By Michael FitzGerald

            Up to this point in my life, I have worked in the fitness industry for merely 2 years. Which is a very short time. However, during this time I have been blessed to come across probably the greatest thing – in my opinion – to happen to fitness since barbells. And that thing can be summed up in one word – CrossFit! CrossFit is a fitness program developed long ago by Greg Glassman, and only recently has reached popular discussion in the fitness industry. This method of training can be simplified into one sentence. Constantly varied, functional movements, executed at high intensity. Seems simple, yet this sentence can spawn a weekends worth of discussion and learning. How do you vary them? What movements are used? And most importantly, how do you perform them correctly? All these questions, and much more, are answered on the main page – crossfit.com, and during their weekend certification seminars. In this article, I will not answer those specific questions.

            Back to business, or fitness for that matter. CrossFit has given a lot of things to me as a personal trainer. Number one, my favourite sport (yes, I said sport).  Next, CrossFit has provided a rock solid definition of what fitness is, and who is fit. This is something that I heard nothing about during my undergraduate years. First off, by CrossFit’s definition, fitness has 10 components – Cardiovascular/Respiratory Endurance, Stamina, Strength, Flexibility, Power, Speed, Coordination, Agility, Balance, and Accuracy.  An individual who is lacking in any of these components is lacking fitness. By becoming competent in each of these components, you will most likely improve in nearly every measurable facet of performance. This provided that you are doing constantly varied, functional movements, executed at high intensity. From this, CrossFit would suggest, and I agree, that the greatest tri-athlete on the planet is nowhere near the fittest person on the planet. They are masters of Cardiovascular/Respiratory endurance (one component), and not unusually stinkers on every other component of fitness. Secondly, another part of CrossFit’s unique style is that it allows me to measure fitness empirically. All that is needed, usually, is a stop watch and a pen and paper. Work capacity across broad time, and modal domains – that is how CrossFit measures fitness. Whoever can correctly complete the most work, in the shortest time, regardless of the type of activity, is the fittest.

           But, why constantly varied, why functional movements, and why execute them at high intensity (another article)? Because you should. Not a good enough answer? Okay, well because the majority of exercisers are not specialists, or at least they shouldn’t be – unless you are making some serious dough. They are not simply runners, bikers, swimmers, MMA fighters, Olympic lifters, power lifters, bicep curlers, or any other speciality. Each of these examples sorely lacks well rounded fitness. Funny enough, the CrossFit specialty is NOT specializing. When exercise “correctly” follows the CrossFit method – constantly varied, functional movements, executed at high intensity – exercise has more variety, more fun, it is more effective, there are less overuse injuries, less overtraining, and there is more variety (did I already mention that). With CrossFit programming, you can improve at things (specific exercises, running, rowing, other sports, etc.), and not specifically train for it – this is what a broad system yields. The basis of this is work capacity. The greater your work capacity across broad time, and modal domains, the better you will perform.

           Before I finish the article, I will leave you with one last thing about this type of fitness. It is called the Black Box theory of fitness. It is basically an experiment. Examine what you have at point A, and then find out if anything changed when you reach point B. You don’t really need to concern yourself with what occurs within the body to cause the change, just be aware if a changed occurred. This is what all good personal trainers should be doing anyway – empirically assessing performance. So, experiment number 1 – an individual, experienced or inexperienced, comes to me. This person, on day 1, can run 400m in 85 seconds, do 8 push-ups from their toes, complete 15 double unders in 1 min, deadlift 200lbs, and bench press 100lbs. Six weeks later with CrossFit programming and the results are: run 400m in 79 sec, do 20 push-ups from their toes, complete 40 double unders in 1 min, deadlift 250lbs, and bench press 125lbs. I think that is damn good. Why does this happen? More importantly, why does this happen even when the individual would NOT practice for those specific tests, or practice very little, during the 6 week training phase. Because, the individual improved in each of the 10 components of fitness. Because, they improved their work capacity across broad times and modal domains. Because, the individual is now fitter. This is the common theme across most sports, and how to flourish in those sports for many years. This Black Box theory can yield many other examples, for now one will suffice. The best thing though, is that each and every day I get to test this theory, and I rarely get a negative result.

There is more to come...