Why we don’t do “CrossFit” every day
Do you really even know what “CrossFit” means?
Every time someone shows up at our gym interested in signing up, I’ll always begin by asking them what they think CrossFit is. When I ask that, the same thing always happens: A confused look comes over their face as they struggle to come up with an answer. Either that, or they’ll say something like, “I just know it’s really intense and it will make you fit.”
“Can you give me an example of what you think that would be like?”
“Um, it’s when you do burpees or pull-ups really fast…”
Sigh! As a coach it’s disappointing that there is so much confusion around this topic, so kudos to you for even taking the time to read and understand the difference!
The point is, there’s a ton of confusion about what CrossFit is. If you go for a 5 km run, are you doing CrossFit? What about an ocean swim? Is that CrossFit? Or do you need to be doing burpees and thrusters and pull-ups really fast in a 21-15-9 rep scheme for it to be CrossFit?
(For the record, the old school, and somewhat official definition, is that CrossFit is con-stantly varied, functional movements done at a high intensity).
I digress: I would argue that “CrossFit” is simply working out with urgency or putting yourself through some sort of measurable physical test. In other words, CrossFit is competition or game day.
This brings me to the next question: Should you workout with urgency or “test” yourself every day you train?
To answer this, let’s look at what athletes in other sports do: If you’ve ever been on a football, basketball, soccer, hockey etc etc team, you probably spent WAY more time practicing than playing a game, right? Same goes for gymnastics or figure skating or rowing or skiing or track and field: Most days are training days—you work on skills, or strength or speed, or other technical aspects of the sport. In other words, you TRAIN. You do NOT COMPETE every day.
And when you ask a high level athlete in any of the aforementioned sports where the real physical gains are made, they will tell you the gains are made during training or practice, not during the competition itself. The competition, or game day, then becomes a rare opportunity to put your training—your hard work—to the test.
The same is true of training with us!
Will you do “CrossFit”—meaning, will you workout with a sense of urgency and push yourself to the max sometimes?—Yes. But will you do it every single day? Hell no!
Most days with us you will not do “CrossFit” (Gasp!!).
Instead, you will strength train and you will work on skills. You will work on the mechanics of the movements, and you will work on mobility and speed and power. And doing this type of training will help you improve your overall capacity, which you can then put to the test here and there through the “CrossFit” tests we administer. Just like every other athlete in every other sport…
Make sense? Talk to your coach is you’re still confused, our read this article explaining the difference between training and testing! If your coach doesn’t understand, then get a better coach! Sorry not sorry 🙂
