The right CrossFit gear is essential to get the most out of the experience. Appropriate gear will either make or break your performance and affect your advancement. Both beginners and competitive athletes must equip themselves with the right CrossFit essentials to prepare and benefit from the exercises.
CrossFit’s variety of demands and exercises means it’s important to be appropriately prepared. Casual and beginner CrossFitters require an essential kit that includes items found in your basic gym bag or trunk. Meanwhile, competitive and serious athletes in CrossFit require specific, high-quality items that will help them improve, stay safe, and maintain form as they complete high-intensity workouts.
Today, we’re going to provide a run-down of all the essential CrossFit gear, including supplies to improve your training and add value to your CrossFit journey.
Contents
What do you need for CrossFit?
You need different types of gear for CrossFit due to the variety and intensity of the exercises. Beginners and casual athletes don’t need much. Basic footwear, a rope, and appropriate clothing are the bare minimum requirements for beginners to CrossFit. Start with the essentials and gradually build a full kit of high-quality gear to properly prepare.
CrossFit derives from different types of sports such as weightlifting, gymnastics, and chippers. There’s consequently a lot to learn and a lot to prepare for as plenty of the exercises require special equipment. By the time you’re getting serious about it, there are a whole bunch of purchases that aren’t essential, but they keep you competitive. These range from specific equipment for certain skills to recovery techniques and basic dietary support.
The needs of CrossFit are all about being pretty well prepared for a wide variety of exercises. It’s not just about wearing the top-of-the-line for one specific area – you need to be decently equipped for everything all at once.
8 Basic essentials for CrossFit
Some gear is essential to the CrossFit experience. Both casual and recreational enthusiasts require the essentials as well as basic gym necessities to get the most out of CrossFit exercises. Below, we’ll look at eight items you’ll need for CrossFit including why you need them, what you should consider buying, and other relevant recommendations.
1. Shoes
The shoe problem is one that many new CrossFit enthusiasts face. CrossFit involves so many different types of exercises, it’s difficult for newcomers to select the right shoewear to complete the exercises appropriately and safely. The main issue is how to balance the opposite demands of running and weightlifting, rope climbing, and rowing.
The CrossFit shoe (either the Nano or the MetCon) is an essential item in your gear list because it’s a hybrid and a jack of all trades.
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These hybrid shoes are designed to be decent at everything – they include great foot support, a relatively solid sole, a strong upper, and a variety of reinforced points for climbing ropes.
These two main brands – Nike’s MetCon and Reebok’s Nano series – are the main place to look for a high-quality CrossFit shoe. You can train in CrossFit without them, but you’re going to see serious problems with any alternatives. Look for durability, comfort, and a design that clings to your foot while you move.
2. Towel
Towels are essential to all gym gear but especially CrossFit. All of the CrossFit exercises are intense and demanding. You’ll be working hard, dripping sweat, and surrounded by other people. Attempting CrossFit without a towel is a recipe for disaster and general grossness if you don’t mop up after yourself and stay dry.
Furthermore, you increase your risk of poor skin condition and risk of infection if you sit in your sweat. Deal with it before it’s a problem – dry off and stay clean.
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It’s not as simple as using a towel and throwing it in your gym bag. Have 2-3 towels that you regularly rotate through the wash to ensure that you always have something clean and dry on-hand. It doesn’t count if it’s still damp and sweaty from your last session!
3. Water bottle
Water bottles are quintessential to CrossFit gear kits because you need to stay hydrated. CrossFit involves high-intensity training that will be dangerous and demanding if you’re not appropriately hydrated. Unless your gym has a water fountain on the gym floor (not something we see at many CrossFit boxes), you’ll want to make sure you’re bringing your own water bottle. This is an easy way to stay hydrated during a long, tough workout.
It’s not just important to cool down: hydration is essential for recovery, health, and performance. Becoming dehydrated during a workout is generally unhealthy, but can specifically lead to muscle cramps or reduced strength/power output.
It’s as simple as getting a cheap, BPA-free water bottle and keeping it with you at all times. Whether you’re at home or in the gym, you can benefit from staying hydrated.
4. Speed rope
Speed ropes are part of basic CrossFit equipment. Speed ropes are modified, lightweight jump ropes best utilized for high-speed, high-intensity training. Many CrossFit boxes provide ropes, but they tend to be cheap plastic ropes designed to tide you over until you buy your own. It’s important to purchase a quality speed rope because the item will fit into exercises like CrossFit double unders.
