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CrossFit Journal Article Reprint. First Published in CrossFit Journal Issue 56 - April 2007

Understanding CrossFitGreg Glassman

The aims, prescription, methodology, implementation,and adaptations of CrossFit are collectively andindividually unique, de ning of CrossFit, and instrumentalin our program’s successes in diverse applications.

Aims

From the beginning, the aim of CrossFit has been toforge a broad, general, and inclusive tness. We soughtto build a program that would best prepare traineesfor any physical contingency—prepare them not onlyfor the unknown but for the unknowable. Looking atall sport and physical tasks collectively, we asked whatphysical skills and adaptations would most universallylend themselves to performance advantage. Capacityculled from the intersection of all sports demands wouldquite logically lend itself well to all sport. In sum, ourspecialty is not specializing. The second issue (“ What is Fitness?”) of the CrossFit Journal details this perspective.

Prescription

The CrossFit prescription is “constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movement.” Functional movementsare universal motor recruitment patterns; they areperformed in a wave of contraction from core toextremity; and they are compound movements—i.e.,they are multi-joint. They are natural, effective, andef cient locomotors of body and external objects. But

no aspect of functional movements is more importantthan their capacity to move large loads over longdistances, and to do so quickly. Collectively, these threeattributes (load, distance, and speed) uniquely qualify

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Understanding CrossFit (continued...)

functional movements for the production of high power.Intensity is de ned exactly as power, and intensity is theindependent variable most commonly associated withmaximizing favorable adaptation to exercise. Recognizingthat the breadth and depth of a program’s stimulus willdetermine the breadth and depth of the adaptation it

elicits, our prescription of functionality and intensityis constantly varied. We believe that preparationfor random physical challenges—i.e., unknown andunknowable events—is at odds with xed, predictable,and routine regimens.

Methodology

The methodology that drives CrossFit is entirelyempirical . We believe that meaningful statements aboutsafety, ef cacy, and ef ciency, the three most importantand interdependent facets of any tness program, canbe supported only by measurable, observable, repeatablefacts, i.e., data. We call this approach “evidence-based

tness.” The CrossFit methodology depends on fulldisclosure of methods, results, and criticisms, and we’veemployed the Internet (and various intranets) to supportthese values. Our charter is open source, making co-developers out of participating coaches, athletes, andtrainers through a spontaneous and collaborative onlinecommunity. CrossFit is empirically driven, clinicallytested, and community developed.

Implementation

In implementation, CrossFit is, quite simply, a sport—the“sport of tness.” We’ve learned that harnessing thenatural camaraderie, competition, and fun of sport orgame yields an intensity that cannot be matched by othermeans. The late Col. Jeff Cooper observed that “the fearof sporting failure is worse than the fear of death.” Itis our observation that men will die for points. Usingwhiteboards as scoreboards, keeping accurate scoresand records, running a clock, and precisely de ningthe rules and standards for performance, we not onlymotivate unprecedented output but derive both relativeand absolute metrics at every workout; this data has

important value well beyond motivation.

Adaptations

Our commitment to evidence-based tness, publiclyposting performance data, co-developing our program in

collaboration with other coaches, and our open-sourcecharter in general has well positioned us to garnerimportant lessons from our program—to learn preciselyand accurately, that is, about the adaptations elicited byCrossFit programming. What we’ve discovered is thatCrossFit increases work capacity across broad time andmodal domains. This is a discovery of great import andhas come to motivate our programming and refocusour efforts. This far-reaching increase in work capacitysupports our initially stated aims of building a broad,general, and inclusive tness program. It also explainsthe wide variety of sport demands met by CrossFit asevidenced by our deep penetration among diverse sportsand endeavors. We’ve come to see increased work capacity as the holy grail of performance improvementand all other common metrics like VO 2 max, lactatethreshold, body composition, and even strength and

exibility as being correlates—derivatives, even. We’dnot trade improvements in any other tness metric for adecrease in work capacity.

Conclusions

The modest start of publicly posting our daily workoutson the Internet beginning six years ago has evolved into

a community where human performance is measuredand publicly recorded against multiple, diverse, andxed workloads. CrossFit is an open-source engine

where inputs from any quarter can be publicly given todemonstrate tness and tness programming, and wherecoaches, trainers, and athletes can collectively advancethe art and science of optimizing human performance.

Greg Glassman (with Lauren Glassman ) is the founder of CrossFit , Inc., and the publisherof the CrossFit Journal .