Man’s world, nature, is full of movement. Our standing, sitting, throwing, lifting, pushing, pulling, climbing, running, and of course, punching are all quite natural. They got us where we are today. They are part of our design. These natural, primal, movements influence the exercises included in CrossFit’s workouts.

A major and natural division occurs in movement types between those requiring control of the body alone and those that require the control of an external object as well. Basically, people can move their body through the environment or move the environment around them. Recognizing this fact, CrossFit uses two main modalities of exercises: gymnastics and Olympic weightlifting. Along with these types of exercise, we use any other exercise, such as kettlebells and medicine balls, that with help us achieve our fitness goals.

Gymnastics

Our use of the term “gymnastics” not only includes the traditional competitive sport that we’ve seen on TV, but all activities like climbing, yoga, calisthenics, and dance where the aim is body control. It is within this realm of activities that we can develop extraordinary strength (especially upper body and trunk), flexibility, coordination, balance, agility, and accuracy. In fact, the traditional gymnast has no peer in terms of development of these skills.

The extraordinary value of gymnastics as a training modality lies in its reliance on the body’s own weight as the sole source of resistance. This places a unique premium on the improvement of strength to weight ratio. Unlike other strength training modalities, gymnastics and calisthenics allow for increases in strength only while increasing strength to weight ratio!

Gymnastics develops pull-ups, squats, lunges, jumping, push-ups, and numerous presses to handstand, scales, and holds. These skills are unrivaled in their benefit to the physique as is evident in any competitive gymnast. As important as this modality is for strength development, it is without a doubt the ultimate approach to improving coordination, balance, agility, accuracy, and flexibility. Through the use of numerous presses, handstands, scales, and other floor work, the gymnast’s training greatly enhances kinesthetic sense.

The variety of movements available for inclusion in this modality probably exceeds the number of exercises known to all non-gymnastic sport! The rich variety here contributes substantially to the CrossFit program’s ability to inspire great athletic confidence and prowess.

For a combination of strength, flexibility, well-developed physique, coordination, balance, accuracy, and agility, the gymnast has no equal in the sports world. The inclusion of this training modality is absurdly absent from nearly all training programs.

The Olympic Lifts, a.k.a., Weightlifting

“Weightlifting”, as opposed to “weight lifting”, two words, and “weight training”, refers to the Olympic sport, which includes the “clean and jerk” and the “snatch.” Olympic weightlifting, as it is often referred to, develops strength (especially in the hips), speed, and power like no other training modality. It is little known that successful weightlifting requires substantial flexibility. Olympic weightlifters are as flexible as any athlete. The benefits of Olympic weightlifting don’t end with strength, speed, power, and flexibility.

Mastery of these lifts develops the squat, deadlift, power clean, split jerk and snatch while integrating them into a single movement of unequaled value in all of strength and conditioning. In fact, they should serve as the starting point for any serious weight-training program. These movements should serve as the core of your resistance training throughout your life.

Why the deadlift, clean, squat, and jerk? The Olympic lifters are without a doubt the world’s strongest athletes. These lifts train athletes to effectively activate more muscle fibers more rapidly than through any other modality of training. The explosiveness that results from this training is of vital necessity to every sport. Also, practicing the Olympic lifts teaches one to apply force to muscle groups in proper sequence, i.e., from the center of the body to its extremities (core to extremity). Learning this vital technical lesson benefits all athletes who need to impart force to another person or object as is commonly required in nearly all sports. In addition to learning to impart explosive forces, the clean and jerk and the snatch condition the body to receive such forces from another moving body both safely and effectively.

The clean and jerk and the snatch both also develop coordination, agility, accuracy, and balance and to no small degree. Both of these lifts are as nuanced and challenging as any movement in all of sport. Moderate competency in the Olympic lifts confers added prowess to any sport or to life in general.

These movements also elicit a profound neuroendocrine response. That is, they alter your body hormonally and neurologically. The changes that occur through these movements are essential to athletic development. Most of the development that occurs as a result of exercise is systemic and a direct result of hormonal and neurological changes.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the Olympic lifts’ unique capacity to develop strength, muscle, power, speed, coordination, vertical leap, muscular endurance, bone strength, and the physical capacity to withstand stress. It is also worth mentioning that the Olympic lifts are the only lifts shown to increase maximum oxygen uptake, the most important marker for cardiovascular fitness.

