Hey guys,
I asked one of my best friends from high school to give me his thoughts on my CrossFit post and he was nice enough to oblige with an extremely poignant and thoughtful email. He is a Captain in the United States Army and is also a CrossFit certified trainer (read: he’s in ridiculous shape). He has gone through their training and is as knowledgeable about their beliefs and systems as anyone you’ll meet. We agreed on some parts, disagreed on others but I thought it would be interesting to post his thoughts in its entirety since he’s got some great insight.
I have also responded with my final thoughts at the end.
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Dave –
OK, a consolidation of thoughts on CrossFit. I’m trying to be as objective as possible, as you would probably consider me drunk with the kool-aid. Frankly, after doing CF for two years and attending a certification, I admit, I am addicted. Here’s why:
CrossFit’s foundation is actually not the same as P90X, or at least not how you explained. I don’t do P90X and I don’t know much about it, so I can only speak to how you explained its foundations. CF’s foundations are constantly varied/functional movement/high intensity. Constantly varied has a little more depth than muscle confusion. While the exercises are constantly different (muscle confusion?), constantly varied means that it can be a P90X or Filthy Fifty style workout one day, a 5K run the next, or a max deadlift workout the next. Filthy Fifty workouts are called METCON workouts in the CF community, or metabolic conditioning workouts. If someone is doing METCON workouts everyday, they aren’t doing CF.
For example, I did the following workouts over the past three days:
For time:
50 pullups
500m row
21 thrusters, 95 lbs.
750m row
21 thrusters, 95 lbs
500m row
50 pullups
***
Front squat, max weight
3 reps x 5 sets
***
For time:
21 reps 225 lbs deadlift
21 reps handstand pushups
15 reps 225 lbs deadlift
15 reps handstand pushups
9 reps 225 lbs deadlift
9 reps handstand pushups
***
I don’t see many P90Xers knocking out 225 lb deadlifts for time, but I could be wrong. I won’t concentrate on that, though, because I can’t knock something I haven’t given a solid shot at.
Therefore, I disagree with your PROs and CONs. First, CF is not structured to be “good” for anything. The goal of CF is very clear: specificity is the enemy – CF calls it General Physical Preparedness, or GPP. It will not make you a great triathlete, a great bodybuilder, a great olympic lifter, or an expert in anything. It will, however, make you damn good at almost anything life can throw at you – if you take it seriously. Second, CF makes it very clear that the foundation of everything is nutrition, and strongly advocates the “Zone” or “Paleo” diet. I would disagree that its going to do shit for you in terms of weight loss or health unless you are building on a strong foundation of nutrition, which I believe is the biggest problem with the average American looking to get fit. CFers are a little bit crazy because they have integrated CF into many aspects of their life, especially nutrition. You mentioned gymnastics, so this is where CFers believe gymnastics (movement of bodyweight) works into the scheme. The progression looks likes this: Nutrition – Metabolic Conditioning – Gymnastics – Weight Lifting – Sports.
What’s different about CF is that unlike other programs, is that it very clearly defines a word that we throw out there quite a bit: fitness. The definition of fitness they use is:
- Endurance
- Stamina
- Strength
- Flexibility
- Power
- Speed
- Coordination
- Agility
- Balance
- Accuracy
This definition is their point of departure to which the workouts are tailored. What CF claims is that their program is a constantly evolving system that is based on pure results. The results they are looking for are listed above, in the definition of fitness. Top athletes, such as MMA fighters, olympic skiers, olympic lifters, pro football players, use CF when they are not attempting to achieve specificity in their sport. So I disagree that it is not good for team sports, especially with the development of CF Football, which makes a conscious decision to add more weightlifting to achieve some specificity in power/strength areas, but still keeps everything fairly constantly varied because a lot of different things can happen on a football field. I’m not sure what’s going on with baseball players not needing overhead lifts, but I don’t think its necessary to debate that point too much. After reading about what throwing a baseball for your whole life does to your shoulder, I would say it’s more about baseball screwing up your shoulders than the lifts. But I digress.
You are right about CF not being for everyone, though. It is not for people that like their comfort zone or exercises they are good at, it’s not for people who want to “practice” at exercising, as many of the moves take practice, and on average, it’s just plain harder than anything I’ve ever done in any sport, the military, or a workout program. Let’s face it, most Americans aren’t willing to put the hard work in that’s necessary to be fit – and if they were, they wouldn’t need CF, just getting their fat asses into a gym for a couple minutes a week and having a disciplined diet would do the trick. CF forms this little cult of people that are willing to leave everything out on the gym floor, everyday.
You are also totally right about the camaraderie and competition aspects of the program. For those and the other above mentioned reasons, I integrated many of the CF workouts into the physical training I do with my Soldiers. It makes exercising a sport, which is great for former athletes like us that miss that stuff.
