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CrossFit M-F
5 AM
8 AM
2:45 PM
4 PM
5:15 PM
6:30 PM
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5:15 PM
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5:15 PM
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9:30 AM
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Forging Elite Fitness along the MS coast!
I am a CrossFi
WHAT IS FITNESS?
Merriam Webster's definition:
1. the quality or state of being fit
2. the capacity of an organism to survive and transmit its genotype to reproductive offspring as compared to competing organisms...
These definitions leave a lot to interpret right? If you look up the definition of fitness you will most likely find variances of the first definition given: “the quality or state of being fit”, but what does that really mean?
Every year CrossFit (the sport of fitness) has something called the CrossFit games. This is where the most elite CrossFit athletes compete at the highest level until one man and one woman earn the title of “fittest on earth”. In order to boast such a title, you would think that one might want some kind of data (measurable, observable, repeatable) to back up such a claim.
Now I’m going to explain the definition of FITNESS from the CrossFit community and why we feel comfortable claiming that title over other world class athletes such as power lifters, triathletes, Olympic lifters, gymnasts, etc.
CrossFit’s most basic definition of Fitness is: work capacity, across broad time and modal domains
(What the hell does that mean right? Keep reading, and I will tell you!)
Greg Glassman, the founder of CrossFit, developed something called the CrossFit fitness model. The CrossFit fitness model is broken down into three different standards and they are as follows:
Fitness Standard 1:
There are 10 general physical skills that one must possess to be considered fit by CrossFit standards.
1. Cardiovascular/Respitory
2. Stamina
3. Endurance
4. Strength
5. Flexibility
6. Power
7. Coordination
8. Speed
9. Balance
10. Agility
Your level of fitness depends on your level of competence in each of these 10 skills, not 1, 2, or 5 of them.
Fitness Standard 2:
The essence of this model is the view that fitness is about performing well at any and every task imaginable. The implication here is that fitness requires an ability to perform well at all tasks, even unfamiliar tasks, tasks combined in infinitely varying combinations. In practice
this encourages the athlete to disinvest in any set notions of sets, rest periods, reps, exercises, order of exercises, routines, periodization, etc. Nature frequently provides largely unforeseeable challenges; train for that by striving to keep the training stimulus broad and constantly varied. This model suggests that your fitness can be measured by your capacity to perform well at any and all tasks in relation to other individuals.
Fitness Standard 3:
The 3 metabolic pathways: Phosphagen, Glycolytic, and Oxidative
phosphagen, dominates the highest-powered activities, those that last less than about ten seconds. The second pathway, the glycolytic, dominates moderate-powered activities, those that last up to several minutes. The third pathway, the oxidative, dominates low-powered activities, those that last in excess of several minutes.
Phosphagen Athletes – sprinters, Olympic lifters, power lifters (1-30 seconds of work, per session)
Glycolitic Athletes – 400m, 800m sprinters, swimmers, rowers, sports players (30 – 120 seconds of work, per session)
Oxidative Athletes – Marathon runners, long distance swimmers, long distance biking, (120 seconds of work +)
Total fitness, the fitness that CrossFit promotes and develops, requires competency and training in each of these three pathways or engines. Balancing the effects of these three pathways largely determines the how and why of the metabolic conditioning or “cardio” that we do at CrossFit. Favoring one or two to the exclusion of the others and not recognizing the impact of excessive training in the oxidative pathway is arguably the two most common faults in fitness training.
So how do these three fitness standards find common ground in defining fitness?
The motivation for the three standards is simply to ensure the broadest and most general fitness possible. Our first model evaluates our efforts against a full range of general physical adaptations, in the second the focus is on breadth and depth of performance, with the third the measure is time, power and consequently energy systems. It should be fairly clear that the fitness that CrossFit advocates and develops is deliberately broad, general, and inclusive.
CROSSFIT’S MOTTO “OUR SPECIALTY IS NOT SPECIALIZING”
CrossFit’s definition of fitness – work capacity across broad time and modal domains
Work Capacity is referring to the amount of work being done. Factors are (reps, distance traveled, distance moved in terms of weight, power, intensity, time)
Broad time is referring to any length of time or effort meaning 1 second to 10 hours.
Modal domain is referring to any and all variety of activity possible.
So what is fitness? Who are the fittest athletes on earth?
1. Triathletes - The guy who has won three Iron Man’s (oxidative athlete) that probably has less than a 20” vertical leap, that isn’t capable of lifting much more than his own weight, who struggles with performing any mobility or gymnastics type movements.
2. Power Lifters/Olympic Weight Lifters - These athletes are some of the strongest on the planet. They can be seen snatching 400lbs, clean & jerking 500lbs, deadlifting 800lbs, bench pressing 500lbs, and squatting 600lbs. These athletes struggle in other areas of fitness, such as stamina, endurance, mobility, gymnastics, etc. These athletes struggle to move large loads, over long distances, quickly.
CrossFit Athlete - The goal of a CrossFit athlete is to be the best he/she can be at all areas of fitness. A CrossFitter wants to be able to lift as much as possible, sprint as fast as possible, run a 10K, perform a 1500 meter open water swim, and still perform body weight, skill, and gymnastics type movements without any one area of fitness suffering so that another can succeed.
Rich Froning, CrossFit’s “Fittest Man on Earth”, has won the CrossFit games 4 times. Rich Froning cannot lift more than the power lifter, he cannot swim, bike, or run faster than the triathlete, he will not out perform a gymnast on the rings, he won’t outsprint a sprinter, but when all the different athletes compete in a variance of say 10 different workouts that span across all aspects of fitness, who do you think is going to shine? The guy who finishes first in the heavy lifting workouts, the guy who finishes first in the endurance workouts, or the guy who finishes consistently around the top of all workouts.
If you only train certain areas of your fitness, you are what is called a “specialist”. You specialize in what you do! A CrossFitter specializes in not specializing! He/she trains for any and all activities the mind can think up. That is why we feel confident in saying that CrossFit's elite athletes are literally the fittest on earth.
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