Don't blow your WOD!

From this outset, I want to declare I do not wish for this blog entry to be some all hating, all bashing Crossfit rant. We have all seen these before; usually from jealous ‘body builders’ distraught at the knowledge their muscle and fiction magazine isolation programs are not working and from pissed off Olympic weight lifters that claim Crossfit have destroyed their sport. After all; the death of Weight Lifting has nothing to do with all the jaded, fat, white drug cheats that insult any outsiders that even try to pull a snatch in the off season.

Over the last few weeks I have quietly watched the rollout of regional qualifying WODs and I have one question ‘What are Crossfit trying to prove’?

Let’s have an analysis of programming thus far 

• 12.1 AMRAP Burpee jumps in 7 minutes

• 12.2 Essentially AMRAP Snatch in about the same time

• 12.3 15 box jumps, 12, 52kg push press, 9 toes to bar, continuous for 18 minutes

• 12.4 150 walls balls, 90 double-unders, 30 ring muscle ups, 12 minutes

• 12.5 50kg thrusters (essentially a squat to push press) then Chins nonstop for 7 minutes

So if we look here we have 10 discrete movements, from those, 7 are dynamic vertical plane movements at what is clearly sub maximal weights. From those 7, I would consider 4 (57%) of them (Burpee, Snatch, Wall ball & Thrusters) to apply an insane amount of reversal loading (inertia) to the knees, while the box jumps, double-unders and muscle ups are most likely to destroy your Achilles and shoulders. 

Now; research has shown over and over again that improvements in V02 uptake (fitness) are most notable when interval training; yet here we see Crossfit smashing their athletes in too submission with continuous steady state WODs. Furthermore; there is no logical progression of training volume with WOD 12.1 and 12.5 both lasting 7 minutes. Watching through a few of the submitted videos I observed some critical points; most people spend more time standing around staring at the ground gassed and unable to function than actually training and particularly with 12.2 the word ‘technique’ gets thrown out the window.  While 12.3; is 3 minutes longer than a UFC fight (with no defined intervals!) and the entire series of WOD’s does not include a single horizontal plane or max lift movement! 

I guess it's a Crossfit thing

As I mentioned in the intro; I like Crossfit; I like the girls, and the guys, I own a Crossfit T-shirt and I really need to take those Atlas Stone molds back to Crossfit Adelaide. I wish those who qualified for the regional’s all the best with their training, those who did not; I hope you keep training. I like what the sport stands for; smashing limits and living on the edge a bit, I have trained with Crossfitters, even had a crack at dating one for a while and more than anything I LOVE how much Crossfit has pissed off the commercial fitness industry. However, right here and now, Crossfit is not getting stronger, not getting fitter and not getting faster. So; I feel we need to return to my original question ‘What are Crossfit trying to prove’?

Going Back to the Primal Days.

Since about the age of 5 I have been told my feet ‘suffer’ from under developed arches, this in turn leads to pronation (toes pointing out) and excessive rolling of the ankles. Throughout the years of ‘suffering’ I have been told to wear orthotic insoles, use shoes specifically designed for this problem and tape my feet. 

As a result of this genetic miss-creation I have genuinely suffered from bilateral shin splints (yes I know that’s a generic term) furthermore; I have torn both my plantar fascias (the muscle running long ways down the foot) and perhaps the most annoying has been the bilateral development of calcium deposits (Bone spurs) on my Tibia’s that has left me hating running on any kind (I mean a quick jog across the road makes me want to punch small kittens). 

Now, I turned 30 the other day, I don’t like to admit it but I did and a quick mental review of injuries, shows the ‘suffering’ in my feet has not improved one bit over the previous 10 years. 

So here is a quick bio-mechanics lesson; humans have a built in shock absorber, it’s called the calf muscle (and associated structures). There is an argument; excessively padded shoes have ‘allowed’ us (humans) to heel strike. Heel striking means the calf cannot activate and the striking force is directly translated to the joints. Padded shoes have also allowed the foot and ankle to weaken and rely on the shoe, not the foot, to maintain a suitable gait pattern. And finally, the raised heel position has allowed the calf and Achilles to shorten and reduce the range of motion around the ankle (REFERENCE). 

So I got thinking outside the square, and I noted there is a growing movement of barefoot or ‘minimal’ shoe running advocates. I have spent a considerable amount of time researching the subject and let’s just say it’s a more heated debate than a Jerry Springer episode.  The advocate’s claim it’s only since the development of the sports shoe in the 70’s that injuries have started to present. The other party claim that ground reaction forces (shock & loading) is not reduced by a modification of gait pattern. In one review study, it was even claimed a researcher incorrectly accepted a hypothesis in their own study (for those who don’t speak science this is an inexcusable mistake that means they concluded 2 + 2 = 5)(REFERENCE). 

A quick barefoot walk to the beach immediately showed some problems; for starters I am a prolific heel striker, second; after a worrying short period of time my feet were aching and perhaps the biggest concern was while barefoot I had a notable shift (improvement) in hip posture. 

So I have decided to do my own self administered case study (in some ways this is best possible research!)

For the following week I plan to go barefoot, with some considerations and limitations, I will wear one or two pairs of socks to protect the soles of my feet. Furthermore; I plan to tape the soles of my feet to offer some support during the transition phase and to further protect the skin from debris. I also plan to wear shoes with driving as I feel this is a safety issue and obviously in social settings I will still wear my old school Jordans or Converses.  I am lucky I work in a gym that encourages this kind of experimental behavior so there is no problem there I plan to give this a go for a solid week; the hypothesis is there will be a qualitative improvement in strength and stability of my feet and the size of my calcium deposits. Furthermore I expect an improvement in posture. 

I will endeavor to update you all on my progress in a week or so time.