Cross Training is not just a fitness regimen, but also a movement. It was launched in 2000 by the fitness trainer and founder of the Cross Training company, Greg Glassman. The workouts and training in Cross Training are multidisciplinary and focus on high-intensity exercises which are based on functional movements picked from numerous disciplines. Some of the movements include gymnastics, running, Olympic weightlifting, and many others. Cross Training also has an affiliate program to which independent trainers can link to and become credentialed. Cross Training trainers go through a 4-level certification program. As you ascend the levels, the degree of difficulty and competency becomes increasingly challenging. For you to be eligible for certification as a Cross Training trainer, you must have attained 18 years of age. The training courses cost anything from $1,000 each. Preparing for Cross Training Training Before you even think about joining Cross Training, you need to prepare yourself physically and psychologically. The best way to do this is to join a gym that has an on-ramp program. Such a gym will introduce you to the high-intensity training method which is specific to Cross Training . You will also have the benefit of experiencing the three categories of basic Cross Training  movements which include press, deadlift, and squat series. At the end of the preparation stage, you will be required to pass a written exam which tests what you have gone through. Level 1 Training This is the first stage of Cross Training training and introduces you to the principles of Cross Training as well as the basic movements. It provides you with basic knowledge that lets you train other people in the Cross Training regimen. Level 1 training comprises small group training and classroom instruction. In the classroom, you get to learn how to conduct your own Cross Training classes, how to maintain technique even at high-intensity efficiently, and how you can adjust instruction for the different levels of ability. Level 2 Training At this stage, the training goes much deeper and focuses on the mechanics of movement, teaching you on how to identify faults in action as well as communicate such flaws to your students. Through physical guidance, visual, and verbal cues, the course leaders demonstrate to you what effective coaching is all about. After this level, you will be expected to design an effective Cross Training program. It is at this level that your skill as a trainer in group management is assessed as well as your athletic capacity. Certified Cross Training Trainer This is the third designation, and it aims at making you a full-fledged Cross Training trainer. For you to get to this level, you must have fulfilled all the level 1 and 2 requirements. There are 2 different paths, and Cross Training expects that you fulfill the requirements of at least one. The first path involves complete training both at Level 1 and 2 as well as 750 hours of Cross Training coaching for groups or individuals and possessing Level 1 and 2 certificates which are current. The second path requires you to complete 1500 hours of active fitness coaching using the GPP-based training. To add to that, you will be required to have a valid cardiopulmonary resuscitation certificate. The final stage is that of a certified Cross Trainingcoach where senior Cross Training trainers evaluate your coaching skills. If you ever wanted to be part of the Cross Training community and make WODs your staple, this is the opportunity.

If you are a coach or you own a CrossFit gym, and you are yet to be affiliated, you are missing a lot. CrossFit is captivating the world of fitness, and everyone is pretty aware of that. Over the years, it has witnessed massive growth, and all that can be said is that CrossFit is here to stay. Gyms around the world are jumping on the CrossFit bandwagon with many training methods being invented day in day out. Before you think about joining CrossFit as an affiliate, below are four reasons to think through. Community Millions of people around the world come together and share some of the basic ideas on nutrition and movement which are set to change the world. The CrossFit community is a powerhouse that links you with a network of people who are determined to achieve some of the most robust goals. In a community like this, you share challenges and celebrate victories together. A CrossFit affiliate links you with a much stronger family. Authenticity CrossFit, unlike other conventional sporting lifestyles, is authentic. Therefore, if you have a gym and you do WODs, it is essential to affiliate to CrossFit so that you can allow your participants to enjoy the full benefits of the fitness industry. When you add affiliation to your gym, you make it unique among your peers. A Network of Coaches   Incredible coaches do not limit themselves to the CrossFit industry, but the network of coaches there is in CrossFit makes the sport a highly respected one. If we look at fields like running, weightlifting, nutrition, and business development, etc. there isn’t one that is as comprehensive in its community of coaches as CrossFit. By affiliating to CrossFit, you benefit from the immense knowledge these coaches have, but also you get the opportunity to contribute to it. Resources It can be argued rightly so that in the fitness industry, few entities compare to CrossFit in terms of the content provided. CrossFit is providing lots of content to men and women in the community in areas like diet, CrossFit workouts, and even personal development. The CrossFit Journal has lots of videos and textual content that can help you develop as a coach so that you can also pass it on to your members. How to Affiliate There are five steps to becoming a CrossFit affiliate. The levels are enlisted below: Step 1 – Application: Here, you complete general information concerning the entity you want to affiliate and do a small essay. Step 2 – Location: You will be required to provide the exact location of your affiliate to be so that it can be prepared in readiness for the CrossFit affiliate maps. Step 3 – Insurance: If you are an applicant from the UK or the US, you will be required to submit a proof of your valid insurance policy or cover. Step 4 – Payment: Once the above steps have been successfully executed, you will be asked to make a payment to cover your first year as an affiliate. Step 5 – License Agreement: You will be provided with a copy of the annual license agreement which you should e-sign and send back. Once you are done with the above, you are right to go and congratulations!  You have officially been admitted as an affiliate.

