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Can I Build Muscle With Bodyweight Exercises?

doing push ups to build muscle with bodyweight exercises

Bodyweight exercises can get a bit of a bad rap in fitness circles. However, it is most certainly possible to build muscle with bodyweight exercises. Well, up to a point anyway. But regardless of your level of fitness, these functional movements almost always make a valuable addition to your workout regimen. 

They’re a perfect warm up or cool down. They combine cardio with strength building. They’re almost endlessly customizable. Plus, you can do them anywhere you want, anytime you want. What’s not to like?

How Does The Body Build Muscle With Bodyweight Exercises?

Muscles are mostly built by microtrauma. This is the proper name for the tiny tears your muscles get when you exercise. As the muscles grow back, they come back stronger than ever before – meaning visible gains. 

Depending on your level of fitness, bodyweight exercises may be enough to cause microtrauma to your muscle fibers. If you’re a beginner, you’re unlikely to need weighted resistance to make gains. 

Even if you’re already pretty ripped, there are many challenging bodyweight exercises that will be a great addition to your workout routine. They’ll help you get toned, get your heart rate up, and build your muscular endurance.

Which Bodyweight Exercises Will Give Me The Best Gains?

You’re spoiled for choice when you’re aiming to build muscle with bodyweight exercises. You have many options, and there are lots of great resources online to point you in the right direction. Here are some classic bodyweight exercises to use as a jumping off point.

  • Pull ups. This bodyweight movement is so challenging many people can’t even do one. They’re a great way to work your upper back – particularly the lats.
  • Planks. Even though you’re simply staying still in a prone position, this is a deceptively challenging ab exercise. When performing planks, make sure to keep your body in a super straight prone position for best results.
  • Push ups. These are a classic. From your plank position, simply bend your arms to lower yourself closer to the floor. Then, straighten your arms to raise yourself up again. If you find push ups too challenging, try doing them on your knees. If you find them too easy, there are countless modifications to make them more difficult.
  • Squats. These are a great compound exercise that works a big range of muscles in your legs, glutes and core. You can make them harder by doing jump squats, or one legged squats.
  • Dips. You can do these off of the side of a bench or chair. Dips are an excellent way to target your triceps and chest.
  • Lunges. These are a great way to work your quads, hamstrings and glutes. You can do them stepping forwards, stepping backwards, or to the side. Many people also enjoy walking lunges.
  • Calf raises. Calves are a famously forgotten muscle group, so don’t neglect them! This movement is super simple – just raise up on your toes and squeeze your calf muscles at the top, before lowering your heels back to the floor.

How To Maximize The Benefits Of Bodyweight Exercises?

There are many ways to get the most out of your bodyweight exercises. You can try:

  • Increasing tempo. Playing around with tempo is a great way to increase the benefits of your workout. Speeding up will get your heart pumping and help you break a sweat. Slowing down the movement will increase the time under tension, which will boost your muscle gains.
  • Doing more reps and sets. If you’re finding a movement is becoming a bit easy, simply doing more of them is a great way to challenge yourself.
  • Decreasing rest times. This is a particularly great technique if you want to reap maximum cardio benefits from your bodyweight exercises. Decreasing rest times is a straightforward way to increase your heart rate and maximize the cardiovascular benefits.
  • Adding holds. Try adding a pause at the highest tension point of your exercise. You’ll be surprised how much putting the muscle under tension for a longer period of time intensifies the movement.
  • Switching to single-sided movements. You know what’s harder than a plank? A plank with one arm tucked behind your back. Single side exercises are a great way to make your bodyweight exercise more challenging.
  • Try a WOD or a circuit. CrossFit WODs or circuit training are great ways to get your bodyweight exercises in. These workouts are specifically designed to maximize the burn and get great results from your workout. Join a group fitness class geared toward bodyweight exercises, or simply do some quick research and find a plan yourself.

What About When I Can’t Build Muscle With Bodyweight Exercises Anymore?

