|
Is CrossFit sustainable for beginners? The best part about CrossFit is that it is scalable in many ways. That means a few things:
Are you ready to move away from the keyboard and onto health? If so, send us an email today at info@CrossFitAFK.com
0 Comments
As the 2022 CrossFit Games come up next week, we will be running our own small competition. There will be 5 test each from the original journal article "How Fit Are You?". The best possible score that can be earned is 100 points, or 20 points per workout. This is a very broad and general test of fitness. The GPP, general physical preparedness, that comes from the regular workout of the day will prepare you for what is down the road. There is running but no worries, no marathons needed (N.M.N.) for these test. Brush up on the PDF underlined above, have fun, and scale and modify as needed. 
"Using whiteboards as scoreboards, keeping accurate scores and records, running a clock, and precisely defining the rules and standards for performance, we not only motivate unprecedented output but derive both relative and absolute metrics at every workout; this data has value well beyond motivation." CrossFit is defined as "constantly varied functional movement executed at high intensity." Each aspect of this definition is measurable. Fitness is defined as "work capacity across broad time and modal domains." These are also measurable. "Fitness" and "CrossFit" are also both observable and repeatable. Clients become "gym scientists" by using these definitions. We can create a culture following results and best practices based on measurable, observable, and repeatable data. The accountability that grows from this honest reporting is unmatched in any other fitness regimen.
We can use tools to keep data regularly. Food journals, performance comments, and overall "daily feelings" help keep this data accurate. When looking back we can compare results from a factual and scientific standpoint. Keeping journals of this data can also help predict trends, including trends affecting sleep, nutrition, and overall "feelings" during the day. Goals can be built from this data, and strategies can improve our weaknesses. In CrossFit, we regularly collect fitness data, but that data only accounts for one hour (4%) of our day. Keeping excellent records in many aspects of life can improve our actual progress by providing factual data points, which can be self-motivating and inspiring to others. In the event of injuries, records can be reviewed to identify trends leading toward that injury. Journaling is a great way to keep track of exercises that cause pain or flare-ups for athletes who already have injuries. This can be easily referenced and creates a clear line of communication for athletes and trainers. Keeping track is part of longevity in CrossFit, and can be applied outside the gym to daily activities, too. Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com This quote represents that peak intensity is difficult to achieve alone. Tapping into that "red line" zone best lends itself to hitting a benchmark workout and participating in the CrossFit Open, a competitive setting. The principle holds regardless of the test, generally for both heavy lifting and metabolic conditioning. Power output and technique are most important when looking at relative and maximal intensity. The best test will also be the most intense. Heavy days are easy to evaluate - how much more can you lift than the last time? Conditioning is measured in a few ways: A generic long-distance run is evaluated by distance or time of completion. Met-cons, however, are more daunting (think Fran or Jackie). This intensity is different - trying to beat the clock while intertwining weight training, endurance, and bodyweight exercises across many time durations and rep ranges. A scenario like the CrossFit Open is another phenomenal (and almost impossible to replicate) path towards pushing oneself. Benchmark workouts are often intense for the individual, and when the workout has more on the line than a personal best, such as a score on a custom leaderboard like in the Open, intense reaches a whole new level. In either case, putting in the little extra work during the last few seconds of a workout, or striving for a personal best to tie or beat a friend is thrilling. This type of intensity can not be tapped into very often, and when we do, a solid base of mechanics and consistency is critical. Meaningful work as a beginner athlete will achieve bigger and better successes and overall growth as the athlete continues in fitness. The base of mechanics and consistency in our fitness is the most important to overall success. Building a solid base will ensure that the path to competition is paved. Beginner and intermediate athletes must start by practicing mechanics and consistency in fundamental skills as a prerequisite to "fancy" "fun" skills. Practicing and developing these skills will allow room for intensity down the road. Send us an email today to get started:
info@CrossFitAFK.com Intensity drives results: moving more load, more reps (distance), faster is what functional movements are all about and why CrossFit's methodology of mixing these parameters produces such a profound neuroendocrine response and motor control. Making intensity competitive encourages people to move more, further, and faster than without the element of competition.
