Schlie, J.; Brandt, T.; Schmidt, A. StartXFit—Nine Months of CrossFit® Intervention Enhance Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Well-Being in CrossFit Beginners. Physiologia2023, 3, 494-509.
Schlie, J.; Brandt, T.; Schmidt, A. StartXFit—Nine Months of CrossFit® Intervention Enhance Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Well-Being in CrossFit Beginners. Physiologia 2023, 3, 494-509.
Schlie, J.; Brandt, T.; Schmidt, A. StartXFit—Nine Months of CrossFit® Intervention Enhance Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Well-Being in CrossFit Beginners. Physiologia2023, 3, 494-509.
Schlie, J.; Brandt, T.; Schmidt, A. StartXFit—Nine Months of CrossFit® Intervention Enhance Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Well-Being in CrossFit Beginners. Physiologia 2023, 3, 494-509.
Abstract
Insufficient physical activity (PA) is associated with low cardiorespiratory fitness, which favors cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases. Besides, it evidentially affects mental health. Considering the WHO PA guidelines, CrossFit® represents a versatile exercise program, combining aerobic and resistance training with mobility and could help lowering disease incidences among sedentary people. Yet, long-term CrossFit research is sparse. We conducted a nine-months intervention (≥ 2 CrossFit workouts/week) in sixteen beginners (14 males, 35 6.8 years, 180 8.6 cm, 85. 5 19.1 kg). As primary endpoint, VO2max was assessed at baseline, after four, and nine months. A repeated-measures ANOVA and pearson correlation were conducted. Well-being was investigated by WHO-5-index pre- and post-intervention. For exploratory purpose, body composition was tracked. Main outcome was an 11.5 % VO2max improvement with large effect (p < .01, η_p^2 = .27). Strong negative correlations between baseline VO2max and its progression after nine months (p = .006, r = -.654) were found. Well-being increased by 8.7 % (p = .024, d = .51). Body composition improved without statistical significance. Resting metabolic rate increased by 2.2 % (p = .042). This study reveals the potential of CrossFit to enhance physiological and psychological health in beginners. For more robust results, bigger sample sizes with higher proportion of women are needed.
Keywords
CrossFit; functional fitness training; group training; cardiorespiratory fitness; VO2max; well-being; body composition; sitting hours
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
