Goblet squat is a technique that has been adopted by a large number of CrossFit athletes, and it majorly involves performing squat without using a long list of cues. There are lots of benefits that are attached to this CrossFit exercise some of them including strengthening the core and toning the legs, thighs, and calves. Usually, the goblet squat is performed using kettlebell or dumbbell. If you are contemplating on incorporating this CrossFit workout into your training, the following benefits will help you quickly make up your mind. Burns Calories The goblet squat is a multiple muscle workout, and as such, it engages several muscles of your body. This simultaneously helps in making it an ideal routine and quickly burns calories which go a long way in helping you lose weight. Strengthens Your Core Ask any athlete, and he will tell you that the core muscles play a crucial role in many movements. Strengthening them helps in maintaining a good posture, and that is what goblet squats do. Compared to ab crunches, the goblet squat is much more efficient because it is a multi-utility workout. It can help you get ripped and have lean abs within a short time. Works Out Your Lower Body This exercise helps in strengthening the quads, hips, lats, calves, flexors, hamstrings, as well as the gluteal muscles. Also, it plays a key role in toning your legs and your thighs. Therefore, the goblet squat is one of the best CrossFit workouts for getting a strong body and exercising the lower part of your body. Minimizes Risks of Injuries Weak ligaments, stabilizing muscles, and connective tissues are some of the major causes of injuries. This is why the goblet squat is valued as one of the avenues to minimize the risk of injury because it strengthens your body structures and gives you a sturdy foundation that is not prone to injuries. Boosts Your Jumps Have you attempted exploding off the ground, but you realize that your vertical leap is not as high as you would have wanted it to be? The reason could be your hip strength. With goblet squats, your ability to gain power is enhanced as well as your capacity to absorb it. This enables you to jump much higher without the risk of injuries. Enhances Flexibility and Mobility When you perform this type of squat in full motion, it helps you to add muscles to the lower portion of your body. However, much more importantly, it improves the overall flexibility and mobility as well as the motion of your knees, hips, lower back, and ankles. Making this improvement in your CrossFit workout would merely reduce the chances of injury with an improvement in your performance. Builds Muscles There are lots of exercises which stimulate your total body system. The only problem is that most of them involve piling up the volume on top of dysfunction. Goblet squat introduces a rather convenient way to build muscles by allowing you to work out with heavy equipment such as a kettlebell or a dumbbell. To add to the above, making this workout one of your CrossFit gym staples, will help improve your spine position as well as minimize the space you take to workout. You do not need as much equipment when doing goblet squat.  

Some of the top CrossFit athletes display amazing levels of abdominal training and core strength. When you get an opportunity to watch CrossFit games, you will undoubtedly see some of the most impressive midsections in the industry. If you have been wondering what you can do to achieve such a midline, the secret lies in the abdominal journey which starts from the toes to bar. Core training has numerous benefits such as spinal stability and enhancing overall strength in squat, deadlift, and press movements. The following are some of the benefits of toes to bar that you can’t afford to miss out on. Enhanced Muscular Demands The toes to bar movement involve lifting from a slightly hyper-extended position with your shoulders and hips opening to a fully contracted position at the very top. To execute the full range of motion, you need greater amounts of muscle strength, coordination, and control. The kip adds a component of speed and momentum which result in high energy expenditure during the eccentric portion of the CrossFit workout. Also, the lifter is required to load greater amounts of body mass which ultimately leads to hypertrophy and excellent results. Improvement of Shoulder, Grip, and Back Strength Hanging from a barbell while your body is in a dynamic motion is a crucial skill. It requires an excellent range of motion from your shoulder capsule as well as stability and control in your scapular regions and upper back as explained in CrossFit Workout session. Also, you need high amounts of grip and arm strength to control and support yourself during the longer sets. The toes to bar challenge most of your supportive muscles located in the upper body and hips which enhances the overall performance and strength. When you increase the supporting muscles of your body which assist in the toes to bar movement, you can then target a much larger chunk of muscle mass in the hip flexors, serratus, upper and lower abs, as well as obliques. Efficient Sit-Ups The toes to bar movement unlike other CrossFit gym exercises don’t require as many repetitions to be done yet it gives you the same benefit as that you will get in doing endless sit-ups and crunches. This means you will spend less time training your core while you achieve greater results. Through the enhancement of muscular demands and complexities of core training, you can up the effectiveness and efficiency of your training to optimize on results.

