I noticed I was a better performing athlete who was injury free before I started CrossFit. And my decline in running, swimming and lifting ability began around the same time I tried to take cross fit seriously and became a cf1 and started to teach and compete in my mid 20s at my local box. Felt like I destroyed my body trying to "increase my work capacity"by doing WoDs not realizing the fundamentals is what kept me healthy and I was literally killing my joints with so much varied training.
In 2018, I took a year off my CrossFit gym to get better at Weightlifting. I used your UA-cam videos to help me get there. I have never expressed my gratitude to you for that, so here it is… Thank you for teaching a gym rat from South Florida who you have never met how to weight lift. Keep up the great work!
i don't know man, i might be an outlier here. I think this kind of study is pretty much common sense. if you strictly focus on one thing (str/skill) at a time then you're going to make more gains. The "crossfit" WODs everyday of the week without a higher level plan in mind is the same as smashing your head against a brick wall expecting the bricks to break. Don't get me wrong, i LOVE crossfit but its not just the workouts everyday that make crossfit, crossfit. The programming is a small part of the whole thing
I think it’s common sense too. It’s still important to see common sense with hard data. Hard data is something that CrossFit lacks. It’s just nice to see.
@@zacktelander What I feel like needs to be differentiated is regular person training in the gym and someone being able to train more often going competitive and so on. This study seems to be focused on the athlete who might really benefit from separating strength and conditioning either in different days or in different sessions. For the regular person who might be going 3-4 times in the week in the gym will get benefit from both the strength and conditioning, which they might not if they were separated in different days
@@РадославПантелеев-и2р To my experience, even greater separation with each mesocycle having a singular focus (endurance, sprints, specific strength, balance, flexibility), has produced the best gains.
Crossfit got me into working out. I have cerebral palsy and every time I went into a "normal" gym I felt like I did not fit in because I had no idea what I was doing or what any machines even did but with crossfit it felt accessable and after my first couple of classes I knew what every piece of equipment did and that helped me get over my fear of working out.
Zach, I think it’s important to label Hybrid in this study for what it truly is: 4 variations of the squat, 4 variations all using just a barbell, a 2k row which is a fine but isolated aerobic test and only one gymnastics movement paired with a press and deadlift. These isolated and somewhat singular tests will improve over time if repeatedly tested of course, but is it even fair to compare to crossfit, which is defined as constantly varied functional movements peroformed at high intensity across broad time domains? You see dumbbells, strongman, gymnastics, barbell cycling and monostructural tests in many forms because crossfitters are striving for virtuosity (assuming ego in the form of rep shaving and not doing the prerequisite work to continue progressing doesn’t plague the athlete). I think hybrid athletes are totally entitled to their training methodology and it’s great that it works for them. But I believe there is even ego involved with making a study like this because there really is no comparison to crossfit…and that is OK My point here is that there are no “gains” in total fitness. It was gains in a specific test that should yield results if that’s your goal in your training.
great points. It is strange to label what objectively isn't crossfit as "traditional crossfit" and what is something much more closely representative of the crossfit methodology as "hybrid" lol. Crossfit HQ doesn't control how individual gyms incorporate crossfit doctrine. So gyms deciding that strength biased programming was the best route has nothing to do with what crossfit teaches. Also gen pop doesn't necessarily need progressive overload to get stronger, it is simply more optimal to use progressive overload training to get stronger. Getting stronger isn't the only goal of crossfit. Neither is your 2k row.
This was the whole argument taylor self and sentinel training (on YT) made in their breakdown of the wodscience post. Imo they did a much better analysis and discussion around what the test SHOULD be to make a fair crossfit test as they're literally coaches in the space, but I'm glad Zack comes to a similar conclusion about the specifics of the training translating to the specifics testing.
@matthewbrown9129What if instead of looking at the exercise, we looked at the qualities these chosen modalities are looking represent - would your opinion change? Provided that skill is not the main limiting factor here, as it shouldn't be since most CF athletes will have quite a bit of exposure to each of these movements.
