Crossfit is against specialization in one area of fitness. I think i had an experience with that today.
Went to a park with my son and nephew today. to make a long story short...we went into the trail and got lost. So at one point my nephew said "we've been in here long enough, lets jog". So i picked up my 6 year old son and tried to jog down the trail with him on my back. He weighs 50 pounds.
Boy that was hard. Now i had just did a 20 rep squat routine the day before. So my whole body is slightly sore. Also, i had just banged out 15 reps on the chin up bar in the fitness trail. So i had good reason to feel whipped that day.
but i was a little upset that i didnt feel stronger running/walking that trail. I have great endurance in BJJ class but this was diffrent.
Crossfit has you working on diffrent kinds of fitness each day. I think that would have proven to be effective today. My cardio is specific to Grappling. I suck at running, swimming or long distance cardio. I can bang out a Fight Gone Bad. I can roll for 20 minutes. I even do good at boxing workouts like Bas CD. But i lack in the aerobic area. Well its actually localized performance. My legs burn and cramp. My cardio feels fine. But if i did some cross training i might not feel like that.
Only thing is i'm a skinny ectomorph. i want more size, power and strength. I guess you cant have it all.
Don't beat yourself up too bad about it. There's a ton of stress on your body when you run, so just imagine adding a 50 pound kid bouncing around on your back.
Umm, he's not blaming CrossFit, but rather saying that if he followed the CrossFit routine he would be better served in regular activities (rather than just being fit for grappling). It is an endorsement, not a putdown :) (edit - sorry if that comes across tossy)
There is a difference between "fit" and "well rounded world class fitness"
If you can't run 10K in less than 42 minutes, what are you doing to improve the situation? Crossfit provides one solution. There are many others (but they're not as fun).
I am not exactly sure what you're saying gokuryu. Is the specialization aspect that you're explaining being found in your sport or just how you get into general condition for your sport? Whether you do or do not do the CF workouts consistently, CF's not the "one and only" in preparation for sport or any other activity other than CF itself. It is just a working part of your own personal training. It is just GPP.
Understand that trail running and the free CF-Rxed runs are different by general environment. For example, doing the CF website's rxed runs and WODs won't make my job as a firefighter easier in environments where I may lack the "familiarity" in a different environment from the WOD. I would need to either make additions to my GPP or leave the additions and reclassify them as SPP. For example, I find hill work, stair work, and dragging sleds to be more GPP. But someone else may see this work as SPP, specific to my activity and therefore not needed in their life. Their only sport might be just CF.
So in support of the flexibility of CF WODs, surfing the web you can see that different CrossFit gyms do different things that fit or improve the general conditioning of clients. So there is freedom to modify the kind work into the CF-way it's done. It would be a good idea to ask questions at their forum/msgboard.
The free CF workouts are not the "be all, end all". It can be modified, relative to the user's needs. It is just GPP.
I wasnt blaming crossfit. It was an endorsement for them. Its there idea of not specializing that i was saying is a good idea. It makes you more rounded.
I dont do things like 5ks, hill runs, sleg drags or stair work. When, on a 20 foot mat, do i run for more than 3 steps? (when my instructor is kicking my ass) So my workouts are circuits, F.G.B and rolling in class. And my cardio is good for grappling. But i think i could be good at grappling and still cross train in a little running workouts. in fact i'm sure of it. When i get back to getting ready for a tournement again i will be adding in some running time once a week. Not for the tournement but just for my general performance.
I'm seriously thinking of the GPP with the sled. Done that before i liked it.
To me, it does not make sense that you could be fit enough to do all the other activities you mentioned and yet feel that you are un-able to do others.
I spoke to a very well known fighter a few months ago who said, and I quote, "Cross-Fit Sucks". He said he felt like it burned out his shoulders often and did not feel it got him in the best possible fight specific shape. This is a current UFC fighter but I will not mention his name at this time bcause I don't want anyone to bother him about this statement.
For grappling, the best workout is grappling. If running quickly is a goal for you fine, work on it. Do not think that a quick 5k/10k time will translate to the mat.
Of course CF doesn't get you in the best possible fight specific shape. That's what sparring, mittwork and grappling drills are for.
from crossfit.com:
"Part of the crossfit philosophy includes pursuing/learning another sport or activity, and many crossfitters are also martial artists and competitive athletes in a variety of disciplines.
However, if you work the WODs hard, you will find yourself at an improved level of fitness, and for lots of us, the WOD is our primary "sport."
If you pursue another activity, you will need to balance your work/rest cycles and be sure to allow for recovery. Sometimes, you will need extra days off or to consider a WOD as "active rest" done at a lower intensity."
"To me, it does not make sense that you could be fit enough to do all the other activities you mentioned and yet feel that you are un-able to do others. "
Tak,
You'll notice two things in my post. One, i just did a 20 rep squat routine the day before. And that had some stiff leg deadlifts in it. Two, i didnt say my cardio sucked, it was my legs burning and cramping that got me. Could be that i also had a kid on my back.
The only high rep thing i do that burns my legs is the 20rep squat for month or so. My leg endurance isnt that good. Need to work on it. High rep bodyweight squats might help. 500???
Even during my high school years of competitive wrestling, when I was
probably in the best cardio and endurance shape of my life, I sucked at
running. I could run the stairs for a long time because we had to
during practice, but running a straight
flat course burned me. Conversely though, the basketball players who
did wind sprints during their practice and the swimmers couldn't last 5
minutes of a wrestling workout.
I think there's a difference between being fit, and being used to the
groove of a certain sport. Just like a strong man can't do much in an
odd lift that he's never tried, but will improve dramatically as he
practices and gets his coordination for that movement down better, we
all will expend more energy on an exercise we're not used to. Doesn't
mean we're not fit, just that our body isn't using itself efficiently on a
new exercise. Heck, teach a wrestler to box and you'll see that his
upper body is tense in the beginning classes because he's unsure of
what to do so he's unconsciously primed all his muscles. Even the
difference between a pure BJJ guy when he learns standup Judo can be
seen in how stiff he is on his feet and how much more energy he's
wasting, and both BJJ and Judo use pretty much the same muscles.