Can CrossFit Replace Every "Best Exercise"?

The internet claims there are nine exercises that help you live longer—walking, swimming, yoga, cycling, dancing and more.

So where does CrossFit fit into all of that?

We break down every recommendation, explain why resistance training should probably be number one, and show how a well-rounded CrossFit program naturally checks almost every box for longevity.

Along the way we talk about:

•  Why muscle is your retirement account 
•  How strength helps prevent injuries as we age 
•  Why mobility matters long after rehab ends 
•  The surprising benefits of Olympic lifting 
•  Why you don't need the "perfect" workout—you need consistency 

If you've ever wondered whether CrossFit is good for healthy aging, this episode is for you.

Are you in the Dunnville, Ontario area? Curious about what Grand River CrossFit is all about? Check out our social links and website:

https://www.facebook.com/grandrivercrossfit/

@grandrivercrossfit

https://grandrivercrossfit.ca/

Book your Free "No Sweat Intro" here:

https://www.wodboard.com/locations/94/services/253/5da6dd0a/calendar?instructor_id=18677

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:14

This is keeping it real with Nairi Fiona and Greg. Greg, you're going to Germany for your beer. Germany. I got some dab what's that move?

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Yeah, dab.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Is there a move? I didn't know.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

It looks like it's got the door to the minds of Moria on here from Lord of the Rings. There's a little thing, but it says Depuis 1868. Since I know what it is.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

I'm just being a dank. It's been a while.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

I don't know. That was your German. So there we go. So yeah. Nine. Not bad. Nine, nine. Yeah. I don't even know what that means. So dab beer. Yeah, so yeah, it's pretty good. Uh that's my that's my review.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Well, our review will be both about the same. Um we are in Portugal with uh Julia Florista. It's a red wine, of course. And um, this one's a dirt cheap bottle of wine, but it is really nice. So is that $11? It's my $11 bottle of wine, but yeah. Not a paper bag wine. It's not a paper bag wine. You know what? Those Portugal, uh, the wines from Portugal are often very cheap.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

All the time you get those, or they're cheap.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

They're cheap, but they're really good. So uh so the topic today, there was a uh classic clickbait article for me on Young News, and it was um the article was nine exercises that can help you live longer according to health experts. And so the question is do these how does CrossFit and all the variety that we have in CrossFit stack up with these nine exercises?

SPEAKER_02 1:52

So and who are the health after experts?

SPEAKER_00 1:54

That's what I was just thinking. Who are they? I don't know. I didn't really go that far into the article.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

I don't really want to dig too deep into it because it's a rabbit hole. It is sometimes it can be a bit of a start getting other other emails.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Anyways, so the uh the nine exercises were walking, resistance training, yoga, tai chi, swimming. That's martial arts, yes. Okay, it's cycling, swimming, dancing, I'm going through the list here, racket sports, and jump rope. So, I mean, talk about random, but just I don't know. I don't know. Like, I mean, basically, I I had 10 minutes and it was clickbait.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

See, number one is walking and why experts love it. Improves your heart health.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

You know, easy recovery. Yep, yep, reduces stress, yep, lowers blood pressure, yep, and easy to do consistently. You don't need any equipment to do it, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:55

So yeah, it's pretty inexpensive. Yeah, yeah, it doesn't cost you.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Maybe a good pair of shoes, can pretty much anybody can do it, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Yep, yeah. Um, and so the CrossFit alternative, uh, longer warmups. As we're getting older, longer warmups are usually helpful.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

What was that meme that we saw that said, if you know what the show is, that you need to do a longer warmers than uh than the workout, and it was like Captain Kangaroo. Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

I was waiting for a polka dot door to come on.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Yeah, reading rainbow.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Reading rainbow. Yeah, I like reading rainbow and Captain Kangaroo. Um, so longer warmups, farmers carries, walking lunges, which we do a lot of as a in a CrossFit exercise, and uh recovery days. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

