Spirit of Women magazine is a national publication presented to women by hospitals and their physicians. The magazine provides up-to-date, evidence-based healthcare information and promotes our hospitals as leaders in women's health excellence.
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21 Get a checkup first If you're game to give CrossFit a try, start at your healthcare provider's office. The physical demands of CrossFit can be challenging even for avid exercisers, so get your doctor's OK to make sure you don't have any underlying medical conditions. Besides sore muscles and joints, which are the most common exercise-induced complications, your heart can also be affected. Although exercise generally reduces the risk of heart disease, strenuous exercise can temporarily increase the risk of heart attack and sudden cardiac death, even in people in decent shape, according to a joint position paper by the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association. If you have a known health condition, such as heart disease or diabetes, your doctor may recommend exercise stress testing before giving you the go-ahead for CrossFit. Similarly, if you have symptoms such as chest pain, increasing fatigue or breathlessness, mention them to your doctor. Don't make the mistake of thinking CrossFit will be a cure-all. Take the intro class After receiving your doctor's approval, take an orientation course at your local CrossFit gym. In a typical CrossFit class you can expect to perform squats, dead lifts, overhead presses and Olympic lifts. In these newbie courses, you'll learn proper technique, which is vital to reducing your risk of injury. An intro course can also help you get in shape for the regular CrossFit workouts and give you an idea of what you're up against— and whether you want to continue. Personalize your approach Before each CrossFit class, you can expect to find the workout of the day posted along with the recommended weight load for each movement or skill. For example, the agenda might include wall ball, which involves deep squatting and standing while tossing a large medicine ball several feet in the air. A 14-pound medicine ball might be the recommendation for women, but that may be too heavy for you to perform the exercise safely. You could also find that wall ball is something you simply can't do. If you're struggling during a CrossFit activity, reduce the weight or modify the exercise so that it matches your capabilities. Slow down and take breaks whenever you find that you need them. Don't overdo it Even if you're on a tight deadline to get in shape—maybe your daughter's wedding is just a few months away—the American Council on Exercise recommends taking no more than two CrossFit classes per week initially. If you're still tired from the last class, you may need more CrossFit recovery time. More isn't better and can lead to overtraining injuries. CrossFit pros and cons The intensity of CrossFit is off the charts, which can sometimes lead to injuries. "Even those who are already strong and fit can get carried away and be injured," says Joan Pagano, author of "Strength Training Exercises for Women" (DK, 2013) and owner of Joan Pagano Fitness in New York City. In fact, a recent study in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine involving 191 CrossFit participants found an injury rate of 26 percent, most often involving shoulders, knees and lower back, which is on par with other forms of exercise. Some of the participants had to take breaks from exercise due to their injuries. Pagano says she isn't a CrossFit fan. "Although I do endorse the kinds of bodyweight and free weight exercises that CrossFit employs, my approach is a gradual progression of increasing intensity, with regard to keeping the joints and muscles healthy as you stress them safely," Pagano says. Still, a study by the American College on Exercise and researchers from the University of Wisconsin- La Crosse suggests that CrossFit does work. Researchers concluded that CrossFit did a good job of helping exercisers become more aerobically fit while burning a good number of calories in the process.