Other ways to work out

If you've not heard of Cross Fit, they have an interesting take on exercise. It's rather similar to the P90X commercials you've probably seen on TV. They have a rotating schedule of exercise and rest days that seems to number in the dozens; each day is something different. The problem I have with Cross Fit is nothing with their philosophy, which I think is sound, but their price. To be a Cross Fit member, one must pay a bunch of money (read: single class college tuition). It has its benefits, naturally: They have instructors, facilities, and even competitions between members. I have a gym membership, a trainer, and I fairly often compete with myself, so what from Cross Fit to apply to my own workouts?

Checking out their "Workout of the Day" (WOD), they do a lot of different exercises and measure it a lot of different ways. Sometimes, it's the usual max reps at a given weight, or max weight. Other times it's for time, or count how many rounds you can do of a small circuit of just a few exercises. Now we're on to something.

Usually, I've simply gone for completing my circuit at the cost of time. Ask my wife, my workouts have been getting longer and longer. Sadly, I've only added one exercise to the mix, but it has to be separate from the others. Also, those stretches that I mentioned a post or two back take a lot of time. As fun as it is to be at the gym for 2 hours a day, it's a bit time consuming. So, if I continue to do roughly 30 to 40 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of stretching, that leaves a large window to get done in under 2 hours.

I've decided to change up my routine a bit to be more accommodating of this goal. Do 3 rounds of my routine, 1 set per exercise, with a rest period in between, and go for time. If I'm not actively seeking to better some metric, it won't get better. Previously, it's just been for completing the sets at the heavier weight. Maybe this new method will get me done in the gym quicker, getting just as much work done in a shorter time.

I see no problem with mimicking good ideas. We'll see how this works for me.