Having well rounded fitness requires more than just focusing on one or two aspects to stay in shape, and that is just what CrossFit offers.

CrossFit is the best workout a person can do because of what it consists of. A typical workout can include, but is not limited to: lifting weights, doing gymnastic type moves, running, swimming and biking.

People from all walks of life can come to a box, the CrossFit term used for a gym, and train with people who want their fitness levels to improve immensely.

Head Coach at Crosstown CrossFit in Moorpark Kyan Katsimpas stated that the main goal is to get people fit.

“People come here to be well rounded,” said Katsimpas. “We don’t focus on just one thing. We focus on every aspect of fitness.”

The popularity of CrossFit has also made its way to the training grounds of some of America’s toughest jobs. Public service members, like firefighters, are expected to be in the best shape because of what their job duties require.

Orange County Fire Authority and the Los Angeles City Fire Department both implement CrossFit workouts in their grueling academies. The OCFA’s fire academy has seen its injuries go down dramatically since implementing the new style of workouts in their academy as stated by academy coordinator Mike Contreras in an ABC interview in 2008.

As an aspiring firefighter, there is no better workout program that can get me in shape for the unexpected. There is nothing that is predictable in the fire service, and this is the best workout I can do to better prepare myself for that.

Michael Maldonado, 19-year-old natural science major, is a candidate for the next academy with the LAFD. He always thought he had stayed in relatively good shape, but he had different thoughts after attending a pre-academy workout a couple months ago.

“The workout we did pushed myself and everyone else there to our breaking points,” said Maldonado. “It made me want to step up my training I’ve been doing and take it to the next level.”

Besides CrossFit benefiting the toughest jobs in the country, it can benefit athletes trying to gain an edge in not just one aspect of their fitness, but all.

Twenty-year-old English major and starting pitcher for the Loyola Marymount University Lions Rachael Farrington knows just how much CrossFit can improve a person before an upcoming sports season.

“I came in this year in the best shape I’ve been in,” said Farrington. “I couldn’t lift before summer due to a back injury, but afterwards, I was lifting a decent amount in comparison to the team [LMU].”

Anyone can do a CrossFit workout. In fact some of the workouts require minimal or no equipment at all to do them.

The first workout I completed, one that anyone can do at their own home, is “Cindy.” The only equipment a person would need is either a pull-up bar or a place to do them at, like a park. The workout consists of as many rounds you can complete in 20 minutes of: five pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats.

The great part about CrossFit, as opposed to any other kind of workout, is that you can scale an exercise. Scaling means that you can make the movement you do a bit easier to complete.

“You can literally scale anything,” said Katsimpas. “So the people who come in here and can’t do a box jump, we’ll have them step on a box.”

For anyone who wants to work out in a fun environment, Katsimpas also says CrossFit is for them.

“If they just want to be a well-rounded person and be able to handle whatever life throws at them, then I think CrossFit would be great for them,” said Katsimpas.

If you are on the fence about trying CrossFit and are nervous about going to a box to workout with others, you can Google a workout to do at home. There are many that you can try without any equipment, or minimal.