If you are interested in coming to CrossFit Oahu, probably one of the main reasons is to get healthy or fit. Helping people acheive health and fitness is what we are about at CrossFit Oahu. But for us or any other trainers to claim that they can get you fit without clearly defining what “fitness” is, combines elements of fraud and farce. So, what is “Fitness”?

Outside Magazine crowned triathlete Mark Allen “the fittest man on earth”. Let’s just assume for a moment that this famous six-time winner of the IronMan Triathlon is the fittest of the fit, then what title do we bestow on the decathlete Simon Poelman who also possesses incredible endurance and stamina, yet crushes Mr. Allen in any comparison that includes strength, power, speed, and coordination? Perhaps the definition of fitness doesn’t include strength, speed, power, and coordination though that would seem odd. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines “fitness” and being “fit” as the ability to transmit genes and being healthy. There is no help there for a proper definition of fitness.

Here at CrossFit Oahu, we have our own distinct definition of fitness which is the foundation upon which the rest of our program is built. This definition of fitness is based on four standards and clearly states what type of fitness our program will deliver to you.

1. The first standard of fitness is that a fit person should be equally trained in all ten physical domains.

1. Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance - The ability of body systems to gather, process, and deliver oxygen.

2. Stamina - The ability of body systems to process, deliver, store, and utilize energy.

3. Strength - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force.

4. Flexibility - The ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint.

5. Power - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply maximum force in minimum time.

6. Speed - The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement.

7. Coordination - The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement.

8. Agility - The ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another.

9. Balance - The ability to control the placement of our body’s center of gravity in relation to its support base.

10. Accuracy - The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity.

It is important to realize that improvements in endurance, stamina, strength, and flexibility come about through training. Training refers to activity that improves performance through a measurable organic change in the body. By contrast, improvements in coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy come about through practice. Practice refers to activity that improves performance through changes in the nervous system. Power and speed are adaptations of both training and practice.

2. The second standard of fitness is that a fit person should be equally well trained in all of the metabolic pathways or ways energy is delivered to your body. These pathways are commonly referred to anaerobic and aerobic “cardio”. The first pathway, the phosphagen pathway, dominates the highest-powered activities lasting less than about ten seconds. The second pathway, the glycolytic pathway, dominates moderate-powered activities which last up to several minutes. The third pathway, the oxidative pathway, dominates low-powered activities, those that last in excess of several minutes. Favoring oxidative pathway to the exclusion of the others and not recognizing the impact of excessive training in the oxidative pathway is arguably one of the most common faults in fitness training.

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3. The third standard of fitness is that a fit person will on average perform better than an unfit person on any randomized task. The implication here is that fitness requires an ability to perform well at all tasks, even unfamiliar tasks, and tasks combined in infinitely varying combinations. This does not mean a fit person will always beat a specialist at their event. A fit person will not necessarily out-bench a power lifter, out-run a marathoner, or perform a better tumbling routine than a gymnast. However, if each person competed in all three events, a fit person would out-perform the group in the combined events.

4. The fourth standard of fitness is that a fit person is better than healthy. Nearly every measurable value of health can be placed on a continuum that ranges from sickness to wellness to fitness. Though more difficult to measure, we could even add mental health to this observation. Depression is clearly mitigated by proper diet and exercise. Done right, fitness provides a great margin of protection against the ravages of time and disease. This continuum is based on measurements like blood pressure, body fat, cholesterol, bone density, triglycerides, etc.

The motivation for these four standards is simply to ensure the broadest and most general fitness possible. Our first standard evaluates our efforts against a full range of general physical adaptations. The second standard uses the measures of time, power and consequently energy systems. The third standard focuses on breadth and depth of performance. Finally, by the fourth standard we measure health. It should be fairly clear that the fitness that CrossFit advocates and develops is deliberately broad, general, and inclusive.