Take this scenario: the basketball stadium erupts in a roar as the teams are tied point for point, the offense has the ball and 10 seconds left to take a shot and win the game. The offense knows this is their chance to take it all. The defense knows they have to step up. The stadium pressure is building. These are the moments where athletes must dig their deepest and bring their best. These moments are also almost un-replicate-able in a regular team or individual practice. Biopsychosocial reactions happen in the body under this type of pressure. In CrossFit, we replicate these conditions to produce a better, faster, fitter person than in a relaxed environment seen at a Globo gym. Psychological benefits include; confidence and mental toughness. A sense of social belonging will also emerge. Improved performance goes hand in hand with health markers and psychological well-being. Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com
athletes will have great benefits by training in an environment that mimics the competition. CrossFit can healthfully improve those who did not fit into sports, while simultaneously creating structured practice and competitive encouragement for others who miss those aspects of sports. The general physical preparedness that CrossFit provides is an excellent base for more adventurous people interested in expanding their sport and leisurely activities/experiences.
Cheering on friends and supporting teammates through exciting and life-changing events comes naturally to many of us. Getting behind a favorite team or sport season is enjoyable (it's why over $15 billion is spent on football each year). Like gathering for a big event, CrossFit communities gather in the same way daily to train together and cheer each other on. During the CrossFit Open and Games season, the community rallies behind each other, and people tend to become their best by trying to push a little more and hold one another accountable for the better. Sport and CrossFit share a similar community-like feeling of support, encouragement, and striving for success, which is why CrossFit is considered "the sport of fitness." Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com Methodology part six “CrossFit is empirically driven, clinically tested, and community developed.”9/19/2021 Early on, the goal was to get some of the fittest to engage in CrossFit because they were essentially the tip of the spear. We collected data on how these people train, eat, and recover; and CrossFit’s ability to improve their general physical fitness. Emotional and social health also improved as more people joined in on what was a “shared suffering” of tough workouts. Today CrossFit has over 10,000 affiliates across the world and although the tip of the spear is inspiring, the goal of CrossFit is clear: improve fitness for everyone. Fitness is the opposite of sickness, and both can be plotted as extremes on the same continuum. In the middle of this continuum is wellness and all these are snapshots of health. Data suggests that being better at thrusters and pull-ups, and working on running and lifting directly correlates to better blood pressure and triglycerides.
Starting CrossFit is a path to health. The evidence is showing that the CrossFit methodology: constantly varied, functional movements, executed at high intensity generates and drives health and performance markers in the right direction. The benefits of the CrossFit methodology include burning body fat and improving general skills like cardiovascular respiratory endurance, stamina, flexibility, agility, balance, and more. The benefits are tightly connected to the way we train. Form follows function: it is about training what the body is built to do and try to do it better every day. Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com This quote represents that peak intensity is difficult to achieve alone. Tapping into that "red line" zone best lends itself to hitting a benchmark workout and participating in the CrossFit Open, a competitive setting. The principle holds regardless of the test, generally for both heavy lifting and metabolic conditioning.