@@derekrebernik3038 seems like it would be easy to just go directly to crossfit competition results. do athletes improve over time? mission accomplished
People really hated crossfit and anything that looked like crossfit. I remember way back when there were so few nuanced criticism of crossfit. One of the first I remember from years ago was from UFC veteran Alan Belcher talking to some random guy in his gym. The rando's argument was about the weird exercises they did e.g. the zercher, he just didn't know the name. Alan was quick to point out that it was a zercher and not a crossfit "thing", this went on for a few minutes. My issue with crossfit was always the performance aspect and programming of it. People would cheat themselves out of a good workout just to beat a number and would go through workouts that lacked coherence.
Water is wet. Wetness is waters affect on adhesion and cohesion to other objects. Well guess what; those 2 abilities also make water, FUCKING WATER. so yes water is wet@Jackmerius_Tacktheritrix5733
I was glad that you kept mentioning something along the lines of "wait for the comments in the end for the issues". Because I was fucking fuming and screaming ""This is what it's originally supposed to be!!" The masses have understood one thing and greatly misunderstood another thing about the methodology of crossfit. a) Crossfit has to be intense training and intensity means progress. b) Intensity means to be dying on the floor after every session gasping for air People have confused "Crossfit" with "Metcons" so much that it has become synonymous for outsiders, crossfitters themselves and worst of all third party programmers who start programming this stuff because people started feeling like Strength days aren't crossfit. Our gym uses crossfit affiliate programming (CAP) and I don't think it gets more original than that. I stand by that programming passionately (except for the occasional SDHP) but it is not rare that we get drop-ins asking "That's it?!" on a Heavy day, Btw I can absoultely confirm the no-show behaviour on a strength day. But the way I see it is: "You pay us to make you fit and to coach you to be a better version of yourself. We think this is the way to do it. And if you don't show up that's on yourself. I will not change the program that I stand by, because you think you know better how to get fit. "
I wish the CrossFit gyms near me had that mentality, but instead they do want to make you die on the floor every training. It's the reason CrossFit never stuck with me. I just felt I was at the edge of burnout too often, making dangerously shitty reps just because that was the ethos of the gym. At least to me, as someone who is natural and over 30, it was just too much for my body to endure. It was fun though.
I don't think people have misunderstood anything. The official ducking logo for CrossFit is a puking clown dying of rabdo. You literally can't make this shit up.
Interesting video and study. I started crossfit about 1.5 years ago and feel like it added just a general boost to my level of athleticism. The last 6 months or so I have focused mostly on CF with a little bit of my usual powerlifting / hypertrophy sessions in between. I PR'd my squat and deadlift when we did a CF total at our gym. This was after a block of training that was programmed more towards that goal. More recently our programming is geared towards running / cardio endurance. I think what I am saying is I think CF is at it's best when the programming is dialed and more specified. Which I think that is the point you were making at the end of the video.
Been doing Crossfit for 10 months now, and I've never stuck with anything sports related this long. It's been such an eyeopener for me and I can see the difference both in my weight and my muscle mass. At our gym, you can also take a weekly olympic weightlifting class, which I ABSOLUTELY love doing. I've been going 3 times a week with regular WOD's which was one of my goals, before that I did 2 WOD's and 1 olylift class. Next goal is to be able to do 3 WOD's and the olylift class. But I love the C&J man...
This study proves that the original CF methodology works. Strength and heavy days separated from metcon days. What they call Hybrid CF, is actually how CF was written by coach Glassman. Thanks for putting this out ZT. The affiliate(in last 5-6 years) got pigeon holed into making people think they have to get most bang for their buck by doing stength & metcon in one 1hr class, 5-6 days a week. That is not true CF in my opinion.
I believe that what works is what people can commit to doing consistently. It would be great if the average Joel understood that splitting their training is beneficial, as the study suggests, but reality isn't like that. I'm the head coach of a CrossFit gym in Australia and looking at our data, there's a massive drop off in attendance on days where there's only a strength or only a conditioning component to the workout. We've tried educating people on the subject but it can only go so far, so we'd rather have people actually doing the workouts than programming something that even though is more effective, doesn't bring members through the door. I'd love to know how the gym you go to got to the point that people still show up to a rowing and running session as you mentioned.