Once your body can comfortably lift itself, you’ll stop being able to build muscle with bodyweight exercises. If you can do twenty or thirty push ups without breaking a sweat or feeling much strain, it’s time to switch up what you’re doing. Otherwise, you’ll see a stall in your gains.

A straightforward way to get back to building muscle is to add some weight. Use your increased upper body strength to move into bench presses. The added resistance will get you back on track.

Or, if you don’t have access to weights or you just don’t want to use them, you can also modify the exercise. In the case of push ups, there are many great modifications. You could try spiderman push-ups, scorpion push-ups or clapping push-ups, to name a few. Do some research and find new, challenging bodyweight exercises.

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Is Weightlifting At A Young Age Bad For You?

child in boxing ring weightlifting at a young age for fitness

If your child has shown an interest in tagging along to the gym sometime, you might be wondering if it’s a good idea. While weightlifting is great, it can be hard to know if weightlifting at a young age is going to be safe for your child. And doesn’t it stunt their growth? 

Luckily, so long as you don’t have the kid power cleaning 50 kilos or anything in that realm, then you’re likely to cause far more good than harm. Here’s how to help your child safely kickstart their (hopefully lifelong!) gym career.

Weightlifting? Yes! Powerlifting? Maybe Not…

To be clear, when we endorse weightlifting at a young age, we’re talking about strength training. Bodybuilding and powerlifting are a no-go for kids. Trying to build big muscles can put a lot of physical (and mental) stress on a child. Their muscles, tendons and underdeveloped growth plates are at a high risk of injury when moving large amounts of weight.

If your child is interested in weightlifting, don’t worry about how much they’re lifting. Don’t put them on any progressive weight training program until they’re well into puberty. Instead, focus on using these formative years to help them develop great technique. Compound exercises are some of the most valuable to do. If your kid learns great deadlift, bench press and squat form, it will serve them well later in life.

What Are The Risks Of Weightlifting At A Young Age?

It’s a fairly common belief that weightlifting will stunt a child’s growth. However, this is a total myth. The rumor came from a Japanese study of child laborers in the 1970s who ended up below average height. However, it is now known that they ended up short due to malnutrition – not weightlifting. No studies have actually ever shown that weightlifting stunts growth.

Instead, most of the risks associated with weightlifting at a young age are to do with the kid trying to lift weight that their body isn’t strong enough to support. Such injuries can be serious. They include herniated disks, muscle strains, fractures, growth plate injuries, and cartilage damage. 

Children’s bones and muscles don’t finish developing until the end of puberty. This makes them prone to sports-related injury. For this reason, it’s important to make sure your kid doesn’t overdo it in the gym. Stick to low weight and high rep workouts to avoid injury.

What Are The Benefits Of Weightlifting At A Young Age?

Weightlifting is a key part of a varied physical fitness program. Like many exercises, they’ll reap some great benefits from it. They’ll get stronger and gain better muscular endurance, which will help them perform in any sport they’re interested in. 

If they start out with free weights early, they’ll develop great form and technique that will stay with them later in life. Weightlifting at a young age can help your child maintain a healthy weight, and develop strong bones and muscles. 

Plus, weightlifting is really fun! For many kids, weightlifting will boost their confidence and get them interested in physical fitness, which is an awesome hobby to have!

How To Get A Kid Started With Weightlifting

When your child shows an interest, take them along to the gym with you sometime. If you’re confident in your technique, you can show them good form for activities like squats, deadlifts, bench presses or any other weightlifting exercises they want to try. If you’re less experienced with a movement, any of the gym staff will be happy to help teach your kid how to perform the lift safely and efficiently.

Most advice out there recommends avoiding any kind of strict regimen or routine. This is for a couple of reasons. Firstly, you don’t want your kid to put too much pressure on themselves and get stressed. Secondly, strict regimens get boring. People of any age find that to be true, not just kids. But, children in particular often get bored of things, so it’s best to mix things up. 

Aim to let them play around and try out lots of activities and exercises that interest them. Hopefully it will spark a lifelong interest in fitness. A passion for physical health will help them live a healthy lifestyle for decades to come.