Power output and technique are most important when looking at relative and maximal intensity. The best test will also be the most intense. Heavy days are easy to evaluate - how much more can you lift than the last time? Conditioning is measured in a few ways: A generic long-distance run is evaluated by distance or time of completion. Met-cons, however, are more daunting (think Fran or Jackie). This intensity is different - trying to beat the clock while intertwining weight training, endurance, and bodyweight exercises across many time durations and rep ranges. A scenario like the CrossFit Open is another phenomenal (and almost impossible to replicate) path towards pushing oneself. Benchmark workouts are often intense for the individual, and when the workout has more on the line than a personal best, such as a score on a custom leaderboard like in the Open, intense reaches a whole new level. In either case, putting in the little extra work during the last few seconds of a workout, or striving for a personal best to tie or beat a friend is thrilling. This type of intensity can not be tapped into very often, and when we do, a solid base of mechanics and consistency is critical. Meaningful work as a beginner athlete will achieve bigger and better successes and overall growth as the athlete continues in fitness. The base of mechanics and consistency in our fitness is the most important to overall success. Building a solid base will ensure that the path to competition is paved. Beginner and intermediate athletes must start by practicing mechanics and consistency in fundamental skills as a prerequisite to "fancy" "fun" skills. Practicing and developing these skills will allow room for intensity down the road. Fun is the community. Being fitter feels good, and getting fitter with people can be a blast. CrossFit gives us something to talk about, stories to compare, and new people to meet. CrossFit as a methodology is free, and many in the community have great ideas about getting started with minimal equipment or without a coach.
Having access to equipment and a coach helps a great deal, but the core of CrossFit: doing constantly varied functional movements at high intensity, is an idea that can be shared and performed around the world. Having the freedom to do and try new things in creative ways is part of the fun. Trying new things is also how we can determine what works and what doesn’t. Open-source platforms, like CrossFit, provide the freedom and flexibility to change the program as needed. Ideas are encouraged to grow and evolve into best practices. We use what works and leave behind what doesn’t. We use this principle for exercise and nutrition to build a well-rounded lifestyle and habits that stick. Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com The realm of misconceptions surrounds almost every topic from sport, art, science, history and anything else that can be thought of. Exercise and nutrition are riddled with their fair share of these fallacies as well, sometimes to a degree that provokes hate or fear of getting off the couch and off the carbs. Most of this can be accounted for by miscommunication or misunderstanding. Some is ignorance, and even tactically targeted by competitors in opposing fields.
Some misconceptions have to do with whether CrossFit is safe, or what CrossFit is and is not. Some of these concerns come up when talking about the workouts; if a load is too heavy it is always better to use something manageable relatively, or use a percentage of the prescribed loading so that movements can be completed in fewer sets. Often, one workout a day with the right amount intensity is enough to gain fitness benefits from strength and conditioning. Workouts sometimes have high level skills programmed, or need specific equipment, but there are many modifications and scaled options. The program allows for flexibility and variation because CrossFit can be done almost anywhere. CrossFit is safe, effective, and efficient because is scalable for everyone regardless of age, injuries or fitness level. CrossFit is safe because the movements are natural and with a coach, can help be refined to avoid chronic disease, injury, and also refine nutrition. A big misconception is that one must be fit to start CrossFit, but actually CrossFit is a method of getting fit. CrossFit and the methodology has been proven to improve health and fitness through exercise and nutrition. Benefits include: increase lean muscle mass, lower body fat percentage, stable insulin, stronger bones, mental toughness, and an overall more positive psychological state. This is all accomplished through workouts that can be adjusted to meet athletes at the level they are currently at, and measuring food intake for fitness and lifestyle. Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com The cliché “proof is in the pudding” explains exactly why CrossFit works. Year after year the fittest athletes gather at the CrossFit Games and are tested in a deep pool (sometimes literally) of fitness modalities mixed across broad time, and challenging the ceiling for work capacity. Every year the best “movers”, the cleanest “eaters”, and most trained and prepared for the unknown and unknowable rise to the top of the field throughout the season. These athletes are what is called the tip of the spear and are sometimes unbelievable.
