Crossfit has been around since the early 2000’s, and many people are still wondering what is Crossfit, and that’s what we'll be going through.

Crossfit isn’t just a type of fitness, it’s a branded type of fitness created by Greg Glassman. Crossfit is a company that promotes a certain type of fitness. Crossfit is known as a lifestyle “characterized by safe, effective exercise”.

There are no strong people with weak backs. The muscles of the back – from the traps to the glutes – are essential for performance in CrossFit. 16 Minute Tabata Workout » A Healthy Life For Me. But after using it for one week we can say that the magnetic machine. CrossFit Kids is coming to Tern next week! The CrossFit Kids program is a fun and interactive way for kids to not only become more fit, but also learn how to move more efficiently.

Crossfit is a lifestyle fitness program, and is a community of people all looking for a healthier lifestyle, Crossfit gyms are franchised, meaning they can be found all around the world.

What is CrossFit and how does it work?

Like we said before, Crossfit is a gym franchise and is known as a lifestyle choice. Crossfit is a franchise gym all around the world, with the goal of allowing you to reach your best.

For new members and anyone looking from the outside, crossfit can look quite confusing and hard to understand. But we are here to explain it to you.

Crossfit is a high-intensity exercise program that varies between an aerobic, strength and many more different types of exercises. Everyday at a Crossfit Gym, there is something called the “Workouts of the Day”.

Everyday, there is a variety of Workouts of the Day, and the workouts will vary depending on your fitness level, age and injuries. The program is modified for each person specifically to help them become healthier and fitter, which is the end goal of crossfit.

Everyday will test something different, and there are thousands of crossfit affiliates around the world so it isn’t hard to hop straight in and get to working out.

What is CrossFit used for?

Crossfit can be used for a variety of things. Crossfit is used for a “better lifestyle” bringing in fitness and nutrition into one place.

Crossfit describes itself as “constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movement” using exercises such as weightlifting, running, rowing, aerobic exercise and much more at high-intensity.

Overall, crossfit can be used for whatever your looking for, but it is seen as a lifestyle and a way to become much healthier and improve your fitness.

How to start crossfit?

There are a few different ways to start crossfit.

Firstly, you definitely do not need to be fit to start CrossFit. When you start training, a coach will help you and adjust the workout to your fitness level and age.

Crossfit has over 15,000 Gyms across the world, and there are thousands of coaches. Crossfit trainers have to get Crossfit credentials to coach, so you know there are good at what they do.

12 Week Crossfit Workout

So to start Crossfit, just look up a crossfit near you, and you can just rock up or book a trainer that will help train you. But if you feel uncomfortable going into a gym, there are ways to do Crossfit at home with their vast courses and online Workout of the Day, it is possible to start crossfit at home.

Is CrossFit any good?

This question really is a matter of opinion, but we’ll give you both sides of the story.

Crossfit can actually be really effective. If you’re really invested in fitness and want your world to be surrounded by fitness, Crossfit is like the cult of fitness.

Depending on the coach you work with and your dedication, it can definitely help you get in shape and reach your lifestyle goals.

But if your looking just to gain pure muscle and lose weight, a normal gym is seen to be a better option, as Crossfit is more of a lifestyle choice rather than trying to get buff.

Crossfit can be bad and good, depending on the lens you take on it and what you're looking for. It is an expensive program, and you also have to consider that. But if you’re dedicated and ready to create a new lifestyle for yourself, crossfit could be for you.

Is CrossFit dangerous?

One of the most controversial things about Crossfit is whether it is safe or not, and this is something not to be taken lightly.

We have looked at both sides of the spectrum, looking at a wide variety of sources to decide whether it is safe.

Within 15 years, Crossfit has created the largest gym chain in history, and for good reason. One of the most prominent reasons for this success is: It promotes more than just fitness, it promotes a whole lifestyle.

But, the fitness part can be dangerous at times. Every since Crossfit became popular its high-intensity and making people push to the limit has been seen as dangerous at times. In a 2005 New York's Time story, the founder of Crossfit even admitted “it can kill you, I’ve always been honest about that.”