The problem with crossfit is the intense Cardio fries your CNS so you're highly susceptible to injury. That's how I got a grade 1 slipped disk in my back. Been rehabbing it for almost 5 months but ill never do crossfit again. It's just not a good formula for training. Intense Cardio and weightlifting should be programmed correctly.
As a physiotherapist, it's a running joke, that prime location for a private practice is across the street from a Crossfit box, or a place that offers Les Mills Body Pump. Same reasons - workouts are way too demanding for the people who participate, and few places offer adequate beginner's course. Despite the possibility for endless scaling, there are more coaches catering to the "i want to die" crowd, than actual functional progressive training, mostly because they don't come from strength and conditioning or similar background.
CrossFit has its issues and is not perfect, especially depending on the gym and the coaches, but I am sorry, if you slipped a disk from “too much cardio” you would have likely done the same thing in a regular gym pushing hard on something else. The only times I have gotten any sort of injury in CrossFit and outside of it training like a power lifter or body builder, is when I let my ego take over and not listen to my body. I was a strength and conditioning coach for 3 years for all age (youth to professional) athletes, and I was very much against CrossFit, but once I tried it, I saw the value and also saw the correlation of injury being a product of not listening to your body because you want to be better than “that person”. And there is nothing wrong with also being a competitive person. If you push and train hard at anything you will accrue injuries. Period. That is the reality of pushing your body to adapt.
Interesting. I've been in the crossfit scene since late 2006 (no typo - getting to 18 years now!) - and one thing that has changed since the early days of the sport is that (stereo-)typical "warm up - strength/skill - metcon" trajectory designed to (a) fill a 60 minute class and (b) leave everyone feeling like they got hit by a bus. Back in the Day (TM) the front page WOD (which I followed one my own and most early boxes also followed) was typically ONE SINGLE element - like, JUST Fran or JUST 10 DLs or JUST a 5k. (You started with the CFWU, which took me 10-15 minutes.) And: Back in the day, I regularly spent a good hour working on those 10 DLs. There were definitely weaknesses (as well as strengths) to that older approach, but one thing I've noticed since the transition is that the strength and/or skill segment often feels a bit rushed - and you may actually feel hesitant to give it your all because you're saving energy for the metcon at the end (which always feels like "the real WOD"). This is particularly relevant in (also typical) programming scenarios where the movement trained the strength/skill section is important for the metcon. I.e., you work up to a heavy rep 5 rep front squat - then do a metcon where you do, like, 30 DUs, 20 C2Bs, 15 T2Bs, 10 FS (@70kg) for 3 rounds. (I just made that up, but you've got to admit that it looks pretty typical.) In scenarios like this, if you really go all in on the 5 rep max FS, your WOD-pals are going to destroy you on the WOD.
Great video Zack! I'm a masters thrower (age 64) and I don't need much endurance training, however I do split up the weekly workouts as follows - 2x week Olympic Lifting, 2x week Strength training, 2x week throwing (shotput/javelin + discus/hammer) + one day rest. So Power - Strength - Skill - Repeat - Rest. Each weight workout session is 1 hour - five exercises per session. Throwing sessions 30 mins each for two events. Seems to work well for me. Thanks!
@@CadeCarnett yeah, but let's be honest not many of us are winning medals. We're working out to live not living to workout. Do what you like in a progressive and safe manner. I completely see your point though, especially if your occupation depends on your fitness/physique.
What i love about crossfit is that I've been going 3xs a week for about 7 years. I've never stayed with something so long. Just started going to the gym and using weights for the past 6 months, and i do enjoy it, but unfortunately, i already feel myself getting bored. For me, crossfit is just lifestyle
Very true! WOD’s are so much fun even when they’re not 😂 Just lifting can be really boring but a great way to take a mental break and stay strong. Hope you get back at it!