Even more important is what is going on in Affiliates and garage gyms alike. Within those walls are both high levels of encouragement and challenge for the “everyday” person. The improvements and adaptations from this are not a Games title, but that of independence, quality of life, and longevity in the real world both at work and play. This is why the CrossFit Open is such a great community event to partake in. The Open is an annual test of fitness for the rest of us who are not Games bound - or may not even want to be. Tracking results in training and in the kitchen are important to see if the program is working. What is happening in affiliates and garage gyms is powerful, and are what really proves CrossFit methodology and legitimacy of the program. For more on how life changing doing CrossFit can be click here. Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com The safety of a program should be identified by real numbers. This number would be cases of injury or harm while doing CrossFit. This means that CrossFit’s program should be valuable if it has a low potential for getting hurt and it does. There is not clear data about CrossFit specifically due to a study the National Strength and Conditioning Association performed at Ohio State University fabricated injury rates at a local affiliate in 2013 that led to hundreds of misunderstandings. Looking at the parts that make up CrossFit: bodyweight, weight training, and endurance-based sports, the injury or risk involved with CrossFit is close to or no different than other traditional exercise programs. There will always be a chance of orthopedic calamity when getting off the couch, but the benefits it could have on your cardiovascular-respiratory system, blood sugar levels, inflammation, bone density, etc., easily outweighs the risk of injury that could be associated with any type of movement.
The likelihood of benefits over negative side effect of exercise ties into the efficacy of CrossFit’s program. Efficacy means results. This means asking questions like did it work or not? Did the program help you lose 20lbs or hit a new bench press personal record? CrossFit programs are clear when it comes to an end result because of the way we measure and observe our data. Safety and efficacy go hand in hand. Having a safe and effective program is entirely realistic. Efficiency is how well it works or how it gets done. How fast did the program get you there? Did you take 5 years to add 5lbs to your bench press to avoid injury or are you willing to add some intensity to pass that goal sooner? CrossFit’s programming being constantly varied, built with functional movements, and performed at relatively high intensity is a well-rounded way to get safety, efficacy, and efficiency all in one. Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com CrossFit workouts and nutrition are often always being described or used in a way that can be quantifiable. This means in CrossFit we measure what we do for exercise and training, as well as how and what we eat. We use weights, time, distances, and macronutrient values so we have clear and measurable standards, helping us develop clear and reliable data. These numbers give us a sense of our overall fitness levels and the direction we are moving. For example, if we keep track of a 1-rep max deadlift, protein intake, and resting heart rate in the morning, we can see if these numbers are moving in the right direction. Following the CrossFit protocol, in almost every circumstance, will move these numbers in the right direction. If the values are not moving in the right direction, then the methodology and practices that CrossFit values will adapt to be what most effectively, efficiently, and safely drives the results. CrossFit uses the same scientific method that we all learned in middle school: question, hypothesis, test, observe, repeat. Our goal is to do what works best. If the data says what we are doing is not the best, we drop those practices and move on.
Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com Fitness routines can be useful to an extent. When you are in a routine, the routine will be challenged when you need to go outside of the routine. Fitness is a snapshot of your work capacity over time, and your change in fitness over time describes your health. With specific goals and objectives, routines can be incredibly useful. They are great for building habits, practicing skills, or making a linear progression. Though once a routine has reached its full potential, the routine is no longer useful.
In most training there are three phases. Beginner, where movements and patterns are very cognitive. Intermediate, where movements and patterns become more comfortable. And advanced, where athletes can do movements and patterns autonomously, without thinking about them. No matter what stage an athlete is in, science suggests that increasing the stress in movements and patterns elicits more adaptation. When an athlete adapts to a movement or pattern, it can no longer be useful unless that movement or pattern is put under more stress, for example, if deadlifting 135# with great form is no problem for you, you might add 10# to the bar. If an athlete who is comfortable deadlifting 135#, the comfort will not help when a situation arises when you must lift 145#. CrossFit’s constantly varied model is more effective than routines because CrossFit requires constant adaptation. The gains you make will sweep across all aspects of fitness, which is more important to fitness because life is filled with unknown and unknowable challenges including illness and accidents. When we are more physically well rounded, by extension we are more mentally well rounded, and therefore prepared for challenging situations life brings. Routines can be useful to take you from a very specific point A to a very specific point B, but fitness is a lifelong journey that transcends points A and B. Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com A program can be designed with goals and progressions for a specific outcome. Looking at what a program has will tell what it can achieve. At the same time, it tells what a program has not (and will not) achieve. Deciding what is missing from a program can guide the process of choosing what to incorporate. This allows us to constantly work on new movements under a variety of demands. Working on a program is like trying to fill a sandbox evenly from corner to corner; once one corner has more sand, you move to a different corner to even it out. Keeping training balanced will ensure success in all areas.
