If you’ve paid any attention at all to the recent trends in the fitness world, you’ve probably caught wind of the emphasis on the importance of constantly varying your workout routine. You may even have noticed a lot of coaches and trainers focusing more on shorter duration, high intensity programs over the more traditional long, drawn-out sessions on weight machines, followed by 30 minutes or more on a stair climber or similar piece of "cardio" equipment. If you’ve really been paying attention, you may have even heard of this thing called "Crossfit," and are wondering what all the fuss is about.

Put in its most concise terms, Crossfit is a series of constantly varied, highly functional exercises, covering a full range of motion, done at moderate-to high intensity (depending on your current fitness level) over a relatively short duration, in a highly coached group environment. A typical Crossfit workout will contain a strength-building component (e.g something with a barbell or dumbells), something aerobic (jumping onto a box or over an object, rowing, work with a medicine ball, running, etc), and maybe something gymnastics-oriented, like push-ups, pull-ups, or dips. There’s typically no rest between exercises, and everything is measured - either the total workout time, or the number of repetitions, so you can monitor your progress. The typical workout time is fifteen to twenty minutes, which doesn’t sound like much, but believe me, the first time you try it, you’ll be amazed how complete a workout you can squeeze into this amount of time.

If this sounds intimidating, there’s another key element of Crossfit that alleviates this fear – its remarkable scalability. All of Crossfit’s workouts are designed for everyone to use exactly the same basic technique, but, by adjusting the weight, or by incorporating specific assistance strategies, the most seasoned couch potato can perform the exact workout, in term of form and technique, as the most elite Crossfit-trained athlete. In fact, our central mission at CrossFit Southwest Austin is to make the CrossFit approach to fitness accessible to everyone, regardless of their current fitness level.

So how does a Crossfit facility compare to a standard big box gym? In most ways, it really doesn’t. The question that pops to mind when walking into a Crossfit gym for the first time is probably "Where are all the machines?" A Crossfit gym is surprisingly sparse, underscoring its emphasis on getting the most efficient workout possible using a minimal amount of equipment. It’s not empty by any means (it’s not a "boot camp" in other words), but there are no rows of single-function machines. Actually, Crossfit more closely resembles personal training, but, in many ways, it’s a better workout than any personal training session, because the small-group environment fosters just enough of a competitive spirit to provide that bit of extra motivation. And the coach is always there to make sure everybody is using the correct technique, and to provide the appropriate encouragement. Yes, Crossfit costs more than a traditional big box gym (the coaches have to be paid, after all), but it’s far less expensive than personal training.

So what does this all produce in terms of fitness, as compared to a traditional gym? Remember how I mentioned how highly functional the exercises are? How many times have you had the experience of, after months of feeling pretty good about sticking to a fitness routine, finding yourself facing a household chore like an hour or two of raking the leaves, or maybe teaching one of the kids to ride a bike? And how depressing it was to discover how incredibly sore you were the next day? It’s not supposed to work like that, right? "I’ve worked too hard to get myself in too good of shape to be this wiped out after just stacking some firewood…" But with Crossfit, the exercises mimic the natural body movements associated with picking objects off the ground, standing up from a squatting position, lifting objects overhead, pulling yourself up onto things, jumping, running, etc. You not only feel and look great, but you achieve a level of usable, functional strength and endurance simply not possible with the standard big box gym approach, no matter how many isolation curls you do, or hours on the stair climber you log.

Want to learn more about this incredible workout, or better yet, experience it first hand? Just do a search for the nearest CrossFit affiliate in your town. And if you just happen to live in or near Austin, Texas, and get ready for a workout experience that’s head and shoulders above anything you’ve ever had