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What Are Hero WODs And Why Do We Do Them?

hero wods showing two men in military uniforms standing on rocks one man holding a flare above his head

What Are Hero WODs?

Hero WODs are an important part of CrossFit. Officially, CrossFit describes Hero WODs in the following terms:

 “Military, law enforcement and first responder communities were amongst the earliest proponents of CrossFit. Their intensity matched with the fitness CrossFit provides is a match made in heaven. When a service member dies in the line of duty, a CrossFit Hero workout is created in their name. Hero WODs are an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifices of the fallen – to speak their names and honor their memories. These workouts have been a tradition of workout gyms since 2008.”

First some facts:

  • CrossFit used Hero WODs since before 2008. However, they took a strong foothold in the CrossFit community in 2008.
  • They are usually very challenging and difficult. Overall, they are designed to be a little bit beyond most of the daily WODs.
  • As of 9/11/2020, wodwell.com has had 879 Hero WODs listed.
  • Some of the most famous are Murph, Kalsu, DT, 9/11 Tribute, Hotshots 19, and Chris Kyle.
  • Usually affiliates local to the fallen hero create and submit the hero WOD. They are seen as “official” CrossFit Hero WODs if they get posted on CrossFit’s main site.

Why Hero WODs are important

Obviously, first and foremost, Hero WODs pay tribute and honor to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice.

For a community built around fitness and hard work, a few moments of silence just isn’t enough. Our love is shown by sweating, labored breathing, throwing up, passing out, ripped hands and bleeding shins. We show love by being so physically uncomfortable we can’t help but cry. I’ve seen or experienced all of these effects during Hero WODs.

CrossFitters show love and respect a little differently than most. We use our mental and physical fortitude. We push ourselves to uncomfortable places in an attempt to say ‘thank you for your sacrifice’.

A face to the name

All benchmark WODs in CrossFit have names. Sometimes they are comical like “Burn the Bird”. The originals are known as ‘the girls’ which as imagined all have girls names, such as Annie, Fran, Diane, Grace. 

But those aren’t named or designed for real people. Hero WODs are different. Hero WODs have a face, or sometimes many faces, associated with them. They are bittersweet.

In a way it is nice to be able to honor people who have placed their own lives in danger to help and save others. On the other hand, every Hero WOD means there is someone who lost a child, sibling, parent, or friend. More importantly it means there is one less good person in the world, and the world needs as many good people as possible.

Personally I have never heard anyone complain about a Hero WOD. They might say it was hard or that they wanted to quit. But I have never heard anyone say they hated it, or anything of the sort.

Most people understand that a Hero WOD is not about you. It’s not about how fast you can complete it, or posting a picture or video on social media. It doesn’t matter how much pain you are in. It doesn’t matter how bad you want to quit, or how long it takes.  

A Hero WOD is about those who have done their time and paid their dues. These people were placed in extreme situations, often knowing that was probably going to be the last thing they did.  

Therefore, these will always be the hardest, and most sacred WODs, as they should be. The next time one is on the whiteboard, remember why we do them. Pay your respects the CrossFit way.

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Keeping High Intensity Workouts Sustainable

man with short hair sitting on workout bench in gym making high intensity workouts sustainable by resting holding his phone

High intensity and CrossFit go together like shoelaces. In fact, ask someone who has recently gotten their L1 (CrossFit’s base coaching certificate) what CrossFit is and they will likely tell you it is constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. It is CrossFit’s claim to fame – being able to do more work in less time. We manage to make high intensity workouts sustainable, and an effective method for working out.

Why it works

The nice thing is that high intensity can be different to everyone. An 85 year old who has never worked out a day in their life might squat to a tall box 20 times and have an elevated heart rate. For them, this is high intensity. 

Meanwhile a 23 year old athlete might do 20 full depth squats with 250 lbs and get the same elevated heart rate. This is high intensity for them. That is why CrossFit has the ability to change lives. It can be applied over a broad spectrum of people and abilities.

