The Definition of Fitness

In the world of exercise and health, the definition of fitness has been incredibly vague over the years. Most health magazines measure fitness in inches lost, looking “toned,” or having a visible six-pack, all of which are external factors that have little to do with the actual health or capabilities of one’s body. Even Merriam-Webster dictionary doesn’t have a clear description, defining fitness as:

1 : the quality or state of being fit (not much help here)

2 : the capacity of an organism to survive and transmit its genotype to reproductive offspring as compared to competing organisms

By this definition, we could say that anybody currently alive and with offspring is the most fit, which isn’t necessarily true. 

Let’s dig a little deeper into the dictionary, to see if we can find any more clarification. The word “fit” has various definitions, including “sound physically and mentally” (Again, fairly arbitrary). The description that most applies to physical fitness is “adapted to the environment so as to be capable of surviving.” In other words, the fittest beings are those that can survive a broad range of challenges. We do see this in nature: organisms that can adapt to challenges and changes are those that survive and flourish, while the organisms with limited adaptations decline. This is the closest we have to a definition of physical fitness, but even so, it’s far from a measurable standard. It’s crazy that fitness, something that most people are trying to attain, has such a murky definition! 

Greg Glassman, the founder of CrossFit, saw this problem, and aimed to solve it. He is a scholar, the son of a scientist, and as such wanted to bring actual evidence-based data to the fitness world. How can we define or measure anything if we don’t have a standard for it? You can read previous blog posts to learn more about what CrossFit is, and why it works. The main takeaway is that CrossFit defines fitness as work capacity over broad time and modal domains. 

This aligns with the dictionary’s idea that to be fit, an organism must adapt to challenges and changes in the environment. CrossFit proposes that the more work we can do in all sorts of scenarios (broad domains), the fitter we are. Many people consider endurance athletes or sports stars as the pinnacle of fitness, but for the most part specialized athletes train very specific skill sets, and therefore have chinks in their fitness armor. Much like the specialized organisms in nature, if they come up against a new challenge, they will have a hard time adapting. But because CrossFitters train for nearly every type of physical challenge, we are generally fitter overall than those that train in just one modality. 

CrossFit uses four different models to explain and support their definition of fitness: The Ten General Physical Skills Model, the Hopper Model, the Metabolic Pathways Model, and the Sickness-Fitness-Wellness Continuum. I could write many pages about each of these models, but for the sake of this article I will try to keep things short, and only give a brief overview of each. 

Ten General Physical Skills: 

The ten general physical skills are a list of athletic traits: Cardiovascular/respiratory Endurance, Strength, Stamina, Flexibility, Power, Speed, Coordination, Agility, Balance, and Accuracy. He or she is fittest who is most balanced across all these skills. You can imagine that if an athlete is skilled in strength, but has no coordination, or if they have speed but no flexibility, they will be very limited. By training and practicing each of these skills, we become better-rounded athletes.

The Hopper Model:

The second model draws on the “unknown” nature of fitness. Think of a bingo or lottery hopper. Inside of the hopper we put every imaginable physical challenge: anything from climbing a tree to running a marathon to a 1-rep max deadlift. If we pull a dozen random challenges out of the hopper, he or she that is able to complete all of them and come out on top is the fittest. It’s important to note that the overall winner may not actually win any single event, but if they have a broad level of fitness, they will likely “outrun the lifters and outlift the runners,” ultimately outperforming those with a very specialized skill set. 

Metabolic Pathways Model:

The third model is all about metabolic pathways. There are three main metabolic pathways or systems that our body uses to produce energy. The first is the phosphagen pathway. This energy system is used for extremely short, powerful bursts, lasting no more than ten seconds (example: 1RM squat or 100-meter sprint). The second pathway is the glycolytic pathway, which lasts from several seconds to a few minutes, at around 70% of our maximum effort (example: Fran or a 2k row). The final system is the oxidative (or aerobic) pathway, which kicks in during longer, lower power efforts, anything over several minutes (5k run, Filthy Fifty, Murph, etc.) He or she is fittest who is able to use all of these energy systems efficiently and switch between them easily. Do you ever feel a “slump” at a certain time in a workout? Are you always dismayed when you see a long chipper WOD or a short sprint programmed for the day? This might be hinting at which of your energy systems needs more work! 

