TRAINING

CrossFit is a strength and conditioning program designed to help people gain a broad and general fitness. Designed to prepare people for any physical challenge, CrossFit programming concentrates on constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity to achieve overall physical fitness.   

All workouts are scalable to any fitness level, age or experience. Training can be done anywhere – in a garage, at home, in a park, or a school – but is often done at a local CrossFit affiliate’s gym, called a “box.”, Every day, CrossFitters complete a “Workout of the Day” (or WOD) and post their results online or on the whiteboard in their box. The WOD gives CrossFitters a unique opportunity to compete, track their progress, share experiences and achieve their own goals.

LIFESTYLE & COMMUNITY

CrossFit is as much a fitness-inspired lifestyle as it is a strength and conditioning program, and the tight-knit CrossFit community is an essential factor in contributing to the success of the CrossFit program. Working hard, sharing the experience with others while striving towards a common goal, and being able to compete against yourself, the clock, and your fellow CrossFitters provides the same motivation found in many sports, and is one reason why CrossFit is called The Sport of Fitness.  

CrossFit encourages people to work on their weaknesses as well as their strengths every time they are in the gym. Learning new skills, achieving personal records, tapping into the competitive drive and empowering men and women of all ages is what happens on a daily basis in a CrossFit box.

Outside of the box, CrossFit supports a balanced, moderate diet to optimize fitness performance, health and wellness, since proper nutrition is a key foundation for fitness.

CROSSFIT EXPLAINED

Across the globe Reebok has joined forces with CrossFit in a relationship that will establish Reebok as the #1 fitness brand and bring Crossfit to your door as the workout discipline of choice.

CrossFit is about teaching people how to move. About movement patterns that are essential to life; essential to your well being; essential to your independence. CrossFit is constantly varied, high intensity, functional movement of large loads, over long distances - quickly. We all do the same things, squatting, dead lifting, jumping, lunge, rope pull-up. These are all natural movements. They predate the 1st gym by millions of years. We’re altering our molecular level where every aspect of your being is going to change. You’re going to get stronger; you’re going to be more flexible; your confidence is going to rise significantly - we’re setting up patterns for success across all platforms.

Just walk through the CrossFit door and the differences are glaringly obvious. In a conventional gym the overwhelming majority of people have headphones on, reading the paper – a solo experience in a crowd of people.

Then you come into one of our gyms and it’s just not possible. You’ve got all the names of the competitors or the people who are going to work out that day on the board, “3 / 2 / 1 - go” and the clock starts… it’s on! and the last guy or gal in the door is cheered like a hero.

This is a grass roots movement, a spontaneous phenomenon. The net result is a community which is bound by belief in self, belief in one another and a unity that stems from an understanding that all good things come out of blood; sweat and tears.

OPENING A CROSSFIT BOX IN SA:

The CrossFit community is growing at a rapid pace! If you would like more information on how to open a CrossFit box in South Africa please visit www.CrossFit.com

Carson, CA, August 1, 2011 – After four months of competition, Rich Froning Jr. has been named the Fittest Man on Earth™ and Annie Thorisdottir has been named The Fittest Woman on Earth™ at the 2011 Reebok|CrossFit Games. Froning Jr, from Cookeville, Tennessee, USA, and Thorisdottir, from Kopavogur, Iceland, earned their titles after beating the top 50 male and female competitors from the initial field of 27,000 entrants over the course of ten workouts at the Reebok|CrossFit Games, which took place from July 29-31 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. In addition to the title, both athletes won $250,000.

This year’s competition, the fifth annual CrossFit Games and the first in which Reebok was the title sponsor, saw athletes from the Africa Regionals competing at Finals. Danie du Preez , Mona Pretorius and a team from Cape CrossFit all competed after qualifying as the Fittest CrossFit athletes in Africa.   

Athletes were challenged to test both their bodies and their minds to the limit. The winning athletes proved their physical fitness by achieving the highest total score in a total of 10 events which featured a combination of tasks including swimming, running, rowing, biking, performing Olympic lifts, climbing ropes, completing gymnastic movements throwing softballs, and moving large loads long distances quickly. In addition to the workouts, athletes were tested time and again mentally; in most cases, they had only an hour to prepare for each workout, and sometimes they had only two minutes to rest after one workout before starting the next one.

Froning Jr. and Thorisdottir found the road to victory by securing first place finishes in three of the ten events. For both athletes, this year’s success is especially sweet because it followed runner-up finishes in 2010. In fact, Froning Jr. said, “My goal coming into this event was to show that last year wasn’t a fluke.” Thorisdottir said, “I kept focusing on trying to win the title, and I’m just so happy. I haven’t even thought about what I would do with the money!”