High intensity works great for fat loss, muscle building and getting more done in less time. If you have ever seen a track sprinter and a cross country runner next to each other you know what I mean. The cross country runner usually looks malnourished and the sprinter looks like a bodybuilder.

There’s always a downside

However as with all good things there is a downside to high intensity workouts. It simply is not sustainable.

Your heart rate can only stay so high for so long. And the higher it stays, the shorter amount of time it can stay that way. Even professional athletes can only maintain their true 100% for a few minutes before they have to break or reduce that level of intensity.

It’s similar to miles per gallon and RPMs of an engine. The higher the RPMs the fewer miles per gallon it will go. There needs to be some kind of trade off.

How to make high intensity workouts sustainable

So how do we keep intensity high without having to slow down? This is where the popular abbreviation HIIT comes in. HIIT stands for high intensity interval training.  

Here is how it works. You work really hard for a short period of time and then rest. You do this over and over again, usually in a predetermined amount of time.

One of the most famous ways to do this is Tabatas. Ta-whata’s??? Tabatas. Tabata is named after Dr. Izumi Tabata, who we will talk about in a different article. Basically, he studied HIIT and came up with a 20 sec of work to 10 sec of rest ratio.

Typically this is done 8 times back to back. Tabatas are great because 20 seconds of work is not a long time and most people can work very hard for that little amount of time.  10 seconds of rest is just enough time to catch a couple of breaths.  

If you have never done a tabata or multiple rounds of a tabata then you are probably looking at 20 seconds of work like a joke. Trust me, it is not.  You will soon be wondering how 20 seconds is so difficult and why you are sweating so much.

Tabatas are just one way to use HIIT. You can stretch the work and rest time out to be longer but the idea is to keep the work time short enough to where you can consistently produce high levels of intensity. 

So as effective as high intensity is, resting during your WOD can be equally important. This is a key way to make your high intensity workouts sustainable.

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What Would Happen If I Did Pull Ups Every Day?

pull ups every day for intense fitness

Pull ups are the classic back exercise. You probably learned to do them as a kid, but they’re a useful addition to a workout routine at any stage of life. They’re challenging, require minimal equipment, and are awesome for developing muscle and strength. You’ve surely seen trends of “100 Pull Ups Every Day For A Month” or similar. If you really enjoy this movement and see great results from it, you might be wondering what would happen if you tried doing pull ups every day.

There are some real pros and cons to doing, well, any movement each and every single day. This is particularly true of an exercise as intense and challenging as pull ups.

Let’s say you decided to do 50 pull ups every day for three months. Here are some results you could expect to see. Some are good. Some…not so much. 

You’ll Get (Way, Way) Better At Pull Ups

Pull ups are hard. Many people can’t even do a single one. At the start of your pull up challenge, you may only be able to complete five or so at a time. But, if you dedicate yourself to doing pull ups every day, you’ll quickly start seeing improvements. You may even get to a point where you can do all 50 in a row. That’s bound to feel good.

Your Back Will Gain Some Impressive Lean Muscle

This movement mostly targets your lats. Therefore, doing pull ups every day will have an amazing effect on these muscles. When they’re well developed, great lats make the waist look small and the shoulders look big. Lats are also crucial for keeping your back in a healthy position when you’re doing deadlifts, squats and bench presses.

Although, Your Gains May Not Be Proportional

Yes, your lats (and probably your biceps) will look awesome. But while they’ll be looking great, you can’t neglect your other muscles. You need to do other exercises to even out your legs, chest, and the rest of your arms and back. Having an underdeveloped lower back, traps and rear deltoids but massive lats is a slightly strange look, to say the least.

Doing Pull Ups Every Day Will Boost Your Grip Strength

Supporting your body weight for one pull up, let alone 50, requires some serious grip strength. It will be challenging at first, but within a week or two you’re likely to start seeing some major improvements. Many people find that their grip strength negatively impacts their pull exercises such as deadlifts, rows, and flies. So, your daily pull ups will help you in other areas of your fitness. And pretty soon, you’ll be the go-to jar opener among your friends and family.

