CrossFit was founded by former gymnast Greg Glassman from Santa Cruz, California. He discovered that using dumbbells and a barbell could get you stronger than using bodyweight workouts. He started working with individuals doing private training until he began to get overbooked. Doubling up on clients showed him that not only could he make more money, but the clients also enjoyed working out as a group more than individual training as well. As a result, the CrossFit community was born.
CrossFit wasn't officially established until 2000. The company's first affiliate was CrossFit North in Seattle. An affiliate is an organization that connects to another bigger organization. By 2005, there were 13 affiliates. Twelve years later, they have over 13, 000 affiliates across the world. Other gyms just fill up empty spaces with machines and weights that force you to learn and teach yourself how to get fit. People are eager to get fit and look good but they are stuck in a gym with no knowledge of how to perform any of the proper movements. CrossFit provides faculty and workout plans to fulfill your needs. At CrossFit, they teach people how to move their bodies, not how to move machines. CrossFit is a strength and conditioning program with the aim of improving things like cardiovascular and respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. CrossFit developed full-body workouts that combined high-intensity training, Olympic weight lifting, gymnastics, plyometrics, powerlifting, core weight lifting, and a lot more. All CrossFit workouts are based on functional movements, and these movements reflect the best aspects of gymnastics, weightlifting, running, rowing, and more. One of their specialties is not specializing.
Paolo, the person I interviewed, described CrossFit as a lifestyle. There's even a CrossFit diet that he takes part of. He doesn't eat bread and fried foods. On a regular day, his choice for lunch would be meat, steamed veggies, or a salad. For a snack, he eats nuts because they are high in protein. The workouts are so intense that without the proper diet, it could be very difficult to maximize your results. CrossFit changed his whole way of living. In the interview, I asked him, "Why he joined CrossFit, and what was his mindset going into the sport?" He said he was very excited and that he was finally going to get the personalized training we were going to get. Every time he walked into his gym, it was a new chance to learn more. He hopes one day to become a great athlete and maybe even a coach.
CrossFit is a different kind of sport because it's not about Ego. People aren't involved in bragging about how in shape they are. Paolo joined CrossFit because, in high school, he couldn't play the sports he wanted. When he got older, he wanted to get fit and play a sport, so he figured he would kill two birds with one stone and join this local CrossFit gym, LivLimitless. The motto...