Crossfit really does push you to the edge, and sometimes mental strain and physical strain can lead to injuries, and there have been countless injuries from crossfit.

But if you get a good coach, that knows limits and the more you train with a coach, the more they will learn your limits. Crossfit is the overarching brand, but it really is about the coaches, and you will learn this quick. Try different coaches if you don’t think your coach is right for you!

Is CrossFit good for losing weight?

If you do it right, Crossfit can actually be quite effective for losing weight.

Crossfit WODs (Crossfit workout of the day) can set you up to burn calories, and you don’t really need to change the workout plan to lose weight, as you’ll already be burning calories.

The workouts are accessible for anyone, allowing anyone to lose weight, but you will be pushed to the edge. With the workouts being quick and efficient, Crossfit is a good way to lose weight, but there are some negatives that you have to be aware of.

12 Week Crossfit Program For Seniors

It is a well known fact that Crossfit has a high-risk of injury, with crossfit workouts including high-risk activities combining with pressure. It is not a safe workout and definitely not the safest way to lose weight, so make sure you care and know your limits.

Another thing to take into consideration is that Crossfit is competitive in nature, and it can be overwhelming for many people. If you are intimidated and mentally not ready, you will not be able to lose the maximum amount of weight and you won't be able to push yourself if you don’t.

Too Summarise, if you are dedicated and love the competitive nature of working out and want to lose weight, Crossfit is definitely an effective method to lose weight. If you are looking for a more safe and casual way to lose weight, there are many other ways to lose weight.

Is CrossFit good for beginners?

This is a quick and easy answer.

Because Crossfit can be varied depending on your age and fitness level, if you’re a beginner to fitness, crossfit is quite good as it will introduce you to the fitness world quite quickly.

Crossfit can be varied if you are not at a good fitness level yet, and will help bring your fitness level up, so yes, Crossfit is good for beginners.

How many days a week should you do CrossFit?

This answer can vary. It depends on your body, and how long you’ve been crossfit for.

Crossfit recommends that new members workout 1 to 2 times a week to get used to the intensity and let your body recover. Dedicated members can workout 5 times a week, but it depends, to grow your muscles you have to let them rest.

The statistics for the average members is they attend crossfit 2-3 times a week, and this a good attendance rate, and will get you the best results.

How much does crossfit cost?

The normal gym might have a price of $10-$15 dollars a week, crossfit is much more expensive.

A normal Crossfit membership can set you back around $150 dollars per month, which is a lot more than any other gym. If you are into fitness, it is worth it as it really surrounds you with everything fitness. But if your a casual gym attendee, forking out $150 per month is not worth it.

Crossfit is quite expensive, so take that into consideration when thinking about attending crossfit.

Why is CrossFit so expensive?

A perfect follow on from the last question, why is crossfit so expensive?

Crossfit didn’t just come up with this price, the price is actually quite fair for what it gives you. Crossfit comes with a coach, group/personal training is always going to be expensive no matter what. The equipment used is crossfit is also top quality and all these reasons combine to make up why crossfit is so expensive.

Crossfit is a lifestyle, not just a workout.

Conclusion

We hope we have cleared up crossfit for you, and helped you understand the in-and-outs of crossfit and what it really is. Crossfit is the largest gym chain in the world, and it can’t be overlooked, we hope you understand what crossfit is now!

There are no strong people with weak backs.

The muscles of the back – from the traps to the glutes – are essential for performance in CrossFit. Everything from weightlifting to gymnastics or even strongman exercise will require a strong back and great control.

Today, we’re going to discuss some of the best, simplest ways to strengthen your back for CrossFit. These range from warm-ups and gentle beginner’s training to some of the most advanced and effective techniques for strengthening these crucial muscles.

Contents

How to Train the Back for CrossFit

The back breaks down into a few key muscle groups/movements that you need to cover to maintain balance. We’re going to discuss these, how they relate to your training, and what you should be doing to train them.

Starting at the bottom, the glutes and lower back are essential for posture. This is all about keeping a neutral spine – especially the lower, or lumbar, region where most serious injuries occur. The glutes are also involved in hip extension – the process of opening up the front of the hips that we see in a deadlift or clean.