Sickness-Wellness-Fitness Continuum: 

The final model in CrossFit’s view of fitness is called the sickness-wellness-fitness continuum. This model posits that typical health markers can be graphed on a continuum from sickness to wellness to fitness, with the fittest people having markers surpassing “healthy” levels. For example, a blood pressure of 195/115 is considered unhealthy or diseased, 120/70 is healthy, while an athlete might have an even better blood pressure of 105/50. We see this trend with all the other measures of wellness, including bone density, body fat percentage, cholesterol, triglycerides, and more. By this logic, fitness is actually “super-wellness,” and a hedge against illness and disease. If you have built up a good hedge, then even if you lose some health or fitness as you grow older, you will just slide down into the wellness category, which is still much better than being “sick!” CrossFit’s view is that health and fitness are one and the same. CrossFit and its lifestyle have helped thousands of people (myself included!) protect against, improve, or reverse chronic illnesses. 

Each of these four models help define fitness in concrete and measurable ways. It is not the inches around our waist, nor is it a number on the scale. It is measured in what we can DO. By training for increased work capacity over broad time and modal domains, we have not only defined fitness in empirical terms, but set forth a formula for a healthy life. The muscles are just an awesome side effect. 

-Coach Sonja

SOURCES

Bowler, K., McDonald, C., and Shatila, N. CrossFit Level One Certification Course, presented at CrossFit Belltown, Seattle, WA. 20-21 August 2016. 

CrossFit Inc. “Fitness, Luck, and Health.” The CrossFit Journal, 16 August 2016. (Online) Available from: http://journal.crossfit.com/2016/08/fitness-luck-and-health.tpl. (Accessed May 2019.)

CrossFit Pierce County, “CrossFit Certification Seminar Notes.” 10-13 February 2006. Pages 3-5. (Online) Available from: https://www.crossfit.com/legacy-pdf/cf-info/FEB06CFNotesNoPics.pdf. (Accessed May 2019.) 

CrossFit Training. “What is Fitness? (Part 1)” Level 1 Training Guide,Version 3.1. CrossFit Inc.,2016, pp. 17-23.

Easter, M. “CrossFit’s Greg Glassman Disrupted Fitness. Next, He’s Taking on Healthcare.”Men’s Health, 12 October 2018. (Online) Available from: https://www.menshealth.com/health/a23663806/greg-glassman-crossfit-health/ (Accessed June 2019).

Glassman, G. “Understanding CrossFit.” The CrossFit Journal, Issue 56, 1 April 2007. (Online) Available from: http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ_56-07_Understanding.pdf. (Accessed May 2019.)

Glassman, G. “What is Crossfit?” The CrossFit Journal, 28 November 2009. (Online) Available from: http://journal.crossfit.com/2009/11/what-is-crossfit.tpl. (Accessed May 2019.)

McKee, C. “Adapt or Die: Inspiration Comes in Different Ways.” Medium Corporation, 17 April 2017. (Online) Available from: https://medium.com/@carsonmckee/adapt-or-die-inspiration-comes-in-different-ways-a239c626f219. (Accessed June 2019.)

Merriam-Webster Dictionary.Merriam-Webster.com.(Online) Available from: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary (Accessed June 2019).

Sam, G. “Bite-Sized CrossFit Concepts: The Hopper Model.” CrossFit Virtuosity, 18 June 2014. (Online) Available from: https://www.crossfitvirtuosity.com/articles/bite-sized-crossfit-concepts-the-hopper-model/ (Accessed June 2019).

Athlete Spotlight: Allison Wanichek

This month's spotlight is focused on Allison who is graduating high school this June! Allison talks about the impact of CrossFit on her day to day life.

In Honor of Heroes: Murph

Every Memorial Day, CrossFit boxes around the U.S. do a Hero Workout called “Murph.” Hero WODs are benchmark workouts that are named after fallen soldiers and tend to be extra grueling, both mentally and physically. “Murph” is named after Navy Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005, at 29 years old.

Murph consists of a 1-mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, and 300 squats, then another 1-mile-run, all completed while wearing a twenty-pound weight vest. Lieutenant Murphy was reportedly an avid CrossFitter and this was one of his favorite workouts. When we do Murph, we honor Lieutenant Murphy and all the others that have given their lives for our freedom.

Background

Michael P. Murphy was born May 7th, 1976 in Smithtown, Long Island, N.Y. Murphy was nicknamed “The Protector” at a young age, after being suspended from elementary school for fighting with bullies who were picking on a special-needs student, according to his father. Murphy reportedly believed there are “bullies in the world and people who’re oppressed in the world. And he said, ‘Sometimes they have to be taken care of.’”

