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Crossfit for weightlifting [Article]

Posted by Pascal Landshoeft

Sep 17, 2019 9:00:00 AM

Crossfit for weightlifting

Crossfit for weightlifting

 
CrossFit can be a great accessory to a weightlifting schedule to keep things fresh and interesting. Especially off season or in recovery. 
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What is your goal 

 
Before we go into the details of whether These different forms of sports activity are effective for you it is important to take a step back and assess your goals. Ask yourself: 
 
  • Why do you want to train? 
  • Why do you want to change? 
  • What happens when you do? 
  • What happens if you don’t? 
 
To be successful with your training, or almost anything in life, one of the key components is consistency. It is very hard to be consistent if you don’t know what you want and why. A bit of reflection seldom hurts and often comes short in our fast-paced, routines lives. So, take off the blinkers and take a look around. Why are you doing all of this? 
 
What helps me for reflections and staying on trick are my self journal and scribe notebook. They are the best tools to track my progress against a goal and check whether I am making headway. They also constantly remind me of the good things in life and what actually went well.
 
  • Do you keep a journal?
  • Does it help you to think positive and emphasize what works in your life? 
All of this will help tremendously to determine whether CrossFitBodybuildingPowerlifting or other sports are the right choices to make you successful and happy. 
 

Crossfit

 
CrossFit has been on the rise lately. In its core, it is an extreme form of circuit training that utilizes barbellspull-ups and conditioning training. It has its roots in military training and has the aim to create the “fittest people on earth”. This means that CrossFit creates bodies and physiques which are able to adapt physically to almost anything you throw at them. More or less the ideal definition of what you want in a front line soldier. Not specialized in one thing and in the top 5% of fitness of anything they have to do. 
 
What separates CrossFit from many other things in the gym is that you will be always be competing. Either against the clock or others. This introduces a high grade of intensity into the training. Based on this it yields results. 
 
What else to consider for CrossFit 
 
 

Pros of Crossfit

 
The big pros of CrossFit are that it has a high focus on intensity and that almost everything is measured. You will hardly find a workout that does not have any benchmarks attached to it you want to strive for. This makes it great if you are competitive or to show results over a short period of time. Many other exercise regimens leave you a lot of freedom to take rest, speed up or slow down. Not so with CrossFit. Crossfit is always gogogo. 
 

Cons of Crossfit

 
The negative sites of CrossFit are the Jack of all trades approach and the high intensity even for beginners. For world-class athletes, CrossFit might not be ideal as you spent very little time to perfect one thing in favor of being good at everything. This will get you to the top 5% in the world in almost any sports activity, but not into the top 1% where Olympic medals are won. The lack of specificity of CrossFit can come as a disadvantage for athletes who want to compete at the highest levels. They are better off looking for more specific supporting exercises to their sport to support their performance. 
 
For beginners, the quick emphasis on high intensity can become an injury risk and demotivating. If you have issues and don’t understand the movement patterns yet the last thing you want to do is to put the pressure on by creating a competitive environment. You need a very good coach to adjust for this and an individual who is willing to accept the coaching. Both are rare specimen and this is why CrossFit can be very dangerous especially for beginners. Combine this with Olympic lifting, which CrossFit does, and you have created a high risk for injury. 
 

Alternatives to Crossfit

 
Good alternatives to CrossFit are
 
 
If you like competing against the clock or for repetitions to keep your mind sharp and the sweat pouring you can opt for circuit training without added resistance. Only use your bodyweight and try not to cheat your way into more repetitions by using bad form. Examples of this kind of training would be bikini body mommy or a routine like 100 push-ups, 100 pull-ups, 100 squats, and a 10km run. Of course, this one is a more extreme example, but you get the idea. 
 
If you like working with a barbell you can opt for powerlifting instead of the many Olympic weightlifting components in CrossFit. The bench press, squat, and deadlift are easier to master than the clean and jerk, snatch and front squat you do in CrossFit. With this, you can work with a barbell without having to go too technical. 
 
If you want to have more stamina and work on your lunges than running is a good, cheap alternative to CrossFit. Start with a couch to 5k program and work your way from there. Hal Higdon has some excellent programs you can follow to improve. 
 

Weightlifting

 
Weightlifting is the only barbell sport so far that has become Olympic. This might be due to the nature of the snatch and the clean and jerk which are highly technical. In Olympic weightlifting, you will get three attempts per lift. The lifts which count against your total are the snatch and the clean and jerk. Out of the three attempts for each the best ones are counted towards your total. 
 
The snatch is the harder one of the two and requires you to get the weight directly above the head from the ground without touching off at the chest. To execute the lift successfully you need impeccable timing and upper body strength. From the ground you bring the barbell into an overhead squat position and from there to full extension of the legs. Sounds easy, but is pretty hard to do. Lifters usually post smaller numbers on the snatch than on the clean and jerk. 
 
The clean and jerk allows to bring the weight to the chest first before bringing it overhead. You will pull the barbell off the ground to bring it to the bottom position of a front squat as fast as possible. From there to squat up to full extension of the legs. The last part of the lift is to push the barbell overhead. 
 
Key to success is speed and strength. The stronger you are the easier it will be to get the weight explosively off the ground. Speed will determine how fast you get under the bar to make use of your entire body to get the weight up. This is the most crucial part of the lifts to experienced athletes. 
 

Pros of Weightlifting

 
Weightlifting has the advantage over bodybuilding and powerlifting that it is a lot more athletic. It needs you to be fast and nimble which is not necessarily required for bodybuilding and powerlifting as your body goes through a mallet range of motion. It still makes you strong as hell while it trains your entire body. There is also something very satisfying about bringing a huge weight overhead. 
 

Cons of Weightlifting

 
Olympic Weightlifting is very technical and can lead to serious injuries very fast if done wrong. So definitely take some time and money and Invest it in professional instructions. 
 

Alternatives to Weightlifting

 
Alternatives to Olympic weightlifting are 
 
 
Powerlifting will be for the more laid back people who want to go for maximum strength. While it is not as athletic or requires sheer willpower and the determination to withstand soul-crushing weights for a longer time than in Olympic weightlifting
 
If you like your ligaments and you only want to pump yourself up bodybuilding might be the better choice. You will still be in the weight room but your focus will be completely different. 
 
CrossFit will put more emphasis on mastering many different aspects of fitness. You will do handstand walks and push-ups, all sorts of pull-ups, and long-distance endurance events. 
 

Crossfit for Weightlifting

 
CrossFit can be a great accessory to weightlifting to keep things a bit more interesting and make your athletes less injury prone. The risk with doing the same things constantly over and over again is that the body and mind can get stale. CrossFit offers a great opportunity for weightlifters to make things more interesting while still Bek game specific to the sport. As explosiveness is important to weightlifting you can gain from switching it up a little with CrossFit. Especially after peaking a cycle or the month after a weightlifting competition. 
 
 

Topics: Crossfit