I have noticed that some posts come up from time to time about exercise programs for hard hunts or heavier bows. My question is why more people aren't doing crossfit? I love it. Check it out www.crossfit.com (http://www.crossfit.com) . Today I did a workout called Fran. If you scroll down on the demo videos it is with the ones named after women. Don't ask me why they named them like that. 21 pullups, 21 squat press with 100lbs, 15 pullups, 15 squat press, 9 pullups, 9 squat press. Tell me what you think.
iv been meaning to give it a go for a while but never got round to it, sandbags and spartan workout using your own body weight keeps me strong.
I forgot to mention that this is for time. So you have to give it all you got. You should keep track of your times so you know what you have to beat next time.
Check out p90x. Cardio and strength in one. good program that gets you motivated. Works for me.
I've done p90x. It's okay. I just like the daily workouts posted on crossfit. They are free.
I also do the zone diet. I want to hunt with a bow as long as I am alive so I gotta keep strong.
im currently 30 days into p90x. I will now start heavily modifying the schedule and adding in more traditional weight training. The program is more designed for weight loss and toning down. I certainly dont need to lose weight! Its a great program though for most of america. I just don't need all the cardio type routines, because i run and bike regularly. It is designed as an at home routine. I am able to do much more towards adding muscle mass with the gym equipment and heavier weight.
Ive looked at crossfit and its seems pretty good. Lots of different routines. Be a good source for different workouts to get some muscle confusion.
I just started a program called PACE. It is strength and conditioning designed to increase lung capacity, improve heart strength, and boost metabolism. The basic premise is short duration, high intensity exercise. It is designed by a doctor. He claims that long duration, low intensity (jogging, aerobics, etc.) actually causes your lungs and heart to get smaller, so they can handle the long endurance demand.
The program is about 160 pages long, so obviously there is more to it than that, but in the short time I have been at it, I have lost three pounds and feel much better. I'm 55, so my high intensity workout is a lot different than it would be for you young pups, but eventually mine should get pretty intense. My major handicap is a prosthetic knee that precludes some exercises.
My goal is to bow hunt elk in the Rockies the year I retire. I'll be 59. Right now I am too fat and out of shape, but I plan to be lean and mean by then.
I watched some of the videos on the crossfit site. Someone would have to call 911 if I tried that right now! It looks like a similar high intensity workout though once one reaches the level of the athletes on the videos. I had to stop watching the nasty girls one. I was worn out just watching them!
You guys have the right idea though. Thanks for the post.
Russ
working out till I puke is not a productive way to become fit. I realize that crossfit does have its benefits, I cannot justify some of the things they strive for.
their are way better programs to use than crossfit
Used to go to the gym every day but am no longer able to do that and must workout at home. Did P90X for a while and got bored with it.
Been doing Crossfir for about 4 months and I absolutely love it. Really like the oly lifts and the non-standard exercises like wall ball and all the girls. Gran kicks my arse every time.
More power output in less time. Crossfit rocks!
Quotetheir are way better programs to use than crossfit
Yes their are. If you are interested in that type of workout but want to move in a certain direction try the caveman training. Very similar to crossfit but their is a set purpose to each workout. Not just some very difficult exercise bunched together.
I have never been to a crossfit gym, I am curious if the instructors (trainers) teach proper form when lifting barbells and the like over head? heck even a bench press with improper form will blow your shoulders out.
I'm in my fourth year of crossfit and I really seem to like it and my body responds to it well especially when I eat Paleo. I know there are other programs out there but my whole shift at the fire station does the rx'd WOD and it would be a bad thing if I switched them to something else. I got em started a while ago and they all seem to like it until its hero day like today.
Shawn
Crossfit is not just a bunch of exercises thrown together. They are all functional movements. It is what most MMA fighters are using. We, the US Army, have been sending soldiers to get instructor qualified. I challenged anyone to try it for a month and see if that can't shoot that next heavier bow.
I'm glad it works for you.
Hope you are using proper form for longevity sake.
When it comes to building a combination of mental stamina, cardiovascular endurance, power, and all-round functional strength, I've yet to find any program that equals Crossfit.
Don't know about the program's helpfulness if your aim is to pull heavier bows...but one month on the program and you will be able to climb taller mountains--hike longer and farther--even starting out with scaled back workouts. Plus, pulling a deer or two out of the woods you won't even get winded.
QuoteIt is what most MMA fighters are using
I beg to differ. Any workout system that has crossfit type lifting routines seems to have gotten the crossfit moniker. Crossfit is a great workout no doubt about it. But I believe the evolution of crossfit is something like Caveman training wherein these difficult core routines are built into a routine with set goals in mind. such as a push day, pull day, endurance or what have you. I have a major issue with a quote from Coach on the crossfit site. he said that if you lift with the mindset that you will go as intense as you can without breaking form than you will never build the intensity to see true breakthroughs.
I'm not a fitness expert. I've been working out with weights and cardio for a few years primarily to build strength and stamina for bowhunting. I started Crossfit a couple of weeks ago and love it. If you are interested in trying to maximize the little time you have available for becoming truly fit, I'd recommend checking it out.
More like cross town, on my way to the Hospital. I think that's for young bucks.