Murphy graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1998, with degrees in political science and philosophy. He was accepted to multiple law schools, but decided instead to join the Navy SEALs, the Navy’s elite special operations force. In 2001 Murphy joined SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team ONE (SDVT-1), based in Pearl Harbor, and in 2005 was assigned as officer in charge of their Alpha Platoon, which was deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. 

Battle

On the night of June 27, 2005, Murphy led a four-man SEAL team, as a part of “Operation Red Wings,” on a reconnaissance mission in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, looking for an insurgent Taliban commander. Their mission was compromised the next morning when they were spotted by local goat herders. The four SEAL team members discussed what to do with these goat herders: if they were Taliban sympathizers and they were released, they could alert the Taliban of the team’s position. Killing the goat herders might ensure the team’s safety, but Murphy was convinced they should let them go. His father later said, “It was exactly the right decision and what Michael had to do. I’m looking at it from Michael’s perspective, that these were clearly civilians. One of them was 14 years old, which was about the age of his brother. Michael knew the rules of engagement and the risks associated with it.” The team decided to release them.

About an hour after letting the goat herders go, a large Taliban force surrounded the SEAL team and opened fire on them, forcing them to scramble down the side of the mountain and into a ravine. The men fought back and killed several of the attackers, but each of them sustained injuries, made all the worse by bounding down the steep mountainside. The firefight went on for nearly two hours. The team tried in vain to obtain contact with headquarters, but their radio wouldn’t work and they couldn’t get a signal on their satellite phone, due to the terrain. Murphy, who had already been shot in the abdomen early in the fight, decided to take matters into his own hands to save the team. He stepped into the open, where he could get a better position to call for help. He was surrounded by gunfire, and when one of the bullets hit him he dropped the phone, but reportedly picked it up again to say, “Roger that, thank you.” After his call, Murphy and his men kept fighting. By the end of the firefight, Murphy and two of the others were dead. To add to the tragedy, 16 of the men sent to rescue the SEAL team were shot down in their helicopter and killed.

Marcus Luttrell, the only survivor of Murphy’s team, was rescued after days of wandering the mountainside and being protected by the people of an Afghan village. He wrote a book about his experience, Lone Survivor, which was made into a movie in 2013, starring Mark Wahlberg. 

Up to that time, this was the largest single-day loss in naval special warfare history. All three of Murphy’s men were awarded the Navy Cross for “undaunted courage,” and Murphy was posthumously awarded the U.S. Military’s highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in risking his life to save his team. Their team is the most decorated team in Navy SEAL history.

In Memory

Seven weeks after the battle, on August 18, 2005, the CrossFit main site posted the “Murph” Hero WOD online as the workout of the day. The post reads as follows:

In memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005.

This workout was one of Mike's favorites and he'd named it "Body Armor". From here on it will be referred to as "Murph" in honor of the focused warrior and great American who wanted nothing more in life than to serve this great country and the beautiful people who make it what it is.

Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you've got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it.

Starting in 2010, Murph has been programmed on CrossFit’s main site every Memorial Day, and this workout has become one of the most heartfelt traditions in CrossFit history. Athletes in the CrossFit Games completed Murph in both 2015 and 2016, and if you need some athletic inspiration (or to see Kara Webb and Annie Thorisdottir suffer from heatstroke), watch the videos on YouTube! (Links below.)

As we tackle this workout on Monday, remember the legacy of Michael Murphy and the men and women who have given their lives for our freedom. When the pain starts to set in, remember that you are doing this for something bigger than a score on the whiteboard. Cheer your fellow athletes on, and look out for each other. Let’s honor our heroes.

-Coach Sonja Rootvik

SOURCES:

Aspen CrossFit. “The Story Behind ‘Murph.’” Aspen CrossFit Blog, 30 May 2016. (Online) Available from: http://www.aspencrossfit.com/the-story-behind-murph/. (Accessed May 2019.)

CrossFit.com. “Workout of the Day, Thursday 050818.”CrossFit.com, 18 August 2005. (Online) Available from: https://www.crossfit.com/workout/2005/08/18#/comments. (Accessed May 2019.)

The CrossFit Games. “2015 CrossFit Games Individual Murph” (Video). CrossFit YouTube. Streamed live 24 July 2015. (Online). Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbGPDK8r5Kg (Accessed May 2019.)

