As the summer is around the corner, and since I have been sitting on my bum to much... it was time to pick up the exercise regime again. Other than the occasional run and bike ride it was time for a little more routine.
With a few others in the neighborhood we picked up Cross Fit. It is combines weightlifting, sprinting, gymnastics, powerlifting, and rowing to improve a strength and conditioning. Through that it adresses ten general physical skills: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy.
The cool thing is that work outs are 20minutes or less, a time slot that pretty much everyone should be able to slot in on a daily basis. With those short timeframes you are expected to go full on for your set. Which I find satisfying both physically and mentally....yes just to push out that one extra repetition. One of the things I like is that most of the exercises are natural movements, so not too many strange tools to be used. This makes it quite suitable for people doing lots of business travel as well. Many hotels do have some sort of gym facility, and else things like sit ups, push ups and burpees can be done at the hotel room.
It uses either a maximum number of movements during a time frame, or a shortest time for a set sort of approach. This keeps the competitive element in there. There are a number of benchmarking sets to check whether you are progressing or not.
Although I do see the value of the short bursts, I have yet to see how endurance will pick up. For example, how does it improve performing at a high level for say an hour or more.
So far am enjoying the ride as there is a big area for improvement!
