HARD!!! Physical Training

[bruno]

I spent yesterday watching the Crossfit NorthEast Regional competitions just outside of Boston (At the Raebok headquarters campus in Canton, MA). The CrossFit program isn't for the fainthearted- but you are sure in good shape if you take it up
For those of you who are looking to really get across- the- board hard, you might want to look up a Crossfit gym near you. This approach really stresses the whole body along with endurance. It is not an entry level fitness program though- so make sure that you are in reasonably good condition before you start.

Video from the Regional competition- I'm not sure whether to describe it as insane or grueling- but it's the hardest 22 minute workout I've ever seen and the competitors are doing 2/day of this type of workout.
http://games.crossfit.com/region

[Bullet]

Lots of guys (and gals) I know in the fighter community have taken up Cross-Fit as their exercise regime of choice. Equally builds up strength and cardio, which is a huge benefit for the High-G type of sorties we normally fly during training.

Me? I'm on the "No-fit" regime. Involves a lot of e-mails and PowerPoint...

[tpg]

Now I like to "think" that I am still in decent shape. After all I can still do at least one pull up for each year of my age.

But that cycle they show on there event page is crazy! You will not find me out there doing any hand stand push-ups.

[pilot2b]

Originally Posted by tpg

Now I like to "think" that I am still in decent shape. After all I can still do at least one pull up for each year of my age.

But that cycle they show on there event page is crazy! You will not find me out there doing any hand stand push-ups.

Wow tpg! I'd say anything over 20 deadhang pullups is pretty good.

[BillSL]

Originally Posted by Bullet

Me? I'm on the "No-fit" regime. Involves a lot of e-mails and PowerPoint...

Well, it warranted your awesome signature, so 'twas well worth it...

[GoArmyBeatNavy]

I have heard some great thing about crossfit. I have also heard some scary things. Service friends of mine who do it recommend working with a local gym as Bruno recommended. They teach the correct form. Great article about it here.

[bruno]

The workouts are really grueling. Timed events, it's not like the rather leisurely 3 sets of 12 reps of various lifts followed by a run, kind of workouts that most folks follow. Although this is a little more extreme than the daily cross fit workout (for example workout #4 had a max time to completion of 22 minutes and the best time of that event was 16 minutes !) - it gives you a very good idea of the philosophy. Your daily work outs are really only about a half hour long - but it's not unusual to see a few folks from the group bent over heaving at the end of it. You truly work till exhaustion. As I said - it's not a program that I would just go into without some reasonable level of fitness already in place and although they post the workouts daily- I don't see how you could do this on your own. But it's definitly a program that gives you really usable strength and fitness and it's very popular in the Army and Marine Corps for that reason.

[BigBear]

Crossfit is great right up until you hurt yourself by overtraining with poor form. A certified crossfit trainer is really only someone who paid cross fit and sat through a seminar once. The time based workouts with so many reps and relatively light weight encourage poor form, especially if you are being trained by someone who sat through a slideshow once. If you look at the cross fit games, the people that win all have prior lifting experience through college athletics, conventional weight lifting, etc.

Bluf- cross fit will not give you big muscles or improve your two mile time, and has the potential to cause serious back, shoulder, and knee injuries