Every Cross Training Athletes is concerned about their performance, how long they take to recover, and their overall health. However, one of the most important and often overlooked components is the diet. Nutrition and especially vitamins play an important role in determining how effective your Cross Training Athletes training, performance, and recovery will be. Some essential vitamins and minerals play a cornerstone role in fitness and health and as such should be integrated into your daily meals and lifestyle. Understanding how important each of these vitamins and minerals is and where you can source them from makes everything smooth and easier for you. Vitamin C This is one of the leading vitamins. It helps in strengthening your immune system, regulating the iron absorption rate, as well as neutralizing and stabilizing the free irons coming out of the oxidative process. Vitamin C has also been associated with stress reduction which helps out in recovering from the high-intensity workouts much faster.  This vitamin can also be acquired from foods such as strawberries, melons, kale, kiwi, cauliflower, oranges, broccoli, pepper, and guavas. The daily demand for vitamin C is about 100 milligrams which is equal to 1 kiwi fruit. Since the body doesn’t produce or store Vitamin C, you need to include it as an essential part of your Cross Training Athletes diet. Vitamin D Vitamin D is at the forefront in assisting your body system in absorbing phosphorous and calcium. These are essential minerals in enhancing your capacity to generate testosterone. Bone development, immune functioning, muscle development, and the reduction of inflammation are all attributed to the work of vitamin D. The sun is the most significant supplier of this vitamin, and because people do not spend as much time outside, there is a danger of running into vitamin D deficiency. Research carried out by Harvard University showed that close to a billion people are already at risk. Apart from sunbathing, fatty fish, dairy products, eggs, and pork are essential sources in the Cross Training Athletes training. The daily demand is 15 micrograms which is equivalent to 3 ounces of salmon. Iron This mineral helps in transporting oxygen. It forms a critical component of hemoglobin, the substance responsible for carrying oxygen and red blood cells. You can find iron in seafood, red meat, dark green leafy vegetables, peas, beans, oatmeal, and even dried fruits such as apricot and raisins. During Cross Training Athletes WOD, a lot of iron is lost through sweat. Women require about 18 milligrams of iron per day while men need only 8 milligrams. If this is not met, chances of you experiencing headaches, dizziness, fatigue, and weakness are high. Calcium This mineral strengthens your bone health and plays a crucial role in muscular contraction. Calcium powers some essential processes like nerve transmission and blood coagulation regulation. You can find it in milk, cheese, spinach, yogurt, kale, and broccoli. The daily intake is 100 milligrams. Calcium deficiency may result in heart problems and bone weakness. To sum up the above, you should also consider including magnesium in the diet of your Cross Training Athletes. It helps in blood coagulation, relaxation of muscles, bone and cell formation, as well as energy production. The daily recommended intake is 300 to 400 milligrams which is equivalent to two cups of boiled spinach. You can find in nuts, avocados, bananas, fish, leafy vegetables, mineral water, and dried fruits.  