The upper back has two key roles: pulling in a rowing or pull-up motion and supporting weight overhead.

The first is important for the gymnastic skills you need in CrossFit – being able to pull up, transition into muscle ups, and build strong lats/rhomboids is key. These keep your upper body balanced, support the shoulders, and even play a role in keeping the spine neutral.

The second is all about strong supporting muscles around the shoulder blades, or scapula. These are key for Olympic lifts which require you to support seriously heavy weights overhead, as well as handstand push-ups, and any pressing.

The workouts below aim to work all of these movements in some way, often combining them and building up the entire back at once. These can be added to the end of a workout 1-2 times a week for additional strength work. This will carry over to every area of your training as postural strength, increased explosiveness, and can improve knee/spine health.

1. Preparation and Power

This is a workout aimed at increasing power, coordination, and involving the hips in dynamic exercise. It’s also light enough that it provides a good workout for the beginner, but a great warm-up for the advanced athlete. If you’re sufficiently advanced, it could even be a good form of active recovery on rest days!

The focus continues to be on involving the whole back in this workout, but in a way that doesn’t load too heavily, and is based on developing athletic characteristics. It’s not about brute strength but making sure that you’re using everything correctly. This is going to show up in the rest of your movement and contributes to a well-rounded physique and performance.

5 Rounds, 2min rest

Inverted Row – 10 reps

Overhead MedBall Throw – 5 reps (for height/distance)

Banded Crab Walk – 6 reps in each direction

Banded Good Morning – 20 reps

2. Basic S&C

This workout is a bit more focused than the previous session. It focuses on similar principles of movement and strength together, but with an increased focus on the type of training, you’d see in an elite athlete’s program.

The ring row is the main strength exercise, working the essential pulling muscles of the upper back in a way that builds towards more-effective chin-ups and pull-ups. If you’re still working on getting your pull-ups, this is a great scaling/progression exercise.

The medball throw and Kettlebell Swing work on strength and power under fatigue and increase the endurance demand of the workout. This is great since the ability to perform long workouts – or repeated bouts of intense output – are key to CrossFit training.

For Time

Ring Rows – 50 reps

Rotating Medball Tosses – 50 reps (25 each side)

Kettlebell swings – 50 reps

These are 3 of the most important exercises for balancing the most commonly neglected movements and muscles: the upper back, rotational exercises that combine the core and back, and the hip hinge using the hamstrings/glutes. Training these 3 simple exercises can make big changes to your posture and health.

The focus of the workouts should always be quality and this is no exception. Try and get 50 clean reps as fast as possible – quality takes precedence over speed. The best way to approach this is as sets of 5 for both ring rows and med ball tosses, while the kettlebell swings should be completed all at once.

3. The Best Basic Dumbbell Back Workout for CrossFit

This is the simplest way to hit all of the muscles of the back without using a barbell or other objects. We’re only going to use the dumbbell with this workout – and it’s going to be incredibly effective.

Using the dumbbell is a great way of building unilateral strength – the arms are tasked individually and you have to make sure you control them more actively. This is great for addressing imbalance and keeping your posture and physique balanced.

The movements we use in this exercise – row, snatch, and press – work the 3 major sets of muscles from extension to rowing/pulling to overhead stability. This makes it a very quick, effective workout that can be added to the end of your WOD and completed in a short space of time to add more back volume/stability to your training.

4 rounds, 90s rest:

Dumbbell Row – 10 reps (Each side)

Dumbbell Snatch – 10 reps (Each side)

Dumbbell Press – 10 reps (each side)

These are simple to do, and you should work with a weight that feels like about 80% of your max 10reps on the first round. It’s going to feel very tough by the last round, so don’t over-do the weight. If you want to make it harder, add pauses to the top of each movement.

4. Barbell Trio

Once you’ve had some “fun” with the dumbbell workout, try a barbell version that relies on heavier weights with a lower stability challenge. It’s a great way to increase your strength and provides a number of different stimuli that you might not see in your CrossFit training very often.