The CrossFit Games. “2016 CrossFit Games Individual Murph” (Video). CrossFit YouTube. Streamed live 22 July 2016. (Online). Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6RP73WMbmA (Accessed May 2019.)

B. Kissam. “Murph WOD: The Most Challenging Tradition in CrossFit.”Athletic Muscle. (Online) Available from: https://athleticmuscle.net/murph-wod/. (Accessed May 2019.) 

Simon. “Hero Workouts Murph and Nate – The Stories of the Men that Inspired the WODs.” BoxRox.com, 2017. (Online) Available from: https://www.boxrox.com/hero-workouts-murph-and-nate-the-men-behind-the-workouts/. (Accessed May 2019.)

Wikipedia. “Operation Red Wings.” Wikipedia.com, last edited on 12 April 2019. (Online) Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Red_Wings. (Accessed May 2019.)

WodWell.com. “’Murph’ CrossFit Hero WOD.” WodWell.com.(Online) Available from: https://wodwell.com/wod/murph/. (Accessed May 2019.)

What is CrossFit?: Part Three

The definition of CrossFit is “constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity.” This is the last of three blog posts dissecting and briefly overviewing this prescription for fitness. Today we will be talking about “high intensity”: What is it, why is it important, and how do we apply it to everyone from elite athletes to the average couch potato? 

Part three: High Intensity

One of the misgivings that I hear from non-CrossFitters is “CrossFit is too intense!” Well, any of us who have walked in the door know that each WOD is scalable to any fitness level, and these people are likely intimidated by watching elite athletes, such as those in the CrossFit Games, compete at the highest level of intensity. While it’s true that intensity is a crucial part of the CrossFit methodology, each person will have a different level of intensity based on their physical and psychological tolerances, and CrossFit can be catered to each and every person. But when we’re explaining this to our friends and coworkers, it’s important to understand what we actually mean by “intensity”. 

First of all, intensity is NOT yelling the loudest, sweating the most, or getting your heart rate the highest. It’s not a perceived feeling of how hard you are working. CrossFit is based on measurable, observable, and repeatable data, so you better believe that their definition of intensity is concrete too! So then, what IS intensity? 

Let’s break it down to a scientific level. The measure ofIntensity is exactly equal to Power. I will use both words interchangeably in this post. Going way back to high school physics, Power is Force times Distance (also known as Work), divided by Time—in essence, Power is calculated by how heavy, how far, and how fast. The faster we do Work, the more Power we are producing, thus the higher Intensity we have. We’ve already talked about Functional Movements, and how they are all about moving heavy loads long distances quickly, so they go hand-in-hand with intensity. The faster, farther, and heavier we perform functional movements, the higher our intensity. 

Ok, so we have intensity defined, but why does it matter? Well, the higher our intensity, the more adaptations and changes our bodies go through—in essence, we get RESULTS. These results include better body composition and fitness in the gym, as well as improved health markers like blood pressure, bone density, and resting heart rate. High intensity functional movements give us a neuroendocrine response in our bodies, actually changing our natural hormones and our neurology for the better! In sum, Intensity = Power = Results! By doing workouts at a higher level of intensity, we “increase our work capacity over broad time and modal domains.” This well-known CrossFit phrase basically means that we get fitter and more capable in every foreseeable area. Intensity is the shortcut, if you will, to fitness. 

But what about people who are more used to their couch than the gym? They can’t create the same level of intensity as an elite athlete! Well, this is where relative intensity comes into play. A 20-year-old collegiate athlete will have a different fitness level than his 90-year-old grandmother, but both of them can still find their own level of high intensity and perform their WODs to this standard. Relative intensity will be different for each person from day to day, based on physical and psychological factors (stress, soreness, fitness level, etc.) Finding your own high relative intensity is basically toeing the line between pushing yourself hard, and getting into “Pukie” territory. For new or deconditioned athletes, this line will be found more quickly, at a lower power output. As we get fitter, our “engines” become stronger, and our power output increases. If time permitted, we could each calculate our exact power output in every WOD, by plugging in the weight we moved, how far we moved it, and how fast we moved it. Instead, to save ourselves some time and math, we retest benchmark workouts periodically to see if we have increased our work capacity. We know that if we shave 30 seconds off our Fran time, we have generated more power, and thus are fitter athletes! 

