There is no secret that the fitness space is growing and there are new ways of approaching fitness mixed in with methodologies that have been around for years now.
I mean, let’s face it, fitness is an ever growing field and just like how our own personal goals change, so does what is popular in fitness training or competing.
So, you’ve heard all the buzz words like CrossFit, Hyrox, Bodybuilding, Power Lifting, Xenom (it’s new, even to me), Tactical Games, Ragnar Races, Ironman’s, the list really goes on and on.
But what’s the difference and how do we know what to do in a world full of influence?
The reality is, at the very core of it all, each of these domains are actually very similar.
When we break it down, the goal of any fitness routine is to move well, improve strength and cardiovascular health, perform functional movements to help increase how we move throughout our day to day and improve our own selves so we can go out and be the best we can be in all our roles we hold in our lives.
What changes or creates the differences in the different domains is the end outcome or the sport/competitive side of the domain.
CrossFit has the CrossFit Games, the Open and competitions at gyms across the world throughout the year where people will either sign up or qualify to compete and test their fitness and training. You’ll test all the different domains of fitness to see where you rank amongst the division you are in and these milestones can be used to see what strengths you have and what areas you want to spend more time working on. The events typically range in time domain, and there are several events spread out that go into the competition.
Hyrox has taken over in the past year as a new competitive fitness race that funnels people through a longer endurance based race. The only piece of the race that changes are the weights depending on division but otherwise the race stays the same and with it being lower skill movements within the race, it has caught popularity within the fitness space as a way to test yourself either solo or with a buddy. But if you’re with a buddy you must be in matching attire, that’s a requirement 😉
Bodybuilding has the NPC Championship shows, several different divisions and earning your Pro Card. The biggest difference in this sport is that instead of performing a workout, you are putting your hard work on display to show the judges the exact muscle tone and shape you have dedicated your training to gaining.
And I am sure I am missing other details within each realm that make them different from one another, however the moral of the story remains the same…
It doesn’t matter what the competitive side of the sport may look like, and maybe that side of fitness never intrigues you which is completely okay as well.
The moral of the story here is that even with all the fitness domains or pathways out there they all come back to one thing….
The pursuit of being the healthiest and happiest humans we possibly can be.
