Training

Free Weights vs. Resistance Bands: Challenge Your Muscles the Right Way Whether you’re aiming to sculpt your physique, enhance athletic performance, or simply get through daily challenges a little bit easier, resistance training has been shown to be the key to a more fit life. (1) “Resistance training”, however, is a broad term for many different ways to strengthen your muscles. Most people gravitate toward lifting free weights — barbells or dumbbells. However, there are other forms of resistance training that can elicit similar, sometimes even more beneficial, results. One of the most common alternatives, found both in commercial gyms and as a convenient addition to home workouts, is training with resistance bands.  In the big picture, free weights (which includes barbells and dumbbells) offer a straightforward load — a 100-pound barbell offers 100 pounds of resistance. Resistance bands provide dynamic tension and present a more significant challenge as the band is stretched into a longer position. Credit: DC Studio / Shutterstock Understanding how and when to choose the right tool for the right job is vital for creating an optimal workout that will get you closer to your goals. Free weights and resistance bands might seem to be worlds apart, but once you acknowledge their similarities and differences, you will have a better idea about how to implement them into your workout to take your fitness to the next level. In this article, we will elaborate on the debate of “free weights versus resistance bands,” explore their differences and similarities, and figure out the best times to use these modes of resistance training for better results. Free Weights vs. Resistance Bands Equipment Differences Equipment Similarities How and When to Use Free Weights How and When to Use Resistance Bands Choosing the Right Source of Resistance Differences Between Free Weights and Resistance Bands The differences between free weights and resistance bands seem noticeable at first glance. However, there are some less obvious differences to be aware of before incorporating free weights or resistance bands into your workout routine. Each modality has its unique advantages, and knowing how to leverage them effectively can help you achieve a well-rounded fitness regimen. Source of Resistance One of the biggest differences between free weights and resistance bands is the source of resistance. Free weights rely on moving against the force of gravity to challenge a lifter’s raw strength. The actual weight of the equipment itself is what is used to provide resistance for each exercise. This also means resistance remains consistent throughout the movement, and only your position of leverage and the direction of the weight will significantly alter the feel of resistance. It’s one reason why squats feel more difficult in the bottom and relatively easier as you approach a standing position. Credit: SOK Studio / Shutterstock When using resistance bands, the source of resistance comes through the use of a pliable band, commonly made from latex or rubber. The elasticity of the band means that, as you increase the band’s length, tension is increased which provides a more challenging and “heavier” stimulus. This varied resistance — with more challenge at the end range of motion and relatively less challenge in shorter positions — can be very useful for lifters who may have an injury or those want to train a specific aspect of the exercise. The resistance profile can allow you to recruit or emphasize muscles during certain ranges of motion within a specific exercise. Stabilization Requirement Working with free weights requires a higher degree of stabilization, as the weights are not connected to a fixed point. This relative freedom of movement engages additional muscles to maintain balance and control throughout the exercise. This would be an advantage for those who are looking to recruit more muscle groups and want to also improve their functional strength, such an athlete that requires total-body stability.  Resistance bands provide built-in stabilization due to their attachment points — bands are typically anchored to a fixed object which allows you to pull or push the bands’ handles. This can be advantageous for individuals looking to isolate specific muscle groups without focusing as much on stability. In certain situations, a high degree of stabilization is not desired, as an athlete might want to perform an easier exercise variation to focus on the target muscle without worrying about other variables such as the muscular coordination needed to control a barbell or dumbbell. Joint Stress Depending on the exercise, free weights can exert more stress on joints due to the constant pull of gravity on the levers of the body. Stress doesn’t have to be bad, though. You want to achieve a level of stress on the joints of the body to create fatigue for growing muscle. You can perform variations of exercises, such as pressing on a flat, incline, or decline angle to adjust this stress. In other instances, some populations might not be able to handle higher levels of stress during a particular movement. Resistance bands provide a smoother resistance curve that can reduce joint stress at the start of the movement and gradually increase stress as the band stretches. This can