You’ll Develop Great Muscular Endurance

When you commit to doing pull ups every day, your muscular endurance will skyrocket. This will also be helpful in other areas of your workouts, such as cardio and high intensity training. Your hard earned endurance will help you power through almost any other workout, which is super helpful.

But, You Won’t Be Resting Enough

Doing the same movement every day can take a major physical toll. If you get injured, you won’t be able to keep doing pull ups every day. As an athlete, it’s responsible to take rest days. Otherwise, you risk painful inflammation or torn and strained muscles.

Research shows that it’s best to allow muscle groups 24-48 hours to properly recover between workouts. You should absolutely not push through injury.

And You’ll Get Real Sick Of Doing Pull Ups Every Day

You won’t just be tired physically. You’ll feel some mental strain too. Most people who have committed to daily pull up challenges report really struggling with the mental side of it. Dragging yourself to the gym to do the same gruelling exercise over and over again is tough – especially when you’re overtrained and sore.

On the other hand, pushing through the pain may suit your personality type. You may find it really empowering to force yourself to get into the gym and do those pull ups every day for 3 months. At the end of those months, you’ll feel like a beast. One thing’s for certain though – doing pull ups every day is going to be tough. Consider the pros and cons carefully before diving into any daily exercise challenge.

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CrossFit Myth: Being Fit Enough For CrossFit

legs of women who are all fit enough for crossfit being all different shapes and sizes standing in a line

One of the biggest misconceptions about CrossFit I often hear is, “I’m not fit enough for CrossFit.”

This belief stems from what most people’s idea of CrossFit is, which is The CrossFit Games. The Games is a series of events and competitions where people compete to see who is the fittest person in the world. CrossFit started hosting these back in 2007. Normal everyday people could not only be selected, but could even win. Panda Express used to sponsor The CrossFit Games. You even drank beer after working out – no joke.  

However, this has quickly evolved to, if you don’t have great genetics, a bombproof training and eating regimen, a long and extensive background in health and fitness…then good luck even making it to the middle stage of selection. Most Games athletes now are/were high level college athletes, and some were/are Olympians or junior Olympians.

Are you fit enough for CrossFit at the Games level? 

No, you are not. There are only a few people in the world who are fit enough for that. 

But, are you fit enough for CrossFit in general?

Yes! You certainly are! Yes!

Everyone has to start somewhere

Humans love to compare themselves to others, even when we have no experience in a subject. For example, when people walk into a box for the first time and they see someone pouring sweat, doing muscle ups, flipping tires, and jumping on top of a box the height of a kitchen table they think “there is no way I can do that”. And they are right.

But, what they don’t think about is that person has been training in CrossFit for years. They had to lose 30 lbs to have those abs and be able to even do a pull up. They started exactly where everyone else did. By simply walking in the door.

When you start a good coach will know that you shouldn’t be pushed like more seasoned athletes. So, instead of doing muscle ups, you will do pull ups. Instead of flipping tires, you will do kettle-bell swings. And maybe you won’t jump on a box but will step up on one. Guess what, that is still CrossFit! CrossFit movements can be scaled and modified. This makes CrossFit a great choice for everyone.

Everyone likes to talk about how CrossFit uses the kipping and butterfly pull ups and how they are not real pull ups. They are just a different version of pull ups that serve a different purpose, just like jumping, banded, and strict pull ups all serve their own purposes.  

Everyone’s fit enough for CrossFit

So the point is, anyone and everyone is able to do CrossFit. No matter what your skill level or your experience is, CrossFit movements can be scaled to meet your level of fitness. And this is important because it allows new athletes to have a workout made a little easier for them. Or it allows more advanced athletes to modify a workout to be harder than it once was.

Are you “not in good enough shape” to start CrossFit and have two minutes to spare? Message us – we only need two minutes to ask your opinion on something.