Sadly, the Olympic lifts are seldom seen in the commercial fitness community because of their inherently complex and technical nature. CrossFit makes them available to anyone with the patience and persistence to learn.

Along with these two main types of exercise, we will use anything that will produce the results that we are looking for. We also use kettlebells, medicine balls, jump ropes, climbing ropes, etc.

What about the Cardio?

“What about the cardio in CrossFit?” The answer is simple, yet hard to believe for many: The “cardio” is built into the workouts themselves. Cardio-respiratory adaptations don’t develop independently of exercise and movement. Again, movement causes stimulus for cardio-respiratory adaptations. Any type of movement will do, although some movements produce more potent stimulus and are more effective than others. Here at CrossFit Oahu, we use traditional types of cardio like running and movements like squats, push-ups, and sit-ups in circuit or interval-type workouts to develop a monstrous cardiovascular system.

Aerobics and Anaerobics

Our main purpose here is to discuss how anaerobic and aerobic training support performance variables like strength, power, speed, and endurance. We also support the contention that total conditioning and optimal health necessitates training each one of these physiological systems.

There are three main energy systems that fuel all human activity. Almost all changes that occur in the body due to exercise are related to the demands placed on these energy systems. Energy is derived aerobically when oxygen is utilized to metabolize substrates derived from food and liberate energy. An activity is termed aerobic when the majority of energy needed is derived aerobically. These activities are usually greater than ninety seconds in duration and involve low to moderate power output or intensity. Examples of aerobic activity include running on the treadmill for twenty minutes, swimming a mile, and watching TV.

Energy is derived anaerobically when energy is liberated from substrates in the absence of oxygen. Activities are considered anaerobic when the majority of the energy needed is derived anaerobically. These activities are of less than two minutes in duration and involve moderate to high power output or intensity. There are two such anaerobic systems, the phosphagen system and the lactic acid system. Examples of anaerobic activity include running a 100-meter sprint, squatting, and doing pull-ups.

Aerobic training benefits cardiovascular function and decreases body fat. This is certainly of significant benefit. Aerobic conditioning allows us to engage in moderate/low power output for an extended period of time. This is valuable for many sports. Athletes engaging in excessive aerobic training witness decreases in muscle mass, strength, speed, and power. It is not uncommon to find marathoners with a vertical leap of several inches and a bench press well below average for most athletes. Aerobic activity has a pronounced tendency to decrease anaerobic capacity. This does not bode well for athletes or the individual interested in total conditioning or optimal health.

Anaerobic activity also benefits cardiovascular function and decreases body fat, but anaerobic activity is unique in its capacity to dramatically improve power, speed, strength, and muscle mass. Anaerobic conditioning allows us to exert tremendous forces over a very brief time. Perhaps the aspect of anaerobic conditioning that bears greatest consideration is that anaerobic conditioning will not adversely affect aerobic capacity! In fact, properly structured, anaerobic activity can be used to develop a very high level of aerobic fitness without the muscle wasting consistent with high volume aerobic exercise!

Interval Training

Interval training is the key to developing the cardiovascular system without an unacceptable loss of strength, speed, and power. Interval training mixes bouts of work and rest in timed intervals. We can control the dominant metabolic pathway conditioned by varying the duration of the work and rest interval and number of repetitions. The phosphagen pathway is the dominant pathway in intervals of 10-30 seconds of work followed by rest of 30-90 seconds (load:recovery 1:3) repeated 25-30 times. The glycolytic pathway is the dominant pathway in intervals of 30-120 seconds work followed by rest of 60-240 seconds (load:recovery 1:2) repeated 10-20 times. And finally, the oxidative pathway is the dominant pathway in intervals of 120-300 seconds work followed by rest of 120-300 seconds (load:recovery 1:1). The bulk of metabolic training should be interval training. Interval training need not be so structured or formal. One example would be to sprint between one set of telephone poles and jog between the next set alternating in this manner for the duration of a run.

One example of an interval that CrossFit makes regular use of is the Tabata Interval. The Tabata Interval consists of 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest repeated six to eight times. With interval training, we get all of the cardiovascular benefit of endurance work without the attendant loss of strength, speed, and power.

If you are still wondering about CrossFit cardio, we encourage you to come try some of the workouts. We guarantee that your questions will be answered and you will get a great work out!