Crossfit is designed so you do NOT become specific in any one area. You work all 10 areas of fitness on a program that does not concentrate on hypertrophy but strength and fitness. The excercises are compound/functional movements that have many benefits in life. I have yet to find myself forced to do a bicep curl in the woods so why do them in the gym? It can be used alone or as intended to supplement your sport-specific excercises.
Also, many MMA fighters do Crossfit as was stated. All you have to is check their websites and you will see many from BJ Penn to Chuck Lidell.
QuoteOriginally posted by jmc334:
Also, many MMA fighters do Crossfit as was stated. All you have to is check their websites and you will see many from BJ Penn to Chuck Lidell.
I just love it when FGB (fight gone bad) named after BJ Penn comes up. He said the work out was like a fight that had gone bad so there you have it.
last time I checked Chuck Liddell was running up and down hills with 350lbs in a wheelbarrow. You do this in Xfit?
Whats good for a MMA fighter is good for an elk hunter? NOT IMHO
For anyone interested in function strength, another site to check out is that of Ross Enamait. His book "Never Gymless" is all about body weight exercises. He also knows his shinola when it comes sled dragging, sledge hammer training, and rope climbing.
I certainly would not bash X-fit...BUT over the last 3 years I have followed it twice and ended up with overuse injuries each time.(probably a mix of old injuries coming back to haunt me) As some one said before, go for it if your a young buck otherwise work yourself into it very gently. I never figured out the right way to scale it for me. Scaling and Going all out didn't leave much room for error. First injury was to my right shoulder and last June I injured my hamstring. I felt it tear but of course just going for it I finished the 20 over head squats. Neither injury did much for my archery performance.
I am 44, so you guys 20 years younger it may work just fine but be careful. Now I just do cardio, squats, dead lifts, standing press and cleans. Totally focus on form and build the weight up slowly. I still love to pull 2x body weight off the floor but I am trying to acknowledge that I can't pound out the reps and recover like I used to.
et
et has a great point. I'm 52, tore an ACL for the first time in my life a month before elk season, and I was a cranky boy all fall. Actually, still am.
I think the best schools of functional weightlifting (think Mark Rippetoe and Eric Cressey), p90x, Enamait's bodyweight and other books, as well as x-fit and later high-intensity blended schools (Gym Jones and Caveman) all have a lot to offer--probably in roughly ascending order for most of us, but with all being worth a great deal. It makes sense to mix it up, but maybe on a more periodic basis than x-fit--in that it takes a while to get and stay skilled at the movements, and more than one specialist thinks he began to drop back after initial gains with x-fit (and that's what started the whole Gym Jones splintering off from CrossFit, which, along with its role in the movie 300, led to a lot of controversy.
Much of that is what I've read or heard, but I do know that the most intensive schools are on a whole different level in terms of mental fitness, and that as you age you have to experiment. Clarence Bass, old weightlifter extraordinaire, has the best (if longwinded) stuff I've seen on aging, experimenting, and changing approaches.
One thing--even if you don't agree with anything else I've said, check out Eric Cressey's stuff on soft tissue warmup work for injury prevention on his website or his excellent book "Maximum Strength". Your muscles improve faster than your joints--and that should give anyone over a certain age pause.
Ran into a guy at the gym today who had on a Crossfit t-shirt. Turns out he is certified and has a crossfit gym in another town. He helped me with some technique issues and made a believer out of me in terms of proper form. While I don't have a xfit gym that is close enough to join, I think I may go take a fundamentals course to get the form down on some of the foriegn to me exercises.
That is great. If you have the $$$ you can put one together at home. I do most of mine at home. I actually mix it up between Ross, Crossfit, Gym Jones and my own thing depending on the day.
I think the wheelbarrel up the hill is a lot more beneficial to Elk hunting than you might think. Anaerobic fitness is the least worked cardio by all (because it hurts).
Core Performance has some great warm-up and stretching routines also.
Nagging injuries? Only go to mechanical failure on your sets and that will help a ton. You can add another set if you feel cheated but stop at machanical failure (when your form is lost).
Good Luck.
Crossfitters--
If you use a Crossfit gym, what does it cost? The one here is $100/mo!
Crossfit is great, if you wish to lose fat and get in shape. But as for strength and muscle mass, there are better ways. Crossfit emphasizes on 'functional' exercises, mostly with high reps, intervals and no rest between exercises. Which is, as I stated, great for getting in shape and dropping fat.
Training Crossfit will gear you for other physichal performances, but you must not mistake it for the Holy Grail of fitness training, since it will "only" make you mediocre at a whole lot of variable exercises.
Love Crossfit. I've been doing it for 5 weeks. My instructor is an ex-SEAL, which is where he learned Crossfit so that is some kind of endorsement. I've been working out for 30 yrs doing, bodybuilding, powerlifting, body weight...just about everything. I was doing P90X, which is good, but Cross fit gives you variation and the workouts are constantly varying so that your body is challenged and must adapt. It's a very intense workout, by far the most intense that I've ever done, as you do each workout for time and try to beat your previous time and/or weight. Their speciality is "not specializing". The workouts range from lifting heavy in power lifts and Olympic lifts (unlike what was stated above)in order to build strength to , cardo, flexibility, and endurance/stamina. You may do a workout that covers all that I mentioned to one of pure strength movements. You will get in shape. I am.
Kyle
It's all about the W.O.D.. For an added challenge try incorporating the crossfit endurance workouts for the high altitude hunts. 2 a days are tough but better than failing at the moment of truth.