In CrossFit the goal is fitness. Fitness can be lifesaving and can ensure happiness. If a program is only lifting with some accessories, the adaptation will for lifting will be great, but as soon as the demand reaches beyond that modalities, performance drops off. We call this “being as good as the margins of your experience.” This is like having a small sandbox and trying to push it wider and deeper. Someone with a bigger sandbox has more experience and can easily manage a smaller sandbox, but you place a person with very little sand into a large sandbox, they won't know what to do with themselves. This is your experience and fitness level. The goal of a general physical preparedness program would be to grow your overall fitness. This means you may not be able to repair or build it all on your own, but you know enough to get by and as your experience grows, so does your ability to manage even more. Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com Intensity is the third piece that completes how we do fitness in CrossFit. The first part is constantly varied. This is so that the program is balanced around as many variations as possible to fill in as many weaknesses as possible. The second is functional movement. This is useful because the elements that make a movement functional are more effective and efficient for training. The last element of CrossFit training is intensity. Intensity is relative from person to person like a max heart rate can be. Intensity is trained but also measurable. Intensity directly correlates with power output, so it is measured by the same three components: work, distance, and time.
We measure intensity from workout to workout, comparing similar days and keeping notes on both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the training session or workout. We know if you do 10 rounds of Cindy (A circuit of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats for 20-minutes) and then next time we do 12 rounds, we increased intensity, meaning our training is making us fitter. These movements can be scaled or modified to meet each athlete where they are at, but because of intensity we can track the work being done. There are many markers of intensity and power from workout to workout. Focusing on certain movements over others can be beneficial. Scaling one exercise up and another down can target weakness while giving our strengths attention. Intensity overall is important to exercise because the increased stress causes our body to grow and learn. All three components of intensity cause stress, and when we add all three together with a fixed amount of time or work to be done, we can quickly find results. Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com Power exerted in exercise directly relates to overall fitness level. High-power movements are movements that move loads (your body or external objects) far distances. The faster the load is moved; the more power will be produced. “Work” is often confused with “power,” however, work is not necessarily related to fitness. An example of “work” would be if someone traveled a mile by foot. “Power” brings a time domain into the equation – an example might be if someone traveled a mile by foot in less than 4 minutes and 49 seconds. Traveling a mile by foot does not necessarily mean fitness unless there is a time domain that is trying to be challenged.
The equation for Power is force x distance / time (P = fd/t). Since Power is directly related to fitness, in CrossFit we tend to value high-power movements. For example, a hang power clean (HPCl). This is a high-power movement because you can move a ton of weight a big distance very quickly. We also tend not to value low-power movements. For example, a bicep curl. A bicep curl is a very slow movement that involves less weight. A HPCl and bicep curl are similar in that they both start at about the waist and bring weight to the shoulder. The HPCl travels slightly further down than the waist and brings the weight up slightly above the shoulder – meaning the distance is a little more, and people tend to be able to move significantly more weight in a HPCl in less time, for this reason, the HPCl would be preferred to the bicep curl in a workout. Even though the HPCl is preferred to the bicep curl in the workout does not mean that CrossFitters will not do bicep curls. Bicep curls are a great way to warm up muscles or add accessory work to existing programming, and certainly have their place in CrossFit. To best keep track of progress, we set measurable movement standards for functional movements. Workouts have ideal loading or timed components for consistency. We program and use functional movements most because they produce the most power. Combining these three elements together elevates a fitness program to be highly effective and efficient, which is why CrossFit is the most effective fitness program to date. Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com CrossFit has found ways to track improvements in functional movements in a meaningful way. We have given functional movements names and determined characteristics of those movements so that we have a uniform way to track those movements. The consistency helps us track improvements in our constantly varied, functional movement. In other words, we can track our fitness very easily.