A final point about cost. I don’t go to CF gym, and CF is an open-source workout program. There simply isn’t a more generous program like it out there. Greg Glassman came to Fort Hood last month and donated $30,000 of equipment to the post for CF gyms. When I move, I will join a CF gym. Simply put, some CF exercises are difficult enough that someone watching your form and getting you better everyday is beneficial enough for me to pay the higher fees. Also, my Globo Gym, Gold’s Gym, doesn’t have all the stuff I want – Rowing machines, ropes, bumper plates, etc. I know a CF affiliate will have it.
There aren’t P90X gyms popping up all over the country, but there are hundreds of CF affiliates that are making quite a bit of headway. We can debate that Glassman didn’t “invent” exercises, but he did come up with something worthy of a solid try for anyone who is looking for GPP. Sure, he’s making money, but most good ideas do. I recommend to anyone that really wants to try CF needs to give it two solid months, then compare it to their current program for “fitness,” if their current program even defines fitness – which most don’t. Most people just dabble in and out of CF, and then find a reason it doesn’t fit them. My Soldiers have a love/hate relationship with CF. They hate how hard it is, but love the results.
I think we basically agree, its not for a client if their goal to rapidly put on size and strength. But is that fitness? I personally have found a ton of success in CF. It makes me better at everything else I do at life, especially as a member of the military. I swung a golf club for the first time in five years and found that the core strength and accuracy CF built was crucial in helping me hold my own against guys that play all the time. It makes me a better wakeboarder, skiier, shooter, and flag football player. Most of the special operations community in the military has found the same thing.
Be careful perscribing a CF to a newbie, especially people who thing they are pretty “fit.” It can be such a shock to their system when they realize that they are not as “fit” as they think they are, and rhabdomyolysis is a possibility. But like I said, its not for everyone…
I hope this helps in your quest to educate. Just trying to give a perspective from a CFer that I hope has a balanced look at what CF is and what CF isn’t. Feel free to run my email by another CF certified trainer see what they say.
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Here are my reactions to his extremely well argued email.
1) “Therefore, I disagree with your PROs and CONs. First, CF is not structured to be “good” for anything. The goal of CF is very clear: specificity is the enemy”
DT: True, however specificity is EXACTLY what some people are looking for. While I agree their programming is excellent in that it promotes being well-rounded, the reality is that some people are not looking for that. Some people say, “I want a bigger chest and bigger arms”, “I want to bench 300 lbs”, “I want to improve my 60 yard dash time”. I think you and I agree that those folks are missing the boat on overall fitness, but that is for the individual to decide. For those goals, you need an extremely specific plan which CrossFit cannot provide.
2) “I think we basically agree, its not for a client if their goal to rapidly put on size and strength. But is that fitness?”
DT: Yes, I think that is definitely fitness. There are people whose jobs demand peak strength such as construction workers, barbacks, movers, laborers, etc. This is my main problem with CrossFit, the mentality it instills in its followers is that their view is superior, when in real life there are a LOT of people who need something as straight forward as increased strength to perform better at work.
3) “I personally have found a ton of success in CF. It makes me better at everything else I do at life, especially as a member of the military. I swung a golf club for the first time in five years and found that the core strength and accuracy CF built was crucial in helping me hold my own against guys that play all the time. It makes me a better wakeboarder, skiier, shooter, and flag football player.”
DT: We completely agree on the fact that it is outstanding for people who just want to live a better, healthier and more energetic life. I still maintain that athletes need power-based, sport-specific movements. CrossFit will make you more athletic but won’t necessarily help you push a lineman back 5 yards.
4) “A final point about cost. I don’t go to CF gym, and CF is an open-source workout program. There simply isn’t a more generous program like it out there. Greg Glassman came to Fort Hood last month and donated $30,000 of equipment to the post for CF gyms.”
DT: Great insight.
5) “I would disagree that its going to do shit for you in terms of weight loss or health unless you are building on a strong foundation of nutrition, which I believe is the biggest problem with the average American looking to get fit.”
DT: Fair enough and I like your argument on proper nutrition. However, in order for something to even pretend to help you lose weight, it has to get your body to a thermogenic state where it is using fat as a fuel source. The science is there, CrossFit gets your heart to that rate, so yes, it will promote fat loss. Wait, I just made the argument for my friend…you tricked me!
6) “I recommend to anyone that really wants to try CF needs to give it two solid months, then compare it to their current program for “fitness,” if their current program even defines fitness – which most don’t”.
DT: Completely agree. Great point.
7) “I integrated many of the CF workouts into the physical training I do with my Soldiers”.
DT: Just wanted to point out the fact that he capitalized ‘Soldiers’. I don’t know if this was intentional or not, but I absolutely noticed it and loved it. Men and women like my friend deserve our utmost respect, and the fact that my friend learned CrossFit so he could better prepare his men and women for war speaks volume about a) quality of the program and b) quality of the individual. That’s all.
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The final takeaway for CrossFit still stands on this site: IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR OUT OF YOUR GOAL. I completely agree with my friend, CrossFit kicks serious ass for the vast majority of people looking to get in top shape – we are really just debating the finer details of the program. You have all of the information you need between my and my friends’ post, so at the very least give it a shot and see if it fits you.
-DT
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