Equipment and accessories for Crossfit newbies

If your a beginner or thinking of starting up Crossfit then there are a few pieces of equipment that can help you out in your WOD.

First and at the top of the list for any Crossfitter is the humble chalk ball. You’re going to be hitting some high number of reps whether it’s working on your technique or doing on the minute every minute in the first half of the Crossfit Classes at Caerphilly Crossfit where you do something like 3-10 reps on the minute every minute for around 6 minutes.

Chalk gives you more grip to hold the bar whether it’s a oly bar, pullup bar, ring or kettlebell. You’re going to break more than a sweat so you need to get a decent grip of that bar if you’re going to get through the designated number or reps and rounds.

Wrist wraps are always a good choice for keeping your wrists supported for exercises like bear crawls, head stand press ups and front squats to name a few. Check out my other post on Wrist Wraps for more info.

Shoes are an important factor to consider on your workouts depending on the exercises involved on the day. Most Crossfitters have two pairs of shoes one for the running and aerobic exercises and lifting shoes for stability and support for the olympic lifting.

Back support is a good idea when your hitting high weights on the deadlifts or sheer numbers of reps for some wods you don’t want  to be bending and arching that back or you will be in a world of trouble injuring yourself and putting you out of the game for some time.

Knee support seems to be a hit with a lot of Crossfitters for exercises such as squats. I’ve not got some or tried them to comment but you do see a lot of people wearing them at the box I go to.

Clothing should be sensible and common sense should be used here. Your not going to be having much flexibility on a squat in a pair of skinny jeans but spare a bit of modesty for your fellow crossfitters they probably don’t want to see you smuggling budgies in skin tight lycra leotard either mind. There are some decent crossfit aimed sports apparel brands on the scene right now offering toughened materials that stretch as the barbel is going to be rubbing against the shorts when doing cleans etc so you don’t want them to tear easily.