Children's crossfit. What is CrossFit for children?

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What you need

• Horizontal bar
• Cabinet
• Rope
• Jump rope
• Rowing machine
• Ball

CrossFit for children is a functional type of training that develops strength, endurance, flexibility and coordination, adapted to the athlete’s young age. CrossFit classes are not yet very common among children under the age of 10-11 years, but recently many parents are increasingly thinking that their children lack strength and functional training. This has become one of the fundamental reasons why children's CrossFit is gaining well-deserved popularity.

Of course, CrossFit for children is significantly different from classes for adults - fully formed, well-developed physically people, since there are a number of special age-related contraindications, for example, axial load on the spine or the achievement of anaerobic glycolysis. Before enrolling your child in functional training classes or any other section, you must consult a doctor about possible health hazards and find a sufficiently qualified certified trainer with extensive experience working with children .

CrossFit for children: benefit or harm?

The benefits of children's CrossFit, despite the diverging opinions of different experts, are still undeniable. Moderately intense exercise will help your child gain good physical shape by increasing the overall strength of the body by loading individual muscle groups and improving the functioning of the musculoskeletal system, as well as developing endurance through regular cardio exercise and improving the functioning of the cardiovascular system.

If you observe the intensity of the training process, recover correctly and train under the close attention of the instructor, functional training will not cause any harm to the growing body.

CrossFit will give your child the strength and functional base that will be an excellent basis for further athletic success in any sport, be it swimming, football, athletics or martial arts.

Ben Smith - CrossFit Champion

The most important event of the year, the Reebok CrossFit Games 2020, recently ended. The world saw a new talented athlete - Ben Smith. At the age of 25, he became the most prepared person on the planet, a title that thousands of athletes around the world dream of achieving.

We decided to pay attention to this young talent and understand what he is made of, how he trains and what goals he sets for himself.

Sports career

Ben Smith started CrossFit in 2008. At just 19 years old, Ben finished in 64th place at the 2009 Reebok CrossFit Games. But the fact that he got to the main event of the year, winning the Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament. First place in the regional stage at the age of 19 - this has already attracted the attention of the media to the young athlete.

He trained hard for a whole year and already took 10th position in the overall standings at the 2010 Reebok CrossFit Games. Ben Smith has progressed like no one else.

2011 - and the young athlete is already in third place in the overall standings. It became clear to everyone that a future CrossFit star had emerged.

In 2012, Ben Smith was not so lucky and finished in 11th place, which caused great surprise and disappointment among fans.

The next year he rehabilitated himself, again rising to the podium of the games. 3rd place is a well-deserved result in 2013.

In last year's games, Ben Smith only managed to take 7th place, which clearly did not please him. But competing with Rich Fronning is no easy task.

And now his finest hour has come, Ben Smith - champion of the Reebok CrossFit Games 2020. He won by a good margin, took the event and left no doubt that he is the most prepared person on the planet.

Unique training videos of Ben Smith in 2008

Training and Champion Mode

• Before tournaments, Ben Smith trains 2-3 times a day.
• He constantly changes his training program; he does not have a clear training plan. Ben believes that this is the key to his success.
• Ben Smith is a CrossFit trainer.
• The champion never pays attention to how much food he eats, but he loads up on healthy foods.
• He always has a cheat meal 1-3 times a week.
• Ben Smith writes his own training programs and is his own coach.
• He records all his workouts on camera and shares them with other athletes.

Ben Smith's favorite and least favorite exercises

Least favorite: 7 minute burpees. He believes that he is the worst at them and drags him down.

Favorite: Snatch and push. Especially with a lot of weight for an average period of time. Ben does this exercise best.

Tips from Ben Smith

• To motivate yourself, simply set a visible goal and gradually move towards it. The realization that you are getting closer to her will motivate you to push yourself.
• All you need for CrossFit: a barbell, a couple of plates, a horizontal bar. This is the basic equipment you need to get started. CrossFit is a cheap sport and does not require a lot of equipment.

crossfit

Features of CrossFit for different ages

Of course, training volume and intensity will vary depending on age and level of physical development. Conventionally, children's CrossFit is divided into two age groups: children 6-7 years old and children under 10-11 years old (over 12 already belong to the age category of teenagers).

By the age of 11, the body becomes more adapted to strength work, so many trainers advise starting to work with small additional weights, and not doing exercises with your own body weight - this way the desired result will be achieved much faster.

Age group 6-7 years

CrossFit exercises for children 6-7 years old are less intense and forceful in nature and are essentially a more advanced version of general physical training for this age group.

