CrossFit is a fitness regimen that involves constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. It has taken the world by storm, much like an online casino, but is there any crossover between CrossFit and gambling?
CrossFit features the best athletes in the world who push their bodies to the limit. Gamblers, on the other hand, push their money to the limit. It may seem strange, but there are a few CrossFit workouts and CrossFit movements that can actually complement your gambling.
Read on to find out about the benefits of CrossFit for time spent at the tables, which workouts best suit gamblers, and how these high-intensity fitness sessions can help you win money.
How CrossFit Can Benefit Gamblers
Gamblers can be prone to adopting a sedentary lifestyle due to the long hours spent standing and sitting. CrossFit workouts can improve overall physical health by providing a comprehensive form of exercise. These intense workouts help to improve your cardiovascular fitness, strength, and flexibility.
Gambling can be an emotional rollercoaster. CrossFit workouts release endorphins — the body’s natural stress reliever. CrossFit and gambling also both require focus and concentration, and challenging physical activities can improve mental clarity and cognitive function.
Improved physical fitness and stamina from CrossFit can lead to higher energy levels, which would stand you in good stead for long gaming sessions. Discipline and routine would pay off, while the camaraderie from CrossFit gives you a community outside of your gambling circle.
CrossFit Workout Terminology: Know Your WODs From Your AMRAPs
Before getting into the workouts that are more tailored for the avid gambler, it’s worth getting your head around some of the CrossFit terminology. For example, what does AMRAP mean?
AMRAP
This stands for as many reps (or rounds) as possible. This is a workout structure that’s often used in CrossFit to accompany conditioning pieces. AMRAP workouts are designed to push your body to the limit in a short or specified timeframe.
WOD
Workout of the day. As the name suggests, it’s the prescribed workout on any given day from CrossFit or an affiliate gym to their members. WOD CrossFit used to only be accessible in the form of once-off published workouts, but they have since evolved to include tailored programs to achieve specific results.
RFT
Rounds for time. This means going flat out to achieve the quickest time possible while maintaining good form. RFT workouts are particularly useful for measuring yourself against and trying to beat your PB (personal best.)
Six Crossfit Workouts To Benefit a Gambler
The high intensity of CrossFit workouts makes them quite challenging to perform. However, they can be adjusted to your pace. Remember that the main goal is to do as many reps as possible in whatever time you allocate yourself.
Below are some cherry-picked CrossFit workouts to benefit gamblers.
The Running Sandwich
When it comes to naming the most popular casino game, it’s hard to imagine anything other than poker. Some people will spend long hours at the poker table (even days.) Players might experience a winning streak, but they’ll become fatigued over time.
Marathon poker players can benefit from a workout called The Running Sandwich. This workout features running, squats, push-ups, and burpees. It’s not an easy CrossFit workout, but if you pace yourself, you can get it right. Doing this workout will help you build your stamina and avoid fatigue.
Squats
Poker players know all about sitting in a chair and will benefit from using a strong workout to remain comfortable during a long poker session. Blackjack and online slots also require long periods of sitting. It might not be tiring, but discomfort from bad ergonomics could throw you off your game.
The CrossFit squat can be a part of any workout for beginners, and they don’t have to be a grueling exercise. Squats could even be a standalone workout.
Start by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart. With your arms stretched out, lower your body while keeping a straight back until you’re on your haunches or until your thighs are at least parallel to the ground. Push through your heels and engage your leg muscles to return to the starting position while maintaining the same upright position.
Battle Ropes
When one thinks of casino games, craps doesn’t always spring to mind. During this game, a player will regularly need to throw a pair of dice. There’s no control over each dice’s final number, but a top CrossFit workout can improve your throws.
The best CrossFit workout for building this type of strength is battle ropes, and the most common is the wave. This requires grabbing heavy ropes and waving them up and down.
It’s a great workout for upper body strength, where different motions work different muscles and skills. For example, bilateral waves (swinging the ropes with both arms at the same time) better target the erector spinae muscles. A stronger core and throwing arm may seem surplus to requirements when throwing craps dice, but it could very well give you an edge.
Helen WOD
Moving away from table games, one can look at a beginner CrossFit workout that builds a gambler’s speed and agility. The Helen WOD differs slightly from the Running Sandwich. Gamblers will embark on a 400-meter run, followed by 21 kettlebell swings and 12 pull-ups.
A beginner could opt for a quicker, simpler workout, doing a 200-meter sprint with 15 kettlebell swings and nine pull-ups.
How will this workout help at the casino? You could beat a lurker to a slot machine by developing your speed and reaction times, while those kettlebell swings and pull-ups will strengthen your pulling arm for the slot handle.
Simple Burpee Workout
Casinos are generally more popular at night. Most people work throughout the week, and doing a taxing workout may make one too tired to visit the casino.
It makes sense, then, to do a CrossFit workout at home before a late night at the casino. A simple burpee workout can do the trick and should help you stay awake.
A burpee is a full-body exercise where you start in a standing position, move into a squat, jump into a plank, perform a push-up, jump back to the squat position, and finally spring up with an energetic jump into the air.
AMRAP workouts
CrossFit workouts build strength, speed, and stamina, but a good poker player would also need to have mental toughness. There is no defined workout for this, but you can strengthen your brain game through AMRAP workouts.
There isn’t necessarily a go-to workout for AMRAP, but the constant reps build intensity, endurance, and mental tenacity. That should go a long way toward turning you into a mentally sharp poker player who can read bluffs, take hits, and make calculated decisions.
Gamble and Work Out in the Comfort of Your Home
As discussed, there are many ways CrossFit workouts can help a gambler. It’s not a seamless transition, but these workouts can improve your poker, slots, and blackjack abilities. Sometimes, all you need is a burpee or squat workout to get the blood flowing and to give you mental clarity at the tables. Register for casino games online with BetMGM and integrate your new home fitness workouts into your gambling routine.