potentially make an exercise more joint-friendly for certain individuals who might be recovering from an injury or have limited mobility. Portability and Convenience When discussing portability, free weights (especially barbells) are known to be heavier and space-consuming pieces of equipment. Free weights can be bulky and require dedicated storage space. They are less portable, making them more suitable for gym environments or home setups with designated workout areas. Credit: SOK Studio / Shutterstock Resistance bands are highly portable and take up minimal space, making them ideal for home workouts with limited space, travel, and on-the-go training. They offer a versatile training option that can be easily adapted to different environments. Bands are also great for trainers who work with larger groups or “boot camps.” Similarities Between Free Weights and Resistance Bands For all of their significant differences, there are plenty of similarities between bands and free

Squat Stand vs. Power Rack: How to Choose Your Gym’s Command Center Whether you’re setting up your own home gym or simply trying to figure out where to settle in for your next exercise at the neighborhood fitness center, you’ll likely be confronted with the choice between a squat stand and a power rack. Squat stands consist of two simple metal uprights to support a barbell — they are more compact and significantly lighter than power racks. A power rack, sometimes referred to as a squat rack, will typically have four to six metal uprights and offer more exercise options and accessories than a pair of squat stands. Credit: hurricanehank / Shutterstock While these two pieces of equipment are often used interchangeably, differences in their characteristics and intended usages are worth consideration. This article will help you make the most out of your home gym budget or your commercial gym workout by guiding you to the most appropriate and safest piece of equipment for your specific needs. Squat Stand vs. Power Rack Equipment Differences Equipment Similarities How to Use Squat Stands How to Use a Power Rack When to Choose the Right Piece of Equipment Differences Between Squat Stands and Power Racks At first glance, squat stands and power racks differ substantially in physical size — squat stands are smaller and power racks are bigger. Comparison done and dusted, right? Nope, not so fast. Differences in safety features, mobility, stability,potential exercises, and accessories are worthy of consideration. Safety Features A spotter is a trained and capable individual whose primary task is to ensure the safety of the lifter by assisting when necessary. One or more spotters are recommended for traditional strength training exercises when a barbell is held on the back or front of the body, when weight is lifted overhead, or when a weight travels over the face. (1) Under these guidelines, many common barbell exercises require the presence of a spotter — back squat, front squat, overhead press, bench press, incline press, and more.  No one wants to get pinned under a barbell, asphyxiate with a bar atop their windpipe, or catch a barbell to the face. Albeit unlikely, serious injuries or even death could occur if you train without appropriate safety precautions. But if you train alone or at home, you might not always have a trained spotter available. Now what? Credit: Hryshchyshen Serhii / Shutterstock Fortunately, a power rack, when properly set up and appropriately used, provides safety pins/pipes, arms, or straps that “catch” the barbell in the event of a failed lift. (2) Traditional squat stands, on the other hand, do not offer safety arms — even among squat stands that offer safety arms, the stability of the stands varies widely across designs and manufacturers. Some heavy-duty squat stands with safety arms are appropriate to handle the failed lifts of all but the strongest lifters, while lighter and smaller squat stands with safety arms might not be trusted. Altogether, lifters who train alone might benefit from the safety features of a power rack.  Mobility A key feature of squat stands is their mobility, or ability to be relocated from place to place. Traditionally, squat stands were used by Olympic weightlifters. Relatively lightweight squat stands could be carried or wheeled onto the platform for use then pushed back against a wall or into a corner when no longer needed. To further improve mobility, some squat stands have two-piece designs. Each upright has its own base, allowing it to be moved and positioned independently of the other. One piece squat stands commonly include or have the option of adding wheel kits, which allow the stand to be rolled around the gym with relative ease.  For individuals with a garage gym, the mobility of a squat stand may allow it to be stowed away when not in use, possibly allowing the garage to serve its original purpose — vehicle storage. Better yet, on a nice day, a squat stand might be moved outdoors. Sun’s out, guns out, right? Stability Power racks are typically more difficult to move around than squat stands. They tend to be big and heavy, with lighter power racks typically designed to be bolted to the floor. Most importantly, power racks tend to have a longer base of support, or footprint. This allows the lifter to perform squats, bench presses, and other exercises within the rack. Lifters tend to feel more “secure” when performing barbell exercises within a power rack — and for a good reason. Credit: Miljan Zivkovic / Shutterstock All exercise in the power rack is performed over the rack’s base of support, which allows effective use of the safety features. A missed lift is almost assuredly “caught” by the safeties and the rack won’t tip over. Moreover, the larger base of support, paired with the larger mass of the power rack, makes it less prone to tipping or moving while in use.  