According to the American Heart Association, fatty acids can reduce triglyceride levels and helps keep our arteries clear. Without a healthy heart, you cannot go much far as a CrossFit athlete, and this is why you need to consider Omega 3 as a must-have supplement to boost your field performance. To give you a preview of what Omega 3 does, it speeds up your post-workout recovery, increases your gains, and works on your cardiovascular health to regularize your heartbeats. Unlike other nutrients which your body makes on its own, it cannot make Omega 3 fatty acids. It entirely depends on your dietary intake. This means your CrossFit diet should consist of foods such as avocados, nuts, and fish. Omega 3s are available in 3 main varieties: alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The long chain fatty acids which comprise EPA and DHA, are found in fish oil supplements, fish, and algae extract. ALA is the short chain form of Omega 3, and it is commonly found in plant sources such as flaxseeds, nuts, chia seeds, olive oil, and avocado. The following is a short discussion of the various benefits that Omega 3 has on your athletic life. Speeds Up Your Exercise Recovery Following a tough training session, your muscles are usually left with some microscopic tears. Ironically, when these tears heal, they make you much stronger, faster, and more significant. Omega 3s are potent compounds in fighting inflammation, and they make the recovery process possible. Makes You Stronger To score the 20-inch biceps that you have been striving for, you need to pump in more iron. Omega 3 helps in this process. In addition to slowing down the muscle breakdown process, taking Omega 3 fatty acids enhances protein synthesis which means quick transform of diet protein into your biceps. Limits Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness As an extension of its inflammation-fighting ability, Omega 3 helps in fighting delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). This condition usually leaves you limping for some days after hitting the squat rack. Omega 3 supplementation reduces your level of perceived pain markedly and improves your range of motion post CrossFit exercise. Boosts Your Reaction Time The human brain consists of 60% fat. Omega 3 fatty acids help in improving cognitive functioning as well as play a crucial role in visual processing and signaling. There are certain vital components of muscle membranes, neurons, and nerve endings that consist of fatty acids. A study was done and published in the Journal of Sports Science, and Medicine shows that soccer players dramatically improved their reaction four weeks into a diet of fish oil supplementation. Makes Your Muscles Work Better By helping in the timely transmission of signals from one cell to another, the Omega 3s in your neurons, nerve endings, and muscle membranes direct the overall neuromuscular function. In one study, male athletes who supplemented with EPA and DHA in their CrossFit nutrition witnessed an increased thigh function by about 20%. Other benefits include keeping you light on your feet, making your workouts feel more comfortable, and keeping your bones from snapping.

In CrossFit nutrition as well as other fields, there is a mantra that, you are what you eat. The lamb or beef you are eating is not just giving you Omega 3s, but giving you additional stuff based on what it ate. Grass-fed beef has been touted to be much better and more nutritious than grain fed. If you have been wondering what the fuss about grass-fed beef is, read on. Compared to grain fed beef, grass-fed beef has higher levels of Omega 3s. Grass-fed beef has been found to be an excellent source of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). This substance has been shown to protect your body against cancer, diabetes, and cardiac diseases. Regarding antioxidant, mineral, and vitamin content, grain fed meat pales in comparison to the grass-fed variety. What about Grain Finished Beef? Grass-fed and finished cattle contains healthy pH levels in the stomach which allow fermentation to take place and this leads to high levels of Omega 3 vitamins and minerals. On the other hand, grain feeding leads to a fall in pH levels which produces different fermentation bacteria. The end point is that the production of Omega 3 and CLA is disrupted and instead Omega 6 fatty acid production increases. Organic beef, on the other hand, is not a guarantee in itself that it is grass-fed and finished. The benefits of organic beef include fewer chemicals and use unnatural methods. This means lesser herbicides, medicines, and pesticides. Certified Meat and What it is All About For meat to be labeled as pasture fed, the animals must have open access to graze pasture for their entire life. They must not be confined to intensive feeding arrangements. At the time of slaughter, the meat must be handled according to laid down requirements. It is imperative as a CrossFit athlete to understand where the meat you use in your CrossFit diet comes from because this will affect your choice. Many animals may be allowed to graze green crops either in their pre-grain state or their crop residue post-harvest. As long as they are controlled, feeding on grain crops may not significantly affect their nutrition composition. As you know, nutrition is an indispensable part of CrossFit training, and if you do not get the right combination of nutrients, your performance may be significantly hampered. Therefore, the next time you go to the supermarket or butchery, remember to look out for the certification logo and also the color of the fat. Grass-fed meat has a distinctive yellow color while the whitish yellow color is an indication of grain fed.