So what is zone two rowing? So that's your your heart rate. You're into that second zone, like just a little bit above the okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

So you could keep a conversation, but it would be challenging here.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

Yeah, you're a little bit a little bit so harder than normal. Yeah, biking, ski erg, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

As we go through these, there's gonna be so much crossover. Like, I mean, that's why I find like these articles are are a bit ridiculous because you know, any sort of cardio, whether it's biking or swimming or you know, has the same benefits. So um, but I mean, yeah, the advantage to walking is you can do it every single day, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:20

So um what a I and it so but at crossovers, right? Like now you're carrying groceries, you're you're walking the hills, right? You know, keep up with grandchildren and travel without fatigue.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

So that can help you out there if you're getting ready for something that way.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

The only good one on this list, as far as I was concerned, was resistance training. Number two. Number two, which should be number one. Number one. It should be number one. Um, we talk about this a lot, and of course, with uh our uh aging down. Yes, we pick things up, we put them down. Um, so of course, uh we know that resistance training preserves muscles, protects your bone density, improves insulin resistance, reduces falls, and makes everyday life easier. And look at the list of exercises that CrossFit offers.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

We have deadlifts, which are one of our favorite.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

That's my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Squats. Yeah, it's also a favorite. Presses, another favorite. Yes, you are very good at those. My favorite cleans.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Thrusters.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Thrusters.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Yeah, I can I can give them a thing.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

They're a full body workout. Yeah, not well. I wouldn't say they're not good. They're good when you're doing them, but then you're probably like second guessing yourself, like, why am I doing this? Poor life choices. Poor life choice. You pay for it after. Um, pull-ups. Yep, I like pull-ups.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

But even a modified pull-up, like we do with say the um with the bar, the inverted rows are just as effective, especially. Um, and then the whole idea of a sandbag, it's an odd object. So this could be kettlebell swings.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Same idea. Yeah. I mean, like we could go on and on and on about how important having muscle mass is for aging. So one of my, this is like kind of related to uh one of my older members, um, did her own stunt. So she uh she managed to fall out of bed. And it's because another friend of hers called her at an ungodly hour, which for this lady is anything before 10 a.m. So I think she was reaching for the phone and she an ungodly hour. And I just laugh. I'm like, oh was it before 10? Look, when you're retired, who cares? But anyway, so she had she took this tumble out of bed and uh and but she says, like she said, Oh, it was all the extra padding. I said, No, I also think it was the fact that you have some muscle mass behind you because this kind of fall prevented you from yeah, you could have been really hurt. So again, I mean, we're talking about seniors and the importance of resistance training, and this is exactly the life situation where and then you have yours truly, who did my own stunt at my house or on Kelly.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Yeah, I paid for it on my elbow and it's still a little sore, can't lean on it. But um, yeah, I think same thing.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

If I probably didn't have a little extra muscle mass around me, I'd be different.

SPEAKER_02 7:16

Yeah, shoot.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, you gotta lift heavy relative to your fitness level, and you gotta do it consistently.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

Muscle is your retirement account. I like that. Yeah, that's uh the stronger you become now, the more you're you'll have later when age naturally takes them away. Yeah, right, because age will take some of that muscle mass away.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

Although we did do uh those heavy single deadlifts a couple weeks ago, and our 81-year-old did 12 pounds over her body weight. Wow. Like, isn't that freaking impressive? That's just you know, strength training is your fountain of youth. The uh third one on the list is yoga.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

And I it covers it flexibility, and that's that's the thing.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

It's a great compliment to CrossFit.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

We don't need to go to a class. No, and we do a lot of yoga moves in our warm-up and cooldown ends. Um and uh because it's uh, you know, so flexibility, balance, breathing, stress reduction. Um but uh and I can see like the comment here is that CrossFit can uh often lacks dedicated mobility. So but we I do try to make time for it with our stretching. So yeah. Uh and then one of it uh was uh coach-led mobility and PVC stretching and shoulder and hip routines.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

