The Addition of CrossFit to Combat Ready Edinburgh

The new CrossFit classes started this week and were well received.  For those of you who don’t know what CrossFit is then please check out www.crossfit.com for more info or look at our new sister site www.crgcrossfit.com

In simple terms it is a strength and conditioning programme created by Greg Glassman in the US.  It uses weight lifting and bodyweight drills to provide you with what CrossFit refers to as general physical preparedness.  Does this sound familiar?  Yes, it’s what the whole Combat Ready approach has always been about.  Having you ready to deal with whatever life throws at you at any point in time.  Be it a hostile Monday morning meeting, a robbery or having to lift someone to safety after a house fire. 

The Combat Ready approach started almost six years ago now at the old Edinburgh Judo Club.  Back in those days the strength and conditioning we used involved kettlebells, bodyweight drills, monkey bars and ropes as that is what we had to work with.   There was a class which we just called 'Conditioning' in those days.  Then we opened the Combat Ready Gym and we renamed it 'Performance Conditioning' .  I got my first dose of CrossFit back in August 2008 when I was at one of the Krav Maga summer camps in Norway.  The instructor there runs a CrossFit gym so he made us all do a few workouts and then work through various multiple attacker drills.  I toyed with the idea of adding CrossFit to our curriculum but it wasn't until January this year when I went to train in Vegas that I was really convinced we needed it.  CrossFit is certainly gaining popularity in the UK and I’m never one to sit still. I always want to bring the best to Combat Ready no matter if it is fitness or self defence. 

So, in a nutshell, don’t be scared of something because it has a new name.  Check out and compare below:

(A) Workout 1

Push Ups x10

Kettlebell Swings x15

Chins x 6

As many times as you can in 7 mins

 (B) WOD 1

Push ups x10

Kettlebell Swings 1.5poods

C2B x 6 (no kipping)

AMRAP 7 mins

Confused? Don't be. Both are the same thing.  'WOD' is a CrossFit acronym and refers to Work Out of the Day.

Poods is an old Russian term which lets you know the weight.  Why the hell they don’t say kgs or pounds is beyond me though. 

What we refer to as chin ups can be called C2B (chest to bar) and kipping is a term for a cheating way to do a chin up. 

AMRAP – As many rounds as possible.  

Remember, there is nothing new in the world. Every Martial Art move is a copy of something else and all the fitness stuff is years old.  People trying to claim high intensity exercise is something new need to think about how martial artists have been training since the dawn of time. 

The only new thing is how you present and package it.  A cheeseburger is a cheeseburger - it's only different in how it sits on your plate.

In short don’t fear change, embrace it.