Simply defined, a pull-ups exercise is a compound CrossFit workout which engages a wide range of muscles from the shoulders to your back and arms simultaneously. It is also easier to perform in terms of instructions because all you have to do is to grasp a bar with a firm grip and your hands kept apart by a distance equivalent to the width of your shoulders. The initial position is to allow the body to hang freely from the bar. The next movement involves pulling yourself upward to attain the final position where the chest touches the bar while your chin rests on the bar. When pulling, it is essential to concentrate on keeping your body aligned and straight, avoiding any instance of swinging or arching. While performing pull-ups, you have the option to cross your fit, bend your knees, or keep your legs straightened. What you should avoid is your feet touching the floor. Pull-Ups Variations As you have may have rightly guessed, there are a lot of different ways you can do pull-ups while doing the CrossFit workout. The section below explains some of the common ones you are likely to encounter in a gym. Wide Grip Pull-Ups This variation is mainly used to work your lats in addition to your biceps. Performing wide grip pull-ups comprises grasping a sturdy bar with a firm grip while your hands are separated from each other by a distance of approximately two times the width of your shoulders. When you separate your hands with such a distance, the emphasis on working your lats is stronger. As you perform this variation, it will do you a lot of good to focus on utilizing your lats in pulling your elbows towards your rib cage. Close Grip Pull-Ups This is one of the best CrossFit exercises for working your lower lats. Instead of a wide distance separating your hands, the distance is narrowed, and this is critical as you focus on emphasizing your lower lats. When ascending, you should concentrate on contracting your lats while at the same time being careful not to lean too far backward or swing your body. Underhand-Grip Pull-Ups As mentioned by some experts from CrossFit workout, this is for emphasizing your biceps. It is achieved by varying the degree of grip separation between wide grip and close grip. This exercise is done with an underhand reverse grip. The palms of your hands should be facing you during the workout. While in the initial position, try as much as you can not to overly relax your muscles because this can stress your shoulder joints. As always, your legs should be straight, crossed, or bent, but don’t swing back and forth. Gorilla Chin This variation targets your abdominals and biceps. The difference between this and a regular chin is that your knees are bent at an angle of 90 degrees while the distance separating your hands is about 12 inches. To perform this exercise, begin by pulling yourself using your arms as you gradually bring your knees closer to your chest. As you attain the final position, your knees will be up to your chest while your nose will be closer to the bar. Thereafter, lower yourself to the initial position. During pull-ups, your body weight provides the resistance, but as you proceed, you may have to suspend weight plates as additional CrossFit gear for more resistance.

When starting your journey in any of the CrossFit Gyms, there are several types of equipment that you must get along the way to enable you swiftly transit into this high-intensity field and maximize your experience. It is important to note that this is not a must-have gear, but instead pieces of equipment you will find convenient and useful having if you want to work out regularly and boost your performance. Jump Rope Most CrossFit gyms just have the basic jump ropes that beginners can borrow. To make your workout worthwhile, you should consider getting your own quality jump rope. The important elements in any jump rope include the weight which you should be comfortable with and the ability to customize the length of the rope. Among the benefits of a jump rope include calorie burning, agility building and quickness, increased bone density, and brain exercise. Research indicates that jumping rope even at a moderate pace can help you burn 10 to 16 calories per minute. So, if you want to get lighter on your feet within the first 6 to 12 months of you joining CrossFit, a jump rope can help you attain that. Weightlifting Shoes This is arguably one of the single most important CrossFit gear that will push you towards increasing your strength and enhancing your Olympic weightlifting. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself spending over $200 to get that perfect shoe. There are important aspects that you should be looking for in these shoes such as: The drop – This refers to the difference between the height of the forefoot and that of the heel. Look for a 4mm drop to enable you evenly to distribute your weight across your foot. Hard sore – This gives you stability. Durable outer shoe – When doing tough exercises such as maxi lift the traction on the topside of your shoe is equally important. Weight Belt When attacking heavier weights in movements such as cleans and deadlifts, you need a decent belt which will keep you safe. There is a huge array of belts out there, but it is important to go for the right one. A good belt according to experts from CrossFit Gyms should be long-lasting and sturdy leather is a good material that can serve you for a long time. If you aim to be a competitive powerlifter, get a belt that is tapered in the front 5 to 7 cm wide and at the back 10 cm wide. The thickness should be around 10 to 13 mm so that it can give you a good starting position for deadlift. Wrist Wraps As their name suggests, wrist wraps are quite useful in ensuring your wrists are protected as you start hitting snatches, heavy cleans, and overhead squats in your CrossFit training routine. With about $25, you can get quality wrist wraps. There you go! Check again to see if you have all of the above and in case any is missing, make arrangements and have it zipped in. it is for your own benefit.  

