program that was founded in California to improve the physical fitness military and police personnel, but people at any skill level can participate and be challenged by the work out. To get started, there are some key exercises that are essential to the CrossFit program. By combining some of these exercises into a single workout, you can increase both your metabolic endurance and overall strength. 

Steps

1. 1
   Do some yoga stretching. Flexibility is very important to those doing a cross fit workout. Before you begin the routine, focusing on the hip flexors, lower back, and hamstrings.  Some good poses to try include:
   
   

   Gym Workout

   • Warrior pose.
   • Forward bend.
   • Head to knee.
   • Standing splits.
   • Side stretch.
2. 2
   Start with weight exercises. For an effective crossfit workout, choose two exercises that truly challenge you. Generally, a basic barbell move, like a squat or bench press, paired with an olympic weightlifting move, such as the deadlift or snatch, is a good way to go. Be sure to choose weights and exercises that really challenge you. 10 to 15 reps of each exercise should be enough. Some options to try are:
   • Squats.
   • Bench presses.
   • Overhead presses.
   • Deadlifts.
   • Snatches.
   • Clean and push presses.
3. 3
   Move on to full body exercises. These can use bodyweight, resistance bands, or medicine balls. Depending on the length of difficulty of the exercises, you can choose to do between two and four different ones. Ideally, each exercise will employ a variety of muscle groups rather than focusing on one section of your body. Do as many reps as you comfortably can, but note that if you can comfortably do more than 50 you should increase the difficulty of the exercise.  Here are some ideas for exercises to do:
   • Pull-ups.
   • Push ups and push up variants.
   • Jump Squats.
   • Medicine ball lunges.
   • Medicine ball figure eights.
   • Medicine ball sit ups.
   • Resistance band squats.
   • Bicep curls with a resistance band.
   • Resistance band back rows.
   • Depth jumps.
   • Thrusters.
4. 4
   Design your workout. Once you have chosen the different exercises you want to do, plan how you will do them. There's no real right way to do this, but there are a few guidelines that are good to follow. Consider staggering less challenging exercises between the more challenging ones. An example of a workout plan would be: 10 reps of a heavy exercise followed by 15 reps of a less challenging one. Repeat for 5 rounds. You can also get creative with the routine, such as starting with a large number of reps and decreasing the amount you do each set.
5. 5
   Come up with a weekly plan. You should plan on training 4 to 5 days a week. Which days you choose are up to you, with some guidelines. don't train less than 2 days in a row or more than 3 days in a row. Some examples would be to work out Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and rest Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, work out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday and rest Sunday and Thursday. or work out for 3 days in a row and then take a rest day.
   • Know that working out more than 3 days in a row will cause your intensity to go down. It's more beneficial to give 100% 4 to 5 days a week than to give 50% every day.
   • Don't push yourself harder than you need to. If you're just starting out, it's okay to just workout every other day. Continue this routine for 2 to 10 weeks until you can workout 2 days in a row for every 1 day of rest without feeling overly sore or fatigued.