Originally CrossFit programming looked like this:

Monday: Fran: 21, 15, 9, of Thrusters and Pull-ups.

Tuesday: Deadlift 1,1,1,1,1,1,1s

Wednesday: 2k row for time

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Annie: 50,40,30,20,10 of Doubleunders and sit ups.  

Saturday: Accumulate 100 feet of rope climbs

Sunday: 3 rounds of 10 snatch, 100m sprint, and 20 push-ups. 

Monday Rest.

That was your entire week of workouts.  No more. Done with intensity and by following CrossFit’s recommended diet at the time, it was an amazingly effective program that got massive results for all who followed it.  The diet was this: “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.” Amazingly simple.  And for the early adopters, it was easy to follow. You simply did what it said.

That was CrossFit.  A workout, usually short, sometimes heavy, performed for 3 days in a row and then a rest day, but just as important was the diet.  The emphasis was on the intensity and the entire program was designed around it. If you were not able to go 100% each and every day then the program would not work.  If you did not eat the recommended diet it didn’t work.  

When I originally started CrossFit in 2008, this is exactly what I did.  The change in me was rapid and it was mind-blowing. In 3 months I was in the best shape of my life.  I was sleeping better, my allergies went away, and I was strong.  

I did CrossFit at the Healthy Living Center in Rochester MN.  Mayo Clinic’s fitness facility for its employees. The $22 million facilities were state of the art.  It had all the latest and best stuff. My favorite work out there was “Donkey Kong”. Twenty-one, Fifteen, Nine, of burpees, kettlebell swings, and box jumps.  Each movement was done on a different floor. So I did burpees in the lockerroom. Ran up the stairs to do the kettlebell swings(They didn’t have any so I used Dumbells) then up the stairs again to do the box jumps.  At the end of the round of box jumps, I would run all the way back down to the locker room and start my 15 burpees. I ran around the place like a caveman, then fell on the floor at the end of the work out a sweaty high heart rate mess.  I was asked if I needed help on more then one occasion. Sweating and intensity were frowned upon it seemed. After a 2k time trial on the concept2 rower, I was once asked if I needed the code team called. I assured them I did not.  

CrossFit worked.  And it worked very well.  Everything about it worked.  It still works as originally designed.   

A lot of people think that CrossFit has changed recently.  In reality, it is trying to go back to what it was originally intended to be.   So can you do CrossFit for 60 years?  If done correctly There is no reason you can not.