Wednesday, July 15th 2015
After yesterday’s long workout, we are back to going short and fast today. If you’re curious as to why we constantly mix up the time domains, this is very much done by design. For you nerds out there, read on. Otherwise you can just ‘trust us’ on this one! In CrossFit we maintain that building one’s fitness is based on increasing work capacity across broad time and modal domains. Broad time refers to all length of duration of effort. Whether that be five seconds, five minutes, one hour, or three days. Broad modal domains refers to all variety of activity. That would include as many and varied activities as possible. It could be sprinting, running a marathon, maximum weight squat, maximum number of body weight squats in 5 minutes, throwing a ball, shoveling dirt, riding a bike, swimming and the list is near endless. For many athletes their training exists in a very narrow pathway. For example, the triathlete is considered by many to be the worlds fittest athlete. However the triathlete is very well trained in only one of the three metabolic pathways that fuel all human activity. They are experts when it comes to long, steady duration efforts. Any effort they are confronted with outside of their specialty of long, steady duration is going to present a significant challenge that they are not trained for. On the other end of the spectrum, lets look at a power lifter with a 1000 lb squat. This athlete is a specialist in a super short duration event. Any effort longer than what he trains for will again present significant difficulty given his overall level of fitness. The lesson to take away here is, the breadth and depth of a persons fitness will only be parallel to the breadth and depth of their training stimulus. At CrossFit, that’s why you will find short, middle and long distance work outs. We are seeking to be the proverbial jack of all trades-master at none. You will find greater overall fitness in working to become a decent sprinter, a good power lifter, a good Olympic lifter, and a good gymnast, than if you pursue mastery in any one of these areas. If you wish to excel in any given sport then make no mistake, you will need to specialize to achieve it. As always, specialization comes with a cost to one’s overall level of fitness. This is not a matter of judgement it is just the way things work. At Crossfit our specialty is in not specializing. CrossFit is the best way to prepare for anything life may throw at you — both the known AND the unknown.
