It's time for another post related to Strength and Conditioning stuff. This one isn't about my training specifically but rather, my gripes regarding the culture of the S&C field. There is definitely some tension between the growing CF giant and the rest of the strength and conditioning world. As someone who appreciates conventional S+C methods and Crossfit, it pisses me off. It's completely unnecessary and counterproductive and I've come to realize that both parties are at fault.
I no longer consider myself a "crossfitter" in the purest sense of the word. There was a time when I followed CF.com's programming religiously and just wanted to increase my work capacity across broad time and modal domains. My current training has developed more of a focus on functional strength and size, while still keeping an eye on my conditioning. However, I coach at a Crossfit gym and Crossfit's methodology heavily influences my own training. As does the work of Mark Rippetoe, Jim Wendler, Robb Wolf, John Welbourn, Christopher Somers, Jason Ferrugia and many others that I can't think of at the moment. I also still regularly read the CF Journal. So, I'm highly entrenched in the "Crossfit community" but I'm certainly not as big of a kool-aid drinker as I once was.
In recent years I've begun to explore and appreciate the real world of Strength and Conditioning, outside of Crossfit. This is a result of my pursuit of an undergraduate degree in Exercise Science combined with reading a lot of T-nation, EliteFTS, 70s big, Jason Feruggia's blog, StartingStrength.com and others. So, at this point in my development as a strength coach I kind of feel like I don't particularly belong in either camp. I'm enough of a S&C guy to feel a bit alien in the CF world, but my CF background makes me feel a bit out of place around S&C folks. It irritates the hell out of me to see each of these groups taking shots at the other. As an unbiased third party who sees the good in both, allow me to mediate.
Dear Crossfitters,
The reason S&C people don't respect CF is because you've bastardized the knowledge that the S&C community has spent decades honing and developing and now because of the way this knowledge has been rearranged, many of you think you're doing something revolutionary. I've got news for you. High intensity training, compound barbell lifts, kettlebells and gymnastics exercises have been around forever. Where the hell do you think Greg Glassman got all this stuff from? Just because you didn't read about these movements in Men's Health doesn't mean there haven't been legitimate underground strength coaches using these techniques with their athletes for a long time.
Also, the vast majority of CF'ers are pitifully weak. Just because you're "strong enough" to use the prescribed load in a workout doesn't mean that you're actually "strong". The name of this field is "strength and conditioning" for a reason. Strength comes first because it has a greater carry-over to other aspects of fitness. Conditioning is a hell of a lot more effective if there is already some strength in place. If you're a male who is 5'9'' 150 lbs and you're 1RM squat is 225 lbs the last thing you need to be doing are 20 minute conditioning suckfests like "Cindy" or the "Filthy Fifty". Do a basic linear progression and GET STRONG! Learn how to perform the lifts properly while you're at it. Crossfitters are notorious for poor technique, especially in the Olympic lifts. If your power clean is ugly, doing 30 reps as fast as possible will not help. Mobility work and deliberate practice of the skill, however, will.
The Crossfit vernacular is another thing that annoys traditional S&C people. What you refer to as a "WOD", the rest of the S&C world calls "conditioning". Also, please stop shitting on movements that you consider "non-functional". I was doing one arm DB Rows on a flat bench at CF Durham one day when another gym-goer (a CF'er) remarked, "DB Rows? Get the fuck out of my gym!" Really? Why aren't DB rows an acceptable exercise? Is it because you've never seen them mentioned in the CF Journal and that is your only source of information regarding what is and isn't good training? They seem just as much of a compound movement as bodyweight rows on the rings, which are certainly "CF approved." Big, strong people have been using DB rows to get big and strong for a long time. Now, just because Greg Glassman doesn't include them in his programming, they're useless? Why don't you do a little research, maybe try them out and then decide for yourself. This whole thing is starting to feel a lot like organized religion.
CF was created by Greg Glassman looking at various areas of the strength and conditioning field and synthesizing his own program by taking the exercises and principles he found most useful and putting them together. Instead of just buying into everything he does, why don't you go through the same journey that he did? Figure out how powerlifters get so damn strong and see what you can use from their world. Train like a gymnast for a few months and examine what that does to your work capacity. Try things that aren't "CF" in the strictest sense of the word. You'll realize that there's a whole world of training knowledge that you've been neglecting just because it didn't make it through Glassman's filter.
Ok, non-CF S&C community, it's your turn.
I know it's easy to hate Crossfit for all the reasons I mentioned above but try to see the big picture. Mark Rippetoe has been quoted saying, "My own opinion of Greg [Glassman] is that he has done more to legitimize actual training in the minds of the public than any other person since Arthur Jones destroyed it in the mid-70s." (Arthur Jones is the guy who came up with the Nautilus system.) As usual, Rip is absolutely right. Crossfit has more people than ever before doing compound, functional movements and focusing on performance as much as appearance. This is a HUGE step in the right direction. You may not like some of the things CF does or the way that it does them but it's generating an interest in Powerlifting and Olympic Weightlifting that is unprecedented. It's helping to get the general public to realize that a marathon isn't the ultimate test of fitness. Crossfit is a gateway fitness program that helps bridge the gap between Muscle and Fitness bullshit and real, old-school underground strength training that actually works for people. That is exactly what it did for me. If it weren't for Crossfit I might be doing BOSU ball squats and cable crosses instead of Cleans and weighted pull-ups.
Speaking of pull-ups, CF's "kipping pull-up" gets a lot of shit from the rest of the S&C world. Understand that everything Crossfit does, it does for a reason. The kipping pull-up is an excellent conditioning tool and a good developer of coordination. If pure upper body pulling strength is what you're after, stick with dead hangs but kipping pull-ups do have their place. Like I told the Crossfitters about DB Rows, incorporate them into your program and see how you like the stimulus.
I think that Crossfit's definition of fitness is genius because it is so tangible and it promotes a balanced approach to training, which is a good thing. Don't get so wrapped up in getting stronger that you let every other aspect of fitness go to shit. At the same time, don't do so much conditioning that you impede your strength gains. The majority of athletes a S&C coach works with will need some kind of a blend of physical traits to perform optimally in their sport. Football players need to be strong, but anaerobic capacity and muscle endurance also play a part. A soccer player needs some strength but also requires a great deal of aerobic capacity and muscle endurance. Understanding how to design a program so these physical traits can be co-developed is a useful skill for a S&C coach.
It also can't be denied that top tier Crossfit Games competitors are incredible athletes. These men and women are capable of performing tasks that are just as impressive as Strongman, Oly and Powerlifting champions. Just because the sport of Crossfit is in it's infancy doesn't make it any less valid. And, if you really consider yourself a good S&C coach, would you not be excited if an athlete enlisted your help to train them for the Crossfit games? Personally, I think the challenge of developing every aspect of a person's fitness equally is a fun one to tackle. So please, stop scoffing at CF like it's Tae-bo.
No comments:
Post a Comment