While I’ve written before about the measurement of VO2max and how it relates to performance and you can read more in depth on it in those blog posts, it bears repeating the conclusions reached by Vollaard et al (2009): #1) VO2max does not equal aerobic performance Lets use this as a way to look at why these claims are false. Using this and similar studies as their basis, CF has championed the idea that you can get the same, or better, performance off of doing intense work like that done in the study. When this program was researched, they noted that VO2max increased by a large amount and that certain aerobic enzymes also increased. Tabata sprints and the high intensity misunderstandingĪ researcher named Tabata did a series of studies on untrained and then moderately trained individuals in which he gave them a workout that consisted of 20sec hard/10sec rest for 4minutes. Let’s use their main research backed claim to look into their claims. Their claim rests on their misunderstanding of VO2max as being equal to or critical to performance. They go on to claim that endurance training ages you faster and is detrimental to performance. The central claim is that you can get the same endurance benefits (or better) from doing high intensity work and limit any slower to moderate paced running. Getting beyond some of the basic philosophical tenets of CF that are ridiculous, let’s look at some of their claims in regards to endurance performance and training. You can’t just do work that is painful just because it hurts and expect to get better. But if you’ve been in the coaching business long enough you know that hard stupid work doesn’t get you anywhere. Being a specialist at something is apparently bad? Additionally, they really go after this hard work/pain = improvement and results idea. Because being good at all the other methods of establishing performance isn’t good enough, so now you’re judged based on some criteria that crossfit develops. They first created their own new performance metric on which you’re judged. Lastly, once you’re in they do something pretty creative. If you’ve ever watched late night infomercials, you might start to see some similarities… Further exploiting peoples natural habits, they promise better results with less time commitment, which in today’s “busy” world is probably the number one selling point for many products or ideas. They throw in some pseudoscience or misinterpretation of science and they’ve bolstered their selling point. We’ll go over this straw man tactic a bit later, but they try and cultivate this idea that just because it’s different and new means its got to be better. It’s simply mix short intensity work with slightly longer high intensity work and that’s all you get.Ĭrossfit exploits a couple different natural reactions people have to get people on their bandwagon. In CF this refers to a variety of high strength circuits and in CFE it combines this with high intensity intervals like the famous Tabata “sprints” (sets of 20sec hard/10sec easy). It’s basically a set of random workouts that are high intensity circuit based workouts. Since it’s a question I get asked a lot, lets take a look at crossfit endurance.Ĭrossfit Endurance and CF in general is a randomized non-system of training. If you were at my presentation at the American Distance Summit in North Carolina, you got to hear me take a few jabs at crossfit (and Renato Canova even threw in a jab or two!). I wouldn’t take much offense to crossfit and would let it do its own thing, except when you start telling people that this is the way of the future and that Ryan Hall would run faster if he did this stuff, then I have a problem (Yes, CFE founder has made this claim)įor this post, we’ll focus on Crossfit Endurance because it got some major publication in this month’s Runner’s World and has been getting some hype lately. I’m writing this blog to give a 2nd opinion and to combat the marketing hype that surrounds crossfit. I’ve always wanted to write a blog post about it, but the article in this months Runner’s World has finally pushed me over the edge. I mention this not to show how messed up my dating life/requirements may be, but to show how strongly I feel about the marketing scheme that is Crossfit. Okay, it wasn’t the only reason, but it was a major factor. Not terribly long ago, I stopped dating a girl because she did crossfit.
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