Note: The half rack is a design variant of the power rack. Half racks consist of two uprights in front, to support the barbell, and two additional uprights in back, which enhance the stability of the rack above and beyond the two-post squat stand design. While performing common barbell exercises in a half rack, the lifter remains over the rack’s base of support owing to the elongated base of the rack. Accessories and Exercise Options More space and more stability offer the ability to deck out power racks with accessories. In addition to safety equipment such as spotter arms, pins/pipes, or straps, power rack can offer attachments for additional exercises and equipment storage.  While taller squat stand designs may offer the option of a pull-up bar, multi-grip pull-up bars are routinely mounted on power racks. Multi-grip pull-up bars allow for traditional pull-ups, chin-ups, neutral-grip pull-ups, and more. Many power racks are compatible with rack-mounted dip bars and medicine ball targets. Attachments may also be affixed to the bases or uprights of power racks to perform a variety of landmine

10 Benefits of Cardio: Build Your Physique, Health, Performance, and More Many people who exercise tend to label themselves “lifters” because, well, they lift weights in the gym. However, what some people (conveniently?) overlook is that there’s a whole other world of exercise available to them — cardio training. While the thought of treadmills, ellipticals, recumbent bikes, and assorted machinery might trigger waves of muscle-burning trepidation, cardio workouts can be as simple as going for a walk outside. Yep, something people learned to do before they could talk can still be considered exercise if it’s programmed properly. Credit: Bignai / Shutterstock Here’s a closer look at some research-based reasons why you should consider being more than just “a lifter.” Benefits of Cardio Aerobic vs. Anaerobic Physical Benefits Performance Benefits Unexpected Benefits Frequently Asked Questions Aerobic Cardio vs. Anaerobic Cardio Cardiovascular exercise, in general, can be performed one of two ways: aerobically or anaerobically. Their benefits overlap in some respects while also delivering distinct advantages from each other. (1) The key difference is their inherent training intensities, or speed of movement, and the stimuli they trigger in the body. For clarity throughout this article, aerobic training will be the primary cardio method discussed in each subsequent point. Aerobic cardio is likely what most people imagine when they hear the phrase “cardio training.” Aerobic training is performed at a low to moderate intensity, such as walking or jogging. The relatively low intensity allows the body to continue the exercise for a relatively long duration. For example, Olympic race walking (yes, that’s a thing) has had races up to 50 kilometers (31 miles) with athletes moving non-stop for more than four hours. This potential for longer sessions is why aerobic work is often synonymous with “endurance training.” Anaerobic training is most notable for being relatively high intensity and short duration. The body cannot perform anaerobic training for an extended time because the heart rate is extremely elevated and the metabolic processes needed to fuel muscle contractions are short-lived. It’s like asking a car to drive 100 miles per hour while the low fuel light is on — neither smart nor safe. Credit: Jacob Lund / Shutterstock Anaerobic exercise is typified by high-intensity interval training (HIIT), sprinting, many “metcon” (metabolic conditioning) workouts, and any fast-paced movements that cannot be maintained for more than a few minutes, or even several seconds, without rest. A heavy set of three deadlifts or a set of 50 kettlebell swings, for example, are also cases of anaerobic exercise. Boost Your Health with Cardio Cardio exercise can be for more than just burning some extra calories or warming up before grabbing a barbell. As a reminder, “cardio” is actually short for cardiovascular, as in, your cardiovascular system which pumps blood throughout your entire body. Cardio training can have several significant health benefits, regardless of your goals in the gym. Cardiovascular Health This may seem like a statement that should go without saying, but cardiovascular training can improve your cardiovascular health. Just like biceps training can improve your biceps or lower body training can improve your leg strength, training your cardiovascular system can strengthen and improve your cardiovascular function. A stronger heart and better total-body circulation can improve cholesterol levels and blood pressure while decreasing the risk of potentially deadly cardiac events like stroke or heart attack. (2) Cardiovascular