Image Source: CrossFit Games CrossFit can best be described as a high-intensity sport involving fun, along with some fast-paced, gym-based workouts and exercises. It is a serious sport, and its growing global popularity attests to the fact that people are increasingly seeking CrossFit training methodologies to help them improve their health, get in shape, and lose weight. CrossFit involves lifting of heavyweights, but that should not intimidate you. The purpose of these weights is to make you stronger. Not every workout in CrossFit is timed, there are those which are not restrictive in terms of time, but their main focus is to help you get accustomed to the element of heavy lifting. They do this by teaching you the right technique and establishing the weight you can move safely.  How Effective is CrossFit to Overweight People? If you have been of the opinion that CrossFit is not for overweight people, you need to debunk that because CrossFit is for anyone. The positive side of CrossFit workouts is that they are scalable and can accommodate individual fitness levels as well as abilities. With the right workouts such as those discussed below, CrossFit can move you from the unfit zone to the table of the fitness in the industry. Workout 1 If you are badly out of shape and starting out your CrossFit journey, this is the workout to settle for. It lasts just 10 minutes, but it is thorough and touches the right places. Since you are a beginner, it will be unsurprising if your body expresses resistance to the endurance and effort needed to complete the workout. Your main focus should be on technique, and if at some point you feel like your form is slowly deteriorating, that is normal. What you should do is modify the CrossFit exercises to prevent injury. The workout consists of 5 assisted pull-ups, 5 push-ups, and 5 bodyweight squats. These are done in 10 minutes AMRAP which means as many rounds as possible. Workout 2 This workout consists of 5 back squats, 3 deadlifts, and 5 overhead presses. This combination is excellent for overweight people as it helps them to get used to lifting heavy weights. They also help blast fat. During the ordinary CrossFit sessions, these workouts would be timed. But because they are aimed at helping you address your overweight issue, the timing is done away with. Safety is the number one priority, which means you should maintain your form properly. Workout 3 This consists of 15 sit-ups and 15 lungees. It falls under the category of interval workouts, and it is great for building up your endurance. It will keep you motivated and work hard for much longer. Workout 4 This comprises wall balls and burpees. It is done in decreasing reps. It is flexible and allows you to break it down further to give yourself more time for recovery especially if you are a complete newbie or you are out of shape. The last workout consists of a 400-meter run, 10 assisted pull-ups, and 20 American kettlebell swings. If you find the running challenging, it is because you are slightly out of shape and you are not on your way to building endurance and enhancing your performance.

When working out, the metabolic system of your body responds to the exercise to give you more energy. While we appreciate these mechanisms, rarely do we examine the molecules involved in the processes. For instance, have you ever stopped to ask yourself what is responsible for turning on the processes involved in breaking down energy reserves to fuel your CrossFit workouts? Have you been curious to know what primes your muscles so that they can receive nutrients during the post-workout window?Well, one of the critical molecules referred to as AMPK plays a central role as a metabolic regulator and facilitates all these activities. Understanding the Nature of AMPK This is an enzyme which performs chemical reactions. For the details, AMPK is the short form of 5’-AMP-activated Protein Kinase. Scientific description has it that a Kinase is an enzyme responsible for transferring a phosphate iron into a protein thereby causing a reaction known as phosphorylation.The phosphorylation occurs among proteins through a cell-signaling cascade to result in outcomes such as cell growth, cell death, energy storage, energy breakdown, and turning on of genes for expression. Cell signaling is a key process that underlies all physiological procedures performed by an organism. The adaptation in CrossFit training to make you stronger, fitter, and faster is partly due to cells signaling. How AMPK Gets Activated Adenosine Tri-Phosphate (ATP) is the cellular energy currency. During exercise, the ATP molecules are broken down into fuel muscle contractions. When the breakdown happens, it causes a buildup of Adenosine Mono-Phosphate (AMP) molecules. AMPK, in turn, gets activated by AMP and this marks the onset of phosphorylation reactions.Once AMPK gets activated, it turns on and off some downstream signaling pathways. The result of this is both short-term effects and long-term adaptation effects. Among the targets of AMPK are the enzymes responsible for the buildup of fatty acids chain and glycogen. Through the phosphorylation process, the fatty acids and glycogen are turned off thus stopping the synthesis of fatty acids and glycogen. The reverse reaction then takes place, and the fatty acids are broken down to give energy to power your workouts.Also, AMPK turns on enzymes which are linked to the insulin signaling pathway. When these enzymes are turned on, the muscle cells become insulin sensitive through exercise, and this primes them to take up glucose and amino acids from the blood. AMPK can therefore, be said to be responsible directly for the Window of Gainz. This window refers to the hour or two after training where the muscle cells take in nutrients from the bloodstream. AMPK in Athletes There is increased interest in finding out how AMPK behaves in different muscle fiber types. The other area of interest is how different population of athletes training in various capacities such as strictly strength, strictly endurance and power process AMPK. CrossFit as a discipline is set to benefit immensely from these studies because of the extra kick of energy AMPK provides in the middle of a workout.Therefore, as you hit that gym or consider that CrossFit nutrition plan, have it at the back of your mind that AMPK, the metabolic regulator is primed to action in the background.