At the beginning of time, kettlebells were categorized as one of the mysterious training which nobody knew anything much. Today, it is a strength tool commonly used in CrossFit workouts. There are some CrossFit monsters who have repackaged and commercialized the exercise targeting both beginner CrossFitters and those who have been in the game for quite a while. That said, kettlebells do not change. The facts remain as well as the overall awesomeness. A Brief History of Kettlebell Training Kettlebell originated from the Russians. The use of kettlebell can be traced as early as the 1700s, but it was not used as an exercise tool, but rather a piece of equipment that helped farmers in measuring outcrops. Long ago, before the introduction of CrossFit workouts, the farmers out of boredom or unintended curiosity started swinging the kettlebells. They realized the more they did this, the stronger and healthier they become. In the late 19th century, Vladislav Kraevsky introduced kettlebell and barbell to the Russian training. One of the units of measures associated with kettlebell and weightlifting is the pood. Roughly, one pood measures about 16 kilograms or 36 pounds. The pood can also be measured in fractions. The most common weights used in kettlebell training are: 1 pood which measures about 36 pounds 5 pood which is equivalent to 54 pounds 2 pood which is 72 pounds Why Kettlebell Training Kettlebells are excellent for conditioning and strength. The studies that have been done on this strength training tool have all come to a consensus that through kettlebell swings, any athlete can develop their weightlifting and powerlifting fitness. Even if you use the kettlebell alone, it can easily whip you into shape. In a nutshell, kettlebell training will: Increase your strength and muscle mass Enhance your cardiovascular health Boost your maximal and explosive strength Increase your jumping power Improve VO2 max and conditioning It can thus be said that kettlebell is an extremely powerful tool and if you use it properly, it can give you transferable skills that you can apply in other sports. What are the Common Kettlebell Exercises There are a lot of variations of CrossFit workouts that you can do using a kettlebell. However, the following are the common ones. Kettlebell swing Windmill Snatch Clean Turkish Getup Goblet squat Double kettlebell push press There are lots of kettlebell programs, exercises, and classes out there. However, you can add a kettlebell training cycle to your current CrossFit training routine to help you develop an edge without necessarily overtaxing or overtraining your body. Remember kettlebell training primarily focuses on strength and power. It is recommended that you have at least 1 to 2 minutes of rest in between exercises and a further 2 to 3 minutes of rest in between sets. If your drive is to boost conditioning and intensity, just shorten the rest times to about 30 seconds. A typical kettlebell training cycle lasts 6 weeks where you exercise twice a week.  

It is almost a tradition that every Memorial Day, countless gym goers and CrossFitters put themselves through an insane and brutal combination of running and calisthenics. The Murph is one of those CrossFit workouts that can be termed as utterly daunting and brutal while at the same time remarkable in the results it delivers. To do this, you just need a pair of snickers and a pull-up bar. The workout itself consists of running a mile, followed by 100 pull-ups after which you do 200 push-ups before doing 300 unweighted squats and finishing with another mile run. In its highest form, the athletes in CrossFit Gym usually compete while wearing weight vests measuring about 20 pounds. The question is, how do you execute such a WOD without completely tearing apart? Below are some tactics to keep you on the frontline. Rehearse Beforehand With practice, you can do much. When you regularly engage in high volume exercises, you develop a mindset. The benefit of practice is that it helps you to prepare your body and mind so that you can endure a large workload without becoming sore. On the day of the Murph challenge, ensure you keep your workload light and mostly mental. Hydrate Well You can’t possibly succeed in executing Murph if you are the type of person who loves hotdogs and boozing. Everyone thinks they are invincible athletes simply because they train a lot. However, hydrating your body should not be overlooked because your body system is not any better than a machine and when it runs empty on fuel, it breaks down. Hydrate at least 2 days beforehand and you will have a relatively easy time in the CrossFit gym. Get the Necessary Nutrients in the Right Volumes In the same manner, you approach a 10-kilometer marathon, think about the Murph the same way. Fueling up with electrolytes and carbohydrates will save you from the troubles of running on an empty stomach. The best approach is to prepare a shake of carbohydrate that is easily digestible and supplement it with protein powder. Scale the WOD to Your Ability Before taking on Murph, assess your ability to handle the workload. This should give you an idea of how to scale the exercises in CrossFit Gym to enable you to go through the reps without burning your system. Safety and effectiveness are key priorities in this workout and if you can’t perform a certain movement, scaling is the best option. Instead of assessing your ability on the workout day, do it a few days before. Do not feel as if you are any lesser of a CrossFitter simply because you are scaling your WOD. Every athlete is endowed differently and there is always a beginning point. On top of doing the above, ensure you focus on saving energy as you go through each rep. don’t spend every watt of power, but target at saving energy to help you power through this CrossFit WOD successfully. Remember, quality supersedes quantity and speed in CrossFit.

