Today we will talk about workout, workouts that have become very popular among young people in recent years.
Crossfit is a relevant trend in the modern fitness industry, which has characteristics from other methods developed earlier. CrossFit has elements of bodybuilding, powerlifting, Tabata protocol, and aerobics. A key feature of this sport is the ability to combine incompatible things. In particular, CrossFit makes extensive use of workout training.
Why exactly workout and gymnastics have become an integral part of CrossFit? How to train properly in a workout style? What benefit will this training approach bring, and which is better: bodybuilding, crossfit or street workout training? You will find detailed answers to these questions in our article.
How did it all start?
If we consider the workout as a set of exercises, then it has always been included in the basic level of training of athletes of any status. You can recall the GPP norms in the USSR, where the necessary minimums for pull-ups and push-ups on the uneven bars were indicated for each age and grade.
But if we consider workout as a separate discipline, then it can be called a relatively young direction of fitness, which completely excludes any work with iron. Street workout emerged as the basis of calisthenics - a new direction in fitness, in which only rough movements are used for development:
- push ups;
- pull-ups;
- squats;
- work with the press;
- run.
An interesting fact: today street workout is a large complex of different exercises that are more in contact with gymnastics than with calisthenics. But the CrossFit workout elements took all the best from the calisthenics, and not from the gymnastic component of the workout.
The spread of calisthenics has taken on a large scale with the development of the Internet. The peak of popularity of workout (in particular, street workout) is due to the fact that at the beginning of the 2000s, not all segments of the population had access to gyms, and there are sports grounds (especially in the territories of the CIS countries) in almost every courtyard.
An interesting fact: the initial work without special equipment was at first a forced necessity, which then grew into a separate philosophy based on opposing oneself to bodybuilding and powerlifting.
With the development of workout as a separate direction, individual subspecies began to appear in it. It:
- Street Workout. He incorporated not only the elements of calisthenics, but also various gymnastic exercises.
- Ghetto Workout. It is also called old school Workout, or classic Workout. Retained the principles of calisthenics, implies the development of exclusively strength and speed-strength indicators without the use of special weights.
In the future, we will mainly consider the ghetto workout, since it has a broader theoretical and practical basis and appeared earlier, therefore, it has the right to be called classic.
Workout principles
Basic workout workout in a classic style is a whole area. It does not include so many exercises, but it allows you to acquire a basic physical form, which in the future will be easier to grind with the help of heavy exercises with shells.
Acting as a predecessor of CrossFit, workout is in many ways similar to it in basic principles:
- The presence of a progression. Although athletes who practice Workout do not use special weights, otherwise they use the same principles: increasing the number of repetitions, approaches, decreasing rest times, supersets, strip sets, and stair approaches.
- Development of all indicators. Workout training is usually circular in nature. With a properly composed complex, the whole body is worked out in one workout.
- Lack of special weighting shells. Weight vests used by athletes are just a way to shorten the training time until a certain level of performance is reached, after which further progression of loads is impossible.
- Use only basic, functional exercises.
- Lack of periodization. Since there are no extreme loads, the risk of injury is slightly lower than that of athletes working with iron. Hence the lack of the overtraining effect. This is why Workout athletes can train more than once a day.
- High intensity. On average, a workout lasts from 10 to 30 minutes, during which the whole body is worked out. Longer training times are only permissible when it is necessary to develop a lagging muscle group or in preparation for a competition.
But the most important key is the desire to achieve the most prominent shape with a predominance of lean muscle mass. The percentage of subcutaneous fat in these athletes is no higher than that of competitive bodybuilders.
The advantages of this training method
If we consider different areas of fitness, the workout strength training program has its advantages over classic fitness:
- Low injury risk. Associated with the natural range of motion and lack of weight.
- Complex workout. Unlike powerlifting and bodybuilding, Workout trains not only strength, but also endurance and aerobic performance.
- Availability. Workout is available to everyone, regardless of the level of training.
- The ability to work out the whole body in one workout.
- Low risk of overtraining.
- Helps get better stretch.
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Disadvantages of this training method
Workout is a rather highly specialized discipline, which, although available to everyone, does not give serious development in the future.
You can expect:
- Progression limit.
- Narrow specialization.
- Lack of harmonious development of the body. Due to the lack of exercise for some key muscle groups, all Workout athletes have a "characteristic" figure, with lagging rhomboid muscles and an undeveloped upper chest. In addition, the muscles of the forearms and shoulders are much more developed than the large muscles of the body. This imbalance is not only an aesthetic problem, but also a medical problem. In particular, due to improper development of the abdominal muscles in relation to the muscles of the lower back, the body is constantly in a tense state, which increases the risk of lordous curvature of the spine.
- Inability to practice in the winter. With an insufficiently warmed up body in winter, it is easy to get stretching.
