Police unit adopts CrossFit training
(Video) They jump rope, flip truck tires, lift weights – all as part of group setting with instructor who won't let anyone give up. Introducing CrossFit, fitness program which is taking special police and army units, pregnant women and heart patients by storm
CrossFit is a varied, intensive and functional workout that combines physical fitness with equipment from the world of weightlifting and gymnastics. Unlike conventional fitness, CrossFit is not about body building but about the highest level of physical fitness.
The CrossFitters move from station to station – lifting weights, throwing slam balls, doing pull ups, swinging kettle bells, flipping truck tires, jumping rope, doing handstands, and all of this as part of a supportive group and under the watchful eye of an instructor who determines whether or not each trainee is performing the exercise correctly in order to extract the maximum from each movement.
Police academies' main fitness plan
Greg and Lauren Glassman developed this training method in 1995in their little fitness facility in Santa Cruz, California. CrossFit's official website was launched in 2003, and since then people have continued to sign on, facilities using the CrossFit method began opening all over, and countless people are using the system to work out in the privacy of their own home.
CrossFit serves as the main fitness plan used by Israel's police academies and special police and army units, firefighters, martial art champions and thousands of professional athletes all over world. The method arrived in Israel last year, and for now has only one facility operating in Herzliya.
'Women have less of an ego' (Photo: Omri Peled)
The program was designed to enable the trainee to acquire the highest level of fitness applicable in broad physical applications. "Our specialty is avoiding specifics", explains Omri Peled, one of the instructors at the Herzliya facility.
"Many sports and life in general reward such type of fitness, and in many cases 'punish' those who only specialize in one field. CrossFit's training plan is gradual, and is therefore suitable for any person determined to succeed, without requiring previous experience."
Women commit to practice
The first Israeli CrossFit championship was held in Israel in January with 25 competitors. The competition is the first stage ahead of the world championship, which will be held in July in Carson, California. Several Israeli CrossFitters are planning on competing.
Two pregnant woman train at the Herzliya club, one close to give birth and the other in her first trimester. The main difference between their workout and the rest of the group is the intensity level.
Performing each of the exercises at a moderate level of effort, while using the proper technique and a series of training sessions is meant to facilitate the pregnancy, birth and recovery.
"Women are much more thorough and undergo a much more dramatic change than men," says one of the female trainees. "They have less of an ego and much more dedication from the moment they commit."
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