Training Profile
At CrossFit Athletics Greensboro, we utilize every tool we can to make you better. Strength and Conditioning for athletes, boxing workouts, whatever keeps you in the gym. We use what works for you. You are the focus. You may want to concentrate on hardcore strength training while another focuses more on the endurance side.
CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.
Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward general fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.
The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability
This makes it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We’ve used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs.
The needs of Olympic athletes and our grandparents differ by degree not kind. Our terrorist hunters, skiers, mountain bike riders and stay-at-home moms have found their best fitness from the same regimen.
In short, CrossFit can improve anyone’s way of life.
Functional exercises keep us fit and looking good today, and keep us healthy and autonomous in our later years. You cannot put a price tag on functional longevity. This programming is scaleable and customizable to fit any individual, regardless of your current condition. CrossFit is being used today for SEAL deployment training, mixed martial arts gyms, police and firefighter academies, and many athletes that rely on strong physical fitness. CrossFit is also being used to curb obesity, help stay-at-home moms do more with less time, and wounded veterans redevelop basic motor skills lost by severe injury. If you put the time and effort in, this program will reward you with athletic skill and fitness you may not have realized you had.
Hippocrates
“Let food be your medicine, and let medicine be your food.”
Nutrition
The CrossFit dietary prescription is as follows:
Protein should be lean and varied and account for about 30% of your total caloric load.
Carbohydrates should be predominantly low-glycemic and account for about 40% of your total caloric load.
Fat should be predominantly monounsaturated and account for about 30% of your total caloric load.
Calories should be set at between .7 and 1.0 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass depending on your activity level. The .7 figure is for moderate daily workout loads and the 1.0 figure is for the hardcore athlete.
What Should I Eat?
In plain language, base your diet on garden vegetables, especially greens, lean meats, nuts and seeds, little starch, and no sugar. That’s about as simple as we can get. Many have observed that keeping your grocery cart to the perimeter of the grocery store while avoiding the aisles is a great way to protect your health. Food is perishable. The stuff with long shelf life is all suspect. If you follow these simple guidelines you will benefit from nearly all that can be achieved through nutrition.
The Caveman or Paleolithic Model for Nutrition
Modern diets are ill suited for our genetic composition. Evolution has not kept pace with advances in agriculture and food processing resulting in a plague of health problems for modern man. Coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, obesity and psychological dysfunction have all been scientifically linked to a diet too high in refined or processed carbohydrate. Search “Google” for Paleolithic nutrition, or diet. The return is extensive, compelling, and fascinating. The Caveman model is perfectly consistent with the CrossFit prescription.
What Foods Should I Avoid?
Excessive consumption of high-glycemic carbohydrates is the primary culprit in nutritionally caused health problems. High glycemic carbohydrates are those that raise blood sugar too rapidly. They include rice, bread, candy, potato, sweets, sodas, and most processed carbohydrates. Processing can include bleaching, baking, grinding, and refining. Processing of carbohydrates greatly increases their glycemic index, a measure of their propensity to elevate blood sugar.
What is the Problem with High-Glycemic Carbohydrates?
The problem with high-glycemic carbohydrates is that they give an inordinate insulin response. Insulin is an essential hormone for life, yet acute, chronic elevation of insulin leads to hyperinsulinism, which has been positively linked to obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, blood pressure, mood dysfunction and a Pandora’s box of disease and disability. Research “hyperinsulinism” on the Internet. There’s a gold mine of information pertinent to your health available there. The CrossFit prescription is a low-glycemic diet and consequently severely blunts the insulin response.
Caloric Restriction and Longevity
Current research strongly supports the link between caloric restriction and an increased life expectancy. The incidence of cancers and heart disease sharply decline with a diet that is carefully limited in controlling caloric intake. “Caloric Restriction” is another fruitful area for Internet search. The CrossFit prescription is consistent with this research.
The CrossFit prescription allows a reduced caloric intake and yet still provides ample nutrition for rigorous activity.
Rest Days
Go with what feels right. Everybody is different, with different schedules. CrossFit HQ recommends 3 on, 1 off. Many like 5 on, 2 off. Start out at twice a week and go up if you’re just getting into some intense activity. Move up accordingly. CrossFit works best by combining intense, functional activity, proper macronutrient portioning, and rest.
We want to give credit to crossfit.com and crossfit downtown winston-salem for their help with the description of Crossfit. Be sure to check out the free Crossfit Journal. It contains a wealth of information on exercise and nutrition.
