By Guest Blogger Paula Jager, CSCS
If you have been following the hierarchy of the CrossFit methodology on this blog, you began with a solid nutritional foundation (molecular) and we’ve built from there with metabolic conditioning (cardiovascular sufficiency), gymnastics (body control) and weightlifting (external object control). At the summit or top of the triangle would be the mastery and applicability to sport and life.
Sport plays a wonderful role in fitness. It’s the application of our fitness in an atmosphere of competition. While our training routine is somewhat predictable repetitive movements of the top ten general physical skills it leaves limited room for the application of these skills which is our motivation for the development of them. Sports and games like football, baseball, tennis and basketball in contrast to our workouts have more varied and less predictable movements. Sport is better at expression and testing of skills than it is at developing these skills. Both development and expression are crucial elements to our success in sport. Sport, in many respects more closely mimics the demands of life than does our training. Engaging in regular sports efforts in addition to strength and conditioning work will also make us better able to meet the demands of life.
Every training routine contains within its structure a blueprint for deficiency. If you only lift heavy weights for low reps you will gain strength but not endurance. If you only lift light weights for high reps you won’t build the same strength or power you would at low reps. There are advantages and disadvantages to working out slowly, quickly, high weight, low weight, “cardio” before, “cardio” after, etc.
For the overall fitness that CrossFit pursues every aspect within your training needs to be modulated to widen the stimulus as much as possible. Your body will only respond to a stressor to which it is unaccustomed; routine is the enemy of progress. Don’t subscribe to high reps, low reps, long rest or short rest but strive for variance. Training to become a better weightlifter, a stronger gymnast and faster runner, rower or cyclist is the answer. There are many different routines that will deliver the results.
One of our favorite workout patterns at CF Jaguar is to warm up thoroughly and then perform 3 to 5 sets of a basic movement at a moderately heavy weight and a moderately comfortable pace followed by a 5 to 15 minute blistering circuit of gymnastics elements, lighter weights, metabolic conditioning intervals or a combo thereof. Nothing is carved in granite; the magic is in the movements not the routine. Creativity is key.
Another favorite is to blend gymnastics and weightlifting in a couplet for a thorough metabolic challenge, or weightlifting and metabolic conditioning. On a different day we’ll take 5 or 6 elements balanced between weightlifting, metabolic conditioning and gymnastics in a single circuit and blow through it 3 times without a break. No day is ever the same; additionally we have a penchant for jumping, odd object lifting and obstacle course work. The recurring theme is functionality and variety. Finally, the distinction between “cardio” and strength training is a blur. Life has no regards for this distinction and neither do most sports.
Rest must also be a factor to be considered. Anymore than three consecutive days of workouts with maximum intensities will not allow you maximum recovery which is necessary for sustainability. While you may be thinking this is great for athletes and very fit people–what about older and “deconditioned” people? There is no difference between the needs an Olympic athlete and my 83 year old mother. One is looking for functional dominance the other for functional competence. They both manifest through the same physiological mechanisms.
We’ve used the same routines for an older individual with heart disease as we have for an athlete one month out from competition. We merely scale the load and the intensity; we don’t change the program. While many athletes do have needs specific to their sport, the bulk of sport specific training has been quite ineffective. The need for specificity is nearly always met with regular practice and training within the sport not in the strength and conditioning environment. Life is no different; our military personnel, firefighters, mountain bikers and business people have found their best fitness from this same regimen.
If you want to excel in the athletic arena, become more functional in your daily activities, ward off age related degenerative diseases or just improve your life in general make CrossFit your lifestyle. Test your limits; discover what you are made of physically and mentally and prepare for the game of life–while life itself becomes a sport.
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Paula Jager CSCS and Level 1 CrossFit and CF Nutrition Certified is the owner of CrossFit Jaguar.
Her exercise and nutrition programs yield life changing results
Josh,
I will definitely check it out, thank you!
Hi Eric,
There are many methods to fitness of which CF is only one; the “safety” of any method is more a product of the abilities and techniques of the instructor or athlete but you are right this can be debated. . .
I will state it again: every training routine contains within its structure a blueprint for deficiency but I will define that term as implied. If a marathon runner trains solely in the aerobic realm he may very well develop excellent cardio respiratory fitness but he will be deficient in strength. On the other hand if a power lifter trains solely for strength he will indeed be strong but deficient in endurance. To excel at any sport you must to a considerable degree train with some specificity but not to the degree that everything else is neglected or you will limit your full potential. While the article dealt with sports the main focus was the sport of life and the applicability of preparedness for it to the average Jane & Joe.
The very nature of CF and its inherent strength is to not be the strongest or have the best endurance but to have overall fitness, which is required to survive or rather thrive in the game of life. To be prepared for whatever may come your way on a daily basis; thus the popularity with the military, law enforcement officers and firefighters. And yes, any athlete involved in a sport definitely needs some specific training of which CF can be a part. I would not have baseball, football or basketball players run a 10k nor would I completely ignore the need for a small amount of cardio respiratory fitness.
I cannot speak for the 1700 + CF affiliates but I can tell your misinformed friend this; our programming is designed to impact lives and while the group classes are for general physical preparedness they are far from “babysitting”. There is a high level of coaching employed with strict emphasis on form and technique. It not only improves their fitness but their lives in general. I have also trained several excellent athletes for various sports; while they most definitely train specifically for the skills required in the sport the strength and conditioning aspect–a fine tuning of the same principles and tailored for their needs brought them to levels not previously achieved. It was the “proper knowledge, assessments skills and programming of the coach” as well as the drive and talent of the athlete that got them there. And while not the only path it is unwise to not acknowledge the efficacy of the CF methodology.
And FTR I don’t eat cake
Paula
Hi, hope it's OK to contact you here. We would love to include your blog on our giveaway search engine: Giveaway Scout ). Have a look and if interested, use our online form to add your blog ). thanks, Josh
My pleasure 🙂
Thanks for taking the time to write this comment, Eric. I very much appreciate your perspective.
I agree wholeheartedly with the idea of giving every day "misters and misses" the opportunity to work out using a variety of methods (whether this is through CF or other and possibly inherently safer and more structured methods; this can be debated…).
I would be very careful in stating the following however: "Every training routine contains within its structure a blueprint for deficiency." We need to define deficiency if so. As your article is dealing with sports and athletes in particular, one has to be careful not to apply the training methodologies of your average gym-goer with the very specific needs of athletes who, essentially by choice, require more specificity.
There's a Hungarian proverb that says: "If you only have one ass, you can't sit on two horses." So basically, if you try to do everything in your workout, you get a lot less accomplished. This is but the reality of the SAID principle… And because of the very nature of CF, its inherent weakness is just that: you will never be good or great at anything specific, just average at everything. If that's your piece of cake, fine 🙂
I agree with your statement: "Sports and games like football, baseball, tennis and basketball in contrast to our workouts have more varied and less predictable movements." Yet, these less predictable elements are still within the realm of relatively specific conditions. Baseball players have no business of going for a 10km run, any more than tennis players should swim (enough shoulder issues already…) or basketball players should take up long-distance cycling.
The goal of the majority of sports athletes ARE very specific, and therefore their training should reflect that (that doesn't entail redundancy, far from it). This is where proper knowledge, assessment skills and programming of the coach or trainer come in. As a friend of mine has said before, simply writing a program on one dry erase board for hundreds of athletes isn’t training; it’s babysitting. And I believe that to be true for most athletes.
Perpetual General Physical Preparedness for the general population is one thing, but I think it is unwise to try and apply those principles to sports and their practitionners who, by definition, are specialists.
In health,
Éric