The Future of CrossFit?
This one is a participatory post, directed mainly toward those who CrossFit and strength train... I want to hear your thoughts.
After excitedly watching the final events in the the 2013 CrossFit Games and also watching and listening to all things Games athletes before and after, I have started to see a pattern.
The training habits of the top CrossFit Games competitors seem to be built on a foundation of a solid strength building program like Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 or Louie Simmon's Westside Barbell program. Essentially, to perform well in the Games, the Fittest people on earth are also among the strongest people on earth, arguably.
I just find this very interesting. The top CrossFit athletes are not doing primarily CrossFit. Oh, they are doing CrossFit WODs, but to get better, they aren't just doing more WODs. It seems that the top CrossFit athletes are doing structured programming for strength, with CrossFit metcons as the additional work.
Now, at the core of CrossFit philosophy is the idea that you have to train your weakness because that is where you will see the best improvement. It just seems that for many of the top Games competitors, strength seems to be a weakness.
Maybe that's not a news flash for you, but it was for me. I thought that in order to improve my WODs, I needed to WOD more. But actually, as I've gotten stronger, I'm performing better in WODs because my body is not as exhausted from the weight of the work.
So, I'd love to hear your thoughts: Will we see more CrossFit boxes adding some traditional strength and powerlifting in addition to the WOD? or was the 2013 Games just heavy on the... well... heavy weights?
Not an exhaustive list, but some articles I've been reading on training:
Rich Froning
Barbell Shrugged Interview with Julie Foucher (podcast; contains language)
Lindsey Valenzuela (from 2011)
Dan Bailey
After excitedly watching the final events in the the 2013 CrossFit Games and also watching and listening to all things Games athletes before and after, I have started to see a pattern.
The training habits of the top CrossFit Games competitors seem to be built on a foundation of a solid strength building program like Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 or Louie Simmon's Westside Barbell program. Essentially, to perform well in the Games, the Fittest people on earth are also among the strongest people on earth, arguably.
I just find this very interesting. The top CrossFit athletes are not doing primarily CrossFit. Oh, they are doing CrossFit WODs, but to get better, they aren't just doing more WODs. It seems that the top CrossFit athletes are doing structured programming for strength, with CrossFit metcons as the additional work.
Now, at the core of CrossFit philosophy is the idea that you have to train your weakness because that is where you will see the best improvement. It just seems that for many of the top Games competitors, strength seems to be a weakness.
Maybe that's not a news flash for you, but it was for me. I thought that in order to improve my WODs, I needed to WOD more. But actually, as I've gotten stronger, I'm performing better in WODs because my body is not as exhausted from the weight of the work.
So, I'd love to hear your thoughts: Will we see more CrossFit boxes adding some traditional strength and powerlifting in addition to the WOD? or was the 2013 Games just heavy on the... well... heavy weights?
Not an exhaustive list, but some articles I've been reading on training:
Rich Froning
Barbell Shrugged Interview with Julie Foucher (podcast; contains language)
Lindsey Valenzuela (from 2011)
Dan Bailey
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