Let me be clear.
I think CrossFit is cool, has amazing athletes, and pushes the boundaries of what the human body can do. It has caused a bigger boom in fitness than anything else.
While it is a real boom, I still don’t think it is the right boom.
While the fitness industry is soaring…
… so is our country’s obesity and health problems.
The fitness industry feeds into the extreme’s and ultimately is only helping fit people get fitter.
Videos are everywhere of amazing athletes doing muscle-ups, 300lb Olympic snatches, and crushing a workout with 100 reps of deadlifts, squats, and handstand pushups in 4 minutes and laying on the floor in agony (and victory) for 10 minutes.
These videos are great for motivation.
But not so ideal for providing someone a blueprint to success.
Unfortunately, 80% of the population is stuck waving for help while the people who are supposed to help them are off doing things that will never assist them.
Crossfit is a sport. Just like professional football.
The aim of any sport is to win.
Programming for CrossFit is designed to make you good at CrossFit. Lots of Olympic lifting and gymnastic skills practice, tons of aerobic work to build a motor, and a bunch of met-cons to create an incredible anaerobic threshold.
Competitive, top cross-fitters workout about 16-25 hours a week. Many of them much more.
These hours doesn’t even take into account recovery needed from all that. Which is: tons of sleep, calories, and chilling.
Which is awesome if you are getting paid and you dedicate your life to it.
Me?
I like spending 3-6 hours in the gym to achieve my goals of being healthy, looking good on the beach, and being strong and fit for anything my life throws at me.
Specifically, I dedicate one hour a day. This time consists of either lifting, conditioning, mobility or some combination six days a week.
Outside of the one hour, I would much rather spend my hours of time (the ultimate currency) with family & friends, my career/business, and a mix of fun hobbies.
I may be wrong, but I think that is what most people are looking to do.
Unfortunately, I meet a lot of individuals who get wrapped up in training like the top CrossFit athletes and thinking they should workout 15 times a week.
We need more fitness professionals who promote a lifestyle that can help the people who are struggling the most.
I stand by my formula of 2-3 strength training workouts a week with easy to learn, basic exercises that cover all movement patterns.
Don’t be fooled into thinking because DB presses and rows are easier to learn and implement than a more complicated snatch squat; they are inferior. For my money, it makes them more useful. More people can learn and execute them safely and correctly. In turn, putting them to use quicker.
Add to strength work some aerobic exercise like walking, biking, hiking or running and you have a big piece of the recipe for a healthy and great body. (Nutrition pending)
The main components of being a good cross-fitter are proficiency at the gymnastic skills and Olympic lifting elements. That takes at least 3 hours of just practice on those skills alone a week. Not that this is a bad thing, just respect the work that goes into the craft along with: KNOWING YOUR GOALS!
“Practice! Practice! We are talking about practice! I ain’t got time for that.”
I can get all my strength workouts in that time and have more time for playing with my dog, watching ‘Mad Men,’ and driving my business forward.
What To Do
Three strength training workouts based on compound movements can provide amazing results with 3 hours a week. Everyone can dedicate this amount of time and most a little bit more.
Me personally, I workout about 4-6 hours a week. If I am busy or traveling a lot I can easily scale it down to 3:
- 3 Strength Training Days on M/W/F( 1-hour total w/ warmup and workout)
- 2 Days of Low-intensity Cardio on Tu/Th ( 30-60 mins)
- 1 Interval Training Workout a week. (Normally as a finisher on Friday)
- 1 Long Hike on the weekend with Wifey and Arnie. ( 60-90 mins)
- Lots of dog walks!
The majority of my workouts I finish feeling MORE energized and better than when I started. Not like I got hit by a truck then drenched in a rainstorm and need a bucket next to me.
Most people think every workout needs to feel like the latter.
False.
Consistently following this approach for 10+ years has worked for me. I also know I can keep doing it for another 50+ years.
If you want to compete in the NFL, bodybuilding, Crossfit, Triathlons, etc. then you will need to do a lot more.
What I am proposing is that most people don’t want to be high-level competitive athletes and just want to feel confident, look good on the beach or at the pool, feel strong and have good endurance.
Am I alone on this? My mission is to make ‘less is more’ the biggest “fad” the fitness industry has ever seen.
Why?
Because it will help the people, who feel the most helpless.
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