cross fit advice please

[wwg]

Hi Jordan,

when you started out with Crossfit you wrote a nice piece about your endeavor: Powerlifter Switches to CrossFit, ?Competes? in the Open, Hilarity Ensues | Barbell Medicine

Now it seems you've stopped doing Crossfit (did you, or did you just stop competing?), did you write down anywhere something similar why you stopped? Would be interesting to read about your experiences and reasoning in hindsight.

[Ben Patterson]

This is kind of one of those things that makes sense only when looking at long term development, which is what we as coaches do. You cannot just do strength training for months and then add in conditioning 3-4 weeks before a competition and expect to do well- it doesn't work like that if you want to be good. Sure, most absolutely need to be stronger in order to be competitive in CrossFit at a high level- a LOT of time spent training has to have been applied to a person posessing very good genetics. Still, the sentiment that all work should be strength for an athlete in this realm is incorrect unless we're talking about a novice, who is not yet an athlete- you feel me?

Yes, thank you for clearing that up. Just to get a bit more clarity here, the trainee (or coach) would program a level of conditioning work that is appropriate for the sport and in/off season status of the athlete?

So for an endurance athlete a baseline of conditioning work and sport practice must be included year round. The amount of cond./skill work done will be dependant on how close the athlete is to the competition. The amount of strength training will also vary, tapering back as the competitive season starts to allow for the increase in cond./practice.

Is this a better assessment of programming conditioning work for an athlete than what I said before?

[RBARG]

How about losing some weight, buddy. Lugging that 30% adiposity on muscle ups, burpees and sprints will hold down your performance.
You may be overestimating that percentage, though. If not, get that down to 20% for starters, not manny chubby guys on high level CF last I checked.

[quikky]

Well, that's true sure. But how about if you can deadlift 405 vs 500? That's a more nuanced discussion don't you think?

It is certainly more nuanced because when the strength discrepancy between two individuals is relatively small, things like natural explosiveness, conditioning, and skill come into play a lot more. However, the point of my example was that when the strength discrepancy is high, specifically between a strong individual vs someone undertrained, then strength wins.

How would you suggest someone get good at CrossFit without doing CrossFit? Furthermore, what is CrossFit?

I think that the real question regarding CF and SS's application to it (that the OP has NOT asked but we're opining on) is "What should I do if I am a novice and want to be good at CrossFit?" Well- you should do SS and exhaust LP, then begin intermediate programming with a slightly higher bias on the Olympic lifts than typically done. Then later start adding in development of skills and energy systems. This cannot be done all at once if none of these things are already present, thus it must be done over a long, long time and most people have no business doing it including this author.

In terms of getting good at Crossfit, we're saying the same thing. Get strong, then add Crossfit-specific work.

In terms of what Crossfit is, that's more nuanced, but really I'd define it as a workout, potentially done competitively, consisting of varying random exercises done for time. If you want to get pedantic, perhaps it's the same but coming from the Crossfit organization, since they are essentially a brand. It's kind of hard to define it precisely, but you sort of know it when you see it, type of thing.

[Ryan Arnold]

I want to show cross fitters how to properly perform lol and be one of the best athletes in that "sport".

Get your deadlift up to 600, squat up to 500, 12%BF, learn all the O-lifts and other CF endurance and conditioning crap. Hopefully you're under 28 and don't have a job and lots of extra money because this will probably take 2 years minimum. Good luck. Like Jordan said, this is a process that almost no one can actually pull off logistically

[grumble]

Get as strong as you possibly can first.

You will enjoy this process so much that you will forget about Crossfit.

If for some reason you still haven't forgotten about Crossfit, spend a 2-4 weeks on conditioning and you'll be all set.

I disagree with this - the skill-specific stuff for this sport, and the endurance and cardio adaptations to perform WELL, not just be able to run a couple klicks without falling over, takes a long time. Having a strength base accelerates this process and is foundational, but the idea that anything but low-rep force production (i.e. strength) is this super-quick adaptation doesn't hold much water in practice. Getting to say 50 pullups in a row will take a while for example, even if you're strong.

[Bill Been]

This query reminds me of the old BBC Top Gear. They'd have a challenge like "assemble this Caterham kit car in 8 hours" or "build an electric car out of Twinkies and string" and Jeremy Clarkson would always say "how hard can it be?!!?"

[rmscott_75077]

Ok so basically, get stronger, do conditioning as in endurance training like running on my recovery days??
I'm very new to crossfit! But I'm not new to training, in my prime lifting days I can bench 335, deadlift 405, squat 315, I've never done the Olympic lifts before until now and I love the lifts!
But please tell me why all the negativity and "stupidity" comments are directed to crossfit?? I don't understand. I do agree that jumping over a bar is kinda goofy and a recipe for injury.

Not really answering your question, but your squat is way weak compared to your bench. I'm an old geezer, but your bench is impressive to me like 60 pounds more than mine, but your squat is like 60 pounds lighter. You better get stronger there and focus on that, there is lots of good information on the site about how to do that and in the book.

I've never met anyone good at anything that doesn't train for it. So get stronger and make sure to incorporate the power clean and get really good at that. You will find that lift critical in explosive strength. Once you are stronger, I don't see how you will be good at crossfit without training for it. What I mean to say is focus on getting the required strength before getting too heavy in the cross fit training.

As f