CrossFit has had the reputation of being a tough sport laced with some of the most gut-wrenching workouts. Nothing has changed and in as much as the coaches may usher you to a soft start in CrossFit training, know that as you proceed you will come to a point where your speed, strength, and endurance will be put to test. The beauty of these vicious and insane workouts is that they push your adrenaline into an overdrive and you won’t believe how your body responds to all this. You will be more resilient, lean, and so strong that nothing you face in life will intimidate you. The following are some of the CrossFit workouts that will push your body system to the borderline. Fran This is a series of quickly done pull-ups and thrusters. It is essentially a shorter workout of the day consisting of 3 rounds. In the first round, there are 21 reps per exercise. For the second round, you have 15 reps and the third and last round you have 9 reps per exercise. Fran is flexible and you can easily modify it to suit your ability. As you get into CrossFit, Fran is one of those workouts you will be exposed to. The pull-ups are the hardest and both men and women struggle with the same measure. The challenge time is 5 minutes. Filthy 50 If you have never done this WOD before, its exercises may seem endless and taxing. The entire circuit has 10 different CrossFit workouts each having 50 reps and done in quick succession. You do 50 box jumps, 50 kettlebell swings, 50 jumping pull-ups, 50 back extensions, 50 push press reps done with 45 pounds, 50 double-unders, 50 wall balls done with a 20-pound ball, 50 knees to elbows, and 50 walking lunge steps. Through this workout, you will learn the basics, but also the insanity of CrossFit. The knees to elbows workout are the most difficult and the fact that Filthy 50 tasks the entire body means you have to be good at everything. The Seven As the name suggests, there are 7 rounds of each exercise and done quickly. In a typical cycle, you will have 7 rounds of the following CrossFit workouts: Burpees Kettlebell swings Deadlifts with 245-pound weights Thrusters with 135-pound Knees to elbows Handstand push-ups Pull-ups The most difficult exercises in this WOD are the thrusts and handstand push-ups. The challenge time is 20 minutes and you can modify the exercises to suit you. King Kong This is a relatively faster workout consisting of 3 rounds of exercises. It is some sort of a progression starting with a single deadlift comprising 455 pounds, thereafter 2 reps of muscle pull-ups, then 3 reps of squat clean done at 250 pounds and lastly 4 handstand push-ups. Both the deadlift and the squat cleans pose a real challenge to most athletes as they are extremely difficult. The challenge time is just 5 minutes and if you can power through this workout of the day, you are a real monster! These are a just a few of the many brutal workouts in CrossFit. You may also check Fight Gone Bad, Bull, Grace, Kalsu, and Chelsea.  