I can’t understand people saying “CrossFit is so fun just lifting isn’t” it’s literally the same thing with different programming, you can just do the programming you enjoy lol
@@shannonsteven3982 The subjective opinion tells the other subjective opinion who is most correct. This is like saying marathon running is the same as lifting but different programming. Yah, we are all just living our lives but with different programming, lol.
very tired of fitness science at the moment where in the search of the most optimal we forget that we as humans need to explore different things, make mistakes and learn from them
Every crossfit gym I've ever worked out at, I always eventually went out of my way to sign up at a globo gym to work on strength building. Your right when you said less people show up for full on weightlifting days because I've witnessed it myself in the past 10 years. It made me wonder if the owners plan it with less weightlifting activity because they recognize that also. I love crossfit, the community, and it's competitiveness, but I always have to supplement in doing extra stuff outside of it to get more well rounded....typically in strength.
I get bored with standard bodybuilding style workouts, cardio, or powerlifting/oly programs. CF style training keeps me interested and going to the gym. So people can say what they want about it, I like doing it and keep going vs I just give up on other stuff after a few months. I’ve been going to the gym consistently for nearly 8 years now doing CF style training.
Doing crossfit for a year reduced by 1RM across the board. Too much cardio, not enough actual strength training. Turns out all the big boys in the crossfit gym were on steroids .
I ate half a pint of ice cream while watching this. My gym has a crossfitty training program and a strength training program and you can cross between the two as you want. The programming is related but focused on either MetCon or on Strength depending on the class. Its good stuff. You are correct about ego. Ego is what gets you in the gym, but to become strong you need to park your ego outside. As you get older your ego will get you injured.
As a CrossFitter, I've always assumed this would be the case. I think the mixed sessions are great for the average person though to keep things interesting. A lot of people don't need/want to be as fit as they can possibly be, they just want to be "healthy" with 2 or 3 sessions a week.
I used to be in the 5am group at a local box. After the WOD was over, I would then have to get in a lift. That told me everything I needed to know. I work for a living and banging my head for HSPUs was super funny. LOL! Needless to say, I stopped going. Plus it was expensive to be a member as well. Luckily I was smart enough to avoid getting injured while I was there, but lots of other people did get hurt and had things they wouldn’t even do.
Funnily enough, this is actually very similar to Andrew Huberman's training style. I believe he has a pretty structured plan, but its basically just strength, cardio, strength, cardio, strength, cardio, rest.
Great video as usual, I’ve been doing CrossFit Linchpin for 1.5 years now and coach Sherwood fully embraces this, our whole workout today was 4x8 front squats with some optional accessories, and we very purposefully moderate intensity, only going full send 20-40% of the time depending on how we feel. I’ll never go back to a lift/metcon “new CrossFit” program ever again. I keep getting stronger and my fitness keeps increasing, even though I’m much less beat up than I used to be.
I think your content is highly underrated, I really like the way you present and analize your videos, I have used several of your previous technique videos on weightlifting and training programming. Regarding crossfit, I hate it when I´m doing front squats or some variation of clean or snatchs, like a balance or a hang, and someone says "hey dude, I also do crossfit"... I don´t understand why peolpe relates weightlifting, gymnastics or body weight training to CF... but it is what it is, without a doubt CF is fun and can be effective (as any training you commit to and follow along side a good diet), so people that like it, all good, is just that CF is not the only kind of training.
I don't know where each reader trains, but this is "somehow " how we program in our affiliate. Yes, people want to get a good sweat, but it also has much to do with: What is the objective of today's training? and this is a vital point to be understood For example, Warmup Strength: Let us assume exactly like the sets that Zack showed, Metcon In this case, if the objective of today's session is to focus on strength, then the focus and the time will go to the strength, and the class will be taught to go heavy and push harder, while the metcon is taking like an extra to give a final push " short and less intense than usual." The next day, you will have a skill first part and then an intense WOD I was constantly training like this, except when I was preparing for a competition or getting obsessed with being better in a specific movement
I bet that, despite the comments, 80% or more of affiliates do not do "Strength Only" sessions. Originally CF proposed such sessions (heavy days with only one movement) but much less frequently, not twice a week and with multiple movements as it was done in this study. So well done for pointing that out
What if you have no choice but to attend a gym that does strength + WOD style programming? Choose one as your intention for the day and go low intensity on the other? + mix in some runs/cardio on off days?