We can measure the load and implement that is used in each exercise so that we can see scores increasing or decreasing. For example, we can use a barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell, medicine ball, or any other implement for deadlifts, and with each of these implements, the maximum weight might be different. We can also perform a Romanian deadlift or a sumo deadlift and still have these numbers differ, even though all of these are essentially training the same movement pattern. By tracking all these different variations, we can easily check back to see if we are getting stronger or not. All these exercises can be scaled back to a bodyweight variation – or gymnastics variation, for which the load would be considered bodyweight. The distance at which a load travels is also easily measurable. Mapping applications and fitness trackers can measure distance for exercises like running and swimming. Knowing how to track and measure distance makes tracking functional movements that much easier. There is a very mathematical way to track power output for squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, and every exercise that has a uniform tracking method, but instead of tracking power output using a formula, we typically count repetitions. If your height and weight are not changing dramatically, tracking reps is equally as accurate. Another way to measure functional movements is time. How long does it take to do a push-up? And can it be done faster with better mechanics? This measures speed or rate. Improvement is measured when we can do a push-up faster than we could 4 weeks ago. Again, this can be put into an equation to determine the power output, but instead of getting all math-y about it, we would just say “how many push-ups can you do now? If you can do more in 4 weeks, you are more fit.” Tracking functional movement allows us to keep hard data that is measurable, repeatable, and observable. These numbers can guide us on what movements produce the most work and power, in other words, these numbers can tell us what athletes are good at. These numbers also hold us accountable with ourselves and give consistent data on how we are performing and, most importantly, find our weaknesses. Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com Training functional movements is efficient and effective. Results are easily seen or felt in everyday life and especially as we see progress in workout scores. Improvement on workouts directly correlates with improvement in health markers. The correlation is strong because of the metabolic effect functional movements have on the body. As a side effect of health markers improving, the body will build muscle and burn fat, which are two of the most common health goals that people set.
Think about common activities that people do during the day… sitting up out of bed, sitting and standing up from a toilet or couch, leaning over to brush teeth, lifting something off the ground, carrying a back pack or groceries and lifting them onto a counter, or putting them away in a cupboard overhead, and even opening a door. We can group similar movement patterns and combine them to train in a gym. Regular movements, such as these functional movements are safe to perform and can be trained by scaling up the intensity. When these movement patterns are trained well and beyond the demands of everyday activity, quality of life increases because basic needs like going up the stairs is no longer a chore. This can be applied to sport as well, by building a good base of good movement, the capacity can be transferred and used in sport performance. Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com Functional movements are the bulk of exercises that are selected for CrossFit, used for strength and conditioning. They are selected most often for training and many are interchangeable motor patterns. These fundamental actions are useful for fitness from a beginner to advanced performance level. The movements also often complement each other or build from one another. This means that each movement, when combined with other movements, can elicit a great metabolic response, and make for a great workout. Even similar movements vary enough to avoid redundancy and training the skills of one exercise indirectly trains the skills of another exercise because of skill transfer. For example, functional movements like squat, deadlift, and shoulder press will train common movements like sitting to standing, lifting boxes of the ground, and placing storage on a shelf overhead. Those same movements will also transfer to dynamic activity like speed and agility in sport.