1. The Mountain climber To lose fat and tone your lower ab muscles you must engage in aerobic exercise. Luckily for you, mountain climber provides a total-body and cardiovascular workout. You can expect to work your shoulders, abs, quads, and more, while also increasing your heart rate.Begin in a plank position, palms to the ground and arms straight out in front of you, right underneath your shoulders same as the push-up position. Your legs must be extended in a straight line. You must maintain your back in a flat position and your arms in the same position throughout, quickly tuck your right knee toward your chest, then jump it back to the ground as you simultaneously pull your left leg toward your chest. Repeat the procedure quickly as many times as you can. 2. Lying Leg Raise Begin this exercise by lying flat on your back with your hands underneath your glutes, palms down, and legs extended straight out in front of you. Lift your legs slowly off the ground until they are perpendicular to the floor. Hold the position for a second, then bring them back down to the floor. To increase the challenge, don’t let your feet touch the floor in between reps. 3. Scissors This exercise is similar to the lying leg raise, except for the fact that you’ll be lifting one leg at a time. You lie on your back with both of your legs lifted such that they are perpendicular to the floor. With both your head and shoulders lifted off the floor, lower your left leg down until it is about 6 inches from the floor as you gently pull your right leg toward your body. Switch sides for one rep and repeat about ten times. 4. Reverse Crunch This is most effective for the lower abs than just the average crunch. Reverse crunches deserve being part of your daily routine. You start by lying flat on your back, legs raised while at the same time knees bent at a 90-degree angle. You then, lift your lower back off the ground while tucking your pelvis towards your belly button. You shouldn’t rely on the momentum by kicking your legs for this. Instead, you should keep it controlled to ensure your abs do the work. Bring your body back down to the ground with the same control and repeat about ten times.

CrossFit has been known to expose individuals to a number of diverse forms of exercise. Indulging in these exercises with weight, especially when one is not yet prepared, may lead to injury. However, such injuries can be prevented to some extent. Those who’ve been injured before for example, are at a much greater risk of experiencing the same kind of injury. Therefore, training without fully recovering is risky and should be avoided. The combination of heavy and technical lifts and time restraints is likely to "wake up" old injuries.CrossFit has increased our exposure to innovative bodyweight and Olympic style lifting techniques. The average consumer of fitness doesn't, however, know how best to "consume" the sources of fitness at their disposal. If an athlete does not have an adequate base of stability, mobility, and skill, the Olympic lifts with the straight bar can be potentially injurious. Most movements that involve heavy loading increased bar speed, and higher skill levels are probably the most dangerous types of movements. They however also have the highest ceilings of any lifts out there.Most of the available data indicate that the number one risk factor for sustaining a future injury is having had a previous injury. Very many athletes usually go back to training without having fully recovered from an injury, which may be partly the fault of the athlete and partly a lapse of the medical system. It’s difficult to say that any one type of injury happens more often in CrossFit, but rather, the metabolic environment and heavy loading schemes under huge amounts of stress tend to revive old wounds that have been mismanaged or ignored in the past by the athlete, rehab specialist, or coach. Lower backs, shoulders, and knees often take the most of the hit when talking about injury rates in CrossFit. However, with better stability, mobility, and technique, many of these common injuries can be avoided.Sessions such as the Work Out of the Day (WOD) also help to define an individual’s capabilities or a specific but all-inclusive workout across the board. People sometimes don't know their own limitations, which occasionally lands them into problems that increase the unnecessary risk of injury during training. Many people blindly shuffle into these challenging environments not really considering what they are physically capable of doing without getting hurt. This needs to be addressed to protect athletes and to offer some alternatives in programming to match their current functional ability. Coaches also play an integral part in protecting CrossFitters. This they do by making sure that every movement programmed into the Work Out of the Day (WOD) has workable modifications to accommodate athletes that are not currently executing a high-level movement without having an increased risk of injury. This may require the coach to check off whether an athlete may proceed in a WOD on a daily basis, or needs to downgrade and simplify a move or two. It’s also important to know the moves that people struggle with so that they don't get into a highly challenging metabolic environment, with those faulty movement mechanics. The role of coaches is to expose individuals to new exercises and combinations, not necessarily force feeding numeric training packages that may not be appropriate for one’s skill set or conditioning level.