The Pack Thins: Herds Head to CrossFit

CrossFit

Recently, I was reading through some blogs when I noticed something out of the ordinary.  Taylar Stallings, who is an elite 165 lbs female, stated she would be dropping out of powerlifting for a short time after competing in this year's Raw Unity Meet. What caught me off guard was her reason. She wasn't hurt or burnt out. She was dropping out of powerlifting to compete in CrossFit. It's the same story with A.J. Roberts .  A CrossFit journal entry about him leaving powerlifting came out in Oct 2012.  Why are powerlifters running to CrossFit?



I don't know too much about CrossFit. A couple of years ago I wrote a post about a 17 year old CrossFit athlete who tried to educate me in the deadlift (I was actually doing rack pulls).  Because of him I did a superficial look at it back then and even watched a competition on TV. It was a pretty intense looking endurance sport with weights involved from time to time. The form used on most strength training movements was horrific even to the point that Olympic lifts were being done with participants allowed to recover from their knees. This was hard to watch.  Needless to say, it wasn't for me (I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees ;-) So hearing about my fellow lifter's detour was a shock.

Very respected people from the world of powerlifting have CrossedOver (pun intended) to CrossFit if only to bring their own particular brand of knowledge to the high visibility, high paying world of mass marketed exercise fads.  And I think that is what really explains why athletes are rope climbing onto the CrossFit bandwagon.  Powerlifters can't make a living powerlifting, but they can make a sweet living being a CrossFit Champion sponsored boy or girl.


What happens to a strength athlete that moves into an endurance sport?

Why?!?  Seriously.  Why?!?

Let's discuss fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers to answer that question. Without getting into too much detail, let's take for granted that a powerlifter is predominantly made of fast twitch muscle fibers because the sport deals with short duration, intense bursts of strength.  Let's also assume that endurance athletes are predominantly made of slow twitch muscle fibers because their sport deals with long duration, relatively low intensity exercise. I like to think of fast twitch athletes like cheetahs and slow twitch athletes like the gazelles.  Granted, it might be an unfair use of foreshadowing, but what do you expect from an author who favors the cheetahs of this world?

There is some evidence that if you train like a gazelle you will become more like one.  The problem is there is some more evidence that shows it could be a one way street, but that's a whole other post.  The point is there is a difference between strength sports and endurance sports; it is like the difference between a cheetah and a gazelle.  This example was once used by the great Dr. Squat to describe the different attributes of strength athletes vs. endurance athletes and it is as fitting today as it was back then.  These are the two extremes of athletics. We constantly strive to find the best balance of these two qualities for our respective sports. Too much of one or the other has a negative impact on sport's prowess. 
The energy pathways utilized by the two extremes are different to the point that they literally change the athlete in very significant ways. And you can't have the best of both worlds, at least not at the same time. The training for each is also different. My totals would be much lower if I trained for my meets by doing sets of 100 reps. This falls into the whole "specific adaptation to imposed demands" theory and I've posted about it in the past. 

Trying to mix and match training goals can result in either reduced performance or injury. This seems to be what some CrossFit practitioners experience fairly regularly according to this post from Livestrong.com. Rhabdomyolysis is a kidney condition can be induced by excessive exercise. According to the post, "this potentially life-threatening state can also be caused by underlying genetics and occurs when muscle breaks down and myoglobin is released into the blood stream." Apparently, the CrossFit culture has an extreme endurance aspect that doesn't mix too well with the strength training staple lifts on which it's been built.

Money and promotion aside, one might be better off stepping in the UFC cage rather than enter this poor, mixed up CrossFit world. At least in the former, you learn the valuable skill set of hand to hand combat.  In the latter, you can learn ... well ... that one legged thing in the picture above.
Should I be surprised that with the radical financial success of training methods like PX90, Insanity workouts, and the shake weight, that a sport created by a shoe company would be so popular despite it's sometimes tragic approach to fitness? 

RealFit

No one likes to hear that the old methods to build strength and fitness worked pretty well (especially methods that can be done in $30 dollar Chucks or combat boots).  Everyone wants a magic pill or at least a sampled drum beat from the past to allow them to think they are dancing to something new. We can't go back in time, but we can keep the stuff that worked. Basic, compound movements done with progressively heavier weight have built some of the strongest, most fit bodies of our times. I doubt that I will see better in my lifetime without the use of some type of super drug or genetic trickery.

Stay strong!