exercise is also associated with decreased total-body inflammation, which can further decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease. (3) While not directly related to cardiovascular health, performing low to moderate intensity cardio exercise after eating, especially after your largest meal of the day, has been associated with decreased blood sugar levels. (4) This can be an effective approach for people living with diabetes or prediabetes. Reduced Joint Pain For those dealing with joint pain, whether it’s from overuse in the gym or the onset of diagnosed arthritis, aerobic training has been shown to decrease pain and improve functional use of affected joints, particularly in the lower body (hips, knees, and ankles). (5)(6) Credit: YAKOBCHUK VIACHESLAV / Shutterstock Walking with knee pain may sound counterproductive, but a structured plan that carefully monitors intensity, duration, and frequency may improve symptoms and joint function. You certainly wouldn’t want to log miles while hobbling in agony, but a gradual approach performed with a deliberate and cautious approach could be incorporated into your general training plan. Similarly, moderate cardio training has been shown to stimulate bone density and potentially slow down the effects of osteoporosis. (7) This can be an ideal complement (or alternative) to weight training, which can also provide bone-strengthening similar results. Improved Immune System If you’ve ever been told to “go out and get some fresh air” after complaining about feeling poorly, it turns out you received some practical and science-based advice. Aerobic exercise, though not specifically outdoor exercise, has been shown to support a healthy immune system. (8) Exercising while sick is an often debated point, but regular exercise (including cardio training) performed consistently may help improve your overall immune function. This could give you a headstart in fighting common colds or even certain viral infections. (9) While exercise certainly can’t create a full-on immunity to any particular sickness, cardio exercise may stimulate an antibody response that supports your body’s natural immune system. Over the long-term, this type of “cellular reinforcement” may have a cumulative effect to put you in the most advantageous position to fend off common illnesses, especially when supported by a nutritious diet. Cardio for Better Gains For better or worse, some lifters are primarily interested in using cardio as a tool to support their efforts in the gym. Whether your priority is lifting heavier weights, building more muscle, or burning more fat, cardio workouts can be used in a performance-boosting context. Here’s why a bit of cardio can help, not hinder, your lifting. Increased Fat Loss Arguably the most common reason a lifter would decide to hop on a piece of cardio equipment — to burn some extra calories —

How to Do the Barbell High Row for a Powerful, Muscular Upper Back In a quest for upper back size and strength, and the muscular silhouette that comes with it, lifters are increasingly finding room for a unique rowing exercise in their back-building routines. The barbell high row, sometimes called the wide row, is a bent-over barbell row performed with a distinctive setup and arm path that hammers the entire upper half of your back, especially your mid-back and shoulders. While bent-over rows and reverse flyes are traditional choices to target these regions, the barbell high row offers distinct mechanical advantages that promote targeted loading and honest form. Credit: Jacob Lund / Shutterstock The barbell high row is an old school exercise enjoying widespread recognition. Whether you use it to round out an intense back workout or to round out the backsides of your shoulders, the barbell high row is a solid addition to any lifting routine. Barbell High Row How to Do the Barbell High Row  Barbell High Row Mistakes to Avoid How to Progress the Barbell High Row Benefits of the Barbell High Row Muscles Worked by the Barbell High Row How to Program the Barbell High Row Barbell High Row Variations  Frequently Asked Questions Barbell High Row Video Guide Dr. Merrick Lincoln, the article’s author, provides an instruction video explaining the barbell high row. Watch the demonstration, then check out the step-by-step analysis with more form tips. How to Do the Barbell High Row Step By Step To get the benefits of the barbell high row, you’ll need to focus on crisp, strict form. Execute pristine barbell high rows with these four steps. Step 1 — Take a Wide Grip Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube The barbell high row uses a significantly wide overhand grip — specifically, a “snatch grip” similar to the Olympic weightlifting exercise. Your hands should grab the bar substantially beyond your shoulders and approximately the distance between the points of your elbows when your arms are outstretched at shoulder-height. Form Tip: Rather than getting the measuring tape, a simple technique to determine an appropriate grip width is to grab the bar in the “scarecrow position:” bend forward, flare your elbows to shoulder-height, and allow your forearms to hang with your elbows at an approximately 90-degree angle. Grab the bar at this width.  