CrossFit is a lifestyle characterized by safe, effective exercise and sound nutrition. We recommend basing your diet on lean proteins, garden vegetables (especially greens), nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. Many have observed that keeping your grocery cart to the perimeter of the grocery store while avoiding the aisles is a great way to protect your health. Food is perishable. The stuff with long shelf life is all suspect. If you follow these simple guidelines, you will benefit from nearly all that can be achieved through nutrition.
A REVOLUTION IN FITNESS
CrossFit was founded in 2001 and can be used to accomplish any goal, from improved health to better performance. CrossFit is so effective it may feel like magic, but in truth, it’s a formula — a formula that works. It’s the formula for everything we do, from forging elite fitness to preventing and reversing chronic disease. It’s the inputs that give us the outcomes, the results that have revolutionized an industry and changed millions of lives for the better.
Experience the Magic of CrossFit
CrossFit welcomes and unites people of all ages, abilities, and goals around a methodology that is accessible and effective for all. We train, persevere, and progress together. We build strong local communities that drive unparalleled progress and a deep sense of belonging. For the millions out there who have experienced the transformative power of our methodology and the unwavering support of our community, CrossFit is a match struck in the dark. And for the millions more who have yet to experience the magic of CrossFit, we invite you to join us.
The CrossFit program drives unparalleled results. This means CrossFit actually makes people fit, and we make them fitter faster and more safely than any program out there. Our results are universal, predictable, and repeatable. Our methodology works for everyone, can be scaled for anyone, and continues to work long term. It’s not magic, it’s just what happens when you put in the work — results follow. And once you get a taste, you want more of it. It’s how we revolutionized an industry, and changed millions of lives — and will change many more.
CrossFit workouts are challenging but worth the effort. And your effort is measurable and you’re going to share your results with visible scores on the whiteboard. This fosters accountability and courage. And because CrossFit workouts can be scaled for anyone — meaning we adjust our workouts by degree, not kind — everyone knows the challenge you’ve faced and you're respected and welcomed for your effort no matter who you are or where you land on the whiteboard. These are key ingredients that build genuine camaraderie.
THE MAGIC OF CROSSFIT
The power in CrossFit is not some strange alchemy. CrossFit may feel like magic, but in truth it’s a formula. A formula that works.
If we do not know it works, if we cannot prove it based on measurable, observable, and repeatable results, we will not try to sell you on it. No snake oil or fitness hacks here. Make the choice each day to be consistent with both exercise and nutrition and you will get results.
CROSSFIT IN SIX WORDS?
"Constantly varied functional movement at high intensity" — It says it all, but it's so much more.
OUR PRESCRIPTION
CONSTANTLY VARIED
CrossFit has some famous benchmark workouts, like Fran and Murph, that we repeat on occasion to see how our fitness has improved. But most of the time, you’ll see new workouts programmed every day: workouts with different movements, rep schemes, loads, and time domains. That doesn’t mean the workouts are random — CrossFit programming strategically varies the workout stimulus so you’re prepared for any and all physical tasks — but it does mean you’ll never get bored.
FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT
Have you ever picked something up off the floor? Sat down in a chair and stood up again? Placed items up on a shelf? If so, you’ve performed deadlifts, squats, and shoulder presses. In CrossFit, we train these types of movements because they are the movements life demands — whether we practice them or not. They are essential to independent living. And when we use these movements to move large loads over long distances, quickly, we develop power, which in turn develops tremendous strength and body control.
HIGH INTENSITY
No matter what you’re looking for from your workouts — feeling better, looking better, sleeping better, being stronger — intensity is the most effective way to get you there. In CrossFit, we focus first on moving well with consistency, and then we work on increasing intensity. But a workout that’s intense for one person may not be for another. Intensity is relative, which means the goal is to work hard within the limits of your own physical and psychological capacity, because that’s where the results are. If you’re working hard, chances are you’re getting fitter.
Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.
NUTRITION IS FUNDAMENTAL
INFINITELY SCALABLE
We have always said the needs of an Olympic athlete and our grandparents differ by degree not kind. By that we mean CrossFit works for anyone, because the functional movements we train are essential to improving fitness and maintaining functional independence. For example, on a deadlift day, one athlete may move a barbell weighing 400 lb while the other moves a broomstick. With appropriate scaling, an athlete will make significant fitness gains by working at their relative level of physical and psychological tolerance.
THE FITTEST ON EARTH
The CrossFit Games season starts with the CrossFit Open, an accessible test of physical fitness for athletes of all fitness and experience levels. Top athletes then advance through later stages of the season, which culminates with the CrossFit Games, where competitors engage in a series of challenges unknown to them until right before the events begin. While the workouts we do in the gym are for anybody, the tests competitors face at the Games are for the top 1% in the sport.
LEARN MORE
Fundamental Reading
WHAT IS FITNESS?
What is fitness and who is fit? CrossFit's founder makes the first meaningful definition of fitness in this seminal article.
FOUNDATIONS
The first ever CrossFit Journal article from 2002 explains the underpinnings of the CrossFit program.
A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO CROSSFIT
"Universal scaleability” is the language we use to describe CrossFit, and we stick by that claim.
FITNESS, LUCK AND HEALTH
CrossFit holds a uniquely elegant solution to the greatest problem facing the world today—chronic disease.
Lecture Clips
CONSTANTLY VARIED PROGRAMMING
CrossFit is about constantly varied training, but that doesn’t mean the training is random.
THE SQUAT: POINTS OF PERFORMANCE
A short breakdown of one of life's most functional movements — the squat.
DISSECTING THE DEADLIFT
The basics of the deadlift are taught to participants during a Level 1 Course.