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5 Workout Don’ts For Fitness Beginners

workout don'ts and workout do's getting advice in the gym

When you start working out, you’ll get hit with a ton of advice (often unsolicited) about what you should and shouldn’t be doing in the gym. Even though these tips surely come from a good place, all the ideas can get overwhelming. However, there are a few key workout don’ts that you do not want to forget about!

These 5 tips are super simple and easy to implement. If you follow them, you’ll definitely be on your way to a great and effective workout. Here we go:

1. Don’t Forget To Warm Up And Cool Down

Structuring your workout correctly is crucial for meeting your goals. When you remember to warm up and cool down, you’ll perform better and have faster recovery times. Plus, you’ll minimize your risk of injury. What’s not to love?

A good warm up prepares your joints and muscles for exercise. A cool down then gently returns your body to its pre-workout state. Spend five to ten minutes doing each at either side of your workout.

There are many resources online with ideas for fun and effective warm ups and cool downs. Try lots and see what works for you.

2. Don’t Focus On A Single Form Of Exercise

CrossFit is all about avoiding routine. A strict workout regimen will only make you get bored and stuck in a rut. There’s no fun in that – and fitness should be fun!

Throughout the week, combine your lifts, movements and exercises in as many creative ways you can think of. Maybe one day it’s a game of basketball. The next day, a run in the park. The day after that, a high intensity WOD. 

Sure, if you find an underlying structure that works for you, that’s great. But try and mix things up as much as you possibly can. This will keep your workouts exciting, fresh and a part of your day to look forward to.

3. Being Selfish In The Gym

This is one of those fitness don’ts that is less to do with your physical health, and more to do with your mental. If you’re new to working out, just remember that it’s important to be courteous to other gym-goers. This keeps them happy, and also keeps you in a positive headspace. It’s a win-win.

When in the gym, don’t hog equipment, clean up after yourself, and be polite to those around you. If you’re kind and respectful to others, they will be to you too. Being friendly will get you a long way. Who knows, maybe you’ll get a new workout buddy!

4. Workout Don’ts: Overdoing It

When you start working out, you may find it tempting to go super hard all the time. No pain, no gain, right?

Wrong – this is one of the major workout don’ts! If you consistently overdo your workouts, you might feel fatigue, frustration and a lack of motivation. It can even affect your sleep.

Your body only builds muscle when resting. It’s absolutely crucial to allow yourself this time to recover from the stress of training. 

Make sure to get at least 24 hours of rest after a heavy workout. If you’re really getting antsy, feel free to do something light like some yoga, or an easy walk around the block. 

5. Don’t Set Unrealistic Goals

Starting a new workout plan is exciting. I’m sure you’re dreaming of your perfect body – and you can’t wait to get it! However, these things take time. And there’s going to be setbacks. You’ve got to mentally prepare for them.

When you set goals for yourself, consider the SMART acronym. This stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-based. Goals that meet these guidelines will be useful for motivating you on your fitness journey.

A bad goal: look like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson by Tuesday.

A good goal: add five pounds to bench press within the next month.

Buffalo Nickel CrossFit can help you with workout don’ts (and dos)

At Buffalo Nickel CrossFit we know that all the workout dos and workout don’ts that get thrown at a beginner can get a bit overwhelming.

At our box, we always try to offer helpful guidance to new members. If you want to try a session with us, or have any questions about your fitness, you can contact us here.

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What’s The Best Plan To Lose Fat?

woman working out to lose fat

Okay, so you want to lose some mass and get your summer body back. Fair enough! This is a popular and totally attainable fitness goal. The best plan to lose fat involves eating a healthy diet at a deficit of your daily calories. Your diet is the most important aspect of losing fat.

It’s important to keep working out too! In the gym, you’ll be best to switch your focus to cardio fitness, toning exercises, and maintaining your muscles. When eating at a caloric deficit, too much muscle building work will just tire you out. Here are some pointers:

The Best Plan To Lose Fat: Your Diet

Step one for putting together your meal plan is to work out how many calories your body uses up in a day. Everyone’s different, so try using this calculator to find out how many calories you should be eating to lose fat.