There are many great speed ropes on the market. European readers should head to the SGF speed rope site for top-quality, custom ropes. Meanwhile, the best choice for most Americans will be the Rogue SR 2 – an upper-mid-tier rope with great reviews, a cool design, and great functionality.
Read our jump ropes for Crossfit buying guide
A small initial investment here will stop you from being caught without a rope or having to use the low-quality ones that many gyms tend to provide.
5. Grips
Grips are crucial if you’re planning on getting really good at the gymnastic side of CrossFit. Grips are useful for dealing with kipping pull-ups and other hand-shredding exercises. A CrossFit grip keeps your hands healthy and safe, preventing damaged, torn palms and fingers.
The basic idea of a CrossFit grip is a simple, easy-to-use design. A CrossFit shouldn’t impede the movement of the wrist so grip/wrist support products are a no-go. The best way to choose correctly is with our complete guide to CrossFit grips.
6. Lower wear
CrossFit gear requires appropriate lower wear that is flexible and comfortable for your body type. Many different types of clothing options are practical for CrossFit as long as you can safely exercise in them. During the summer months, you may want to choose a lighter material to keep your breathability and stay comfortable. On the other hand, you can wear compression leggings in the winter on those cold runs.
CrossFit lower wear needs to achieve the following.
- Protect your legs from snatches/cleans
- Allow for total mobility (to an ass-to-grass squat, for example)
- Keep you at a comfortable temperature
If it does all 3 of these things, it’s going to be a good choice. It’s easy to get caught up with the brand names and funky patterns, but the function comes first, and you don’t need a Reebok logo on your shorts to lift or run!
7. Upper wear
CrossFit upper wear includes any basic shirt that you can work out in. There are some benefits to using upper wear items with technical fibers – they’re breathable, and light, and they’ll feel comfortable during almost all movements. They also wash and dry rapidly, and they can be re-used countless times with a quick hand wash.
The obvious downside of using technical fibers is the price: they’re more expensive than most clothes you’ll own, and they definitely aren’t as versatile as a plain black tee. The latter is another reasonable choice for your workout, but cotton can hold sweat.
We recommend using a normal, breathable, plain tee if you can shower immediately after training. If you’re likely to be in the same t-shirt for a walk or cycle home, it’s best to bring a replacement for after your session or wear a technical fiber.
The same ideas apply here that we discussed for the lower body: it has to be mobile, breathable, and keep you comfortable in whatever temperature. When the winter months come around, a thermal under-/over-layer is a great choice.
8. Socks
Socks are essential to CrossFit but only in the sense that you have to wear them. Socks are not crucial for performance but vital to comfort.
Socks are pretty difficult to get wrong: they have to cover your feet, not smell gross, and be comfortable to move around in. This means no baggy socks or anything that compromises balance in your shoes. This means that almost any regular-length sock made of cotton or a synthetic blend will do.
If you’re carving up your shins with Olympic lifts or deadlifts, however, you can use longer socks. These are often sport socks – in Europe, football socks are a common choice. In the U.S., look for any shin-knee length sock that is made from a slightly thicker material than your usual socks.
However, protecting the shins shouldn’t be a serious concern – if you have to change your clothes because you’re damaging the shins, there’s more likely something wrong with your movements than your clothing.
9 Items for competitive and serious CrossFit
The list of CrossFit essentials grows for competitive and serious athletes because the exercises and requirements become more intense. You don’t need gear like barbell pads to take part in CrossFit classes, but you do need them to improve at the high-level, competitive aspects of CrossFit. The nine essentials we’ve listed below are high-quality, great-value purchases that you’ll find in the gym bag (or trunk) of any high-level CrossFit competitor.
1. Weightlifting shoes
Weightlifting shoes are essential for getting good at weightlifting in and out of CrossFit. Weightlifting is a hugely-technical sport and the weightlifting shoe is a piece of equipment that the best, strongest, most mobile humans in the world use to perform better in weightlifting.
Simply put, if you want to get good at weightlifting then a good weightlifting shoe is essential. It’s not enough to get good, but it is absolutely necessary.
CrossFit enthusiasts won’t need to spend huge amounts of money on these shoes. The standard of weightlifting at even the games is not high enough to require most competitors to buy more than an entry-level shoe.
The Adidas Power Perfect 3 is a great choice at a low cost, while the Reebok Legacy Lifter is a great mid-tier shoe that is both affordable and stable. You’re not a weightlifter – you don’t need the most expensive, cutting-edge weightlifting shoes. Remember what we said before: the CrossFit athlete needs to be good (not perfect) at everything.
There are some cult alternatives like the Position or NoBull weightlifting shoe, but these are either far less effective or unjustifiably expensive, respectively!