There’s a mixture of basic rowing and overhead stability in the first pair of exercises for this workout: the behind-the-neck push press is a great way of working overhead stability in a way that is specific to weightlifting movements, as well as handstand push-ups.

The Pendlays row finishes this workout off with a pulling motion to work the muscles more and ensure that you’re getting plenty of volume where it counts.

Press – Walk – Row, AMRAP – Rounds, 8min time cap

Behind the Neck Push Press – 5 reps

Overhead Walk – 1 length

Pendlay Row – 5 reps

5. The Death March

The most effective, unpleasant, amazing exercise in the world for the lower back is the death march.

Used and popularised by USA Weightlifting coach Glenn Pendlay, this is an amazing exercise to train the muscles of the back through the full range of motion. While most exercises focus on a neutral spine, this relies on intentionally moving the back from straight to round and then back again.

It also gets the hamstrings and upper back working in a secondary role, making it a great exercise to train the whole back. We’ve put it after a pair of key exercises – the stiff-leg deadlift and the chin up – as it is a brutal finisher and you’ll not want to train anything else after the death march!

1. Strength Duo, 4 rounds, 2min rest

Stiff-Leg Deadlift – 6 reps

Chin-Up – AMRAP

2. The Death March, 4 rounds, 90s rest

Death March – 2 lengths

This is a tough workout, so make sure that you’re only doing this workout 1-2 times a week when you have a rest day afterwards. You’re going to have a sore back, glutes, and hamstrings. This can be a real risk for injury during other exercises, so be sure to rest and recover well.

6. Snatch and Kettlebells

This workout revolves around the brutal Weightlifting assistance exercise – the Snatch RDL. It combines the difficulty of a regular snatch grip deadlift with the increased focus on the glutes and hamstrings that come with the conventional Romanian Deadlift.

It’s a great exercise for overall back development and, when performed correctly, transfers beautifully to the Snatch. It’s another difficult exercise that’s going to really challenge you. However, we’re following it up with a tri-set of Kettlebell exercises: the row, swing, and cluster.

This is a rough workout and it’s the first one we’d call “intermediate-advanced”. It’s definitely not for beginners, but if you’re familiar with CrossFit training, this is a great workout to build serious strength and stability in the whole back.

1. Snatch RDL, 4 rounds, 90s rest

Snatch-Grip RDL – 6 reps

2. Kettlebell Trio Workout, AMRAP, 3 minutes per exercise

Kettlebell Row

Kettlebell Swing

Focus on keeping the back locked in position in each exercise. There are really no scaling options for this workout, which is why it’s aimed at more experienced athletes. You can start performing this with 15-20kg for the snatch deadlift and a light kettlebell, but you need to be able to keep the proper positions in the snatch portion of the workout.

7. Jacked and Pumped

This workout is a simple two-piece workout that focuses on strength lifts followed by a circuit of exercises that are designed to focus on size in the pulling muscles. This is a great way to combine training of the movement and coordination of big exercises, while also building muscle quality and conditioning the joints for future loading.

This type of combination is common in high-level athletes, who focus on a combination of movement quality and tissue-change. These are the two aspects of getting strong, and you can’t afford to leave either of them out if you want to get better at CrossFit.

1. Heavy Weights, 4 rounds, 60s rest

Hang Clean Pull – 6 reps

Stiff-Legged Deadlift – 6 reps

2. Pulling Pump, AMRAP: 4 rounds, 1min per exercise

Chin Up

Ring Row

This covers all of the muscles discussed at the start of this article in ways that are essential for building up back strength and positions. Combining the stiff-legged deadlift with the clean pull is a great way to cue the proper balance through the heel, as well as using the hips to control positions in the top of the clean.

8. Total Back Training

As you might have guessed, this is a workout that covers everything from swings to rows and even includes some light squats. It’s not just about building strength in the muscles of the back – but also about incorporating these changes into other crucial movements. The muscles of the glutes are a key aspect of back training, but obviously also control the movement of the knees.

