great thread

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_boxing_fighting_mma_combat/the_case_against_crossfit_?id=2569090&pageNo=2

This one deals with the argument of CrossFit being a "superior training program". I agree that it is not the end all of training, nor the best thing to do for specificity, but damn if it doesn't do a good job of getting to a certain level of fitness (see: GPP). It's the Jack of All Trades, master of none... but we'll see how the program evolves.

The Truth About CrossFit

by Chris Shugart for T-Nation.com. Thanks to Dwinson for the heads up!

"The Truth About CrossFit"

"Was I in the right place?" I asked myself for the second time that day.

The little street near Southern Methodist University in Dallas was an incongruous blend of old houses and new bars teeming with college kids. It was 9 p.m. and the sun had set, making it impossible for me to read the street numbers. Finally I pulled over next to a bar called The Green Elephant to look at my directions again.

And that's when I saw them, a handful of men and women lunging down a long corridor holding Olympic bars over their heads. A well-built young man held a timer and appeared to be either encouraging them or yelling at them.

I'd finally found CrossFit Dallas Central, one of 650 CrossFit affiliate gyms.

Later I learned that the athletes — which included members of the SMU lacrosse team — were performing what the owner of the facility called a "single-movement mindfuck." This group was on their 28th minute of overhead walking lunges, the only exercise in that day's workout. The record was 400 meters in 20 minutes flat. The sweat poured.

Earlier that day, at 6:45 a.m., I'd had the same experience, driving around an industrial-warehouse district in Plano looking for building numbers in the dark. That time, instead of lunging lacrosse players, I was clued in by a man running by my truck wearing a weighted vest. I followed.

Ripping the vest off, he walked through a door with me close behind. CrossFit Plano was small but well-equipped with the standard markers of the "CF" gym: bumper plates, Olympic bars, kettlebells, dumbbells, gymnastic rings, climbing ropes, tractor tires, bands, Concept II rowers, medicine balls, pull-up bars.

The runner dashed into the next room and began to do kipping pull-ups. I learned later he was doing "Murph": a one-mile run in a vest followed by 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 body-weight squats, and another one-mile run, all done against the clock.

This "WOD," or Workout of the Day, was named after a Navy Lieutenant and CrossFit enthusiast killed in Afghanistan. Most other WODs are given girl names, like they used to do with hurricanes.

I was there to learn the truth about CrossFit, the training phenomenon dubbed "one of the fastest-growing fitness movements on the planet" by the Business News Network. Later, I'd do interviews with CF fans and critics, make phone calls, and read everything I could find online. But I'd start by driving to Dallas and doing CrossFit ... twice in one day.

This is what I learned. This, as I see it, is the truth about some of the most controversial aspects of CrossFit.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE!

Friends

I'm constantly trying to get my friends to workout with me- not only because I do it for a living, but because I care about the well-being of others, ESPECIALLY of ones I truly care about.

So today I was finally able to get some friends to come try CrossFit out. We (of course) started skill-work with the basic squat, moved onto the plank and midline stabilization, pushups, situps, and finally pullups.

THE LADIES

amrap in 10 min:
5 pullups
10 situps
15 squats

Sam 5
Sheena 8 rds
Tiff 9 rds +5, 8

and then THE DUDES

amrap in 10 min:
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

Andrew 14 rds + 5, 10, 14
Marc 11 rds + 5, 3
Mike 8 rds + 5, 4

Wonderful stuff. Grabbed some ingredients, headed back to my place and we all enjoyed some Muscle Milk shakes.

ps
I ripped my left hand!

Official WOD 2007 1220

"Run or Row 5k"

I rowed. My time was 21:54. Pretty good if ask me. Haven't done any cardio in awhile (I believe it to be my weakness) and after doing the 12 Days of CrossFit WOD I had to up it.

So here I go. "Slow and steady wins the race"

other benchmarks today - 500m 1:46 (Level II), 2k 8:30 (Level I), 6k 26:36 (Level I)

Boo!

and then I also did 7 rounds of 3 weighted pullups, 5 strict, and 7 kipping pullups

----

WORLD CLASS FITNESS IN 100 WORDS
Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.

Practice and train major lifts:
Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, Clean & Jerk, and snatch.
Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds.
Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast.

Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports.

CrossFit Observations

"CrossFit is in large part derived from several simple observations garnered through hanging out with athletes for thirty years and willingness, if not eagerness, to experiment coupled with a total disregard for conventional wisdom. Let me share some of the more formative of these observations:

1. Gymnasts learn new sports faster than other athletes.
2. Olympic lifters can apply more useful power to more activities than other athletes.
3. Powerlifters are stronger than other athletes.
4. Sprinters can match the cardiovascular performance of endurance athletes even at extended efforts.
5. Endurance athletes are woefully lacking in total physical capacity.
6. With high carb diets you either get fat or weak.
7. Bodybuilders can't punch, jump, run, or throw like athletes can.
8. Segmenting training efforts delivers a segmented capacity.
9. Optimizing physical capacity requires training at unsustainable intensities.
10. The world's most successful athletes and coaches rely on exercise science the way deer hunters rely on the accordion."

GRAND OPENING: Level 4 CrossFit Seattle

Sunday August 26, 2007

Level 4 CrossFit Seattle (formerly known as CrossFit North) is celebrating their completion of the new facility in Fremont on the corner of 8th and Leary Way.

come join the festivities as Coach Dave Werner explains his Athletic Skill Levels (1-4), try out your CrossFit Total (Back Squat, Military Press, and Deadlift), and a free introductory workout

i'm planning on going. who wants to come?

MORE INFO HERE