Step 2 — Stand Up, Then Hinge Down Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube Grip the bar firmly and stand up straight, allowing your elbows to straighten with the barbell resting near your hips. Hinge forward at your hips, letting your hips flex as your buttock travels backward to keep you balanced. The position of your spine should remain virtually unchanged — no rounding. Keep a slight bend in your knees throughout the movement. Form Tip: Lower until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings (behind your thighs) or when the plates are hovering just above the ground, whichever comes first.  Step 3 — Pull High and Wide Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube Hold the bent position and pull the barbell toward your upper chest, or just below your collarbone, by simultaneously driving your elbows out to your sides while drawing your shoulder blades together. Not all lifters will be able to touch the barbell to the upper chest, and that is okay. Form Tip: Think about “stretching” the bar or making it longer as you pull. This cue reinforces proper arm path. Ensure your elbows remain flared to the sides and not alongside your ribs. Step 4 — Lower With Control Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube Lower the barbell toward the floor by allowing your elbows to straighten and your shoulder blades to be pulled apart, moving forward around your ribcage. Maintain the hinged forward position and repeat the pull for additional rowing repetitions Form Tip: Don’t miss out on the stretch across your mid-back at the bottom. Ensure your trunk angle or hip hinge depth allows you to get a full range of motion without the barbell plates touching the ground. If you’re flexible and the weight plates hit the floor before you feel the stretch, reset your trunk angle by extending your hips or load the bar with smaller diameter plates. Barbell High Row Mistakes to Avoid The barbell high row involves stability and a degree of coordination between your upper and lower body. Keep exercise quality high by avoiding these recurring errors. Using Too Much Biceps Training your biceps is nice, but hitting the target muscles of your shoulders and back is nicer. It has been suggested that rowing with greater than 90-degrees of elbow flexion increases contribution of the biceps brachii. (1) Credit: Miljan Zivkovic / Shutterstock Moreover, rowing with excessive elbow flexion reduces the resistance arm, or perpendicular distance between the barbell and the shoulder joint, which ultimately reduces demand on the shoulder musculature.  Avoid it: Avoid letting your biceps steal the row by using appropriate grip placement, setup, and technique. First, ensure your grip is overhand and spaced approximately the distance between your elbows when your arms are at shoulder-height. Second, when you hinge forward to set up, ensure the bar is hanging underneath your upper chest. Finally, pull toward your upper chest, not your stomach. Poor “Scapulohumeral Rhythm” As you pull your arms back, or horizontally abduct your shoulder joint, your shoulder blades ought to come together, or retract. The coupling of shoulder joint motions with appropriate shoulder blade motions is called scapulohumeral rhythm. If your blades aren’t working with your shoulder joints, well, you’ve got no rhythm. Credit: Jasminko Ibrakovic / Shutterstock Avoid it: Draw your shoulder blades back as you perform the upward movement phase of the row. A useful cue is to create progressively more space between the front of your shoulder and the floor as you row. (2) Then, allow this space to shrink as you perform the downward movement phase. Momentum from Your Hips or Trunk While the upward movement phase

Your Beginner Barbell Workout: A Starter Plan for Strength and Muscle Something magical happens near the beginning of every dedicated lifter’s love affair with resistance training. There’s a period of unprecedented gains in strength and size. Some refer to the muscular adaptations realized during this stage as “newbie gains.”  Don’t let the derogatory connotation fool you. Newbie gains are awesome. You’ll hit frequent personal bests, stack on pounds of lean muscle mass, and dial-in natural lifting technique.  Credit: Ground Picture / Shutterstock What’s the best way for a new lifter to take advantage of this honeymoon period of gains? Easy. Get your hands on a weight set and train consistently with the basic barbell lifts. Built around barbell basics, this program provides everything you need for serious muscle. Beginner’s Barbell Workout Warm-up to Prepare for Power Total-Body Workout for Size and Strength How to Warm-up for Your Barbell Workout Starting a workout cold may lead to reduced performance, so learn good habits from the start. Don’t skip your warm-up. Warm-ups typically begin with a four-to-six-minute session of cardio to increase body temperature and circulation, ultimately improving oxygen delivery to your muscles and improving metabolite clearance. Common options for the cardio warm-up include skipping rope, riding a stationary bike, or taking a quick jog.  