When you go to a CrossFit gym, you may find one of the two types of CrossFit. The first type consists of an exercise routine with functional movements performed at high intensity and targeted at our health. The second type of CrossFit is a sport for CrossFit, and basically, this is what you may see on ESPN. The growth in popularity of CrossFit has attracted lots of athletes many of whom are coming to compete at high levels. These athletes come from different walks of life ranging from ultra-marathon runners to former college football players. Some of them have a preconceived notion that because they found success in their respective former endeavors, they will automatically find success even in CrossFit exercises. While it is true that the potential for success exists, there is a process which athletes must adhere to so as to get better. In the same way, you can’t pick a baseball in year one and become a spectacular pitcher for the major league, CrossFit exercises have procedures which you must follow. Being talented is a plus, but the talent on its own can only take you so far beyond which effort and discipline take over. Respecting the Process Everything in life has a progression, and for you to achieve results, you need dedication and hard work. In CrossFit, you must master the functional movements first before anything else. When you develop a stable base and a stronger core, then you can undertake higher skilled movements. If you skip this step, catastrophic injuries may result when doing your CrossFit exercises. On top of this, it is not proper to try out movements which are beyond your means. Doing a movement, the wrong way is not intelligent because you will be required to go back to the drawing and develop that movement once more in the right way. What this means is additional months of strength and skills development plus the risk of damaging your form by doing workouts the wrong way. Below are some of the effective tips that will help you respect the CrossFit process and at the same time put you on the path to achieving your goals. Listening to Your Body It’s important to have a routine, but getting caught in such a routine even when your body is hurting is not right. The famous 3-day-on and 1-day-off attitude were created at the beginning of CrossFit, but it is not cast on stone. When your body is instructing you otherwise, kindly listen. The body usually repairs and strengthens in between workouts, and if you continuously train without recovery, you may actually weaken instead of strengthening. Allow Your Injuries to Heal Injuries and tweaks are a necessary evil in any sport. As your intensity rises, the amount of CrossFit training you undertake can easily result in new injuries or a flare-up of old injuries. Staying healthy is important and ensuring that your injuries heal however small they are can enhance your form and give you more benefits than working out with injuries. The last tip is to understand your volume. The number of reps you do in a given movement and the load you carry should be well-planned for so that you do not overburden your skeletal system.

Serious CrossFit athletes will tell you that recovering from a CrossFit workout is as crucial as the effort they have put into the workout. That said, hydration, one of the fundamental ways to boost post-workout recoveries has often been overlooked. Many people understand and appreciate the role played by hydration during exercise, but have a vague idea of its power in post-workout recovery. This affects optimal performance. Water, in general, plays a key role in the recovery process from the repair of damaged muscles during CrossFit exercise all the way to help in the digestion of vital nutrients. Scientific studies have revealed that muscles are 75% water. Below are some of the top ways water can help in your recovery and improvement of your next workout. Muscle Repair  Exercises cause muscles to strengthen by first breaking them down and after that rebuilding them through the process of protein synthesis. However, for this to happen, your muscles must be well hydrated. If following a workout, you are dehydrated, the protein synthesis process will be drastically slowed down, and this will further delay your post-workout recovery. Digestion  Following an intense workout, it is important to refuel to replenish the depleted glycogen stores and boost recovery. However, for proper digestion to take place, you need adequate water. Saliva which is the major constituent of food breakdown in the mouth is composed of primary water and plays an important role in enhancing the absorption of the nutrients broken down. Therefore, rehydrating well after a CrossFit gym session ensures efficiency of the digestive process and recovery. Reduction in Fatigue  Fatigue is one of the most visible signs of dehydration. When the body is dehydrated, the blood volume reduces and this makes the heart to work extra hard to pump blood to all parts of the body which require nutrients and oxygen. By its very nature, fatigue hinders post-workout recovery and reduces motivation for the next workout. Heartrate Recovery A study done in 2012 brought out the role of hydration in athletic performance. It found out that hydration impacted heavily on recovery. The athletes under examination did a 90-minute run on a treadmill and subjected to two different conditions; one where the athletes took a sports drink during the CrossFit exercise and after and the second condition where they did not hydrate at all. According to the experiment, individuals who hydrated adequately showed a very significant heart rate recovery after the workout which meant their bodies quickly picked up after the stress of exercise. Rehydration following a workout has a huge impact on recovery especially in the buildup to hot summer weather. Therefore, it is important that you develop a hydration protocol after your CrossFit exercise to replenish the fluids, electrolytes, and sodium lost in the course of the workout.