Functional movements are great for core training because of their use of midline resistance and powerful flexion and extension of the hip joint. Training functional movements in higher intensity situations makes an everyday interaction with the movement pattern easier. These functional movement patterns are most efficient when the midline is activated first, then the extremities. We call this “core-to-extremity,” or “middle out.” Next time you stand up from the couch notice how your tummy tightens before you start standing. Notice when you throw a ball, your midline activates the throw. Any normal everyday movement, and useful movement in sport is generated this way. By design, functional movements train our core for many different demands. They will inherently be larger movements based on the defining feature of core to extremity. Larger movements use more joints and muscles, demand more neurological endocrine response, hence making them desirable to train. While there are benefits to isolating joints and groups of muscles, these smaller movements will have little to no skill-transfer. Practicing functional movements is the best means to the end. CrossFit workouts are written as a “prescription” (Rx). The workout as prescribed is intended for the fittest person. We can take all of those “prescriptions” and alter them to any given person’s skills and abilities. This is called “scaling” and “modifying.” In CrossFit, coaches and athletes can take the workout as prescribed and adjust the movement, implement, time, and/or distance as needed. The workout is a template that will be adjusted to suit the athlete’s needs. We can scale workouts because a scaled functional movement is still functional, which is ultimately the goal. Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com Variance practice helps specialized athletes get better at specific skills that is required by their sport. What this means is that a powerlifter will be the best in their sport if they practice more than just powerlifting. Powerlifters will benefit from endurance activities, Olympic lifting, and gymnastics. A basketball player will improve their free throw by practicing the thruster, the clean and jerk, and pull-ups. A lot of times in sport, it feels like you will get better if you continuously practice the skill that the sport requires, but that is not the case.
Athletes who continuously specialize from season to season burn out or become injured. This is because they are not being introduced to new stressors, so no real adaptation can happen for them to grow as an athlete. A quick way to injure yourself is to use the same muscles and joints in the same movement pattern repetitively without rest. In sport, the athletes who are the most versatile will have the longest careers, the best health, and the crossover skills to adapt to competition. In the real world, over-specializing is not helpful. Imagine a mechanic who can only work on trucks, they are not going to get as much business as a mechanic who works on trucks, vans, SUVs, and large machinery. This is the fault of a specialist – and the mechanic who knows how to fix more will have a better quality of life, simply because they have a bigger sea to fish in. A basketball player who can make shots from the 3-point line AND the free throw line is more valuable. A powerlifter who also practices fast lifts has more midline stability AND a better metabolic rate is more valuable. A mechanic who can fix my Equinox AND my F-150 is more valuable, and person who can run a 5k AND deadlift their bodyweight will have a more functionally valuable life. Being well rounded is a compromise for overall performance instead of being an expert with limited range. Ultimately, an athlete who is proficient in more skills than a few will have an easier time adapting to and out-perform their peers. For this reason, many sport coaches when presented with two athletes who are seemingly identical, will choose an athlete who plays multiple sports instead of just one. An athlete with a broad range of athletic experiences will have an easier time adapting to change on the field and in life. Send us an email today to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com Having many different modalities, or ways to train in a program for fitness, is key to the efficacy and efficiency of a general preparedness training program. It may seem counterproductive to work on so many skills at once or even at all, but science supports the claim that everyday life punishes those who specialize. CrossFit uses learning and memory tactics to curve the difficulty of learning so many skills and makes them easier to be developed at a beginner, intermediate or advanced training level. These concepts work for grade school, for example learning to type on a computer is similar to learning to push press a barbell at the gym.