Next, mobilize and activate the joints and muscles of the body involved in the upcoming workout. Since you’re warming up for a full-body workout, you could burn a lot of gym time here, so it’s best to focus on a few key areas such as your hips, shoulders, and spine. Below is a two-movement mobility and activation sequence for these regions. Perform three rounds of following movements: Plank to Pike with Alternating Reach: Assume a “high plank” position — the top position of a push-up — then use your upper body to push your hips back over your heels until you feel a hamstring stretch. This “upside down V” is called the pike position. Maintain the pike position and reach your right hand toward your left foot, return your hand to center, then reach your left hand toward your right foot. Return to a high plank by lowering your hips. That’s one repetition. Perform 8 repetitions. Plank to Deep Lunge with Rotations: Begin in the high plank position and drive your left leg forward and plant your foot as close to the outside of your hand as your mobility allows. Then, lift your left hand and reach out and up toward the ceiling as you rotate your trunk to the left as far as you can. Rotate back and return your hand to the floor, then step back to high plank. Repeat on the right side. That’s one repetition. Perform 8 repetitions.  Once you finally get your hands on the barbell, remember to perform several “work-up sets” of each exercise using lighter weights. Work-up sets allow you to dial-in technique and help you to identify appropriate weights for the sets that count. Barbell Basics for Size and Strength A barbell with plates is possibly the most versatile tool for resistance training. In addition to being the requisite piece of equipment for common exercises, it’s loadable, allowing you to scale the intensity of your training to your current level of strength. Paired with an adjustable bench and sturdy rack, a barbell set gives you the means to train your entire body.  Fortunately, beginner lifters don’t need to live at the gym to experience newbie gains. A large meta-analysis compared the effects of less than five weekly sets per muscle group, five to nine weekly sets, and ten or more. (1) For hypertrophy and strength results, this analysis concluded beginners and novice lifters should target five to nine sets per week per major muscle group. (1) Of course, this recommendation does not imply all sets should be performed in the same workout. Full-body workouts help to maximize training frequency, or the number of times each muscle group is trained per week. Higher frequency training allows for greater weekly sets while avoiding marathon-length workouts.  The workout below consists of 15 sets of barbell exercises. If repeated two or three times per week, this workout puts beginner and novice lifters squarely into the target range for weekly sets. (1) It might be the only resistance training program you need to take your physique from entry-level to next-level. Barbell Basics Workout Plan Front Squat — 3 x 6-10 Bench-Supported Barbell Row — 3 x 8-12 Romanian Deadlift — 2 x 8-12 Incline Bench Press — 3 x 6-10 Barbell Rollout — 2 x 12-16 Barbell Curl — 2 x 8-12 Front Squat Set the tone of your workout by hitting squats first. Specifically, front squats, which hammer your thighs and glutes. The front squat differs from the back squat in several ways. First, as the name implies, the front squat requires carriage of the bar in front of the body, while back squats are performed with the bar across the upper back. The front carriage or “front rack” position may be more forgiving for those with shoulder instability, and it tends to promote a more upright trunk position. Compared to back squat, the front squat also tends to require relatively less weight to elicit a similar training effect. (2)  Why favor an exercise that uses less weight? This is a full-body workout, and we are just getting started. Less load spares the body from excessive fatigue accumulation, which might interfere with subsequent exercises. Front squats will toast your quads without burning through all your matches.  How to Do it: Set up for the front squat by placing the bar at chest height in the rack. For safety, set the spotter arms to approximately one increment below the lowest point you anticipate the bar reaching during the movement. Place your fingers over the bar, slightly outside shoulder-width and dip under the bar as you point your elbows straight ahead. Step back a half step from the rack, place your feet approximately shoulder

Is CrossFit Bad for You? 4 Points to Consider Before Stepping into a Box In the realm of fitness, few training methodologies have ignited as much debate, and enthusiasm, as CrossFit. CrossFit is characterized by its emphasis on constantly varied functional movements performed at a high intensity. CrossFit workouts typically blend elements from Olympic weightlifting, endurance sports, and gymnastics. Yet, despite drawing from largely niche sports that require relatively high levels of skill, CrossFit has infiltrated mainstream fitness and promotes itself as an accessible form of training that anyone can do. Credit: Jacob Lund / Shutterstock With its surge in popularity, CrossFit has also faced criticism about the foundational principles upon which it was formulated, along with outright skepticism about its ability to be implemented in an effective, safe, and sustainable fashion. Critics raise concerns about the potential injury risk of performing complex movements while under fatigue, the