WOD:

4 Rounds for time

400m Row
30 Wall Balls (20/14)
30 Box Jumps (20/16)
30 Kettlebell Swings (1.5/1.0)

Post time to comments

He's been following our program for several months from afar, finally Diver Tony is here experiencing our brand of fitness live and in person.

Did Mark Sisson Knock CrossFit?

There was just a little bit of buzz around the box, and probably around boxes all over the country, last week following a post by Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple. In his post titled P90X and CrossFit, Mark outlines his thoughts on the infomercial megahit P90X as well as our chosen fitness obsession, CrossFit.  By and large he has positive things to say about both programs and he goes into pretty good detail describing the benefits of each.  He also discusses his concerns with each program.  Since I have never tried P90X, I’ll refrain from saying much about it, although I do have some thoughts.  Ask me about it, I’d be glad to expand on it.  As far as his concerns with CrossFit, I’m not convinced they are all that valid.  It is quite obvious that he views CrossFit entirely as the main site WOD as prescribed.  He argues that the main site WOD programming is too intense to be sustained over a lifetime and that a 3-on/1-off cycle is too much and can lead to injuries.  What his argument fails to recognize is the scalability of CrossFit.  Remember, the programming on the website is designed to put the fittest people in the world on their knees, all the rest of us are supposed to scale to our own ability level.  Neglecting to do this will certainly lead to the issues that Mr. Sisson outlines.  He also fails to mention that many people do their CrossFit training at a CrossFit affiliate where they are being coached by knowledgable instructors who are ensuring their safety, monitoring their progress and demanding good technique.  So, Mark, while I respect your views on many things, especially those centered on nutrition, I do take a bit of issue with your criticism of CrossFit.  It’s not totally without merit, but it’s not totally informed either.

Okay, so maybe I’ll say just one thing about P90X…seriously, comparing P90X and CrossFit is totally unfair and inappropriate.  While people do improve their fitness with P90X the program is designed and marketed with only one thing in mind and that is aesthetics.  Don’t believe it, check out the website which can be found at www.beachbody.com, yep that’s it beachbody.com not P90X.com.  So if your only goal is to look good, well P90X might get you there.  If your goal is to become fitter, faster and stronger and as a nice little side benefit, look better naked, I think you might be better off with CrossFit.  Of course I might be just a little bit biased.