Guides for people thinking about starting
Straight answers about starting CrossFit, written for somebody who has not walked in yet.
What your first CrossFit class is actually like
What actually happens in the first hour, and who it does not suit.
What scaling actually means
Scaling is not the beginner version of a workout.
The whiteboard, translated
WOD, AMRAP, EMOM, RX, and the rest of the shorthand on the board, in plain English, so the first session is not also a vocabulary test.
Coming back after years off
Returning to training after a long gap is a different problem from starting from scratch, mostly because of what you remember being able to do.
How often should you go in the first month
Three times a week is the usual answer and it is usually wrong for month one.
Do you need to change your diet before you start?
No.
Starting when you are the oldest person in the room
What actually changes with age in a group class, what does not, and the specific adjustments worth asking for rather than hoping somebody offers.
Is CrossFit dangerous?
The honest answer, what the injury research actually says, which parts of the reputation are earned, and the specific things that make any gym safer or worse.
What the first three months actually look like
Month by month, without promises.
What to do when you cannot finish a workout
Stopping mid-session is normal, expected, and handled badly by almost everybody new.
Starting CrossFit as a Beginner
Starting CrossFit as a Beginner, defined: the movements you learn first, how scaling works, the vocabulary on the whiteboard, and what the first weeks involve.
Where starting CrossFit as a beginner goes wrong
The five ways a beginner CrossFit start breaks down, who should start somewhere else first, and the warning signs that mean stop. An honest guide from O-SEA CrossFit in San Clemente.
When a CrossFit community works against a beginner
Group energy is why most CrossFit members stay. In a few specific situations it hurts a new member. Here is where it goes wrong for beginners and how to avoid it.
Kettle bells to plates: how a beginner progresses in CrossFit
Every beginner starts light and earns the barbell. What that path looks like at O-SEA.
The warm-up is the part of your first CrossFit class built for you.
The first minutes of exercise can feel hard for almost everyone in the room, including people who have trained for a decade. That is the stretch a beginner can misread, and it is the stretch the warm-up covers.
A wall push-up is the same exercise as a floor push-up, and that changes your first class.
The worry before a first CrossFit class is that the board will name something you cannot do. The mechanics of a push-up point to a different question.
Which gym in San Clemente is right for you?
San Clemente has open-floor gyms, coached class gyms, studios and one-to-one trainers. They sell different things, and the right one depends on what you need from the hour.
Still deciding?
Come and watch a session before you commit to anything. No sales pitch.