Konocti Crossfit: A Gentle Introduction
How is CrossFit Different?
CrossFit can be hard to explain because it’s nothing new. There is no secret to CrossFit — no magic that makes it different. In fact, not one single movement in CrossFit is out of the ordinary. We are essentially doing weightlifting, calisthenics, and gymnastic style movements. All of these things have been around for years. So, why does it work so well? A few reasons--
Absolute Simplicity.
There’s no special equipment or strategy. CrossFit is about pushing yourself to your personal limits, doing intense cardio and lifting a lot of weight. CrossFit is not a fad. It is pure physical fitness. We use minimal equipment at Konocti CrossFit. There is usually an elaborate pull-up rig, but not much else besides barbells, jump ropes, and weights, and very few machines. We are the machines. The current exercise industry pushes fads around at you or worse, creates new ones to market to you. While CrossFit has been labeled as a fad, we couldn’t disagree more. CrossFit is the opposite— it’s a return to simple physical fitness, without frills or complication.
Balanced Fitness.
We have 10 principles of fitness, and we are trying to improve you across the board with all of them. We do not want you to be the strongest, or have the most stamina or even the fastest speed — we want you to have a good balance of all of them. Life can be physically demanding in so many dimensions, and we want you to be better at all of them. The 10 General Physical Skills are: Cardiovascular and Respiratory endurance, Stamina, Strength, Flexibility, Power, Speed, Coordination, Agility, Balance, and Accuracy. CrossFit is also popular with the police, military, and fire for exactly this reason. In those lines of work you have no control over the situations you will be thrust into, so you have to be ready for any situation. CrossFit aims to prepare you for the unknown.
Pushing your limits, intensity.
There’s a good chance that we will push you harder than you’ve ever been pushed before. You will have mental blocks that CrossFit will constructively break down.
A human being will only get to about 80-85% of their max capacity by themselves or alone — your survival instinct to avoid pain just will not let you over that threshold. The group and coaching dynamics at Konocti CrossFit can get you across it. You’ll catch yourself doing things that you never thought you could do and it is the best feeling in the world. Whether you are a 17 year old or an 80 year old, intensity is relative. There is no can’t at Konocti CrossFit
The group dynamics of a workout are critical to pushing your limits, and the larger social aspect of the gym community pushes you to stay consistent over time. Anyone who has done home workouts knows that we are one excuse from procrastination—not here. You can, and so you do!
Tailored Training.
The workouts or WODs as we call them, are not random by any means. They’re programmed by a head coach at Konocti CrossFit. You go through cycles — you might see the same types of exercises showing up on the whiteboard for six weeks or so. These are programming cycles. Then you’ll do something else for a week, and then launch into a new cycle. There’s a method behind our madness and, in this sense, CrossFit is less like just randomly working out, and more like having a personal trainer watching over what you’re doing to make sure it is done correctly to limit error and possibility of injury. Programming means you are unable to hide from movements you don’t like. Hate burpees? Tough. Don’t like running? Suck it up, princess. The whiteboard does not play favorites, and it doesn’t care what types of exercise you secretly try to avoid.
Certified Coaches.
Each class has a professional coach who has done extensive training and been certified through CrossFit Headquarters (HQ). We give you a great deal of instruction, no matter what movements you’re doing or how many times you’ve done it. Yes, remedial power clean and jerk training might seem a little tedious sometimes, but it’s good to know what you are doing when you have a 150 pound barbell over your head. You are never on your own. If you have a question, ask. If you want to really work on something, schedule a personal training session.
Functional movements are a priority.
At Konocti CrossFit, the muscle size is NOT the point, the movement is. You don’t work on muscles here, you work on movements. A regular gym might show you an exercise or movement that isolates your shoulders and tell you “this will make it easier for you to lift things over your head.” At CrossFit, you just lift things over your head. That is not to say we do not have muscles—and pretty ones at that. We never work out our biceps directly. In a regular gym, standing in front of a mirror doing bicep curls is practically cliché. Here, the only way our biceps get worked is by doing pull ups, whether that be strict, kipping, or ring rows. Like everything else here, biceps are worked as the byproduct of a movement. Compound movements are our focus. The muscles will come, when you focus on putting in the work, correctly. That’s why most every movement is a combination. You will not workout muscles in isolation; rather you work out combinations of muscles as part of a functional movement. Why? Because this is how you move in the real world.
You wouldn’t get into a leg machine and move it around in some strange unnatural way to work one specific muscle to make you better at squatting, you just squat. Life isn’t lived in a machine — life is lived on your own two feet, so you should learn to perform movements that way.
Constantly Varied.
You never fall into a rut. Every workout is unique, and part of the fun is showing up and seeing what crazy thing we have for you that day.
Your body is not able to plateau because it constantly has to adapt to new things. You might do a certain movement or workout consistently for weeks, then not see it again for months.
Since you never know what’s coming, you are unable to hide from workouts or movements you don’t like, and you can’t use things you find easy as a crutch—it will do you no good. You have to be ready for anything.
Modified Movements and Scaled Workouts.
Each workout has a prescribed weight, movement, or number of reps; if you can’t do it, just do something else. There are generally accepted scaled movements, and you are welcome to use less weight if what we have prescribed is too much. We will modify your movements if it is too difficult. For example, if you can’t do a full squat, we will use modified versions of a squat such as squatting onto a box, or a few plates.
No one wants to see you get hurt, and if you can get a solid workout doing something else that stimulates those same muscles or region, that’s the whole point. So long as you’re doing something to keep working, no one cares that you are a scaled athlete.
It’s inspiring to see the range of athletes co-existing at Konocti CrossFit. You have 20 year old athletes right alongside 60 year olds just trying to stay in shape. Respect is measured on the effort and consistency you put in on the daily. All we ask is that you show up for the workout and leave everything you have on the floor, whatever that might be for your age, fitness level, or skills. Have injuries? Shoulders, knees, back? We have ways to modify movements that are appropriate for almost anything.
We are a family.
This one may seem odd after all the talk about intensity, but it’s not something to ignore. Here at Konocti CrossFit, we have made bonds through our blood, sweat, and tears of joy. We are here when you get your first pull up, when you lift your bodyweight in a deadlift, and when you have a bad day and finish last, we are here to cheer you on.
You won’t sit around a talk the entire hour, but a fair amount of catching up and chatting happens during warmups. If you’re consistent about a particular class, say 5:30pm, you start to know the regulars attending athletes.
In a larger sense, you will learn other athletes names, you’ll learn about their lives, and you’ll see them outside the workouts — a couple potlucks a year, the Christmas party, in house competitions, and local 5k runs, etc. In addition to being a gym, Konocti CrossFit is a community. Staying in shape can be hard, and it’s easier when you’re not walking that road alone.
Is Konocti CrossFit right for you? Yes.
If you’re looking for fitness that’s applicable to a wide range of situations and you want to do something fun, challenging, and with a unique sense of community, then Konocti CrossFit might be exactly what you have been looking for.
You are not too old, too young; too out of shape, or too uncoordinated. No more excuses. No more “cant’s”. You can do this, and we are here to show you how.