WHAT IS CROSSFIT?
WELCOME TO CROSSFIT

Greg Glassman, a former gymnast, founded CrossFit®, Inc. in 2000. In his years coaching elite athletes, Coach Glassman found that the best way to achieve optimal fitness was not through specialization but rather through “constantly varied, functional movement, performed at high intensity.” In short, this means combining elements of Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics, sprinting, rowing and core conditioning to improve overall flexibility, strength, speed, endurance and agility.

What is fitness? How do you define fitness? How do you measure fitness? According to an online dictionary, fitness is defined by one word: health. Historically, fitness has been a very subjective term. Well CrossFit hopes to change that by moving fitness into the objective realm. The definition of fitness, according to CrossFit, is your work capacity across broad time and modal domains. In CrossFit there are 10 general physical skills (physiological adaptations) that make our fitness list: cardiorespitory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, accuracy, agility, and balance. Excessive capacity in anyone of these 10 skills, hinders/hurts the rest. You want a nice balance. Thus, CrossFit’s commitment is to INCREASE your work capacity across broad time and modal domains. In other words, CrossFit is committed to increasing your real world capacity. How? Through constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity. That’s the difference.

Ask yourself this: How many times have you found yourself doing the motion of a “pec-deck” in the real world? My answer: Not too many times, actually, not at all. Next question: How many times in life, have you found yourself having to deadlift and then thrust a heavy object (and I’m not talking about a dumbbell) from the ground to overhead? My answer: Almost everyday, or at least every time I buy a case of bottled water. Last question: How many times have you hurt your back, hurt your shoulder, or gasped for air doing something as easy as taking a couple of cases of water up a flight of stairs? A flight of stairs, that is actually a great measurement of fitness. How do you measure FITNESS?

Constantly Varied

“Constantly Varied” means that every day brings a different workout (or “WOD”), incorporating any combination of these elements. At CrossFit Hawaii you will jump rope, climb ropes, swing kettle bells and flip tires. You will work at pull ups, squats, dips, deadlifts, rowing, box jumps and more. Each day will bring different exercises specifically designed to work on different muscle groups and/or cardiovascular strength giving you a well-rounded workout to tone and strengthen various parts of your body.

Functional Movement

“Functional Movement” refers to maintaining the safest, most-efficient position to power through a movement. There are plenty of misconceptions out there about CrossFit; the truth is much of what we do in our workouts mirrors activities in our daily lives. To the uninitiated, flipping a tire looks like crazy, “he-man” work. But moving a mattress up a flight of stairs, utilizes the same movement. CrossFit Hawaii will help you maintain the correct position in a workout – both to keep you and other safe as well as to maximize efficiency.

High Intensity

“High Intensity” is a concept that at first can be difficult for new CrossFitters to grasp. For many people, a workout’s efficiency is only proportionate to the amount of hours spent in the gym. You will never hear a CrossFitter say, “I had a great workout; I was in the gym for four hours!” You are much more likely to hear, “I finished in 8 minutes.” People come here skeptical that a high-intensity workout, done in a fraction of the time as they are used to, can lead to faster, better results. But results don’t lie.