efficacy of trying to improve all aspects of fitness simultaneously, and the seemingly random nature of the workouts. However, those who regularly participate in CrossFit do see impressive physical benefits in multiple areas. And the feats accomplished at the CrossFit Games each year continue to be astonishing. So, does a training style that produces these results really deserve such a bad rap? Let’s review some of the strengths and weaknesses of CrossFit as a training regimen for developing overall fitness. While doing so, we might be able to answer the question of whether or not CrossFit is “bad” or if it holds up to the claims of accessibility and appropriateness for everyone. A Review of CrossFit Training Strengths of CrossFit Training Weaknesses of CrossFit Training How to Make the Most of CrossFit Training Strengths of CrossFit Training Having been an established force in the fitness world for more than two decades, and still steadily growing in popularity, CrossFit brings several clear benefits to the table. While these same benefits could sometimes be found with other training methodologies, they are inherently “built-in” to CrossFit training, delivering greater overall results. Building Cardiovascular Fitness Let’s face it, most people in the gym probably need to do more aerobic work, aka “cardio.” Even if you are primarily interested in building strength or muscle, it would likely benefit you to not only add cardiovascular training, but to do it via different methods, modalities, and intensities. (1) CrossFit excels at this. More often than not, a CrossFit workout will require you to row, bike, run, or jump rope. Even workouts that don’t have these specific elements will develop some aspect of aerobic fitness or endurance due to their structure, often by incorporating circuit-style training. But if your primary goals are developing strength and increasing muscle, won’t this hurt your progress or even cause you to lose your gains? Probably not. In fact, there’s a good chance it will help your long-term progress. Flamingo images/Shutterstock The common fear that aerobic exercise will hurt strength, power, and muscle gain is rooted in what’s known as the interference effect. This is the notion that, if multiple physical qualities are developed simultaneously, none of them are developed very well because they interfere with each other on a physiological level. It’s a “jack of all trades, master of none” situation. The effect is most pronounced if the qualities require vastly different physiological adaptations, which is the case with strength/power and aerobic adaptations. However, if there is one thing CrossFit has shown us, it’s that the interference effect is not an issue for most trainees. Even fairly advanced trainees can experience significant gains in strength, power, and muscle while simultaneously improving aerobic fitness. (2) So if aerobic work isn’t hurting these gains, how is it helping them? Improving aerobic fitness will help you recover faster between sets, which can allow you to do more overall work (i.e. volume) in your sessions. This will have benefits regardless of your training style or specific goal. It can allow you to get more reps if your goal is hypertrophy and decrease the amount of rest needed between heavy sets if your goal is strength. The outcome in both scenarios is more high-quality work which can result in a novel stimulus for new gains. Sure, if you are already at a high level and want to be elite in a specific strength sport such as bodybuilding, powerlifting, or Olympic weightlifting, your training should be specific toward those goals most of the time. But if you’re training for general fitness or to be bigger, stronger, or leaner than most people, improving your aerobic fitness is going to be beneficial. Emphasis on Bodyweight Movements Another area that tends to get neglected in many peoples’ training is the use of bodyweight exercises. Now, it’s not like you’re going to build the same levels of muscle or one-rep max strength using bodyweight movements compared to utilizing external load. But your skill and ability in movements using external loads, like free weights, have little carryover to bodyweight-only movements and methods. Not convinced? Try getting through the bodyweight exercise portion of the popular CrossFit workout “Murph” — complete a total of 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, and 300 unweighted squats. The full workout bookends those 600 reps with a one-mile run before and after, and it’s typically performed wearing a weighted vest. But, for an eye-opener, try the exercises on their own. Credit: oleksboiko / Shutterstock Murph doesn’t care how much you bench or what your muscular endurance is like with heavy, high-rep squats. It will become apparent, very quickly, that those things don’t help you much. If you truly want to develop holistic fitness that helps you look good, feel good, and perform well under a variety of circumstances, you should regularly include some bodyweight exercises in your regimen. (3) Again, this is one area where CrossFit excels. It’s all but guaranteed that you will be doing some form of unweighted squat, push-up, or pull-up every week. But it’s not just the fitness and work capacity aspect of this that’s beneficial. Many of