Workout of the Day:
“CrossFit Total”
Three attempts for one rep max of each of the following:
Back Squat
Shoulder Press
Deadlift

Strongman Barry is a deadlifting machine!

The Reunification of Fitness
Written by Mike Hom 

“Hey, are you going to lift or CrossFit today?” 

I find it interesting how many people still separate CrossFit from other training protocols. Most people think of Met-Con (Metabolic Conditioning) workouts when they think of CrossFit. But CrossFit’s framework is not about a specific type of training; it’s an adaptable, organic system that takes all effective training modalities into consideration, allowing people the opportunity to concurrently train in multiple disciplines. 

Since CrossFit has spread across the world, many people have been introduced, or reintroduced, to a broad, general and inclusive fitness model. This model aims to give people the tools and direction to develop your physical preparedness for all walks of life. For those that haven’t studied this fitness model, please read Coach Greg Glassman’s “What is Fitness?” (http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ-trial.pdf). 

In short, CrossFit’s fitness model predicates results based on the following ten physical skills: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, accuracy.

CrossFit does not claim credit for developing the multi-modality physical conditioning program. In fact, the seeds for CrossFit were laid decades ago, notably within the old Eastern Bloc of the former Soviet Union. 

Athletes that came out of the former Soviet Union in the 70s and 80s were some of the most talented athletes in the world across many disciplines. What helped them achieve elite physical competence was their approach to training. One aspect of their training system was to concurrently train several motor skills (such as the ten physical skills in CrossFit’s fitness model). This multi-faceted approach to skill development provided a physiological and neurological foundation for building future skills, should an athlete go on to specialize in a sport. 

This multi-facted approach is also outlined in Mel Siff’s “Supertraining”, which involved “parallel training of several means or motor abilities, such as strength, speed, and endurance, over the same period, with the intention of producing multi-faceted development of physical fitness. This method is based on experimental evidence that adaptation elicited by the separate components of the complex training work is not simply a summation of the separate training effects, but the synergistic result of the interaction of the effects of each stage of training. This interaction produces a new physical state with a significantly greater work potential than would have results from the non-systematicuse of the same means, even at increased volume.”

Does any of this sound familiar to you? 

CrossFit’s approach to fitness builds on the foundation set by strength and conditioning pioneers decades ago. It provides a framework that allows an individual to simultaneously utilize many different and effective training disciplines (e.g., weightlifting, gymnastics, calisthenics, etc.) to develop and increase work capacity.

Furthermore, CrossFit shares Bruce Lee’s approach of “casting off what is useless” to ensure a continuously improving fitness system with infinite flexibility and adaption. This philosophy revolutionized martial arts without creating any new “style”:  “I have not invented a ‘new style,’ composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from ‘this’ method or ‘that’ method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds.” – Bruce Lee on developing Jeet Kune Do 

So while Coach Glassman might not have invented anything new, he deserves credit for unifying a disconnected world of fitness and continuing to promote a system that ensures athletic success for any individual.