Not many of us know that CrossFit isn’t just a fitness regimen but is actually a brand that turned into an umbrella term for this type of workout. Representing India on the Crossfit Journal is X60 from Hyderabad which is the only official CrossFit affiliate in the city. As the workout regime picks up across the country, X60 founder Rishikesh Kumar says, “We explore what CrossFit actually is and what needs to be known about it.”
The general idea of CrossFit for someone vaguely acquainted with fitness would be, high-intensity training with heavy equipment and rapid movements. To be more vivid, picture a ripped athlete grunting his way forward as he pulls a heavy tire. Turns out CrossFit isn’t all the machismo as popular culture portrays it to be. Rishikesh says, “CrossFit is basically just the foundational movement. It’s the same movements that we have in our daily routine, just streamlined and with some added resistance for best results.”
Of course, the fitness regimen is different on many levels in comparison with conventional gym training. “There is an established notion that there are different workouts—but the fact is that all workouts are aimed at making you fit,” he says, adding, “CrossFit is meant for you to live your life better. It makes you lean and strong and will let you retain your natural proportion. The focus is on bigger muscles, like the core and the legs. The motto is to move right, eat better and sleep well. You cannot be fit by focusing on just one of these three.”
Rishikesh also makes it a point to bust the biggest myth that people have about CrossFit. “The typical notion about CrossFit is that it is for athletes who are into intense workouts but that is not the case. We have middle-aged women joining us. Their daily activity with a little more resistance is what CrossFit is all about. If they have to sit down and get up from the ground on a regular basis, they are doing squats. If they are picking up their grandchildren, they are doing a deadlift. So, CrossFit only streamlines the already existing movements in the day-to-day life,” he sums up. The degrees at which the workouts are performed, he explains, are customised to each person’s level of fitness.
Talking about the awareness towards the regime, he says, “Hyderabad is only just picking up and taking to CrossFit. Cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru are ahead in terms of the volume of people subscribed to it. But Hyderabad is certainly growing the fastest.”
Rishikesh says that people know what they want. All they need is the information they require to make an informed decision. “I have noticed that once people see the benefits of CrossFit, they jump on to the bandwagon. I have seen people who couldn’t do a deadlift of 10 kg earlier, now do a deadlift of 150 kg. And they are all your regular folks who work a nine to five job. If they can do it, so can anybody,” he signs off.
Each Crossfit session lasts for an hour. And the hour is divided into activities as follows:
1. Warm-up: 10 mins
2. Skill-learning (Posture and process of the workouts):10 mins
3. Workout 1 (Primarily for strength like heavy squats, deadlift, etc): 20 mins
4. Workout 2 (Primarily for endurance like 5 rounds of 10 pull-ups, 20 box- jumps, 30 air-squats, 40 sit-ups):10 mins
5. Stretching: 10 mins