On our last rest day post, we covered the 10 General Physical Skills. Today we'll cover another standard in CrossFit which is actually more of a concept and idea, rather than a set doctrine of principles.
The idea is that we should strive towards a level of fitness that allows us to perform, excel at and complete any task rather than just being great at long/slow/distance efforts, big/heavy/strong tasks and or strictly specializing in one art or sport.
A great analogy for this model is the use of a 'hopper'. Instead of bingo balls with letters and numbers on them, each ball in the hopper will have random physical feats attached to them ranging from movements and exercises found in any gym (to include set/rep/load scheme), and as varied as sport-specific challenges and races. You will be tasked to perform random feats that are drawn from the hopper - what comes out is what you get. CrossFit's contention is that your level of fitness can be measured by your ability to perform well at these tasks in relation to other individuals. He or she that performs well at these random tasks from the hopper, is deemed the fittest of the group. We imply that your overall fitness requires you to perform well at all tasks, even those that are unfamiliar and unknown, as well as tasks combined in various and infinite combinations - there are no limitations.
So how does one prepare for what is unknown & unknowable? By performing constantly varied, functional movement and conducting them at a relatively high intensity. Keeping in mind the 10 general physical skills and the idea of improving our capacity at those we are weak at, this formula has been proven to be the best in implementation and practice. What this inevitably does is encourage you to do away with the whole separate-isolation-workout scheme you are probably accustomed to. The key here is that we are seeking a GENERAL physical prepared fitness program. We do not specialize. In order to remain true to this common thread, we must follow this mantra. The majority of society and the general population needs this type of strength & conditioning. Our goal is to transfer our skills, strengths and abilities into everyday life. We must prepare ourselves for anything and everything because nature itself provides unforeseeable challenges. How do we accomplish this? By being broad, general, inclusive and constantly varied.
The CrossFit Games are a perfect example of this fitness model. As a matter of fact, the hopper was used to determine an event at the first CrossFit Games held in 2007. Fast forward to the most recent Games held earlier this month, a new spin & twist was added to the final event when Dave Castro, CrossFit Director of Training/Games, didn't inform the competitors what there task was until 30 seconds prior to performing them. Unknown & unknowable to the 10th power!
What we're seeing now is that more and more individuals and groups are claiming to be better than what CrossFit has to offer. That the program they have created, invented and devised is bigger, faster and stronger. A quick look & study of their programming is haphazard at most and so random that there is no common denominator at best, or is CrossFit through and through. Yet when tasked with physical varied and random tasks in various rep schemes, movements and combinations, these same individuals falter in competition against other CrossFit athletes. They're reasoning is that its due to 'CrossFit workouts' at the hands of the person conducting the programming...but they contradict themselves by performing the same movements and exercises themselves that are utilized by CrossFit athletes. Go figure. There is no need to re-invent the wheel and call it something else.
The term itself, 'unknown & unknowable' has been critiqued and misunderstood - to an extent. Some contend that the CrossFit workout of the day, or WOD, should always be unknown & unknowable. In my humble opinion, I agree, partly. What makes this program remarkable is that our efforts and performances are measurable, observable and repeatable. Every single movement, rep and workout we do is tracked and data is accumulated. Because of this, we must, on occasion, repeat certain training methods and workouts previously performed so that we can compare our current stats against our previous stats. This is the whole reasoning for having 'benchmark' and baseline workouts. The unknown & unknowable concept can be implemented into a WOD, and definitely keeps with the constantly varied aspect of the program, however, unknown & unknowable for CrossFitters pertains to what life and nature has in store for us, not so much a methodology to be utilized in every workout scheme, everyday.
No comments:
Post a Comment