I agree with the isea of a blended approach. For me, 64yo male cf/wl for 3 yrs now, is that what I do hits all fitness modalities The variety keeps it interesting. My blocks were 2-4 weeks for a while with focus on different areas but never leaving out str/cardio/speed. Yes, at times I gravitate to str, get beat up, and then dial it down and dial cardio up.
The best ive ever felt in my my life is hybrid training between lifting weights and running. I did crossfit for a year and a half and I never felt anywhere as good. Everyone always just wanted to feel like they died instead of feeling like they had a great workout.
Coaching/programming is vital to get the desired gains and appeasing the gym clients. I love how our coach creates adequate lengthed cycles with progressive overload in mind for us to get stronger. There are days where we just do strength work without a WOD because he wants us to get enough volume, and not burn us out. He even tells us that we don't have to go max intensity on WODs to avoid injury and reduce recovery time; that it's okay to do a WOD and walk away breathing a bit heavy, but feel good. I have improved my deadlift and squat numbers, and I have also earned a personal best on my 5k all while doing Crossfit. Zack, did the study mention anything about nutrition and sleep of the participants of the study? I feel like not enough people who go all out every day during Crossfit eat an adequate amount of protein to help them optimize recovery time and build muscle.
Nice video!! There’s a lot that i would like to point out as someone that does CrossFit for about 8 years and as a PT. But the thing that stand out to me is that I’m Brazil people tend to skip conditioning days and jump strength but even more to high skills days (butterfly pull up, bar muscle up,HSW) but principle stays the same if the coaches do not find a way to insert a little bit of everything into the week programming people just cherry pick workouts and complain, it’s veryyy hard
My own anecdote on the study is that I would agree. I feel better doing WODs and lifting when it's kept separate in workouts. My old gym used to have pure strength days twice a week, not only just lifting heavy, but working the auxillary movements that help the power lifts. Did this for a little over 6 months and saw huge gains in strength. They stopped doing that and went back to the "traditional" style WODs and I found that I've basically plateaued in all aspects of training.
Thank you for the upload baby Brother! This is exactly how I train: high density training ergo two times per day or more; a.m. tends to be c.v. but life demands sometimes I do it later, p.m. strength. Sometimes I do strength endurance based routines especially if only time to train once that day & I have no goals within the current periodisation other than this. Sometimes I do S&C 10-20 minutes rest then c.v. which still builds up both systems very well almost to the same degree as 4 hours apart! Peace & Love!!!
I think part of this is that as a culture, fitness has been forced into boxes. Either you do general bodybuilding (which is then broken down into things like leg day, back day, and upper body), Pilates, Zumba, CrossFit, etc. So when you list a workout like you did with the front squats and rows or running and rowing, people don't know what to do with it so it's labeled CrossFit. And CrossFit is relatively vague in it's definition that do many things can fit in it
In my experience, the main difference and nuance in how "affiliate programming" is programmed stems from class engagement. The average athlete walking into an affiliate will not understand the "why" of the programming, all they know is they won't feel the same pain from a front squats and gorilla rows that they will from a tough metcon. Outside of the affiliate, you will find more of the "hybrid" take on programming you mentioned. If you looked at training from top 20-15% of athletes in the Open then you will find many more cases of the hybrid methods.
I like crossfit, done MY WAY, which is "allow me to lesrn from what you do and calculate a rational progression for myself instead of YOLOing my joints just because the workout says i have to do so many reps even though I'm 18 months removed from any workout despite my body not looking like I don't work out every week". Oddly specific, i know, but it's weird that it can be applied to so many people.
