@Despade have you ever seen any of Dave Gorman’s found poems?
Thanks mate. You here to stick around?
No problem. I’m pretty busy but I’ll drop in when I’ve got a slow moment.
Back to @Lonnie123 ‘s post (did I do that right?):
CrossFit’s entire philosophy revolves around increasing the capacity to do work (expressed as average power per unit time) across broad time domains (60s, 5minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc) and modalities (gymnastics, barbell, kettlebell, dumbbell, odd objects, monostructural efforts like running, rowing, airbike, etc). Once you stop looking at workouts from within the traditional strength training paradigm, it will make sense. Only a portion of what Crossfit does follows the traditional rep-load-fatigue paradigm that we’re all used to from normal lifting.
In Crossfit programming, the goal is always to (while moving safely and efficiently) increase power output per unit time. Consider the average power equation F*D/T. There are three means by which to achieve this end:
- task priority - finishing a fixed task as quickly as possible. This is what most outsiders are most familiar with. Workouts like Fran, Helen, Murph, etc. The goal is not to increase the load, it’s to get the work done faster. This is progressing the variable Time and improving average power by lowering the denominator in the aforementioned equation.
- time priority - getting as much done as possible in a set amount of time. This includes workouts like Cindy, 18.1, etc. This is progressing the variable Distance and improving average power by increasing the numerator in the average power equation.
- load priority - increasing the amount of external loading used. This would include workouts like the strength work that mainsite programs several times each week as well as something like open workout 18.2a, the various ladders that have appeared at the games, etc. This is progressing the variable Force and improving average power by increasing the numerator in the average power equation.
I’m not saying this is the best way to train for bodybuilding or powerlifting. To my knowledge, Crossfit HQ hasn’t made that claim since the late aughts either. It’s simply the basic approach Crossfit takes to developing a generalized and broadly inclusive fitness. While this philosophy acknowledges that feats performed by specialists in a given discipline are impressive and commendable, from this broad and generalized perspective, sacrificing competency in any domain in pursuit of absolute mastery in another is detrimental. The specialty is not specializing, but rather competency across as broad a range of tasks and abilities as possible.
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Great Post. Nothing about headbands and kneesocks. Cross-Fit revolves around sciences.
How come nobody ever said that before? That makes a lot of sense.
Some great power lifters use those same principles.
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Per @Lonnie123’s point: With respect to complex, high-risk movements (eg, the snatch), these objectives are a set-up for injury.
There are a lot of misconceptions and HQ hasn’t necessarily put its best foot forward in the past, but I was enormously impressed with the L1. I would say in excess of 60% of the weekend was spent broken out into small groups with an instructor drilling and re-drilling basic movements and how to coach and correct faults in them. I’ve coached international all time top 5 powerlifters and I still got my squat and deadlift with a PVC pipe drilled to death and tweaked.
The opening remarks were titled “What is Fitness? What is Crossfit?” and included the statement that Crossfit is first and foremost interested in results and that if someone can show them empirically that they have a better way of accomplishing what Crossfit sets out to do, they’ll slap a sticker on it today and call it Crossfit. You can see evidence of this in the changes that the nutritional and strength training philosophies have undergone. 10 years ago the official stance was that interval training and short metcons were all you needed and were better than long duration cardio and now they’ve got 10x Ironman Chris Hinshaw teaching seminars as their aerobic capacity SME.
The snatch is only a terribly complex movement to those who lack adequate exposure. Explosive hip extension and reactive re-bend are natural movements that children across the world express during recreational athletic events. Given adequate instruction and proper load selection, these movements are relatively simple to learn and yet require a decade to obtain absolute mastery. This isn’t dissimilar to any for of jumping or throwing, yet these events are perceived as somehow less complex.
I think this perception comes from strength and conditioning coaches who themselves aren’t competent enough in teaching or performing the Olympic lifts to efficiently coach them to an adequate level of competency so they attack the resulting dissonance with silly rationalizations that treat loaded hip extension like the riddle of the Sphinx.
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t it universally agreed upon that most of the Crossfit athletes at the games don’t even “do Crossfit” as per how most boxes carry them out?
I’ve been to a couple of different boxes on various occasions and it’s generally… Everyone warm up together. Do some drills on them PVC pipes. Do the strength part of the wod such as… Squat up to a heavy triple. Do a met con such as them typical 21-15-9 types.
Except the absolute masters of the Olympic lifts. The guys that train Olympians in those lifts… never use those lifts as conditioning. That’s not what they’re for.
You’re right and you’re also wrong.
Games level athletes most definitely “do crossfit”, but they do so at a very significantly higher level of volume. More strength, more conditioning, more skill specific work. You can take a look at the training Ben Bergeron (Fraser, Wells, and Davidsdottir’s coach) posts on his website for an idea of where their volume starts. He posts regionals level programming, games athletes arguably train even more.
Patrick Vellner still does the 1 hour classes at his affiliate though.
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I donno, as time goes by, the more and more I think about giving crossfit a real go. NO FLAME Bros!!!
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Sure, and the best powerlifters in the world generally don’t do 50 rep sets of barbell squats. That doesn’t mean that doing so doesn’t have merit or is fundamentally unsafe for someone who’s goal is something other than an olympic podium.
You should take a look at the old Russian sports science texts. Their approach to developing strength athletes (as well as that of the Chinese, Koreans, and other associated schools of sports science) is heavily contradictory to what passes for accepted knowledge in the Specificity obsessed West.
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It sounds like Cross-Fit put down Ripplestilkskin’s books, and read Louie’s books.
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Give it an honest shot. Even if it’s not for you, you’ll at least be able to hold an opinion informed by first hand experience as opposed to the opinions of strangers online repeating things they mostly only know from articles written by other strangers who are informed by yet more strangers with dubious information.
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Any words of wisdom on how to go about doing “CrossFit” for someone that lifts at home? I know one of the benefits of Crossfit is the group atmosphere, but I just don’t have the flexibility to make the classes right now.
My advice for starting out would be to read the level 1 training guide (available for free on the CF mainsite) and spend a few weeks doing the mainsite WOD. Work technique with a PVC sand try to practice movement mastery. Be conservative and scale loads/reps more than you think you should for the first few weeks and then start to crank the throttle a little bit once you’ve got a good understanding of your ability level.
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Thanks for the inside information!
I like the idea of CrossFit. You know, being awesome at lots of things. But I struggle with the progression. My brain is stuck on traditional methods. Maybe I’ll be able to embrace it after I achieve my current gym goals.
It also sucks that the memberships are double or triple my current FAMILY membership and I’m limited on how many days and what times I can go to the gym.
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I have not…
Happy to help clear things up. Like I said, lots of inaccurate information out there.
I definitely struggled some with justifying the cost at first but it’s been totally worth it for us and I look better, move better, and perform better (including my lifts) than I did making do at the YMCA and the results are definitely worth it for me.
I think broadening one’s base of GPP through a program like Crossfit can be enormously helpful in achieveing those strength goals you mentioned, at least up to the point at which specialization becomes necessary. If you’re trying to squat 500lbs, Crossfit can be pretty beneficial. If you’re trying to squat 800lbs then it’s only going to get you so far.
I will say that I am definitely lifting the same or more on most lifts now with a considerably better body composition/lighter bodyweight, better health markers, and less overall strength training volume. I’m making the same time commitment to training that I was before, but spreading my efforts out across more pursuits. Just my $.02 but it’s definitely been worth it for me.
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He is a comedian, he takes a selection of comments from the comments sections turns them into a kinda poem. Some of the comments people feel the need to leave are hilarious.