What is CrossFit?

CrossFit is high intensity, constantly varied, functional movement.

• High intensity can be defined as going as fast or as heavy as your personal fitness level allows while still performing the exercise correctly and safely.
• Constantly varied means just that, we vary everything. The exercises, the weight, the reps, the sets, the time of day, the temperature, the location, the competition, etc. Life is not always a predictable set schedule and neither should your training. We avoid plateaus by keeping the training fun, diverse, and unpredictable.
• Functional movements are movements that you might perform in some type of sport or daily activity. For example, picking an object up off of the floor (squat) lifting an object and putting it on a shelf (Push Press) moving quickly from point A to point B (running).

Simply put, CrossFit is the sport of fitness.

For a great article on how we define fitness read Greg Glassman’s seminal piece, What is Fitness? For more information on the movements that form the cornerstones of our workouts, read Foundations.

We offer one free class on Saturdays to each prospective member, to take a free look.  After that, for safety purposes, all new members are required to successfully complete a two week Beginners On Ramp CrossFit Course. Email us at info@universalcrossfit.com, or call us at  713.858.0060 to attend a free beginner’s class or top register for the Beginners On Ramp Course.  Once you have a good idea of the basics you may attend any regular scheduled class that works with your schedule. At Universal CrossFit, our athletes pay for training, not free gym access.

No!  ALL of our CrossFit workouts are scalable to your ability.  You don’t have to be able to do pull-ups, push-ups, or be super flexible before you come to us!  That’s why we are here!  If you can’t run, walk.  If you can’t jump, step-up.  We enjoy working with athletes of all backgrounds and abilities.

Muscle soreness is a natural part of the process of getting fitter.  Increasing your flexibility, your strength, and your endurance requires pushing the envelope of your comfort zone- the trick is managing the “dose” of the exercise.  That’s where we come in.  We will do our best to tailor the workout to challenge you, but our goal is not to completely break your body down.  We want you to come back for more!

That depends on the individual athlete, but most of our members find that the first few workouts are the most challenging.  After that, your body will begin to adapt.

We find three times a week is ideal for beginners.  As the athlete progresses, their body will become capable of handling a heavier workload.

Absolutely!  Crossfit is an excellent strength and conditioning program- it will work as a standalone program or as a supplement to your current program. 

CrossFit is NOT a body building program. We train in techniques consistent with Olympic gymnast, weightlifters, martial artist, track and field athletes, and militaries around the world. We have forgone the expense of outfitting our gym with costly machines that isolate one body part at a time. Instead, we focus our training on more functional movements that work several muscle groups simultaneously. This allows us to train in all physical capacities: strength, endurance, stamina, flexibility speed, power, coordination, accuracy, agility, balance. Simply put, we believe there are few, if any natural situations where the task at hand calls on only one muscle group at a time in isolation from another. So why waste time training them independently.  We treat your body, mind, and spirit as a whole unit.