8 Top Tips For CrossFit Beginners To Maximize Your workout

Have you recently gotten hooked on keeping fit? If so, you’re far from alone. Lots of people these days have come to really make physical fitness a core part of their lives, due to the many benefits of it that they have come to more fully understand and appreciate. Of course, we’ve always known that more and better-designed physical activity is ultimately good for us, but it’s arguably reached new levels of importance to people these days who have turned to exercise to help them endure the challenges of the very stressful modern world.

Different Types of Workout for Different Types of People

Different workouts will work for different people, too. This is because each type of workout that has emerged and gained a following for itself has different specific styles to be considered. Each type of workout tends to require certain skill or preexisting readiness levels, and target a different need as well. As such, a college student seeking to lose their freshman fifteen might have a different workout to consider than, say, a varsity player seeking to maintain their conditioning for a big game. Jogging, weights, and even the currently popular Crossfit styles will appeal to different people. Should you decide that you’ve had your fill of the traditional workout style and want to give Crossfit a whirl, here is our beginner’s guide to Crossfit with some ideas that might help.

8 Top Tips for Crossfit Beginners:

1. 1. Don’t worry too much about special gear or attire. One thing Crossfit is known for is how stripped-down it is to essentially the main principles of working out. If you have decent, reliable workout shorts or pants, snug tank tops or t-shirts, you should be good to go. Even these recommendations are only made because tends to be easier to move around without loose clothing flapping all over the place. Other than that, you’ll see the progress you want even if you don’t wear top of the line gear.
   2. Own it. It’s incredibly motivational to take on the nature of the workout and say so, rather than not even mentioning it. Don’t worry about people wondering if you just joined in because of the admittedly rather sweeping bandwagon – if it feels good and it works for you, it’s worth acknowledging.
   3. Feel free to ask questions. Crossfit is a funny gig in that there are even unique bits of jargon floating about characterizing it as a unique experience. This isn’t something deliberately done as a branding gimmick, either – every locale will have its own lingo, so to speak, and this is no different. Even outside terms like WOD and AMRAP, you might have certain questions about how things work. Feel free to ask others if there’s something you don’t know, and then pay it forward by answering questions for later newcomers.
   4. Get technique down pat, and then intensify. It’s incredibly motivational to take on the nature of the workout and say so, rather than not even mentioning it. Don’t worry about people wondering if you just joined in because of the admittedly rather sweeping bandwagon – if it feels good and it works for you, it’s worth acknowledging.
   5. Consistency and patience is the key. Results will follow suit after you keep at it long enough. It’s like any other workout in this regard – people don’t like Crossfit because it gets them results faster and more easily, no matter how they feel about it. If you’re serious about wanting results, give this about three months to start showing you growth, and then call it if you must. Quitting after a couple of weeks because you’re not feeling any different is counterproductive. For most beginners, though, a month is usually enough to indicate a good amount of change that proves encouraging enough for them to continue for even longer.
   6. Step up your double-under game. A double-under is skipping rope, and with each A double-under is skipping rope, and skip swinging the rope twice under your feet. This is a popular early WOD for Crossfit, and it’s easy to get frustrated because it can get kind of tricky. It’s a small tip, but this shouldn’t be underestimated.
   7. Let your body dictate your pace, not the RX. RX means ‘prescribed’ (in a reference to doctors’ prescription pads), and identifies the recommended weights or standards for whatever workout you’ve got. While it can be tempting to hold yourself up to that – and it does make sense to want to measure according to properly-determined standards – it can get counterproductive if you’re focusing on that over the more realistic. You’re doing this to improve your capabilities, so focus on that instead – use the RX as a point of reference, and don’t feel bad at all about scaling your workout based on where your abilities are actually at.
   8. Brace for bad days. No workout is perfect, no gym, no person. Ups and downs are just to be expected, and sometimes it really is going to suck. Exercise can take a toll, and it probably will, by design – you’re putting your body through a lot, after all. But keep the reason you’re doing this in sight, and make the most of the good days when they come (and they will, too – it’s not ALL difficult). You’ll find your mental toughness will grow alongside your physical toughness, and your outlook on life in general can be reshaped as well.