The thruster is one of those exercises that is synonymous with CrossFit. After all, the term was first coined right in the CrossFit industry. Over the years, the thruster has become a respected and valuable movement in CrossFit training with lots of benefit to athletes. However, for you to reap those benefits, you need to do it correctly and efficiently. How to Do the Thruster There are 4 steps on how to execute the thruster, the beauty of it all is that these steps are pretty easy to follow and they are memorable. They include: Step 1 –Here, you stand with your feet while your lower back is tightly arched. Your hands should not be wider than your shoulders’ outsides. Your elbows should also be up in a front rack position. Step 2 –Keep your chest up while your head is in a neutral position. As you push your hips back, simultaneously descend gradually into a below parallel squat. Step 3 –While at the bottom position, explode all the way back to the position you were at the beginning. Make the explosion as hard as you possibly can. After that, using your momentum, press the bar over your head. Step 4 –As you finish, resume to a standing position and let the barbell be slightly behind and over your head. Your shoulders should be stacked over your hips and the hips stacked over the ankles. Then, lower it smoothly as you continuously descend into another squat position. The Benefits of the Thruster Workout The thruster is a perfect example of a compound exercise in CrossFit workout because it utilizes more than a single joint. It combines the push press, front squat, and a clean. Thanks to the multiple movements, the thruster gives you multiple benefits. One of the benefits is that it works all your major leg muscles which are the quads, hamstrings, and glutes when you are in the squat position. The power generated from the legs as you drive out of the squat is gradually transferred to the upper body through the lower back and abdominals and finally ends up on your shoulders, triceps, and upper back to aid in driving the bar over your head. Secondly, the thruster is one CrossFit workout that exercises the whole body just like the burpees. When you add weight to the thruster to make it heavier, you will develop muscular power and strength. When you make the thruster lighter, on the other hand, it will tax your aerobic capacity and muscular endurance. Lastly, the thruster is such a versatile CrossFit workout. Despite the fact that it is performed with a barbell, you can easily swap it for kettlebells, dumbbells, sandbags, and medicine balls. To better your efficiency when performing the thruster, remember to keep your elbows up, your movement fluid, and do not have a tight grip. Whenever needed, always take a rest. It is important to know your limits and what you are capable of so that you do not overstrain your body as this can lead to injury.  

CrossFit training is a lifestyle and practically a never-ending journey. When you begin, you put goals which you want to achieve, but the moment you attain them, you quickly set others for the future. There is always more that awaits to be moved and more reps to be hit. Because fitness in itself is a journey, there are best chances you may get ensnared in several pitfalls as you strive for the top. Below is a discussion of some of these pitfalls and how you can avoid them. Shifting from One Program to Another There is a tendency for athletes to jump from program to program in search of new challenges and to satisfy new goals. Conventional wisdom dictates that if you are getting positive results in a certain program, there is no need to change unless you have a real reason for doing so. There are lots of programs such as gymnastics programs, squat programs, running programs, and lifting programs you can freely choose to follow in the open gym hours and do a CrossFit workout. However, what will make you not to be distracted is your personal discipline. The golden rule is, if it does not break, don’t fix it. Follow the program you started with to the very end before moving to a new objective and a new program. Poor Goal Setting The SMART principle of goal setting applies not just in other spheres of life, but also in CrossFit. If one of these elements is missing, then you will struggle to achieve your goals. For instance, your goal should be time bound else there won’t be a sense of urgency to attain it. Even the CrossFit workout movements which seem complex, they also require deadlines. The best indication for well-set goals is those that make you excited and motivated to train daily. Ignoring Your Limiting Factors The definition of fitness in CrossFit revolves around increasing work capacity across modal domains and broad time. The main goal here is to become balanced across the board. CrossFit enables you to move heavyweight rather quickly, lightweight for longer periods and gives you capacity to run for long distances as well as become a good sprinter. The idea of becoming proficient in one area at the expense of inefficiency in another is highly discouraged in this sport. Even if a certain movement gives you problems to execute, you should never ignore it because that is your limiting factor and you must face it head-on. Copying Elite Athletes Online People will always post videos boasting of some ridiculous feats. Some may post doing muscle ups with a med ball and weight vest while others may boast having completed some insane rounds of a monster workout. Whichever the case, you must appreciate one thing that their experience is different from yours and their programs are tailored to meet their needs. Stick to your program because it is suited for you and will help you achieve your goals. Above all, one of the unforgivable pitfalls is to ignore the intangibles which include active recovery, rest, mobility, and CrossFit diet. If you do so, you are undermining your CrossFit workout performance big time.

