Crossfit Brighton 140710

GOALS

What are your goals for the training?  One main goal for the members in our gym is increasing and improving general fitness levels.  This is what we inform new members on day #1 and focus on everyday.  See the 10 Physical Fitness domains by Crossfit.  Many people have different, individual goals for themselves and prioritize them accordingly.  It is good to have an idea of where you are at and what areas you need or want to improve.

Cardio: Cardiorespiratory Endurance is the ability of body systems to gather, process, and deliver oxygen. Some peoples' goals may be to increase cardio/endurance.  For these people limiting resting periods by 1.) not resting or 2.) resting less will help them increase work capacity and cardio abilities.  People that train with Crossfit will understand the "red zone", feeling "gassed" or the ability of "getting comfortable with being uncomfortable".

Skills: Developing certain skills is another goal for many.  This requires knowledge with proper techniques and practice, much practice.

Strength: Overall strength is another common goal of many members. As Crossfit includes weight lifting, many people initially see great gains in their gross strength.  This has to with the amount of experience or inexperience they have had with weight lifting.  Their weights also goes up as their form improves.  After a while, the curve of progress slows down and making small gains (5lbs or 10lbs) are expected.  

If your goals are to continually improve your strength, extra efforts will be needed outside of the WODs.  There are many strength programs, formulas, ideas and opinions but to simplify things, if you want to squat more weight, you must squat often.  I am trying to simplify things for the sake of making a point.  Plus, I am a simple guy and the way I want life to be.  We do include a strength component to the WODs and we also have our Strength WODs.  Knowing the weights of your lifts and doing the work will help get you where you want to go.  Our trainers will also add guidance to your endeavors.

Improvement on Proper Technique: If your primary goal is not “the improvement on form and technique” with complex exercises and also basic movements then I will strongly urge you to rearrange the order of your goal's list.  This is paramount with regards to making gains, improving longterm health and also safety.  Take heed of what the trainers are cueing you and apply.  I can’t stress this enough.

Having goals with your training is important to see improvement.  If you are going somewhere you might as well bring a map!  I understand many just want to get a “good workout”.  That is fine but spend some time thinking of what you need to do to improve your overall fitness level.  This will help your thought process when in the gym.