2. Foam roller
Foam rollers should be a part of your home recovery kit for CrossFit. You should have a bunch of these at the gym, but having your own is a key way of getting in high-quality mobility work when you can’t get into the gym.
Foam rolling is a great way of making recovery days count – with a pro-recovery effort that will aid you in performing better when you next step foot in the gym. These are ridiculously cheap, and you really don’t need anything fancy: buy a simple, untextured, hard foam roller. The knobs and patterns don’t matter – that’s what a massage ball is for.
There are many great options on the market available very cheaply. The only real criteria you need for a foam roller are firmness and durability. Firmness ensures that it’s going to do its job without compromising your weight – molded plastic is great for this. Durability is simple: you don’t want it to break!
If you want a vibrating foam roller, you should check out this guide.
3. Massage ball
Massage balls should be made a CrossFit essential once you’re familiar with the foam roller. A massage ball assists with recreational pain and mobility. The ball has a small surface area and sinks deeper into the muscle tissues to provide a more effective stimulus. These are great for trigger point therapy, provide a huge amount of relief from tightness/stiffness, and are great for reaching small muscles that the foam roller can’t get.
One trend that’s currently hitting the market – and with huge results – is the vibrating massage ball. We’ve worked with a few of these and the results are a great shift up from the regular massage ball or peanut.
The vibrations reduce pain and stiffness in the muscles, as well as increase the benefits to trigger points and excessive tightness in smaller muscles. You should look for a selection of vibration settings, powerful motors, and firmness as the main factors in making your choice.
4. Weightlifting belt
Weightlifting belts are a key piece of CrossFit gear. Belts help you increase core activation, build strength in the abdominal region, and ensure safety during heavy weights. The belt is there to provide resistance to your core when you’re performing heavy squats or cleans. There are a number of belts on the market, but you’re looking for either a nylon/neoprene Velcro-attached belt or a tapered leather belt. You should avoid the powerlifting belts that have a lever or are the same width all the way around. While these are common, they reduce mobility in the front of the torso, bite into your skin, and they are totally inappropriate for cleans/power cleans.
The main focus for a weightlifting belt should be comfort, sizing, and durability. Whether you go for a fabric (nylon/neoprene) or leather belt, these are key factors. The fastening mechanism should be stable, the belt should feel sturdy, and it should be able to provide a moderate amount of resistance when you brace for a squat.
If you feel like stamping your personality on your weightlifting belt, Wallis weightlifting belts are great for custom-designed and crafted leather weightlifting belts.
5. Lifting straps
Lifting straps are essential for performing high-rep weightlifting movements in CrossFit. Lifting straps protect the hands and prove useful for cueing certain aspects of CrossFit techniques. Lifting straps are also a great help when performing assistance exercises that load unusual positions (such as the snatch grip deadlift) and can be used for other heavy exercises such as the deadlift.
While many people worry about losing grip strength, this isn’t a concern in Olympic weightlifting where hook grip secures the bar. When deadlifting, it is important to ensure that you’re not limited by grip strength, however.
The best way to get around this is to ensure that you’re not always using straps for powerlifting-style deadlifts. If you perform deadlifts with straps when your grip is fatigued, you’ll be totally fine and the grip work in many other aspects of CrossFit will ensure that you’re not lagging behind.
Straps are a great tool to have. Aim to get open-loop weightlifting straps. These are effectively just circles of cotton or other materials that are sewn at one end. They ensure that you’re never tied to the bar – as a closed loop strap might – and thus you can miss Olympic lifts without the risk of serious shoulder/elbow/wrist injury.
The IronMind sew-easy straps are great open, single-loop straps that are time-tested by weightlifters, powerlifters, and strongmen alike. They can deal with the heaviest punishment by some of the very best in the world and have decades of a world-class reputation behind them.
6. Wrist wraps
Wrist wraps are useful for protecting the wrists and can be used for movements from the press to the jerk. They’re all about stability and alignment in the wrists and are a great way to protect your wrists during any compressive loading.
While the weight of the barbell or other implements can create compressive forces – where the weight squishes the wrist outwards – wrist wraps counter this. They equalize the pressure on the wrist, keeping it safe and ensuring that you’re going to remain safe when performing with heavy weights.
These are especially useful in CrossFit where time is of the essence and moving through various exercises like burpees and presses that strain the wrist. This is no excuse for strengthening, however, and should only be used when they are absolutely essential – when dealing with heavy weights or lots of reps with impact exercises.