Many times, in the CrossFit gym, you will be instructed to workout up to a certain percentage of your one rep max for a given exercise. One of the problems people tend to encounter is forgetfulness of their one rep max. If such a problem is coming from a newbie, it is perfectly understandable. However, from an experienced CrossFitter, it is totally inexcusable. Not putting in your score whenever you go through a WOD can be a major let down to your performance. Tracking your workouts is extremely important because then you will know whether you are improving or you are backpedaling. To put the matter straight, below are some of the reasons why recording every bit of CrossFit Workout workout you do on the box helps you. Tracking Progress It is simple, for you to know that you are getting fitter, you must have data to back it up. Maintaining CrossFit Workout logs will help you see the far you have come and your consistency in performance. Knowing where you are, at a specific time helps you to gather up the courage to move forward and see if there is an area of improvement. Learning Fitness Program Terminology If you are new to CrossFit, one of the daunting tasks you will reckon with is the new terminology. Terms such as TTB, AMRAP, HSPU, EMOM, hang squat, muscle up, push jerk, and power clean, can be pretty confusing to the individuals who are new to CrossFit. That said, when you have a log of your scores, and you make notes about the movements you do on a day to day basis, you will remember most of these terms. Good Reference for Future Workouts While it is true that workout logs are mostly used for recording weights and time, you can take advantage of the space available to slot in some comments about your performance. For instance, you may note “I should have pushed a little bit hard on the runs” or “I could have gone heavier.” These short comments can help you change your approach and attack your CrossFit workout differently next time you do it. When it comes to benchmarks, there are certain things you should know. The most common benchmarks include: CrossFit Total – This brings together your max squat, max deadlift, and max press. Knowing your back-squat max can help you estimate your front squat max. At the same time, if you know your press max, you can almost tell your max for the jerk and push press. All this comes with putting good records. Aerobic Benchmarks, Rowing, and Running –These benchmarks will help you know your progress regarding aerobic capacity. Since the rowing and runs are the least fun to do, they are quite useful for lots of reasons. Gymnastic Benchmark –This is an excellent benchmark, and it tracks the maximum pull-ups. If you have never done even a single pull-up, you can try out a max set with a band and write down exactly the band you used. In CrossFit training, it is highly discouraged to compare yourself with others, but if you know your scores, you can put yourself on the map and see how on average you are fairly on relative to other CrossFitters.

It’s quite simple to dismiss the cool down after your lifting and to stretch as a complete waste of time. However, you should know that cooling down is a recommended phase in most athletic activities. Cooling down doesn’t necessarily mean doing nothing, but rather engaging in light exercises such as biking or rowing at a steady pace. Research shows that cooling down after a CrossFit workout is as important as doing a warmup in preparation for an exercise. Benefits of a Cool Down One of the things you must appreciate is that cooling down is not the same as active recovery. It comprises certain post-WOD actions taken immediately following a workout while you are still at the gym. On the other hand, active recovery means what you do to recover from your workout when you get back home or a day after your CrossFit workout. During training, metabolic waste products are produced through the chemical processes in the body, and these products find their way to individual muscle cells. To keep you in good shape, the fluid surrounding these cells as well as the veins, capillaries, and lungs should be flushed out before you get into a resting period. The main goal of cooling down is to enhance recovery and return your body to the state it was before the workout. In a strenuous workout, the body system endures several stressful processes which cause tendons, muscle fibers, and ligaments to get damaged and waste products to build up in your system. Through a cool down, your body repair processes can run smoothly. Eases the Effects of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness Delayed onset muscle soreness abbreviated as DOMS, is one of the common side effects of intense workouts. It begins about 8 to 24 hours following the exercise and 24 to 72 hours later; it may produce a lot of pain. Among the symptoms of DOMS include swelling and stiffness of muscles as well as pain. Technically, you cannot avoid DOMS completely, but you can soften its blow by cooling down following your CrossFit training. The best means to do this is to get into a low-intensity exercise to enhance the clearance of all the enzymes responsible for residual fatigue and muscle damage. Enhances Flexibility The best time to work on your flexibility is usually after your CrossFit workout. It is advisable to do it as part of your cooldown because, during this time, your muscles are most pliable and warm. This makes stretching much easier, and you will be surprised at the new levels of flexibility you can reach. You can also take this opportunity to engage your myofascial release so that you can stay on top of the fascia. When left unattended, fascia can cause knots which interfere with your mobility and posture. The key stages to follow in any cool down include a gentle exercise, stretching, and refueling. The main goal of the exercise is to bring your heart rate to its resting level. On the other hand, the stretching is to enhance your flexibility over time, and this can help prevent injuries. Lastly, the role of CrossFit diet in refueling cannot be underestimated. It helps in feeding the hungry muscles.