Our Specialty is NOT Specializing

This post will help us better understand why we strive to do so many things at once. I will use myself as testimony to the program I implement with our class.

Hopefully, you read "CrossFit's Three Fitness Standards". If not, it's okay. Haha.

In that post, one of the last things stated was that "Our specialty is not specializing. Life rewards our kind of fitness and, in most cases, punishes the specialist."

Let's talk about some of these specialists. (Disclaimer: I am typing my thoughts, and I have no intent on bashing anyone. Okay maybe. Kidding. If I offend anyone, my apologies in advance.)

The Slow, Long Distance Cardio Bunny

This person USED TO BE my exemplar of fitness. He could run for days, swim for miles, and bike for galaxies. I envied his ability to sustain activity for that long, and, quite frankly, his ability to withstand what would have bored me to death. When is this person useful though? He has bragging rights when talking about who completed the NY marathon and an iron man, sure. But I've also completed a long distance event known as the "tough mudder" (look it up), which is arguably just as difficult, if not more so, than the aforementioned long distance event. Okay so we know you're a patient person, because you don't die of shear boredom on the treadmill, or during your 1000 mile weekend trail runs just enjoying the scenery. But what happens when your kid is stuck underneath a car? Or, to be less extreme, what happens when one of your smaller acquaintances happens to crawl behind the big old leather couch and gets stuck? Would you call our super running man hero? Or Karen from our class who's been deadlifting her bodyweight consistently? What about Sadrack who just hit 300 on the deadlift? I think you know my answer. No offense, bunnies.

The Powerlifting Specialist

Let's dip into the opposite side of the spectrum. He's an impressive guy. Benching 600 pounds, squatting 800, deadlifting 900, I don't even know if I should continue because I wouldn't want to get this guy mad at me if I'm offending him here. OH WAIT, scratch that. I don't care if he gets offended by this. He won't even be able to catch me! HA! Take that big guy! You're big and strong, but not very fast. If any of you watch fighting events, any of them, speed kills. So I'm not even scared of you anymore, Mr. I-lift-things-up-and-put-them-down! (I just hope you don't read this and catch me when I'm not expecting you.)

The Bodybuilder

Roar! You look great! To some people. You're also pretty strong! To some people. You're super fit! To some people. I do not fall into any of those categories. You work a lot in isolation, meaning your body isn't developed for efficient movement because you're working your muscles in ways they weren't meant to be worked, and possibly overtraining them. Your biceps are assisters in pulling motions like rowing or pullups, and endless bicep curls won’t save you if you’re stuck on the edge of a cliff. To add on to this, the fact that you've been overdeveloping individual muscles means you're not as flexible as you should be, so good luck getting into a nice three-piece suit or touching your toes or worse, going number two after a nice cheat meal at Taco Bell. Long story short, you're stronger than the cardio bunny, MAYBE a little faster than the powerlifter, but not as strong OR fast as Chris Fu, Homer Frizzell, or Don Johnson. BOOYA!

The Pink Dumbbell Crew

Feel the burn?! You're definitely getting more fit rocking with those 5 pounders! My mistake, 7 pounders. Yu go gurrrrrrrrl. Did you just do 1000 situps and a million half-squats with your BODYWEIGHT?! I need to hire you as my trainer. As a matter of fact, what're you doing Friday night? I'd love to take you out for dinner and a night on the town. SIKE! Let me introduce you to my friends, Mary, Nicole, Ada, and Sharon. They can school you on what a real fit woman looks like.

The Virtuosity Athlete, BKA The CrossFitter

We train under the guidance of CrossFit's Three Fitness Standards, meaning we don't focus too much on anything. We don't strive for 3:00 miles and 900 pound deadlifts, but rather 5 minute miles and 500 pound deadlifts. We want to be above average in everything. (Key word is "above", and yes it is doable, and we're doing it.) We have seen athletes with lower back issues deadlift their while doing burpees and swinging kettlebells. We have seen people who have never squatted properly before squat better than ever. We're getting people to do kipping pullups, box jumps, double skips with a rope, and our athletes don't even need to turn the treadmill on to make full use of it! If there was a zombie apocalypse tomorrow, I would most certainly call all of you guys versus any of the above mentioned people. Happy training.

(And I apologize one more time for those of you who got offended by any of this.)

J

Jan