Which we do, we do a lot of.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

We do a lot. Yes. Um, do you do any extra move? Well, you've been doing some mobility, you do different stuff sometimes when I'm yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Well, and I think that's kind of related to the whole nerve issue I had had. So because I still have that numbness sometimes in my knee. I feel like, okay, now I'm due to I don't do them daily like I used to do when it was when it first happened.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

But then I can tell like I gotta do those physio exercises, and then I go in once a month still for kind of like a a tune-up with Brett.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

Get an assessment and see how it's going. Yeah. No, that's good.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Yeah, and I mean anybody who's had any sort of uh injury or you know, was like I know with Glenis, she's had shoulder surgery and stuff. You need to keep doing those exercises even when you're feeling good.

SPEAKER_02 9:32

Because well, and that's that's when people stop and that's when people stop.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

It's like like when I had my shoulder issues there and I Brett gave me those ones and I kept doing them for months and months. Yeah, I mean, even still go back to them sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Yeah, even if you do them a couple times a week, yeah, maybe not to the same degree that you did during the rehab process, but they're still good ones to keep in the routine because if you've had an issue in a spot, you're more inclined to have issues there again. So keep the mobility up. So it doesn't have to be yoga, but any of those kind of things are so beneficial. Right.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

I would say that if you want to get into mobility work, get the book by Kelly Starrett, uh the supple leopard. Yeah, it's a good one.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

And um that go wad is a yeah, go wad.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

I use go wad all the time.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

It's a good one as well. Uh the next one on the list is Tai Chi. Now, Tai Chi is about balance and coordination.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

I I would put that with any martial art, really. Like you know, it's not hitting somebody tai chi, because in in martial arts, like you know, I've been doing martial arts for almost 50 years. Like, so any any martial art will help you with your balance coordination and fall prevention.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

But the CrossFit alternative is maybe some of our least favorite things to do, and that's single leg, oh split squats, split squats, or like Bulgarian split squats. So single leg work or single, or sometimes if we do overhead work and we do one arm at a time. Yeah, so doing Turkish getups, unilateral Turkish getups.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Turkish getups are they're no joke. Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

Single leg Romanian deadlifts.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

But you you take a martial arts movement, like say I teach somebody to kick, somebody that has no core, you know, yet learning how to kick is is is a brutal thing because the balance and core work's not there, so it's like, yeah, you know, there used to be a seniors group because my dad used to attend, and his partner Grace used to go, and then he would even teach and help.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

I think it was Ron Inch that used to do it. Oh, he did, yeah. So he used to attend those, and I think they did it at St. Mike's.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Yeah, I remember it.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

But you know, and I mean with all the golf he did, yeah. No, your dad was mobile big time. And I mean, so I've been like again, like the Tai Chi, you know, like golf, all those things that keep you moving are so beneficial. So you don't have to keep it just to Tai Chi.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Yeah, like teach you how to breathe, like into that, into those more you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

The nice thing is you can go on YouTube and find all this stuff. That is the beauty. But uh the crossway alternative is definitely single leg work. Um, the next two are cycling and swimming. Now, I feel like this and oh three, let's say dancing was number seven on this list. And I feel like all three have something in common they're a little bit cardio, the balance, their balance, their coordination. So I feel like as long as you find something that you enjoy, it really doesn't matter what those things are. So if you like to dance or if you like to, you know, go for walks, or if you want to ride your bike, whatever it is you want to do.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

Yeah, we're out of those ones. I think swimming is a little bit more skill-oriented. Yeah. We're cycling, anybody can learn how to ride a bike basically.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Well, still and swimming is an access thing too, right? So where do we go swimming in the winter? Anything like that. Um but you can do a little bit longer on a rowing machine, and that is the same thing. And I mean, it's all about just getting your heart rate up for a longer duration of time. So whatever you can do that does that kind of knocks all those three off.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

And I really for dancing, I like how they say the alternatives for CrossFit are snatches, cleans, and jerks and jerks. Coordination. Yeah, coordination.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