Comparison with other fitness areas
Despite the fact that workout training is considered a separate sport, in no way overlapping with either classic bodybuilding or modern crossfit, they have a lot in common with these disciplines.
| Periodization | Harmonious development | Development of functional indicators | Difficulty entering sports | Injury risk | The need to adhere to a meal plan, exercise and day plan | |
| Workout | Absent. The time between workouts is determined based on your own health. | Provides an ideal muscle-to-total ratio. There is a lag in some muscle groups. | Lack of specialization. The priority is the development of explosive strength and strength endurance. | Low. Training is available to everyone. | Low. | For best results, you need to stick with it. |
| Bodybuilding / Powerlifting | Rigid periodization for best results. | Harmonious development without lagging behind. The body fat percentage is adjusted depending on the preparation stage. | Specialization depending on the direction. The priority is the development of strength endurance and absolute strength. | Low. Training is best done under the supervision of a trainer. | Relatively low. | |
| Crossfit | Trainer-shaped or absent. It largely depends on the well-being of the athlete. | Perfect harmonious development without lagging behind some muscle groups. The percentage of fat is minimized. | Lack of specialization. The development of functional strength is a priority. | Low. Training is best done under the supervision of a trainer. | High. |
Workout myths
There are a huge number of myths regarding workout, many of which have no real basis.
| Myth | Reality |
| Workout people are much tougher than everyone else. | This myth arose from the fact that workout athletes can do more pull-ups than bodybuilders or powerlifters. In fact, endurance, like the strength of these athletes, is approximately at the same level. It's just that when working with their own weight, it is not taken into account that athletes of "heavy orientation" have a lot of weight, therefore exercises with their own weight are physically harder for them than for lighter workout athletes. |
| A workout doesn't have to be healthy. | This is due to the lifestyle that many representatives of workout sport lead. However, in the presence of bad habits, progress in calisthenics, as in other sports, slows down greatly. It is worth looking at the stars of the modern workout: for example, Denis Minin leads a healthy lifestyle and even enjoys working in the gym for the winter. |
| The workout is not traumatic. | This is only partly true. This is due to the fact that the basic movements (pull-ups, push-ups and squats) have a natural trajectory of movement, which reduces the risk of injury. But for people who use forceful exits or other gymnastic exercises, the risk of injury increases significantly. |
| Workout and protein are incompatible. | This myth was actively popularized in the CIS countries between 2008 and 2012. In fact, protein is not harmful and even accelerates your progress in training. |
| Doing workout, you cannot gain a lot of muscle mass. | This is only partly true. Overcoming a certain threshold, a person begins to train strength endurance and aerobic systems, which do not give serious myofibrillar hypertrophy. But if you use the progression of loads with weights, you will get decent muscle mass, which is not inferior to bodybuilding. |
| Workouts are "sharper" than other athletes. | This is only partly true, since the progression of loads implies an acceleration in the performance of exercises, which gives an increase in explosive strength. However, in general, if a person is working on explosive strength, then the shells and approach to training do not affect this. For example, boxers have much more explosive strength than workout athletes. |
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Training program
The basic workout program has its own characteristics and consists of several main stages:
- Basic preparatory work. This is a stage of preliminary preparation that every person who decides to seriously engage in workout must go through.
- Main job. A year-round stage that implies improvement in baseline performance.
- Periods of profile training. It is needed if there are lags in certain muscle groups.
- Gymnastic training. For those who want to master complex gymnastic and acrobatic movements on horizontal bars and parallel bars.
Now let's take a closer look at each stage of the program and the exercises that they include:
| Period | Periodization | Incoming exercises | Workout plan | goal |
| Basic pre-preparation | 1-4 weeks |
|
| At the first stage, the athlete's strength qualities are trained and the correct technique is mastered. If the initial training of the athlete does not allow, simplified variations are used. |
| Main job | 4-30 weeks |
|
| The goal of this stage is to maximize the development of the athlete's strength indicators and prepare the muscles for gymnastic training. |
| Periods of profile training | 30-52 weeks | Suitable complexes are selected depending on the specialization and on the lagging muscle groups. |
| This stage is aimed at developing lagging muscle groups. Performed in parallel with gymnastic exercises. Depending on which movements lack strength and endurance, suitable complexes are selected. |
| Gymnastic training | After the 4th week, if necessary | Depending on the level of preparedness of the athlete, acrobatic variations of classic exercises are selected:
|
| Development of technique and strength in gymnastic profile exercises. |
Outcome
Workout sets are a great addition to weightlifting workouts as part of CrossFit workouts. But do not forget that workout is a direction of fitness. You should not take it as a separate discipline and train using exclusively workout principles and not observing nutrition and daily regimen. A workout is an excellent pre-training and a way to understand how ready you are for serious loads and training.
