Whenever we ask that question, we first get a look of confusion.
“What do you mean, what is fitness? It’s….you know… being fit, and stuff. Like, being able to do stuff and it’s not hard.”
Exactly… That has been one of the biggest problems over the years. No one has ever specifically defined fitness, until now.
On October 1st 2002, the founder of CrossFit, Coach Greg Glassman published an article that is part of the foundation of CrossFit.
“What is Fitness”
http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ-trial.pdf
In it, fitness is defined as having three main standards.
1. ”You are as fit as you are competent in each of these 10 skills.
- Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance
- Stamina
- Strength
- Flexibility
- Power
- Coordination
- Agility
- Balance
- Accuracy
2. ”…..fitness is about performing well at every task imaginable.”
Picture a random drawing or a raffle, where there’s a big hopper, and in that hopper are combinations of every exercise imaginable. You name it, it’s in there. CrossFit believes that your fitness can be measured by comparing your performance in these activities to that of your peers.
3. Metabolic engines.
The three metabolic engines that power all activity are the: Phosphagen, Glycolitic, and Oxidative engines. These engines provide the energy for all human action: extremely short duration activity, under 10 seconds(Phosphagen), moderate activity, up to several minutes(Glycolitic), and low-powered activity lasting longer than several minutes(Oxidative).
CrossFit promotes increased work capacity in all three of these engines. If you’re a powerlifter and can deadlift 300kg I’d be willing to bet that your oxidative engine is underdeveloped. Same goes with competitive marathoners. Having trouble deadlifting your bodyweight? Then you’ve got some glaring weakenesses that need to be addressed.