Wrist wraps for CrossFit should be short – avoid the wrist wraps often seen in powerlifting that can be 18” long and incredibly thick. Go for the 9” wraps as they allow for greater mobility – a real concern in gymnastics and weightlifting movements where impeding the wrist can rapidly lead to injury.
As ever, you should be shopping for durability and quality (Read our wrist wraps buying guide for Crossfit). When it comes to wrist wraps, almost anything works – it’s just about finding something that feels comfortable, provides support to the wrist without blocking movement, and fastens securely. Nothing is worse than losing your wrist wrap during a set of heavy overhead lifts!
7. Heart rate/Workout tracker
You’ll want to train with a heart rate tracker if you wish to excel in CrossFit. Heart rate trackers are a great way to measure the intensity of your exercises and ensure you’re working the right heart-rate zones during endurance workouts. Long-haul running, cycling, rowing and other endurance exercise is key to the CrossFit approach to fitness. You can get a high-quality Garmin heart rate monitor that syncs up with your smartphone or Garmin workout monitor watch. This type of technology is relatively inexpensive for what it is and widely accessible to any serious endurance or CrossFit athlete. It’s an area of training that doesn’t get much attention, but this one change can make a big difference to round out your training and make sure you’re strong over any distance or at any time.
8. Supplements
Creatine, beta-Alanine, and cod liver Oil are three major supplements every CrossFit enthusiast should be taking to support health, recovery, and performance during workouts. Below is a short breakdown of the supplements, their benefits, and why you should make them a part of your CrossFit gear if you’re a competitive athlete.
For more of my top recommendations, read our complete guide to the best Crossfit supplements.
Creatine
Creatine is an inexpensive white powder that can be stirred into any drink to improve your overall strength endurance. Strength endurance is a measure of how many times you can repeat a movement at high intensity before fatigue sets in and ruins your performance.
In CrossFit, where you’re performing a variety of high-intensity movements from weightlifting to gymnastics, a creatine supplement is key. There’s nothing fancy about it: find a simple, cheap, honest brand that provides creatine monohydrate at a good price.
Beta-Alanine
Beta-alanine bolsters endurance similar to how creatine bolsters strength. Beta-alanine is the most reliably effective and widely-tested supplement for boosting your fatigue resistance. Supplementing beta-alanine powder is an easy way to increase your time to exhaustion – key to inching down your time on those long CrossFit workouts.
As with creatine, there’s nothing special about a beta-alanine supplement. You only need to find an inexpensive, reliable source that doesn’t stuff their products with unnecessary bunk. Beta-alanine can be purchased by itself relatively cheaply and most products on the market have the same effects.
Cod liver oil
There are four major reasons why you should take cod liver oil if you’re serious about Crossfit. First, cod liver oil contains omega-3 fats which are essential for cognitive performance, recovery, and mental health. Second, cod liver oil is rich in vitamin A, a powerful antioxidant that improves skin, hair, and eye health. Third, cod liver oil is a vitamin D source which is a key player in regulating hormones, protecting your brain, and combating aging. Finally, a cod liver oil supplement is inexpensive and widely available. Look for cod liver oil capsules that have the highest levels of DHA (most important) and Vitamin D3 (second priority).
9. Barbell pad
Barbell pads are essential CrossFit gear because they allow you to perform heavy barbell hip thrusts without any pain or discomfort. Barbell hip thrusts are great exercises for developing the glutes and core – two essential muscles for any form of sport or exercise like CrossFit.
If you want to get good at CrossFit, you have to have powerful hips. Strong glutes aren’t just for show – they’re a key part of the force-production engine that is the knee-hip extension chain. Weak glutes are also a contributing factor in lower back pain and long-term postural problems.
You need a strong butt – the barbell pad makes this a little easier. When shopping, look for something relatively cheap as it’s primarily just a cushion. Ensure that it’s made from high-density foam. This will ensure that it’s durable, but also comfortable and not so firm that it will bruise your hips. (Read our barbell pad buying guide)
Final Notes
CrossFit’s variety is a great way of staying engaged, but it means that you need a corresponding variety of equipment. There are a lot of high-quality products on the market that are going to be useful and many of them are down to your individual needs. However, we see trends of durability, ease of use, and basic effectiveness popping up again and again.
These are the very basics, and there’s a reason they’re so important: they determine if something actually works and they ensure that it’s good enough for CrossFit. If gymnastics makes up 25% of your sport, you don’t need 100% perfect gymnastic gear – especially if it limits your other exercises.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: CrossFit equipment and training is about being well-prepared for many different things, rather than being perfect at a specific exercise or having cutting-edge tech in any piece of kit.
Last update on 2023-09-29 UTC -5 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API - Details