I wanted to watch the whole song so I Googled and found the Telander Music channel. The song definitely has a country vibe, and although I'm not a huge country music fan, I liked this one. It also had a bit of a bluesy vibe to it. Nice job. "People change and maybe you should, too." We should play this one for our favorite dogmatic strength coach! :)
As a former active and competitive Crossfitter, the “Hybrid” style training is what I do nowadays although my strength and conditioning as separate macrocycles.
Love these musings. As I understood from the L1 and the coach who programmed the first gym I was a part of, CrossFit is not just about the MetCon although it's one of the more unique things about CrossFit, but a WOD can be anything, and lifestyle like diet and sleep are also part of the CrossFit methodology. When I first went to a gym that had strength + MetCon every day, I thought it was super weird. I was used to having specific strength days and other days that included MetCons of various intended stimuli/time domains. And others were just pure single modality (like a 5K run).
As a rugby player who trains primarily to be a BETTER PLAYER (bigger stronger faster) I’ve done (and this is all around my sport specific practices/ games) Concurrent training where I hit multiple modalities each training session. Example: warmup with a conditioning circuit to INCLUDE POWER (box jumps, power cleans etc) Hit a 5x 5 back squat, press, pull etc Do hypertrophy work Conjugate method where I made every one of these modalities A DIFFERENT SESSION even if it was corny and one for conditioning took only 15 mins…… Example Session A power Session B strength + conditioning AT THE END Results have been IMMENSELY better for me in all aspects and transferred well to the pitch by breaking the sessions up! I feel this is because you put max effort (or close to) into each modality and can truly progressively overload them all! Also with conjugate I took an entire workout out to replace it with rest. As with everything it depends on what YOUR goal is. But for ME in specific I will not go back to the “hybrid” style workouts.
The great thing about exercise science and being a "science-based fitness UA-camr" is that you really never run out of material because you can contradict yourself next year when new 12-subject studies drop that contradict what you are saying now. Sponsors love it. UA-cam loves it. If anything, they are going to start censoring channels that criticize it (mark my words).
Crossfit is undeniably the most practical type of training. I workout at home and am generally done in about 20-30min. I work 12 hour shifts as a paramedic and have little babies that keep multiplying. I have been able to remain injury free and continue to be far fitter and stronger than the majority of civilians. Constantly varied, functional movements performed across broad time and modal domains is the bread and butter of what crossfit is, and it would be hard to diminish the effectiveness of that training for the average person.
13:51 I think the term “CrossFit” has become synonymous wit any hiit training. It’s how most people were introduced to those style of workouts and oly lifts, so even though CrossFit is a brand, in general conversation I think people just use it as a term to describe hiit workouts.
Back in the day, there was cross-training, which combined strength and endurance into a workout. Then, the whole CrossFit movement came about and decided to take cross-training and make it competitive. It looks to me that in your video, you were going back to Cross-training, doing the workout but not trying to beat a clock.
I didn't know what to call it back then but this how I've been training for some time now. 3 training days dedicated to hypertrophy, 1 day of strength training, 1 day of running 5-10 kms (depending on how recovered I feel) and 1 cycling day 30-50km. Taking 1 week off every 3-4 weeks. I've been making gains in strength and size, endurance and cardio to the point people were starting to think that I'm taking a little bit of something except for creatine. I've hit a plateau recently though and completely ditched cardio as a test, now on my 2nd month. Guess what, I'm making even more strength gains LOL. Maybe I can mix in some periodizations every year. I'll see how this goes though. Have great fitness journeys everyone!
Maybe even take it a step further and take a lesson from history. The greek tetrad system is a pretty awesome system set up. You can definitely use it to program for hybrid athletics or cross training and it has a somewhat built in wave loading progression, along with a built in active recovery system. It was effective because it allowed everyday training for greek athletes and olympians without burnout, which led to higher frequency training to get better.