In psychology there are different ways to learn and remember. Some are more effective than others and such will work better depending on the athlete and type of movement being trained. One variation of this is blocked, or constant learning, which is done when the same material is covered repeatedly in succession. Another version is variance learning, which is small doses of content in short successions. Both types of learning can be applied to fitness training. Studies show that blocked practice is more effective for performance in training environments, which in CrossFit is a daily workout with skill practice. By using blocked learning, newer CrossFit athletes can grow very quickly, but the ability to change tasks and adapt is stunted over time. In general, blocked learning is highly effective for newer athletes and for learning most basic skills like a squat or kip swing. Each day, enough time is spent in a blocked style setting to practice certain movements before the workout. This is generally called “skill” or “build-up” work. These drills and progressions focus on mechanics and consistency before the workout, targeting the key movements for that day’s workout. This is like massed practice where training is done in a continuous and concentrated way. Variance practice or variable practice is more effective when taking tests, in CrossFit this would be a benchmark workout or competition. From day to day there is plenty of variances in the movements, implements, loading, time domains, reps, and distances traveled. This is proved to increase adaptation for the demands. This is like spaced practice where skills are learned in short periods over several sessions. CrossFit uses this version more often because utilize a lot of variance, and this type of practice is better for retention of skill in the long run. We want to adapt when we train and test. Our bodies go through a feedback loop, and if there is enough appropriate training taking place then that feedback loop tells our body to grow in healthy ways. Using all these principles of learning and memory helps decrease skill decay and keeps transfer specificity fresh. The psychological reason that constantly varied programming works for fitness in the long run is because we are more likely to adapt to adversity and changes. In our daily life, this makes us more likely to recover from mishaps and accidents – like a trip and fall. This adaptive training is transferable to sport as well because we are required to figure out new and unique situations both defensively and offensively with many situations that out of our control. Send us an email to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com There are several ways a strength and conditioning program can be ordered. Traditionally, styles of ordering workouts have been to do muscle or body part splits or to separate lifting days with long aerobic sessions. Although these versions of programming work, they might not be the most effective, especially when looking at sport. Sports often require the body to be strong and bear a high heart rate simultaneously. For this reason, training should also demand this combo of strength and conditioning. In sport, movement is regularly large patterns utilized in high intensity situations. The older training methodologies do not lend themselves well to train and adapt for this level of stress on the body. Of the many sports, we are most interested in the sports where the test is exactly based on the movement the athlete performs. We see this in the best gymnasts, weightlifters, powerlifters, endurance athletes, and more. Someplace between all these well-specialized athletes is a well-rounded athlete. Important movements like squatting, lunging, jumping, and lifting all benefit themselves when trained in the gym and when trained together in combination. Being able to indirectly train upper body strength and lower body power with constantly different movements at a relative intensity to the individual yields significant results in performance. This is important because many of the best athletes in these sports have health and fitness benefits the general population needs. We have found that these sports are the best place to start because the sport is based around moving the body in efficient and functional ways. After looking further at the tasks gymnasts, weightlifters, powerlifters, endurance athletes, and more are doing, we have found these athletes share a common trait. All these athletes have gotten immensely good at one very specific movement: whether that be swinging on a pull-up bar, lifting a heavy barbell from the ground to overhead, bench pressing, or running. These athletes are extreme variations of what a general person needs. By studying the most effective qualities of these extremes, we can derive an effective program (CrossFit) that every person can, and should, partake in. This derived program is intentional and produces the best results from all extremes without lacking skills in any, creating a very well-rounded athlete (see “aims part one”). The ability to be well-rounded can improve quality of life, by having the ability to both lift a grandkid off the ground (powerlifting) and carry them around (endurance). Send us an email to get started: info@CrossFitAFK.com Benefits to following a well-balanced strength and conditioning program include all the regular improvements on health and performance as the parts that make up that program. This means by including all the safe and effective training protocols that CrossFit and even other training methodologies use, the results soon speak for themselves. Participating in regular strength and conditioning improves bone density, balance and coordination, pulmonary and respiratory performance, and even mental health and cognitive ability.
Training in the gym has clear benefits outside the gym, too. These improvements on the quality of life go beyond their common primary focus on burning fat, building muscle, and looking good naked. With all these positive outcomes in mind, they also have tertiary effects like slowing the aging process, one that if unattended, leads to a life of requiring constant assistance with lifting, walking up and down steps, and even bathing and showering. It is important to put distance between you and the rising morbidities that are associated with this lifestyle such as heart diseases, cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes and more. Even if genetics are in play with current life, living a healthier life will aid in decreasing the negative outcomes involved with chronic diseases. It all comes back to being chased by a bear, bees or a dog - you must be able to get away or you’ll be stung, bit or worse. Life happens, and if you are stronger and more conditioned physically, you worry less when inevitable sickness or accidents do happen. This all comes back to the constantly varied training we do, so that we can be more prepared for the constantly changing world around us than we would be otherwise without it. Resources: British Journal of Sports Medicine ACSM’s Health and Fitness Journal |