Once you’ve got that information, it’s time to make your meal plan. When creating a meal plan for losing fat, you want to go for:

  • High protein. High protein foods keep you full longer. These include meat, fish, eggs and dairy. As you’re trying to lose fat, try to find low-fat versions of your favorite high protein foods.
  • High fiber. Fiber is so important for gut health and most people are actually low in it. Some great high fiber foods include lentils, avocados, pears, strawberries and bananas.
  • Low sugar. Or, if you can cut out sugar entirely, that’s even better. Avoid artificial sweeteners.
  • Low carb. When choosing carbs, make sure it’s a low GI option. GI is a measure of how much the carb elevates your blood sugar. The lower the better. Some great low GI carbs include sweet potatoes, brown rice and oatmeal.

Sample Daily Diet

Let’s say you want to eat 1,500 calories in a day. This might look something like:

  • Breakfast – egg and avocado toast: 2 poached eggs, 1 slice of wholegrain bread, 1/2 avocado.
  • Lunch – veggie wrap: 1 whole-grain wrap, 2 tablespoons of hummus, 1/2 avocado, 2 slices of tomato, 1 cup of lettuce, 1 ounce of cheese.
  • Snack: 1 banana, 1 yogurt.
  • Dinner:  chicken and veggies: 1 baked chicken breast, 1 cup roasted pumpkin, 1 cup of roasted broccoli.

This is only a sample of what a healthy and well-rounded fat loss diet may look like. However, there are thousands of ideas online for weight loss diet plans and healthy meal ideas. 

It’s fun to get creative in the kitchen. Plus, this often helps you stay motivated for your meal plan and diet.

The Best Plan To Lose Fat: In The Gym

If you’re looking to lose weight, you should focus on workouts that get your heart pumping. Shoot for around 3 hours per week of quality exercise. You can divide that up any way you like.

We love strength training, but the best plan to lose fat involves working on cardio and toning. There are so many CrossFit routines designed to help you reach your fat loss goals.

Sample Daily Workout

This workout is called the Filthy 50 and is just one of many great fat-burning CrossFit WODs. Complete 50 consecutive reps of each exercise before moving onto the next. Challenge yourself and see how fast you can get through all 500 reps.

  • Box jumps
  • Jumping pull-ups
  • Kettlebell swings
  • Walking lunge steps
  • Knees-to-elbows
  • Push presses
  • Back extensions
  • Wall ball shots
  • Burpees
  • Double-unders

If you find that a little too difficult, you can check out some modifications here to see how to make this workout more manageable. 

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The Ugly Side of CrossFit

woman wearing boxing gloves showing the ugly side of crossfit on a blank background and hair out

Last night, a member left what is written below near my stuff as I coached. The member who left this piece, The Ugly Side Of CrossFit, is one of Buffalo Nickel CrossFit’s founding members.

Becki and I met years ago, and when I opened Buffalo Nickel CrossFit she was there to support us. She has always been a friend and a great member. She always keeps the gym laughing with her good mood and hilarious sense of humor.  

Everyone has an image in their heads of a person that does CrossFit. Most times this image is highly exaggerated. Most people that enjoy CrossFit are just normal people. CrossFit is not a sport to them, it is how they get and or stay in shape. 

Becki does a much more artful telling than me, and she has given me permission to share what she wrote, so I will just let you read it for yourself.

The Ugly Side of CrossFit

Every time you think or look up CrossFit, you see beautiful bodies, that’s the beautiful side of CrossFit.

Now let’s look at the other side. To me, CrossFit means strength, courage, friendship, sweat & confidence. Not all CrossFit athletes are in their 20s with beautiful bodies. A lot of us are older, overweight, depressed, lost in who/what we are. Desperate to find something to save us from our broken-ness. That’s where CrossFit found me. 

We walk in terrified, feeling stupid, ugly, fat, incompetent, out of place. Then you do your first warm up. Almost die, but you keep going.

