Reebok Crossfit Shoes

As a trainer, I have always believed that variety within any training programme is essential to obtaining maximal results. The athlete who encompasses a variety of training methods into his or her routine will undoubtedly have an advantage over one who sticks rigidly to a single form of training, due largely to the body's ability to adapt which therefore instigates the 'problem' of habituation. This basically means the body begins to build a tolerance to a certain type of exercise and therefore improvements in strength and conditioning performance tend to slow down. It is also very difficult to produce a 'complete' athlete using a single training method.

Unfortunately the narrow-minded approach of single method training regimes still prevails in many gyms and sporting domains, but a shift in mindset is beginning to appear in the UK, and more athletes in a range of fields are incorporating increased variety into their training timetables.

With these thoughts in mind, I went along to Crossfit London's i-course, led by one of Britain's very few Level 2 Crossfit instructors, Andrew Stemler, to find out more about the Crossfit philosophy and how they apply it to everyday training. 

Course participants were expertly coached through a whole host of different exercise modalities and progressions, including barbell reebok crossfit shoes overhead squats, snatches, deadlifts, kettlebells, pull ups, muscle ups, handstand press ups, parallel bar work and more besides. 

I caught up with Andrew after the workshop to find out more about him, the course, and the Crossfit philosophy; 

CO Hi Andrew, thanks for agreeing to take part in this interview. Can I start by asking a bit about you and how you came to pursue a career in fitness? 

AS Sure, briefly, I took a law degree at university, did banking for four years, then went onto property and hated that, but stuck with it until 2002, and just when I turned 37, which was about ten years ago, I got sick of being unfit, and started doing a lot of martial arts. I did a whole lot of fights and did my last one in 2005, when my coach referred me to one of the Crossfit sites. I looked at it and thought, 'that's ridiculous.' and then I went back and looked at it again and thought, 'that's f**king ridiculous!' But then I thought, 'well OK I'd like to have a go at that.' so I just booked myself on a flight and went over to California to learn how to do it.