The basis of the program for children aged 6-7 years is various types of cardio exercise, shuttle running, exercises performed with their own weight (push-ups, squats, etc.) and exercises for developing abdominal muscles. As for working with additional weights, it is permissible to perform the “rowing” exercise, working with vertical and horizontal ropes.

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Age group up to 11 years

CrossFit for children aged 8 to 10-11 years may be more anaerobic in nature. The program can include basic exercises with a barbell (bench press, biceps curls), or introduce relatively simple CrossFit exercises into the training process (burpees, jump squats, box jumps, throwing a ball against a wall, etc.).

To diversify the load, you can perform exercises with a sandbag, as well as various movements that require good coordination (handstand push-ups, pull-ups on the horizontal bar and on rings, lunges with your own weight). Of course, the weight of the burden should be minimal , since at this age the articular-ligamentous apparatus has not yet fully formed and is not ready for serious strength work.

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Types of workouts

Training is divided into several types.

Classical

Training develops strength and endurance.

Examples:

• CrossFit Barbara - refers to classic training for beginners and includes: 5 circles of 20 pull-ups, 50 squats, 40 presses and 30 push-ups. It does not require any special equipment and can be performed at home.
• Murphy's CrossFit is an endurance workout performed without breaks: run 1 mile, do 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 sit-ups, and then run 1 mile again.

Power

Examples:

• Linda complex - training with a barbell for a while: deadlift weighing 150% of the athlete's weight, bench press of a barbell weighing 100% of the athlete's weight, clean barbell weighing 75% of the athlete's weight. 10 rounds are performed, the number in descending order is 10, 9, 8 times and so on.
• CrossFit Fram - work only on the upper part, includes three rounds: throwing out a 43 kg barbell and doing 21 pull-ups, throwing out a barbell and doing 15 pull-ups, throwing out a barbell and doing 9 pull-ups.
• CrossFit Minotaur – a complex with a kettlebell for a minimum time, kettlebell weight 24 and 32 kg, 10 rounds of 5 exercises to reduce the number of approaches with each circle. The first round - throws the weight up with both hands with squats 10 times, swings with the weight 10 times, lifting the weight from the floor to the chin 10 times, bent over rows - 10 times, deadlift with the weight - 10 times. The second round - the same exercises, but 9 times.
• Bulldog complex – difficult level, weightlifting. 19 rounds are performed, repetitions are first increasing from 1 to 10, then decreasing from 9 to 1, barbell weight 100 kg: bench press and barbell deadlift.
• Bear CrossFit is a weightlifting set of strength exercises, rest is allowed on the condition that the bar remains in the athlete’s hands all the time and does not touch the floor, 5 laps are done 7 times, with each lap adding weight to the bar: barbell on the chest, squats with the barbell on the chest , barbell push, barbell back squat, barbell overhead push.

Enduras

Examples:

• Cindy's complex is a work against time, the task is to do as many approaches as possible in 20 minutes: 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats.
• Grace complex - work with a barbell for a while: push push of a barbell weighing 60 kg, 30 times in a minimum time.
• Chelsea complex - simple gymnastic exercises for time: pull-ups 5 times, push-ups 10 times, squats 15 times, do 30 rounds in 30 minutes.

Key features of CrossFit training:

• The specificity of comprehensive CrossFit training is such that when engaging in this sport, a person masters many areas, rather than focusing on one thing.
• There are programs designed for beginners (), ages 50+, 60+, as well as professional ones.
• Standard training develops in a person: endurance, strength, coordination, speed, power, flexibility, reaction speed, stability. All muscle groups are worked out in one short workout.

Important! It is enough to spend 30–40 minutes on a daily workout to always be in excellent physical shape.

Children's training program

CrossFit classes should be regular, with a systematic increase in intensity and the introduction of new exercises into the program. The load must necessarily vary; it would be advisable to divide the workouts into lighter and heavier ones. You shouldn’t do more than three CrossFit workouts a week, as the child’s body simply won’t have time to recover.

For example, a crossfit program for children for a week could be of a similar nature:

Training program for children

A program that can be executed anywhere:

• 2-6 squats, acceleration to a certain point, wall, tree, line and back.
• 2-6 rises to a pedestal, deck, threshold and acceleration to a certain mark and back.

It is necessary to devote 2-5 minutes to classes so that the child does not get tired and is interested. The minimum you need to do is 2-3 laps, as many as possible.

This is the basic CrossFit program . for children to choose their own exercises. We choose mainly jumping and running.