You’re seeing these “amazing athletes” with all their beauty and strength doing these lifts and movements.  All the time you’re standing with a piece of PVC.  Lost as ever. Not realizing these people started just like us!

Now the hard work starts.

You’re learning, trying.

Pulling, pushing yourself further than you ever imagined you could.

The whole time pulling your shirt down trying to cover your fat.

Shame, sweat, read faced, and out of breath.

But then it’s over. You did it! It sucked and hurt. You know you won’t be able to move tomorrow. But you don’t care, because you did it! 

You faced your fear and embarrassment, and did it.

So when I hear CrossFit, that’s what I think about. Not the beautiful looking finished product. I think about the beautifully broken men and women desperately looking for a place to fit in.  

No shame.

No judgement. Just a group of broken people. Trying to better themselves together.

So yes, CrossFit can be confusing and overwhelming. But trust the process and know, we won’t all turn out to be these amazing beautiful athletes.  

And I am perfectly okay with that. 

-Becki

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How To Get Back In The Gym After A Break

woman getting back in the gym

For one reason or another, you took time off working out. You might be looking to get back in the gym after lockdown, getting busy with work, recovering from an injury, or any other reason.

First of all, congratulations! It’s great that you’re ready to get your fitness back on track. However, don’t be overzealous. It can be tempting to go really hard to make up for lost time, but this can lead to burnout and injury.

In this post, we have some key pointers for getting your mind and body back into the workout grind safely and sustainably. If you use these tips, you’ll be able to start working out again in a way that’s positive for your long-term plan.

When you get back in the gym, expect a change in ability

No matter if you used to be a weightlifter, a CrossFitter, a cardio lover or whatever else, you should remember that your physical ability will have suffered. Don’t feel bad about this – it’s normal! 

But, it is important to keep in mind when making a new plan. If you jump straight back into the same workouts you used to do, you may overexert yourself and get injured. Or, you might not be able to perform like you used to and get frustrated. Make sure to start working out again in a sustainable way, so you don’t burn out.

Be patient and take it slow

Take some time to think about your old workout plan, and how you can scale it back. It’s important to set yourself up for success. This means thinking about keeping it sustainable.

Think about your previous high intensity workouts. A good rule of thumb is to start working out again at 20 percent of the intensity of your hardest workouts.

If you had to take time off from exercise because of an injury or illness, check in with your doctor before getting started.

Plan your workout with exercises you enjoy

You’ll be far more motivated to get back in the gym if you’ve got a killer workout plan. When you’re getting back into the swing of things, try to keep it simple. Get back to the basics, and focus on your functional movements. There are many great resources online to inspire you.

Create a workout plan with two to four heavy compound lifts at the start. From there, you can be flexible. Work in some isolation lifts, cardio, bodyweight exercises, or anything you want.

Many people like to ease themselves back into exercising with group fitness classes, such as CrossFit. You could also opt for a game of soccer, tennis, basketball or any sport of your choosing with friends. 

Expect to be sore when you get back in the gym

Every fitness junkie has had a bad case of DOMS at some point. DOMS stands for delayed onset muscle soreness. When you do any kind of resistance training, it causes tiny tears in your muscle fibers. This is why you feel sore after a workout, particularly after your first session in a while.

After you get back in the gym, you should expect some muscle soreness. However, you can minimize it by warming up, drinking enough water and applying ice to the affected muscles after the workout.

Don’t let your sore muscles put you off too much. And luckily, the more often you go, the less noticeable your DOMS will be.

Set (healthy) goals

Getting back in the gym can seem a bit daunting. Setting yourself some goals can help you measure your progress and boost your motivation as you smash through them.

When you set goals for yourself, remember the SMART acronym. A goal should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-based. When you reach a goal, reward yourself with some new workout gear, or anything else you like!

At the end of the day, getting back in the gym should be fun. If you take it slow and manage your expectations, this will help you ease back into the lifestyle. Before you know it, you’ll be back where you left things – or better than ever!

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