Now, it’s important to note here that rest and recovery are incredibly important, especially when it comes to high intensity. CrossFit methodology encourages us to keep intensity super high in our workouts, but this simply isn’t sustainable without rest. Greg Glassman, the founder of CrossFit, advises a 3-days-on, 1-day-off, 2-days-on, 1-day-off approach to WODs, in order to be able to keep that intensity super high on our workout days. In addition to taking rest days, sometimes athletes are sick, stressed, dealing with adrenal fatigue or autoimmune illnesses, pregnant, recovering, and more. In these cases, it’s important to still show up to the box and move your body, but modify your intensity in order to keep your body recovering. 

I would be remiss not to mention Rhabdomyolysis, a rare condition where muscle tissues are damaged to the point that they begin breaking down and releasing their contents into the blood stream, potentially causing kidney damage or even kidney failure. Rhabdo can be caused by various things like a car crash, snake bite, or working out with too much intensity. Symptoms of rhabdo include muscle tenderness, localized heat and swelling, and dark-colored urine. (IF you ever have these symptoms, please see your doctor!) I’ve seen rhabdo happen most often with deconditioned athletes trying to work out beyond their current ability level (let’s keep that ego in check!), or while doing high reps of eccentric muscular training (lengthening the muscle under load). Rhabdo is quite rare, and in my nearly 7 years of doing CrossFit I have only seen a handful of cases, not all from CrossFit. However, if you feel nervous about rhabdo, don’t be afraid to ask one of your coaches for some more information. I don’t bring this up to scare anyone, but to educate you on just how much of an effect intensity can have on your body!

This is why it’s incredibly important to know yourself and your limits. If you’re simply too exhausted or overworking yourself, scale back that intensity. However, when you CAN, give each workout everything you’ve got. If a workout doesn’t leave you lying on the floor afterwards, you probably need to add weight, go faster, or go farther! The higher that intensity level is, no matter how long the workout is, the better you will adapt and the better results you will get. In summary, in the words of Pat Sherwood, “Do more work in less time (without overdoing it), and you’ll get fitter faster.”

A Note to Readers:This is a brief overview of the CrossFit methodology based on the empirical findings of Greg Glassman, the CrossFit community, and basic CrossFit methodology. That being said, blog posts are typically user-contributed pages where the information has not been peer-reviewed. I encourage you to use this blog post as a starting point for your own questions and research!  

-Coach Sonja Rootvik

SOURCES

K. Bowler, C. McDonald, and N. Shatila. CrossFit Level One Certification Course, presented at CrossFit Belltown, Seattle, WA. 20-21 August 2016. 

CrossFit Pierce County, “CrossFit Certification Seminar Notes.” 10-13 February 2006. Pages 2-5. (Online) Available from: https://www.crossfit.com/legacy-pdf/cf-info/FEB06CFNotesNoPics.pdf. (Accessed May 2019.) 

G. Glassman. “Foundations.” The CrossFit Journal, 1 April 2002. (Online) Available from: https://journal.crossfit.com/article/foundations-classics. (Accessed May 2019.)

G. Glassman. “Understanding CrossFit.” The CrossFit Journal, Issue 56, 1 April 2007. (Online) Available from: http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ_56-07_Understanding.pdf. (Accessed May 2019.)

G. Glassman. “What is Crossfit?” The CrossFit Journal,28 November 2009. (Online) Available from: http://journal.crossfit.com/2009/11/what-is-crossfit.tpl. (Accessed May 2019.)

M. Lloyd. “The Neuroendocrine Response.” Mountain Strong, 2 October 2017. (Online) Available from: https://www.mountainstrongtraining.com/the-neuroendocrine-response/. (Accessed May 2019.)

P. Sherwood. “Intensity (and its Role in Fitness).” The CrossFit Journal, 13 March 2009. (Online) Available from: http://journal.crossfit.com/2009/03/intensity-and-its-role-in-fitness.tpl. (Accessed May 2019.)

Photo Source: CrossFit Inc, “CrossFit – CrossFit Whiteboard: Intensity.” CrossFit YouTube Channel, 18 September 2012. (Online Video Screenshot). Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=meH9roHylwE. (Accessed May 2019.)

WebMD. “Rhabdomyolysis.” WebMD Medical Reference, Reviewed by Jennifer Robinson, MD, 13 March 2019. (Online) Available from: https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/rhabdomyolysis-symptoms-causes-treatments#1. (Accessed May 2019.)       

Athlete Spotlight: Ross Kennedy

One of two Coach Award honorees this year, Ross is all about family, fitness and fun.