What Is CrossFit?

CrossFit is elite fitness for EVERYONE. Our coaching is based on the CrossFit program originally developed by renowned coach, Greg Glassman, after years of coaching clients from all walks of life.

Here at CrossFit Allegiance we are dedicated to being the best that we can be in every aspect of fitness. Our program incorporates constantly varied, high intensity, functional movements. We train to increase the 10 Components of fitness. Workouts are scalable, so the first time CrossFitter to the veteran can complete the same workout by simply changing the load and intensity. These workouts will deliver phenomenal fitness in and of themselves or can be added to a specific sport's training.

The definition of fitness is to be suitable for any and all given physical tasks, even the unknowns that life may present. This definition comes from the challenges that life throws us daily, not from the weight we can lift at the gym.

Our movements are functional and date back to our ancestors (pushing, pulling, squatting, jumping, running, throwing, etc.). By training with these functional movements, we can recondition our bodies to function in the manner we were intended. Nature tends to blur the line between "cardio" and strength training, as do we with CrossFit.

You will not find machines inside the walls of CFA. You will find, dumbells, kettlebells, plyo boxes, medicine balls, and pull up bars; we have all the things that you need to be your fittest. Our workouts are not routine, they are always different as routine is the enemy.

Our functional movements are truly functional…they are universal motor-recruitment patterns. They are multi-joint and multi-muscle. They are safe, effective, and are movements that radiate from core to extremity.

After movement patterns are taught, we can then execute them at high intensity. How high is high? Relatively high. We are able to move large objects, long distances, and quickly. Force multiplied by distance divided by time equals power. Intensity is just that…Power.

Our methods are measurable, viewable, and repeatable. We are an open-source Program within our CrossFit Community. We are an evidence based fitness Program that is empirically driven, clinically tested, and community developed.

Rarely will we do the same thing so the chance of boredom is greatly reduced. Our workouts are usually no longer than 45 minutes so they fit into any busy schedule. Our clients have seen great improvements in their athletic ability, body composition and overall well being. (see Testimonials link)

We want to see everyone succeed and reach levels of greatness while still having FUN!!! To learn more about the science and success of CrossFit, download the free issue of the "Crossfit Journal".

Crossfit's 1st Fitness Standard

There are ten recognized general physical skills. They are cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. You are as fit as you are competent in each of these ten skills. A regimen develops fitness to the extent that it improves each of these ten skills.

Importantly, improvements in endurance, stamina, strength, and flexibility come about through training. Training refers to activity that improves performance through a measurable change in the body. By contrast improvements in coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy come about through practice. Practice refers to activity that improves performance through changes in the nervous system. Power and speed are adaptations of both training and practice. Power and speed are adaptations of both training AND practice.

Crossfit's 2nd Fitness Standard

The essence of this model is the view that fitness is about performing well at any and every task imaginable. Picture a hopper loaded with an infinite number of physical challenges where no selective mechanism is operative, and being asked to perform fetes randomly drawn from the hopper. This model suggests that your fitness can be measured by your capacity to perform well at these tasks in relation to other individuals.

The implication here is that fitness requires an ability to perform well at all tasks, even unfamiliar tasks, tasks combined in infinitely varying combinations. In practice this encourages the athlete to disinvest in any set notions of sets, rest periods, reps, exercises, order of exercises, routines, periodization, etc. Nature frequently provides largely unforeseeable challenges; train for that by striving to keep the training stimulus broad and constantly varied.

Crossfit's 3rd Fitness Standard

There are three metabolic pathways that provide the energy for all human action. These "metabolic engines" are known as the phosphagen pathway, the glycolytic pathway, and the oxidative pathway. The first, the phosphagen, dominates the highest-powered activities, these are activities that last less than about ten seconds (e.g. box jumps). The second pathway, the glycolytic, dominates moderate-powered activities, those that last up to several minutes. The third pathway, the oxidative, dominates low-powered activities, those that last in excess of several minutes.

Total fitness, the fitness that CrossFit promotes and develops, requires competency and training in each of these three pathways or engines. Balancing the effects of these three pathways largely determines the how and why of the metabolic conditioning or "cardio" that we do at CrossFit.

Favoring one or two to the exclusion of the others and not recognizing the impact of excessive training in the oxidative pathway are arguably the two most common faults in fitness training.

Crossfit's 4th Fitness Standard

The fourth standard of fitness is that a fit person is better than healthy. Nearly every measurable value of health can be placed on a continuum that ranges from sickness to wellness to fitness. Though more difficult to measure, we could even add mental health to this observation. Depression is clearly mitigated by proper diet and exercise. Done right, fitness provides a great margin of protection against the ravages of time and disease. This continuum is based on measurements like blood pressure, body fat, cholesterol, bone density, triglycerides, etc.

Glassman, Greg. What is fitness.
Crossfit.1(2): 2.2002 Oct.1