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Coming To A Town Near You.

In April 2012, CrossFit came to Joplin, Missouri. Later that year, I saw these crazy, high-intensity CrossFit workouts on TV — flipping tires, rope climbing, pull-ups, carrying sand bags and Olympic-style weight lifting. We’re talking big movements I hadn’t done in 20 years or so. Having done mostly endurance sports the past few years, which have some terrific benefits, I was growing a little tired of hours alone on the bike and long runs in the summer heat. So, in October 2012, I walked into JOMO CrossFit to try something new.

CrossFit comes with its own language. For instance, the gym is referred to as a “box”. The box isn’t full of machines found in a traditional gym; it contains mostly free weights, medicine balls and pull-up bars. Then the acronyms start: WOD is the workout of the day, AMRAP is as many rounds/repetitions as possible and AFAP is as fast as possible. If you do the prescribed WOD, you’ve done the RX (prescribed workout). I like having a WOD planned for me — I don’t have to think about it and doing something different every day keeps me from getting into a rut.

Your progress is measured over time with benchmark WODs known as, “The Girls.” Fran is a girl you either love or hate, and consists of just two movements: 95-pound thrusters and pull-ups. While it may not sound hard to front-squat a 95-pound bar then push it over your head, don’t fool yourself. Do it 21 times, followed by 21 pull-ups; then do a 15-rep set followed by a 9-rep set. You’ll be gassed!

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Maybe you remember Burpees from junior high PE. You wouldn’t think going from flat on your stomach to a vertical jump could be so challenging — and tiring. Burpees are an excellent all-around exercise, using only your body weight, to help build strength
and stamina.

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Boing! Justin Olds, owner of JOMO CrossFit, demonstrates the box jump.
You’d be amazed how quickly you poop out doing these.

Getting Started

CrossFit is a fitness program based on individual intensity and uses a specified rotation of cardiovascular fitness, weightlifting and gymnastics movements. The gymnastics movements use your body weight — think push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups. The program is based on your abilities and not everyone is expected to do the same thing. Everyone has a different level of fitness and ability, and pre-existing injuries and limitations are taken into consideration.

Workouts are scalable. A coach will prescribe (RX) a WOD and tell participants what movements and weights are to be performed. For those with limitations, the coach will “scale” the workout — offer movements using less weight, shorter range of motion or completely change movements to accommodate a lack of mobility or injury.

Sessions are about an hour long and depending on where a CrossFit “box” is located near you, you can have five or six sessions to choose from. Class begins with a group warm-up, which is led by an instructor. After warm-up, the instructor goes over the entire workout to ensure everyone understands the movements and weights, and then the class will usually get started on the WOD. Additional weight training usually follows once the WOD is completed.

CrossFit mostly uses the type of lifting you’d see in the Olympics — big, functional movements working your core to your extremities. Most of the pressure on your body starts with your core, and then as you move the weight, the pressure moves out to the arms and legs. You have to move heavy weights, a long range. That’s where you get the highest increase in work capacity.

With the short, high-intensity workouts involved, it’s a good idea to start slowly. In the first few weeks, most people will attend class two or three times a week. For some, it’s because they’re learning a new craft, while for others, they’re using muscles they haven’t used in a long while and they’re experiencing sore muscles. Again, the coach will scale the movements according to the participant’s fitness history.

The best ways to recover and work through muscle soreness are to keep well hydrated and practice proper nutritional habits. If you fuel your body with garbage, you’re sure to get garbage results in the gym. Sometimes though, you just have to be tough and work through soreness.

In order to make changes in your diet or fitness level, you have to take the first step — commit to something. A lot of people sit back and they think about doing things. They say, “I’m going to get a gym membership.” Or, “I’m going to go on a diet.” Start with something small you know you can accomplish. Take soda out of your diet, start walking or jogging. You don’t have to change everything all at once. Accomplish one goal at a time to build up confidence.

One thing I enjoy is the atmosphere of a group workout. It’s one of the most important aspects of keeping the intensity level high and pushing through a tough WOD. It’s also why CrossFit has had such widespread success. Hard work pays off in most aspects of life, and fitness is no exception. But it’s not just the hard work and atmosphere. When you’re with a group of people struggling and suffering together, having fun and competing with each other, it makes you push.

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Brandon executes the “jerk” portion of a clean and jerk. Proper form is critical to prevent injury. It’s okay to use sissy weights while you learn the proper techniques to this movement.

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A wall ball exercise is a great conditioning movement. Using a medicine ball, you’re basically doing squats with the ball and then tossing it, above your head, at the wall you’re facing. You can also incorporate a burpee after you’ve caught the ball.

Functional Benefits

Officers are usually tested on traditional physical fitness standards — timed push-ups, sit-ups and a 1.5-mile run — good markers to establish adequate minimum standards of physical fitness, but not meeting the real-world needs to do the job. Who’s going to chase someone a mile and a half? What’s more likely is you may need to push a car out of the roadway, climb over a fence, lift a downed tree after a storm or carry your partner to get medical attention.

I’d like to see police agencies augment the traditional testing standards with more of a CrossFit style. Testing for time is good, but more components could be added to give the test more depth and real-world applications.

For some, accessibility to a CrossFit facility can be a challenge, particularly in the more rural areas. You don’t necessarily need a dedicated facility; you can do a lot of the workouts with limited equipment — found at your own house or around the police station. You can actually do really hard workouts without any equipment, just go to www.crossfit.com and you’ll find WODs, tips and advice. And as the CrossFit craze continues to spread, you may soon find one in your town.

Our erratic work schedules can lead to a lack of quality sleep, increased stress and poor eating habits. It’s why it’s so important to maintain a high level of fitness. Getting lazy, out of shape and complacent doesn’t allow you to respond to those moments of sheer terror and physical exertion without risking injury — to you or someone else. And then there’s the extra 15 pounds or so of gear the average patrol cop is lugging around everyday with the potential of really messing up your body over time if you don’t stay fit.

It doesn’t take long to start getting stronger with CrossFit because the functional movements apply to your everyday life — the one in the police car, at crazy hours and laden with gear. It will prepare your body to carry that load so it doesn’t wear down over the years. CrossFit works at making you stronger for anything you may have to do.

Think of it like this: CrossFit helps you get rid of extra body fat so you’re not carrying 10 to 15 pounds of extra body weight plus 10 to 15 pounds of equipment. Also, the structural loading from the weightlifting helps strengthen the tissue, joints and muscle, helping you to carry the load.

Many of our defensive tactics maneuvers require explosive power and speed, and a CrossFit regimen goes a long way at keeping you on top of your game. Explosive movements such as cleans, snatches and thrusters, where you’re moving a lot of weight very quickly, a very long distance, will give you raw power and speed. A burpee, a body weight movement, is the longest range of motion a human can do. You go from lying flat on your stomach to vertical, jumping and clapping overhead; they’re sure to get your heart rate up. These kinds of movements prepare you for real-life situations.

Only time will tell if CrossFit continues to grow or if your department adopts it. And, it’s just my opinion that you should try it and your department should give it a serious look. CrossFit will help prepare you for the unexpected.
By Brandon Helms

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