Crossing the Threshold with CrossFit: Part I

CrossFit. It’s the movement everyone knows about. It’s the movement millions of people love and quite probably as many people are loving to hate.

 

What is CrossFit? Well www.crossfit.com defines it as “that which optimizes fitness: constantly varied functional movements performed at a relatively high intensity.” Their view is that the general requirements of everyday life and the variety of physical pursuits that one might want to take part in do not require specialised training routines.

 

I have to agree with that statement. There are 2 key scientific principles of Conditioning to consider: the Principle of Specificity and that of S.A.I.D. The Principle of Specificity describes that the participant should engage in activities that will specifically result in the outcome they desire. IE if you want to be a world champion chess player..you should be playing a bit of chess.. But you would probably need a bit of CrossFit to keep you sane (#justsaying). Then we get to the S.A.I.D: this is an acronym (CrossFitters love acronyms) for Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands. That is basically the reverse explanation of The Principle of Specificity. It means that you will become most proficient at that which you spend the most time practising.

 

How do these principles support the argument for a generalised strength AND conditioning program? Surely that is an oxymoron? General cannot be specific and vice versa? It’s simple; most people don’t need or want to be the world’s strongest man or the world’s best long distance runner. Most people just want to have fun “getting fitter” and learning to do stuff they couldn’t do before. Most people don’t want Globo Gym scenarios where they’re bombarded with bullshit and rudeness. They want to be in a place with friendly like-minded people. They want a community. Which for me is CrossFit’s real secret recipe for success:  CrossFit is the community that spontaneously arises when people do these workouts together (www.crossfit.com). People don’t want to go and workout only to get stronger or run further or look good naked. Why can’t you have fun doing all of these things together and make new friends in the process?

 

You can, you don’t need CrossFit to do that for you, make no mistake, but CrossFit is a much more fun and direct way of getting what you want out of your body. And out of your life. And if you’re anything like me, you need the extreme in order to function. I need to know that I can go and out myself through hell, to push my mind and body to its breaking point. Just to know it’s there. And then to go past that pain into a happy place. And fuck me but it’s great to be able to do that with a group of people who want you to get to that place for yourself. That’s why I CrossFit.

check out www.reebokcrossfitdurbs.co.za for a great bunch of people.