Crossfit vs Gym. Which is better?

Many people are getting ripped going to crossfit these days, but I have seen people achieve equal results by going to the gym.  There are pros and cons to both.  You will certainly get ripped off by both if you never go and continue to pay for it.  This is certainly one thing that you need to consider.  If you cannot afford a gym or crossfit membership, you certainly can get the same results for free.  Yes, I said free.  Have you heard of mountain climbers, planks, burpees, jumping jacks, and push-ups?  All of these things will get you fit, but the key is that you have to start somewhere.  I was recently talking to a friend of mine that had gained some weight and she told me that she was going to join the gym after she got her tax return.  While that is great, and I hope that she does, there is absolutely no excuse for not getting up and doing something right now.  I came across this image and I thought it summed things up nicely. Your welcome!

So what are some of the benefits of crossfit?  One of the main benefits is the comradery.  Crossfit is like a team effort.  You have your team cheering you on and helping push you to do your best when you don't think you can do it anymore. It works on muscle confusion by integrating the use of weights, aerobic exercise, and body weight exercise.  Can these types of exercises be done at home?  Absolutely!  The only difference is that you have to be very dedicated because without someone pushing you, you may not workout at the same intensity that you would by attending a WOD (workout of the day).  A chin-up bar and a few kettle bells can get you started at home.  Another crossfit type workout you could try at home would be the "Insanity" or "P90X" workout plans.  Both incorporate a great deal of crossfit type workouts into their plans.  I am by no means endorsing any of these though.  Attending a crossfit gym will help those that need motivation and someone to put their workout together for them so to speak.  You are not going to walk into a crossfit gym and wonder around aimlessly trying to figure out what type of workout to do because there will be someone there to push you through one.

Okay so what about going to the gym.  There are great advantages and only a few disadvantages of going to the gym.  I'm going to point out the disadvantages so you can identify them before they cause problems for you.  The first obvious one the I have fallen to many times is a recurring payment membership that I didn't use.  Totally my fault, but for goodness sake, if you are going to pay for it, then by all means USE IT!  The next downfall is running into everyone that you know and before you know it you have spent 20-30 minutes of your workout time talking and have accomplished absolutely nothing.  I don't know about you, but I have four kids and time is precious to me.  Recognize it before it happens.  Get tunnel vision when you walk in the door and head straight to your destination without stopping.  Here is a downfall that doesn't have to be one.  Not knowing what all that equipment does and can do for you.  I'll admit that when I first started going to a gym, I would get on a cardio machine that I knew how to use and watch other people to figure out what I was going to do next.  There are so many things wrong with that and as you can imagine, I did not see any dramatic results.  If you only know what a few machines do and you do the same workout all the time, you are not going to see the results that you want or need.  This is where you will more than get your money's worth by hiring a personal trainer.  Find out what YOU need to do to meet YOUR goals!  If you are going to invest in going to the gym, you might as well know what you need to be doing while you are there.  I live in a very small town and we have a small gym, but I think we have two of the best personal trainers anywhere!  I can't tell you how many lives that I have seen transformed because they made the decision to get the right kind of help-the focused kind.

Going about it on your own.  There are so many things that you can do, but you just have to get moving.  I was exercising regularly until I changed jobs and then because I traveled so much, I had about seven months that made regular exercise quite difficult.  Now because we are making it with one income, I'm exercising at home.  One thing I started doing was running in my house when I need to get things from room to room.  This may sound crazy to some, but if you knew how long my house was from one end to the other, you would understand.  It was just one way to start, that along with push-ups, planks and other cardio and core exercises.  I must say though, I am ready for warmer weather to get outside and run.  I try to get moving while I'm doing household chores, I have a Xbox Kinect Game that literally kicks my butt, and Windsor Pilates makes it a chore to move the next day.  These are all things that you can do at home if you cannot go to a gym for one reason or another.  You don't have to break the bank, just choose something and get moving.  No excuses!