The Crossfit Discussion

We've received quite a few comments since posting the "Crossfit Daily Workout" on SPN. It's great to see the diversity of thought. We're enjoying the debate which is, afterall, one of the reasons SPN exists.

Allowing for professionals like yourselves to debate the appropriate (or inappropriate) application of current strength and conditioning programs and techniques is necessary for the progression of the entire industry. Without healthy debate there can be no progress. As Adam so eloquently stated above, "there are many different forms of training that have their own strengths and weaknesses and the best training program is one that is not close minded". SPN does not exist to promote one philosophy over another. Rather, SPN is intended to be a forum in which strength and conditioning professionals can advocate their philosophies and debate the proper use of training programs based on the intended outcomes.

Crossfit may or may not be an appropriate form of fitness. That's for SPN members to debate and decide. We encourage members to further the debate around the most appropriate forms of training by bringing to the debate their own training philosophies and examples of their own training programs. An industry that fails to continue to evolve grows stale and, in the case of athletic development, limits the physical and mental progression of the athlete.

Continue the debate, add fuel to the fire through examples honed over your own career and together ensure that the excellent foundation established by the strength and conditioning professionals who turned a fledgling hobby into a highly respected profession continues to evolve, thus ensuring that athletes maximize their potential regardless of the athletic endeavor in which they choose to compete.

Tags: Crossfit, SPN, conditioning, debate, discussion, fitness, strength

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Comment by Joe Locascio on April 16, 2012 at 12:45pm: Crossfit is smart because they have tapped into the human brain of wanting instant results. I put it in the same category as Nutrasystem or any other quick fix fitness/diet program. That's about all Crossfit has going for it. From an educated eye, it shouldn't trick anyone. Power exercises turned endurance, advanced lifts for beginners, no focus on teaching the lift and a lack of attention to injury prevention.

If there is one thing I have learned from my time in the fitness world it is this: if the "fitness professional," by title and/or practice, jumps off a cliff, the members will follow blindly. They expect us to know what is best for them since there is so much out there, so let's do our part and not get caught up in the latest fads and go back to the staples; stable, mobile, functional strength. Let's lead our members and clients towards a lifetime of fitness through proper screening and corrective exercises followed by functional strength progression, instead of following yet another get fit quick scheme that takes as long to create as it does to die behind the next attempt at short cutting fitness.