What are the differences between Crossfit and Cross Training?;

Around the beginning of 2000, Greg Glassman began to develop his philosophy around the fitness, as we know it today, and was trying to show that by training people intensively in all aspects of fitness and physical skills, it would create more fit and therefore healthier individuals.

That was and remains the goal to this day 22 years later. Sometime in 2007 and after several athletes began training using Glassman's methodology, the first CrossFit competitions were held at a ranch in California.

The Crossfit phenomenon

From then on, we can say that the phenomenon began where even today, several years later, the CrossFit as a methodology has not only changed modern fitness but continues to gain ground among many mass sport training methodologies as more and more people begin their fitness and training journey through it. So this is how CrossFit is born.

With every introduction of a successful product in a market, there will be others that will «imitate» this product to offer their services with modifications to take part of the market or to improve where necessary the existing first product.

This is how the Cross Training methodology is born.

Both one and the other can be described as a specific training methodology since they may have some similar elements. However, in depth these two types of training have different training methodologies.

CrossFit embraces the methodology of constantly alternating high intensity training. Some clarifications. Constantly alternating means that it combines exercises and movements from different sports such as weightlifting, gymnastics, endurance sports, classical sports and even swimming in some cases.

High intensity does not only mean that the athlete has to perform a movement under high load, for example a heavy repetition (relatively for everyone) in a lift, but in CrossFit, intensity tends to be measured by the feeling of fatigue it causes to the athlete after the end of the workout.

Cross-training

Cross Training, on the other hand, may involve athletes who practice a particular sport for most of the season, but choose to take up another sport during the off-season, following the specific exercise regime to improve specific areas of their fitness to benefit their main sport.

In a sense, CrossFit can be used in the methodology of someone doing Cross Training since indicatively there are athletes in weightlifting, gymnastics, football where they use it to help further develop their skills and fitness by enhancing their performance and performance.

Cross Training in athletes can offer a variety of benefits such as

• Injury prevention: Entering into such a training philosophy, the athlete will use a different exercise regimen as mentioned above. For example, a marathon runner may cross train with swimming or cycling or upper body strength exercises. In this way, she uses different muscle groups, resting the main ones used for her sport.
• Improving performance: The main idea behind cross training is for the athlete to do something different to give different stimuli to the body, ultimately improving performance. So, for example if our marathon runner supplements her training with another training style such as CrossFit, she can improve factors that affect her performance in the marathon such as the value of maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max).
• Variety: Something that athletes need to make their training more interesting and ultimately keep them more active and ready for any challenge.

Cross Training, therefore, is mainly aimed at athletes who want to complement their main training with another training methodology to maximize their performance.

CrossFit brings similar benefits, but adds an important parameter. During its existence, it has been shown that people who regularly participate in this activity develop strong social relationships with other people who play sport together.

The process of training with friends, as it starts at the beginning, often turns into training with a «second» family. Members develop strong bonds with each other thus forming small but strong communities per sporting venue. This adds an extra level of motivation where it helps with the ultimate goal of promoting health through sport.

On the contrary, if you are an athlete and you use cross training, you will often compete with yourself and you may train alone or by yourself. It's not bad of course but if you like to work out with other people and are a social person then you can try some CrossFit workouts.

Whichever you choose, do your research first and find the person who understands exactly what you want to achieve and will help you do it. There are remarkable coaches and trainers in both fields.

By Philip Messiakaris, gymnast