CrossFit: Is It a Craze, or Here to Stay?

There’s a new kind of fitness in town, enticing soldiers, spouses and even teens and children.  

So what is this fitness craze? It’s called functional fitness, perhaps better known as CrossFit. That’s right… plyo boxes, bumper plates, kettlebells, OH MY!  

Functional fitness has been around for a long time, but only within the last 16 years has it been branded and made popular by CrossFit founder, Greg Glassman.

“CrossFit is a core, strength and conditioning program employing highly intense functional fitness,” says Kate Rivard, one of the managers at RedPoint CrossFit.

It is not a specialized fitness plan. CrossFit is designed to be general, broad and inclusive in its fitness goals, and it can be done by any dedicated individual, regardless of their experience. 

While the Army’s new combat readiness test isn’t a “CrossFit” test, it does address functional fitness or how well prepared a soldier is to do what the Army needs him or her to do. The warrior training battle drills concept is incorporated into the new combat readiness test to mimic the challenges soldiers face in war. This ensures that soldiers have the overall fitness needed to withstand the physical demands of combat.

So why is CrossFit so special? You won’t find any treadmills, weight machines, TVs or mirrors at a CrossFit gym. They call it a “CrossFit Box,” as its concept is the garage gym. There are Olympic bars, rubber “bumper” plates, kettlebells, plyo boxes, ropes, pull-up bars, row machines and even climbing nets. 

The CrossFit method is all about muscle confusion and busting through the dreaded plateau.  Rivard says that with the “Workout of the Day,” your workout is rarely the same thing twice. It consists of high-intensity exercises with short rest periods. This kind of training means your workouts are more intense but they’re shorter in time. No more running miles on the treadmill or lifting weights for hours.     

CrossFit is so popular that Fort Bragg has renovated two of its gyms (Tucker and Fredericks) into CrossFit style gyms with Olympic lifting grade bumper plates, plyometrics, agility and suspension training equipment. If you’re looking for a more family friendly, community involved CrossFit Box, Kate Rivard says RedPoint CrossFit offers all of that as well as the kick-butt CrossFit workout.