This year marks the 20th anniversary of the inception of CrossFit! The number of people following CrossFit programmes in the UK has steadily grown over the past 10 years, when CrossFit Leyland opened in 2012 there were approximately FIFTY CrossFit boxes in the UK, whereas today there are over FIVE HUNDRED. What started out as training brainstorming session in Greg’ Glassman’s garage amongst friends, has blossomed into a robust training methodology, a notorious brand around the world and for many, a central pillar in their lives.
In the early days, when CrossFit boxes were scarce, the focus of keen followers was very much on the novel training methodology that deviated away from the traditional body building training, or alternative ‘cardio’ training, that the general population completed in mainstream gyms around the world. This new wave of functional training, combining; weightlifting, gymnastics and conditioning, within the same workouts, put the conventional training methods used by the general population to the test. During this time, a lot of people relied on home / garage gyms to participate in CrossFit, which gave it an ‘underground’ reputation amongst the fitness industry. Fast forward several years, as the notoriety of CrossFit grew, so too did the number of boxes, mainly in the USA to start with, before the rest of the world followed. With the rise of ‘micro-gyms’ and fitness communities, CrossFit became so much more than just a training methodology. The garage / home gyms became a minority. Why? Because isolation sucks! The most disciplined of us will train anywhere, anytime, with any equipment / no equipment, alone, whatever it takes, as long as we get the job done. But the majority of us? The majority of us need more than that, we need accountability, we need social interaction, we need coaching, we need re-assurance, we need someone to care. Is it any wonder that mainstream ‘globo-gyms’ (who are missing all of these things) have sky high attrition rates? Or that prior to lockdown, most people had a collection of home gym equipment gathering dust in the garage?
In 2020 and in a state of worldwide lockdown, we are truly spoiled for choice with training programmes available. There are literally thousands available online for free, all of which can be completed solo at home, with equipment, or without equipment. But as we go deeper into quarantine, we will no doubt all start to miss those things that kept us coming back to the box; friendship, motivation, inspiration, results. Don’t take our word for it … there is plenty of research out there that supports the benefits that group training has on adherence to exercise programmes, compared to training alone. The following article does a nice job of summarising it: https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/why-you-should-work-out-crowd-ncna798936
If you’ve not yet tried one of our online ZOOM classes, give it a try. Catch up with friends, workout together and share the pain / pleasure! Why not set yourself a target of attending 3 classes this week and establish the routine? If you’re shy, don’t worry! The use of your camera and microphone is optional, you will still be able to see and hear the coach.
Sign up for FREE here >>>>> https://zoom.us
CrossFit Leyland Meeting Room ID: 826-829-1690
Password: 833990
CrossFit Leyland daily ZOOM classes will provide you with
- Accountability
- Endorphins (that feel good factor we all need right now)
- Interaction with coach / class mates
- Opportunity to scale and adapt movements around injuries, or equipment issues.
- A sense of pride and achievement
We will be trialling an 8pm class Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday this week and you can always join us at 8am, 12 noon and 6pm weekdays (excluding Thursday) and 9am at weekends. We will be using Thursdays as a recovery run / mobility day.
Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for our weekly Friday social events also!
If you didn’t sign our GDPR form initially, but would like to receive our weekly newsletters, or daily workouts straight to your inbox, just drop us an email and ask to be added to the mailing list: enquiries@crossfitleyland.co.uk
Stay safe. See you all soon!
CFL team
The post Stronger Together appeared first on CrossFit Leyland.