Zack, I keep thinking about the video where you mentioned some guy at the bar who kept talking smack about beavers. I’m really sorry you had to go through that 😢
I do agree that the "hybrid" is the trad CrossFit style programming but as an affiliate owner I can confirm that the normal (warm-up/strength/metcon) is highly demanded by the people. I like to program the real CrossFit on deload weeks and days when nothing else seems to fit.
All I know is right now my CrossFit gym is KILLING it with their programming. However if they program a mid to end of the week strength day, there’s a lot of no shows.
doesn't that make the premise of the study kinda bogus though? The problem isn't that crossfit training is wrong. The problem is that crossfitters and a lot of gym owners think they know better than Greg Glassman and don't actually follow the methodology.
Splitting the strength and conditioning, even on the same day is what I've seen with other forms of strength and endurance training. Doing conditioning immediately after strength will cut into the adaptations of the strength training. Alternating weeks of strength and conditioning is something I haven't seen, though.
The main problem is that some of the people which got hooked in crossfit due every class was random and different will lose interest if the sessions became a ordenate rutine like if they were training as triatheltes or powerlifters. Crossfit appeal people which do pilates or zumba; a very structured program will deliver BETTER results but will be LESS appealing for the mases, and the interesting thing with crossfit is that for general people made lifting weights interesting.
I think in this study "hybrid" style benefited from limited time period and limited amount of things to focus on. Crossfit tends to develop people more broadly but slowly with intention to train every modality, skill, time domain. From personal experience, I tend to lose some skills or strength aspects if I don't repeat them consistently and it's harder to achive in hybrid style imho
Yeah, doing hybrid is certainly the best approach. One just need to find what is the right dose of metcon training in order to not hinder the strength training. Regular people should prioritize strength over conditioning and it fits right in with a novice str program...
As a big fan of CrossFit, too many jump into it without a plan and just try to go balls to the wall every day with every wod which increases chance of injury and I think lowers performance over time. There are times and places for intensity, just not everyday
Getting to the point where I really don't know what CF is anymore... maybe I never knew. Also, I did like the workout showed; originally, I would set the push press at the beginning of the session, but the more I consider its purpose in the workout the better I feel about its placement.
Good video. Good points. CrossFit or Glassman didn’t really “create” anything as much as it took from existing science and packaged it or presented it differently. In a way we used to think wasn’t possible. The science is Force x Distance divided by Time equals POWER. Weightlifters, Powerlifters, Strongman , track, field, baseball, football etc in one way or another are all chasing that same formula. It just looks different on the outside to our eyes but a “slow” lift powerlifter and “fast” lift weightlifter train for that same formula. That formula is how CF defines intensity. Whether it’s Fred Hatfield, Louie Simmons or let’s say Don McCauley that formula is what we all want. Depending on your modality it just looks different to our eyes. And CF is just that, your fitness and capacity across different modalities and time domains. Period. It’s not a fast Giant set or Super set. It’s not HIIT. It’s Fitness Across different time domains and modalities. As all modalities may look different depending upon your community, your coach , your culture so too CF can look different. The Science is Force x Distance divided by TIME. Now apply it for each ones goals.
Thanks for defining your terms. I recently watched a podcast where they referred repeatedly to the SAID principle without decoding the acronym. I turned it off partway through. Also, to me I wouldn't know the distinction between "conjugate" (together like a marriage) and "concurrent" (together in time). To me, with my 4 years of Latin, they both just sound like a loose statement roughly meaning "closely joined." Thanks, this'll help me parse others' videos.
I agree with the results, and likely is the most efficient and effective way to train, IF someone stuck to a regimented schedule with high compliance. However we know that's not always the case with the general public, it could be one day a week one week, 3 the next and 2 the week after then 4. So they would have a tough time following a program like this as the ratio of strength/skill and metcon could be off. The advantage to having strength and metcon in one session is no matter what day you come in, you get some of both. Its not ideal but especially for new people this is a great solution. As peoples training evolves, the hydrid method can be introduced. It may not be "ideal" or best but for many people especially those early on, they will see improvements, and likely increase their attendance if they get a bit of both.