And what else do you get with that? You get your weightlifting. Yeah, well, you know what? And that's the other thing I don't think people realize about the Olympic lifts is how much coordination, how much timing, accuracy, accuracy, like it really is such a multi-faceted movement. Yeah, body awareness is body awareness, like yeah, speed, agility, like it knocks off so many things. And it's really cool to teach older people how to do that kind of stuff because then they're like, what's the relevance of this? And I said, Well, if you've ever picked up a bag of soil or a peat moss or whatever in your garden, and you need to get it up quick, you're gonna clean it. Let's learn how to do it right. Bag of litter up on the bag of litter, dog food, yeah, all these things. Yeah, I mean, so it's amazing how you don't maybe wouldn't think of the coordination involved in uh a snatch, but yeah, it's there. You know when you've missed it, you know when you've missed your timing on it.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

Oh, yeah, yeah. There's a bailout.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Yeah. Oops, yeah, it's uh definitely, and like again, it's like learning new skills keeps your brain engaged. And I think I, you know, especially teaching those movements, people don't realize it's highly neurological with with those ones, yeah. People are surprisingly tired after something like that.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Yeah, yeah, because you're concentrating so much. It's not like you can run on autopilot with a with a snatch. Well, you can, but it doesn't go well. Doesn't go well.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Um, so racket sports, I feel like the uh excitement of bell pickleball among the seniors is probably why this is in the list.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

Yeah, and I think it's another one with uh agility, right? Yeah, working on your reflexes a little bit, you know, high hand eye coordination. Yep. I don't see us wall balls for us, right? Like you catch a wall ball in the face. Right? Right burpees, right? Fox step overs.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Would you rather? Well, wall balls. Well, you know, you would rather do wall balls than burpees. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Double unders.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Although I'd rather do full burpee than a baby burpee.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Yeah. Well, I think it hurts my knees because I do that jump back, and it's a shock to the full thing. Where I go down, you feel like you you're on the floor, you just have that second where you're kind of resting.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

A burpee's like a controlled crash. It sure is. You're gonna get out of that.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Well, and the fun the thing about I think maybe why racket sports was also on the list is because it's a community thing, and you definitely get that with those kind of sports, right? Because you're meeting your girlfriends for a game of pickleball or tennis or whatever. It's very special, or you're so at the CrossFit gym, too. It sure is social at our gym. My goodness. Yeah. If I had uh comfortable chairs, I'd never get rid of some people.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

And the last one, jump rope, which how many people love jumping rope?

SPEAKER_00 15:57

I know, but jump rope is so beneficial for bone health, and uh it is, is that you need to have impact. And this is you know, the whole idea that impact is bad for you is wrong because all it's done is made us brittle. And uh, you know, we need to, you know, have again it's got the coordination, it's got the cardio, and it's also got the bone density improvement. So um even if you don't love to do skipping, you can still just those like little hopes. Jumps and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

So jumps, any jumping, yeah, it's great.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

And that's power and coordination, and yeah. So I feel like maybe we shouldn't be asking what the best exercise is for living longer, but like you just gotta combination to kind of pick and choose these ones through there and get the ones that you can get to.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Yeah, apparently all those things are active recovery stuff that you would be doing on those off days. Yeah, going for a walk or a bike ride. Yeah, easy ones, you're right.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Walk, bike ride, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Well, and I feel like the nice thing about CrossFit is you don't have to choose from that list because over the course of the week of programming, we get all of it.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Right. And that's it, whether it's in the warm-up, whether it's in the right, it's in the wad. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

So never bored. Never, never bored. Or you may hate me for some programming like this week, but well, you saw from the video on how we do our programming. Well, that's uh, you know, that's another time. Um, so there you go. I mean, you know, the nine exercises really uh a single week of CrossFit would get all of that and then some. So, and that is another episode of Keeping It Real with Nairi Fiona and Greg.