CrossFit vs Real Life – 3min Read

When it comes to CrossFit and real life, I like to term things like this:  “I want you to be able to do what you want to do without fitness being your limiting factor.”

I don’t want you to have to turn to your kids and say, “daddy needs a break.”  I don’t want you to have to say, “mommy doesn’t have the energy, right now.”  And if you don’t have kids and want to, say, go explore the outdoors…

…well, you need a certain level of fitness there, as well.

So, how can CrossFit cover these bases and help you become the best functioning version of yourself?

Functional Fitness

Functional fitness, to me, is reflective of whatever your daily life requires:  chores, hobbies, sports, activities, or whatever.  More specifically, you can put these things into categories of human movement:

1. Pushing movements
2. Pulling movements
3. Squatting or lunging movements
4. Hinging movements
5. Loaded carries or gait movements
6. Rotation and anti-rotation movements

How About Some Examples?

Chores:

• Lifting mulch or rocks when you’re landscaping?
  • Hinging and pulling movements
• Moving those same rocks from the driveway to the back yard?
  • That is a loaded carry of some kind
• Carrying groceries into the house?
  • Another loaded carry – and all in one trip, of course!
• Shoveling snow?
  • This is a bit of rotation/anti-rotation, though it is probably all the human movements combined

Hobbies:

• Golf?
  • Rotation/anti-rotation and hinging
• Mountain biking?
  • You could make arguments for a gait-type of motion as well as lunging and pushing movements
• Skiing?
  • Depending on the type of skiing, this pretty much encompasses everything

Sports:

Generally, to function at any level of sport in a safe and durable manner, you need to have all these movements in your arsena, consistentll.  But, here are some quick examples:

• Throwing sports?
  • Rotation/anti-rotation movements
• Running sports?
  • Gait movements and probably loaded carry type of movements
• Jumping sports?
  • Hinging, squatting, and lunging movements

So, Why CrossFit?

When you train at Iron Hero CrossFit, our goal is to ask you to do things that are beyond what your daily routine requires.  Why?  If you are trained beyond what you need, you will be more equipped to handle it when it arises.

The point is this:
Even if you don’t train at a CrossFit gym, you need to make sure you include these general movements in your training – pushing, pulling, hinging, squatting/lunging, gait/loaded carries, rotation/anti-rotation movements.

You will be stronger, more durable, and you likely won’t need to worry about having to stop because you ‘have to.’Want more guidance from one of our amazing Personal Trainers?  Click HERE to set up your free No Sweat Intro to start 2024 with a bit of a headstart!