Genevieve

When we opened CrossFit Austin over 8 years ago, our purpose was never about producing elite athletes to compete at the CrossFit Games. Over the years we’ve dabbled in the competitive exercise game, and had moderate success. Through all the years we’ve realized that still isn’t our mission here at CFA.  Yes, we want you improving your fitness and hitting PRs regularly, but our mission is much bigger than that.

Our intention has, and always will be, to help others achieve lifelong fitness and have a lot of fun doing it.  The motto we preach to our coaches is everyone should have a great experience. Your hour in the gym should be the best hour of your day.

Our gym is where relationships are made. Whether its a mentor relationship with a coach, a new best friend, or maybe your future spouse, the community of CFA is forged through iron-clad relationships. This is the unknown secret ingredient people from the outside looking in don’t grasp until they’re immersed in it.

Finally, we strive to provide results relative to people’s goals. This is why we are such strong advocates of the hybrid (PT + Group Class) model of training. It allows us to work with people and push them towards achieving the goals they have for themselves, not put people in a box and demand they achieve a preset standard for what fitness should be.  

In the end it’s simple:  Experience. Relationship. Results.

Ultimately we don’t really care how much you clean and jerk, per se; but care if you’re falling in love with fitness and doing it with a lot of great people that you love around you.   Because one day we’ll all be that 40 year old dad who still wants to mix it up on the basketball court with his teenage kids, or that 65 year old grandmother that needs the stamina and strength to hike a mountain with her grandkids. That’s what we’re about, the long game, the love of the game, and loving the ones we’re playing the game with.  

This is the fourth article in our “Fitness Fundamentals” series, so far we’ve addressed Nutrition, conditioning, and gymnastics.. These articles are for those just starting a health and fitness journey who need simple actionable advice to start improving right away. For those whom fitness is already an active part of their lives, fundamentals are something that should be revisited consistently to make sure the foundation of our hard work remains solid in support of our goals.

Today we discuss “Weightlifting”. Much like the “gymnastics” we teach and perform in the gym, the weightlifting we are referring to is basic strength training, and an emulation of the traits that competitive Olympic Weightlifters possess. Strength training is one of the most important aspects of any training because it not only contributes to all aspect of fitness, it is one of the single biggest factors in health and longevity. However strength can not exist in a vacuum and over emphasizing strength at the expense of all other fitness qualities is neither productive or healthy.  Below we’ll discuss some ways to get the most out of the all important “strength work” in our program.

Consistency

The best way to get stronger is to consistently train for strength.  We recommend folks include a strength element to their training a minimum of twice a week. This not only allows the body to adapt sustainably overtime, but also allows for consistent practice that improves the body’s neurological ability to perform movements under load. Along with this comes the consistency of the actual weights used. Instead of striving to constantly hit new heavier weights, our goal is mastering the load you are at, improve form and make it feel easier before you move on to the next weight.

Quality over Quantity

One of the biggest mistakes people make with lifting weights is being focused on lifting heavier and heavier weights. When strength training is done properly it will create physical resilience in a person that will prevent injuries.  However many times strength training is associated with injury in the gym because folks are either training with poor movement quality, and / or to much weight.  So it is imperative to set aside your ego and commit to mastering the quality of your movements before you make big jumps in the quantity of weight lifted.

Action step:
Commit to strength training twice a week, and use consistent loads and movements for six weeks. This will help you master the movements to begin with.  If you only introduce two new movements every 6 weeks for a year you will have laid a great foundation in 16 different movements.

Thanks for stopping in! Our final installment we will discuss the concept of sport and how it applies to getting fit!