Moving from specific to general, this workout also provides excellent prehab options and ensures that your movement and muscles are being trained specifically. If you’ve got time and you’re ready to build some serious, functional back strength then this is the way to go.

1. Movement Trio, 5 rounds, 2min rest

Snatch RDL – 6 reps

Kettlebell Swing – 12 reps

Paused Goblet Squat – 10 reps

2. Rows and Flyes

Ring Row – 20 reps for time

Reverse Flye – 30 reps for time

As you become more advanced it may be possible to replace the ring rows in this workout with chin-ups to ensure you’re working more specifically and translating your work to the competition movements.

This is a workout that should be performed once a week at most – it will be a seriously tasking workout to recover from. You’re likely to feel some fatigue in the back after this workout so makes sure it’s performed the day before a rest day. This is a common note on these exercises because the lower back muscles are relatively small and easily fatigued.

Managing recovery is a key part of making these strength workouts productive – you won’t get stronger if you don’t recover from each training session.

9. Big Pump Back Chipper

This workout is a cross between a regular descending chipper and a bodybuilding back workout. It’s a high-volume, to-failure workout. These shouldn’t be a big part of your training as they can really challenge your recovery ability. However, when you’re experiencing a stall in performance and need to provide a big stimulus, this is a great way to do it.

As Many Rounds As Possible, 12 minutes

Rubish Row – 20 reps

Chin up – 20 reps

DB Snatch – 12 reps

Chin Up – 12 reps

Kettlebell Swing – 30 reps

Ring Row – 30 reps

This is a workout where the main focus is getting every rep to count. The timer is mostly going to be an upper limit as you should be able to get at least one round done. If you can do more, we strongly recommend it. As this is a to-failure workout, the best way to go is to keep going until you physically cannot complete another rep.

If you get to a point where you are failing before a single round, you should scale the movements and keep the reps. This means swapping out chins for ring rows earlier on, etc. to make sure you’re getting through at least one round.

10. Descending Pairs

This workout consists of 4 pairs of paired exercises that decrease in difficulty. It is likely to be about the same levels of overall volume as the previous workout, though it brings a lot more structure to the training session and isn’t about going to fail in the same way.

While it’s still going to be challenging, there’s an end-point. This means that you should be able to perform this workout more often and have a better idea of how it’s going to feel each time. This is a great alternative for advanced lifters who like to work within a more structured program.

If you’re trying to monitor your training volume and work towards a well-rounded training program, this is a fantastic workout for building and monitoring strength.

1. The First Pair, 3 rounds, 2 mins rest

Muscle Up – AMRAP

12 Week Crossfit Strength Program

Stiff-Legged Deadlift – 10 reps

2. The Second Pair, 3 rounds, 90s rest

Chin Up – 10 reps

Kettlebell Deadlift – 15 reps

3. The Third Pair, 5 rounds, 90s rest

Ring Row – 10 reps

Kettlebell Swing – 20 reps

4. The Fourth Pair, AMRAP – Rounds, 60s rest

Kettlebell Row – AMRAP

Banded Good Morning – 20 reps

These are dedicated to the different movements that we discussed above – striking a balance on each essential category – and adding additional volume for strength and size. This is a key way of making sure that you’re still making progress as you get tired. You’re going to have to gear-down as you get through the rounds, so we scale down after each pair!

Final Notes

Crossfit Program For Beginners

Having a strong back is crucial for better exercise and health. The way that this shows up in your training is through better posture, better control, and a much-improved extension in everything from running to weightlifting.

The muscles of the back – especially the glutes and scapula – are key to balancing out the muscles and joints that we’ve allowed to become weak and imbalanced in modern life. This approach to training the back is pro-strength, but it’s also designed to counter the acquired diseases of poor posture, joint injury risk, and debilitating lower back pain.

12 Week Crossfit Training Program

Train with an eye on quality and recovery, and these workouts will provide a great selection of ways to improve your strength, endurance, and resilience to injury. We’re firm believers that proper training in the posterior chain is enough to solve a lot of problems with training and your whole lift.

Being more human starts with solving the symptoms of an unnatural, inactive modern life!