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“What CrossFit has taught me is that randomized, functional
movement is how you get fit.”
CrossFit boasts that its specialty is not specializing.
The Crossfit program attempts to be as inclusive as possible and gears its
regimen to be open to participants ranging from elite athletes to homemakers.
It’s especially popular with police training academies and special operations
units. But the straightforward concept has drawn interest from many looking for
a fresh approach to fitness.
By use of constantly varied functional movements, executed at high intensity -
Crossfit trains to increase your work capacities across broad time and modal
domains. Military service members are attracted to the crossfit
philosophies of circuit-type training, exhaustive rigorous exercise, and ply
metrics.
It’s made up of several dozen individual exercises and
movements that, when combined, form the CrossFit system. Some of these exercises
will be familiar to many people with a few hours in the gym under their belts:
clean, jerk, pull-up and squat.
 However,
other parts of the regimen stray from standard gym orthodoxy and have names to
reflect as much: hollow rock, power snatch and the “hot chick muscle up,”
basically a combination pull-up and dip, using a pair of Olympic-style rings.
CrossFit has become a global phenomenon, reflected by clubs springing up
worldwide. But it has fairly humble beginnings, said founder Greg Glassman,
who’s spent decades working as a personal trainer and now trains law enforcement
personnel nationwide.
Today, Crossfit is religiously followed by scores of men and
women in the armed forces. There is a particularly ferocious following of
Crossfit by special operations forces (SOF). These SOF units have a
penchant for high levels of fitness, a desire to challenge themselves at the
highest level, and are usually on the forefront of new fitness programs.
These "operators", as they are called, are searching for more complete,
total-body fitness and that has brought them to crossfit. Furthermore, the
strength gained by doing the demanding crossfit workouts directly translates to
many of the tasks required by military service members in Iraq and Afghanistan
such as climbing over walls, picking up fallen comrades, entering buildings, and
more.
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Army Paratroopers Get Fit with Crossfit
 Fort
Bragg, N.C. - The 82d Airborne Division Paratroopers' faces are scrunched up in agony, their jaws
clenched, eyes closed, and temples running with sweat. Moans and groans of
exertion are starting to escape from their lips. They look up at their fitness
instructor for any sign that the torment will be ending soon, but she just
smiles and keeps the exercises coming.
The person reducing these hardened Paratroopers into whimpering jelly isn't some
snarling, mountain of a Drill Sergeant in a round brown hat, she's a petite,
5'2'' civilian with blue steaks in her hair and a lip piercing. Thomi Gill is an
expert in the exercise program known as CrossFit, and recently, she and several
other instructors showed Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division how
CrossFit can take their fitness routines to the next level.
About 60 Paratroopers from the 82nd's 2nd Brigade Combat Team took part in a
two-day training event Sep. 17 - 18 at the CrossFit gym in Southern Pines, N.C.
to learn the philosophy and the techniques of the CrossFit program and get
certified as CrossFit instructors.
Fort Hood Unit Takes on Crossfit
FORT HOOD, Texas - "You're getting a 10-minute workout." The physical
training instructor Sgt. Michael Martin, got a few odd looks from the unit.
Normally, Army physical training is one hour, but the Headquarters and
Headquarters Company, Special Troops Battalion, 15th Sustainment Brigade, is
trying something new - CrossFit, and the morning's actual workout length was 10
minutes of physical exercise for each Soldier.
CrossFit, which is a relatively new training regimen available to the Army, is
intended to train participants in functional fitness, rather than a specific
event, such as the Army Physical Fitness Test, said Master Sgt. Marcus Woody,
one of the CrossFit instructors with the company. "CrossFit shocks your
body all the time," Woody said. He went on to explain that CrossFit is a
constantly varying program that is highly adaptable to include a number of
different exercises, including things like carrying sandbags or duffel bags.
"Anything can be CrossFit," the Moody, Texas, native said. Woody said he
enjoys the program, but it hasn't been easy. "I've always thought I was in
very good shape, Army-standard wise," Woody said. "I did CrossFit, and it broke
me off - intensely. "I realized I wasn't in as good a shape as I thought."
Woody said he has seen a drastic improvement in his physical fitness level since
he started doing CrossFit about six weeks ago. "It's not a routine," Woody
said. "[It] keeps you shocked and keeps you guessing as to what your next
fitness regimen will be."
Capt. Estan Davis, the company's commander, implemented the program into the
unit's physical training because he felt that many of the core strength area
were being ignored. "The sole purpose was to focus on building that core
strength," Davis said.
When the opportunity presented itself, Davis explained, he sent two instructors
through the course. He feels that the program is going quite well, and is
preparing to expand it to be every Tuesday and Thursday. "We've seen
tremendous increases in Soldiers' abilities to score well," Davis said.
One Soldier, Spc. Baniah Rogers, with the brigade's personnel section, said he
enjoys the explosive nature of the exercises, as well as the cardio respiratory
benefits from the program. "I think it's really great," Rogers continued.
"It breaks out of the monotony of just running all the time."
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CrossFit is a program developed by a former gymnast in Santa Cruz, Calif. in the
1990s that focuses on building up core strength and conditioning through a
series of high-intensity, functional movements such as squats, shoulder presses,
and deadlifts. CrossFit workouts typically call for athletes to work hard and
fast, often with no rest.
In recent years, CrossFit's popularity has grown, and it's techniques have been
incorporated into physical fitness programs used by the Marines and Army Special
Forces.
Check out our Military Core Training
Workouts for descriptions and pictures of Core Training exercises with the
Fitball. Do you experience lower back pain? Most people will
experience at least one episode of severe, debilitating back pain in their
lives. Active people such as athletes and military service members will
experience back pain more frequently. Check out our section on
exercises to strengthen your lower back.
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