The 24-year-old Froning Jr. struggled in the opening event but won the next two events to signal his presence as a contender to the field and the crowd. By the end of the second day, he had built a commanding lead, fuelled by two second-place finishes and once sixth-place finish. Going into the final event, which consisted of eight movements including Olympic and power lifts, gymnastic moves and resistance training, Froning Jr. had all but cemented his position atop the scoreboard. Ultimately, he finished nearly 100 points ahead of 28-year-old Joshua Bridges from La Mesa, California. Virginia’s Ben Smith, a 21-year old student at Old Dominion University, finished third.

On the other hand, the 21-year-old Thorisdottir didn’t find her way to the top of the leaderboard until the final day of the competition. Her consistent performance on the first two days landed her within nine points of the 2010 defending champion, Kristan Clever, going into the final day of competition. On Sunday, Thorisdottir took the lead after the first event, and cemented her position with consecutive third-place finishes in the final three events. Clever, 29, finished second, followed closely by her San Fernando Valley, California training partner and teammate, 30-year-old Rebecca Voight.

“The level of the competition this weekend was outstanding, with the competitors proving that they truly are the fittest men and women on earth – and not just physically, but also mentally,” said Chris Froio, Head of Fitness and Training, Reebok. “In the last events, it was amazing to watch athletes push themselves physically, rest for two minutes, and then start another workout – and at the end of the event, it was inspiring to watch these athletes finish their workouts and then cheer their competitors on, or giving them tips to help them make it to the finish. We are thrilled to be a part of this event and proud of all of the competitors and our athletes, especially Rich and Annie, for their accomplishments.”

Perhaps no event better illustrated the CrossFit philosophy of being prepared for the unknown and the unknowable than the opening event, where athletes had to complete an open-water swim in the Pacific Ocean; run 1,500 meters in the sand; power through 50 pullups, 100 pushups and 200 squats; and race to the finish with another 1,500 meter run in the sand. In addition to the crowd-pleasing final event, Saturday’s final event was one of the most popular with the capacity crowd; after completing seven heavy lifts and biking 700 meters, the athletes had to traverse a set of monkey bars for 100 meters.

This weekend’s finals marked the culmination of a three-stage competition that began in March with the Reebok|CrossFit Open Series, which featured more than 27,000 competitors from around the world who were fighting for a place in one of 17 regional competitions. At the Reebok|CrossFit Regionals, the top 60 men, 60 women and 30 teams in the region competed for three days to make it to the Reebok|CrossFit Games. This weekend’s field consisted of no more than three men, three women and three teams from each region.

Below is a note from Africa Regionals Mens Winner, Danie du Preez, sharing his experience:

Wow, wow, wow! I was in a privileged position to have experienced the CrossFit Games in 2009, 2010 and now again in 2011. This year’s Games is nothing in comparison to the others. Reebok has out done themselves hosting the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games in Carson California.

It all started as we arrived at the Marriott Hotel to register and each athlete got kitted out with the best range of gear any athlete could dream of. Reebok catered for every single need and the athletes dinner in the evenings was just as great. I felt at home amongst those athletes, everybody friendly and willing to share their expertise and knowledge.The organizing of the week and build up to the event was absolutely awesome and everything was organized and professional. The athlete’s areas had an abundance of Paleo food, sleep areas with chiropractors and physiotherapist for our usage - just an added bonus. The media coverage and exposure was also amazing, you could go anywhere in the stadium and still be able to keep track of the daily events.

Being able to rub shoulders with the cream of the crop was mind-blowing and overwhelming and just encouraged me to train harder and perform better in 2012. The amount of knowledge that I brought back with me is priceless. All the hours of sweat and hard work during the year was worth it, just to be able to compete at that level.

I want to thank Reebok CrossFit for their contribution and hope that this is just the beginning of a journey together with yourselves and CrossFit B4C.

God bless

Danie du Preez

For more information about the 2011 Reebok|CrossFit Games, go to http://games.crossfit.com. 

CROSSFIT AFRICA REGIONAL GAMES

Reebok CrossFit Africa Games 2011 took place in Cape Town on 10 – 12 June 2011go to Reebok CrossFit South Africa Facebook page to see pictures from the event.

The CrossFit Games are the ultimate test of fitness. A grueling three-day competition in which the world's fittest athletes compete in a variety of workouts. What are the workouts? Each year they change; the details of which are not announced until a couple days before the event. This means that all year long, athletes are training for a fitness knock-out competition whose format is almost a complete mystery - more importantly unrehearsed.

Regional Games are the 2nd level of the Crossfit Annual games, winners from these games go through to the CrossFit World Games in LA, where CrossFit Regional winners will go head to head for the title of Fittest Man & Women on Earth and $1 mil prize money.

Reebok CrossFit Africa Regional Winners 2011:

Mens 1st place - Danie du Preez

Ladies 1st place - Mona Pretorius

Team - Frank Pope, Janie Smit, Ellie Hagopian, Robert de Florenca , Andrew Jones, Lynda Piper-Roche

Congratulations to all competitors and winners on their inspirational performance!