When you hear of macros and calories and the tracking that needs to go into it, you may feel as if you are being taken through a torturous journey of CrossFit Diet into achieving your fitness goals. The reality is, your attitude and approach will determine how easy and boring these exercises can be. Remember, CrossFit nutrition is not just what you eat and when rather it is an important tool to help you boost your CrossFit performance as you integrate the essential workouts. Macros are simply macronutrients. If you have heard about protein, fat, and carbohydrate, then you already have a foundational knowledge of what macros are. Each of these nutrients has a specific number of calories per gram. For instance, protein has 4 calories per gram, fat has 9 calories per gram, and carbohydrate has 4 calories per gram. Determining Your Goal The first step in the macro counting and calorie tracking business is to set up a goal. The goal usually has 2 components, the first being losing weight and the second gaining muscle. In order to achieve these goals, you must find out as the baseline the much you are eating currently. You can know this by tracking your food intake continuously for 2 to 4 weeks. Always take your weight measurements before and after. If you find that you lost weight, then it means you are not eating as much, if you gained weight then you are eating more than your system needs. Add the calories you have consumed and then divide them by the number of days to get the daily average of your CrossFit diet. Total Daily Energy Expenditure and the Basic Metabolic Rate The BMR refers to the energy your body needs in order to function each day. For your heart to beat, nails to grow, your system to digest, and even for you to breath, you need energy. To add to this foundational energy requirement, you need more energy to support activities such as walking, running, and weightlifting. This is taken care of by the total daily energy expenditure. There are several tools you can use to calculate your BMR and total daily energy expenditure. Calculating Your Macros Depending on whether your goal is to lose weight or gain muscle, your CrossFit diet needs to adapt to this. Having put your goal into context, you need to establish the percentage of energy that you either need to add or subtract from your total daily energy expenditure so as to meet your goal. For gaining muscle, you will go through the gradual process of lean massing while for losing fat you will gradually experience weight loss. Keeping Track and Measuring Progress After you input the desired protein, carbohydrate, fats, and targeted calories, it is now your responsibility to keep check of whatever meal you take including snacks. It may be difficult at first, but just like CrossFit workouts, with time it becomes a habit. A kitchen scale is an important tool to make this tracking as accurate as possible. Keep on tweaking your food intake as you progress. Measuring progress is important and should be determined from the word go what specific indicators will be used. In as much as the scale is a logical instrument to check progress, before and after pictures as well as muscle tissue measurements can tell you how well you are doing. You can also measure body fat using calipers.

Eating clean is by all means recommended and highly encouraged in CrossFit nutrition. This is because the micro and macronutrients need to be put in a check for your body to benefit in enhanced performance. That said, it is almost impossible to maintain a lifestyle of high-intensity sporting if you eat clean a 100% of the time. This is because the intensity of CrossFit exercises requires a significant quantity of calorie intake to support it. Treading the thin line between eating clean and eating enough for CrossFit performance is not easy. Athletes are slowly easing into the clean eating culture to tackle their nutrition needs and thus run into the danger of minimal eating. If you are aspiring to pack on muscle, lose fat, improve your lifts, and get stronger, you need to seriously think about what goes into your mouth and how much. Balancing between Eating Enough and Eating Clean When trying to gain strength and muscle, there is a limit to eating clean. A balance has to be struck between eating what you like and eating clean so that you can stick with this CrossFit nutrition and make it part of your lifestyle without too many sacrifices. Eating Clean as a Lifestyle This is not about going for 2 weeks or 2 months on a diet just to lose weight and then embark on your old life. It is about living a life you enjoy while at the same time pursuing your health goals. When doing high-intensity CrossFit training, you are literally chasing after the numbers. This means your body system needs to be replenished with the nutrients necessary to help you fuel and recover after a workout. From experience, this is difficult to achieve when eating clean all the time. Striking the Balance There are two ways you can tackle this. The first is to eat clean 90 or 100% of the time and thereafter indulge in less clean sources so that you can get the much-needed extra food. Alternatively, you can eat clean about 75% of the time and spend the rest on eating enough. For the 25%-75% approach, how you allocate the non-clean eating (25%) will determine how sustainable your diet will be. Some athletes use cheat meals in the name of CrossFit Nutrition, but these lack long-term sustainability and may not fit well into your lifestyle. The easiest yet effective way is to restrict the 25% to non-clean eating at least on a meal per day preferably on your post-workout diet. Putting the Theory into Practice Taking homemade chicken, spinach, broccoli, and a side of peas together with potato wedges and some sour cream can give you a good balance between a satisfying meal and a clean meal. The potato wedges will spike up your calorific intake and edge your carbohydrate count closer to your target. This can be a good post-workout meal. When you are having an unhealthy day, you can use smoothies to boost your clean percentage. Avoid eating store sandwiches and instead, go for real homemade food. There are lots of foods outside there that promise a clean CrossFit diet, yet do not measure up. Beware of such foods.