The Crossfit Hierarchy. How Solid is Your Foundation?

In the world of crossfit, you are considered "fit" if you are proficient or posses all 10 of the fitness domains. You are unfit if you lack any of the 10 domains.

What are they you ask? They are: endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, speed, power, coordination, agility, accuracy and balance.

The first 4 domains (endurance, stamina, strength, and flexibility) are the physical changes. This comes from doing the WOD's while perfecting form and range of motion. The last 4 (coordination, agility, accuracy and balance) are neurological changes developed from the programming. Speed and power arise from the combination of the other 8 domains. Speed and power outputs are a direct result of your physical and neurological adaptations.

Now that you know the 10 domains of fitness, here is the hierarchy.

1) Diet- Eating a good diet gives your body the necessary elements that it needs to perform optimally. If you feed your machine crap, your body will not be able to perform it's best and you most likely will not feel well. If you feed your machine whole healthy food, then you lay a foundation for your body to perform it's best and you feel good and recover better.

2) Metabolic Conditioning- Training for endurance and stamina allows for your body to build a capacity in each of the 3 metabolic pathways. (aerobic, lactic acid, and phospho-creatine) The more you train this, the more adaptable your body becomes and the easier the transition is for your body between the three pathways.


3) Gymnastics- Training in gymnastics allows you to establish a foundation in flexibility and body control. (balance, accuracy, agility, flexibility, and coordination)

4) Weightlifting and throwing- Training with weights builds strength. Having the ability to control objects in various movement planes makes us stronger.


5) Sport- This is the application of "Fitness" into a competitive atmosphere where there are more randomized movements and skill mastery.

I hope that you can see that there is a natural progression to crossfit. Each tier builds on the next. Even though it is random and constantly varied..... there is still a method and progression to achieving maximum power output. If you are lacking in any of these 10 domains... but want to lift more, heavier and faster, then think first about this hierarchy. How solid is your foundation?

Rolling into Recovery

Foam rolling, also called self myofacial release (SMR) is something that you hear frequently in the gym. Here is why...

The idea is to seek out the tender spots in your muscles (trigger points or knots) then roll over them to massage them out, relieve pain, pressure and inflammation. It works like massage therapy. Think of your muscles like a shoelace. It has a certain length to it. When you get a knot in it, the shoelace is shortened. You have to work out the knot to restore the natural length. The same goes for your muscles. Sometimes stretching is not what you need. By working out the knots in your muscles, you restore the muscle to the original length making it more pliable and functional.


There are a couple of techniques that you can use:

1) Keep a continuous roll over the trigger point to massage the area.

2) Find the trigger point and hold pressure to that area for 20-30 sec.

Either way works just fine. Apply only as much pressure as you can tolerate and build up the amount of time that you spend doing it.

When to do it:

You can foam roll anytime. There is no such thing as too much. Doing it before a workout can help warm up your muscles and work out the tight sore areas leading to a more effective workout. After a workout can help prevent sore muscles. The first time you use this technique it may be a little painful. Stick with it. Once you are past the first few weeks it gets easier and more comfortable. The better foam rolling feels and the less it hurts means that you have better quality muscle tissue now.

Benefits:


If you still need more benefits than better quality muscle tissue and less pain.... then here are a few added benefits to foam rolling:

• the compression causes nerves to relax


• loosens the muscles making them more pliable and functional


• increases blood flow (more blood flow=faster recovery and toxin release)


• alleviates soreness and helps recovery

Roll your way to better recovery and muscle function.

Contrast Showers

Intense exercise causes microtrauma (small tears) in the muscle tissue. This is what causes your soreness after a WOD. This delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) occurs between 24-72 hours after exercise. This damage is not all bad though... the damage stimulates your muscle cell activity helping it to repair and strengthen the muscle.

How to deal with DOMS varies among experts. Some say that you should just rest, some say ice baths, contrast showers or heat. Every elite athlete has their own way to deal with DOMS. The more I read, the more I see that athletes swear by ice baths and contrast showers. So... I put it to the test.

I have been taking contrast showers for about 3 months now and have noticed that my recovery has been shorter. My muscles don't stay as sore for as long and not to mention.... it leaves me feeling invigorated afterwards. And who doesn't want that?

There is a term used in India called "Ishnan". This is the point at which the body creates the temperature that can beat off the coldness of water on its own. This happens when the capillaries open with the onset of cold water and close during the course of the cold shower. At this point blood rushes back to flush the organs and glands allowing them to renew themselves.

This is important because it is half of the theory behind contrast showers and what they do for you. The hot water brings blood to the tissues feeding the muscles with nutrients and oxygen. The cold water forces the blood back to the organs taking with it all of the waste products like lactic acid. By alternating between hot and cold you are speeding up your circulation and ultimately your recovery as well.

How do you do this?

There are several different suggestions on the length of time for each hot/cold session as well as cycles to use. What most of the literature I have read says and what I have found works best for me is 3-5 cycles of 90 seconds of hot water followed by 30 seconds of cold water. Start with warm water to get your body used to the temp, then go to hot water first and always end your shower with cold water.

The benefits to contrast showers are increased circulation, elimination of toxins and wastes from your muscles, and reduced DOMS. Give it a try! I love it!

It's Getting Hot in Here

OK, so you have noticed that Arizona is getting a little warmer these days like a desert should be. I say.... FINALLY!!!

For those of you that have been acclimatized to air conditioning it is time to step outside of your comfort zone. Crossfit is about pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone to become more adaptable to your environment. There are crossfit gyms all over this country that only train outdoors. Yep... that's right, in the wind, sun, rain, etc.

What if your house was on fire and the fire dept just couldn't come save you because it was just too hot outside?

Do you think that in Iraq our service men/women only work to defend our country when it's a comfortable 75 degrees outside with shade trees?

I know that some of you are probably saying that these two scenarios don't relate to you but my point is this....

Crossfit is about becoming adaptable to any situation. We live in the desert... adapt to it. Training in the heat for an hour is good for you. Consider it a detox. If you are just in the gym to become more "fit" then remember that part of being "fit" is training your body to be adaptable to anything.

There is just no way around it!!! It's uncomfortable at first, just suck it up. Train to be adaptable and your body will thank you for it.