FAQ
There are some common misconceptions out there about the CrossFit lifestyle and we’re here to straighten them out. Here are some common questions and concerns we get from our first time CrossFitters.
Will doing Crossfit make me big and bulky?
Many first-timers fear that weightlifting heavy will make them big or bulky. This misconception is one that CrossFit Hawaii continues to prove wrong. Everyday, during our intense WODs, our members display new levels of strength, without “looking” like bulky bodybuilders. Just to make it clear, CrossFit is NOT a bodybuilding regiment!  Rather, CrossFit focuses on developing the strength and conditioning for better functioning in the real-world through constantly varied-functional movements-executed at a high intensity. Our goal at CrossFit Hawaii is to help you get more out of life and just better your life through elite fitness, no matter what your gender, age or fitness level might be! So, come on down and get your CrossFit on!
Do I have to get in shape before I start?
This is a common misconception! The most elite athlete can come into the gym and find a workout challenging. You will never be “fit” enough. That’s the beauty of CrossFit…that we can scale ANY workout to meet you where you are at. Fitness is a lifelong journey for everyone. Some of the most rewarding experiences, as trainers, are helping people who never knew they could do the things they end up doing!
Is it true that Crossfit is really hard?
CrossFit is as hard as you make it. We encourage people to push to the limits of their own tolerances but only you can make the most out of your own workouts with the amount of work you put into them.
I fear that it is too expensive, is this true?
CrossFit is often difficult to compare to other fitness programs. We offer a variety of classes and options coached by our knowledgable, certified trainers. The reality is with the quality of instruction you get from our trainers; it is personal training at a fraction of the cost.
Is it possible to get a good workout in under 30 minutes?
Yes, this is absolutely what we believe in. More and more research shows that shorter duration/higher intensity workouts yield higher benefits/results. Basically, it just boils down to hard work. But the truth is, the longer the effort, the lower our intensity. If you run 10 miles your intensity will be lower than if you run multiple 400 meter sprints. CrossFIt Hawaii does go beyond 30 min on occasion, but the majority of our workouts are shorter in duration, generally with strength or skill work before the workout. If you have a shorter workout, you can work harder by nature which can lend to a better response. No matter who you are or what workouts you do, without hard work you will not receive results, which is why we encourage you to push yourselves as hard as you can both mentally and physically in all that we do.
What are some examples of CrossFit exercises?
Biking, running, swimming, and rowing in an endless variety of drills. The clean & jerk, snatch, squat, deadlift, push-press, bench-press, and power-clean. Jumping, medicine ball throws and catches, pull-ups, dips, push-ups, handstands, presses to handstand, muscle-ups, ring rows, wall balls, burpees, lunges, sit-ups, and holds. We make regular use of the airdyne bike, rowing, Olympic weight sets, rings, free exercise mat, horizontal bar, plyometrics boxes, medicine balls, and jump rope. There isn’t a strength and conditioning program anywhere that works with a greater diversity of tools, modalities, and drills.
Can I get hurt doing CrossFit?
You can injure yourself in any activity, but CrossFit is safer than many activities people perform every day. We like to work with people in 3 stages. First: mechanics (learning how to do the movements with correct technique), Second: Consistency (the ability to do the movements over and over again with safe and relatively efficient technique), Third: Intensity (the speed at which you do the movements). One does not come before the other. We always start with Mechanics.
Can I still do CrossFit if I have pain from previous neck and back injuries?
Numerous members of ours have come through the doors with previous injuries or tweaks and found relief from the pain by strengthening the muscles around the problem area. All to often people neglect exercising their low back due to fear of injury. Because of this they end up deconditioned, weak, and more susceptible to injury in the future from minor mishaps, which is usually what happens. Taking part in CrossFit will provide you a buffer so that you are less susceptible to these kinds of injuries. The movements and workouts are all completely scalable allowing anyone to take part, or we can always substitute exercises if you are having specific problems. If you do have an injury, we do ask that you really listen to the coaches and take their advice. All to often, people ignore their injury and can make it worse. That is the last thing we want to happen!
What should I be eating?
CrossFit has a simple formula of: “Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.” Excessive consumption of high-glycemic carbohydrates is the primary culprit for most modern day diseases like: Coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, obesity and psychological dysfunction. High-glycemic carbs include: rice, bread, candy, potato, sweets, sodas, and most processed carbohydrates. People find that if you stick the the perimeter of the grocery store, you are pretty much golden. Generally, everything inside that is processed and suspect. We realize that eating 100% this way is usually very difficult, so aim to make small changes that will eventually get you eating like this 80-85% of the time.  You’ll be amazed at how different you feel and look!
Have more questions about CrossFit training or about what we do? Feel free to Contact Us and we’ll be happy to give you some answers!
READY TO GET STARTED? 
Click below to find out how to get signed up for our Basic Fundamentals Class!