I still do Crossfit occasionally but def not the way I used to. I used to be obsessed with Crossfit and actually ended up getting Rhabdo for real and was in the hospital for 4 days. It was one of the most physically painful and uncomfortable things Ive experienced. I got into marathon running after that and still weight train but its aimed to improve running or just weightlifting for the sake of enjoyment of snatch and clean and jerk. The programming needs to make sense. The last couple of years our gym has just been diverting to whatever peogram Froning or Frasier does and Im like...bro we arw not Games athletes. What even is this?
Lately I've being going OLY-WOD-OLY-WOD-OLY i.e. 5 days a week 3 Oly 2 WOD (sometimes 3 WOD 2 OLY) and feeling pretty good - numbers are decent all round although admittedly neither is optimized - I think you are onto something - being in the off season this seems to make a lot of sense.
Watching these videos and reading these comments make me appreciate my crossfit gym even more. By the looks of it, a LOT of CF gyms don't do much programming at all or not serious anyway. My gym goes by quarters, and each quarter had an emphasis (olympics, strength, and so on) We follow planning designed by folks with decades of experience and ridiculously educated. Every WOD starts with 20+ minutes of warm up, tissue rolling (or ball depending on the workout ahead and what we've so far.) As well as an insane amount of movement practice before we get into the WOD, which sometimes can be as little as 3 sets of 5 minutes. Sorry for the other fellow crossfitters who got the short end of the sticks with coaches that throw random bs at ya. But I have physical evidence that this sport, when done safely and planned, yields phenomenal results.
I think one of the issues is that the crossfit space is getting so many more programs pumped out there from different camps and athletes - there is a lot of noise and "traditional" CrossFit is going out the window in many of these programs. I feel like there are a lot of influences in regards to this mainly coming from all the hub bub @ Crossfit HQ. The brand is overtaking the methodology in terms of importance and it shows. Peep the alcohol-inclusive tickets to this years games, when if you truly follow CrossFit you shouldn't be touching the stuff. As a person of middling fitness not a bit deal to me, I think it's fun I do it, that's really it
I'm sorry how is _that_ a well-thought out programe? 1.) you pyramided up on your Frontsquats, which is nuts because you could have moved way more weight if you had pyramided down. Also you could have moved way more weight in way more muscles hence creating a better sstimulus for strength _and_ hypertrophy by using a different squat variation altogether, i.e. low bar squats 2.) the same goes for the rows, if you had done barbell rows -> more weight, less reps, more strength gains. 3.) Ans again the same for the push press, which is not a strength exercise altogether, but also not a power exercise the way that you did it. All in all it seems to me what you're looking for is a program à la Starting Strength.
I think CF hits all the fitness bases for most people. That said, most people will hit a plateau if they do no separately do pure strength training and zone 2 (high volume low intensity) cardio. CF style training is very focused on zone 5-6 (ultra high intensity aerobic to lactic acid and hypertrophy training ). This should improve VO2 max and muscle size, but are limited by heart stroke volume and 1RM strength. CrossFit is not intended to do the style of training for 1RM strength, and certainly not zone 2 cardio, but it leverages the benefits of both. I see it like a fitness pyramid. You increase the height by building up 1RM strength. You increase the width by doing zone 2 cardio. CrossFit (and similar) lays all the other bricks. Realistically, doing a few heavy reps of squats and 30-60 minutes zone 2 cardio do not result in much fatigue/soreness, whereas CF does, so I work them into my non-CF days. Finding great results with this approach
Exercise is training for your specific sport or personal maintenance. I think it’s insane to do exercise at break neck speeds, because it’s just begging on hands and knees for an injury.
I think was probably worth noting is that all the successful long term Crossfit boxes, IMO, don’t really do Crossfit as their focus. And I say this as a "Crossfitter". Sure they do WoD’s etc each day but they will have dedicated strength classes, gymnastics classes, Olympic Lifting classes, conditioning/Engine/hyrox sessions. The small and/or unsuccessful boxes….. WoDs only. Its just a banner you do fitness under.
Ive been doing body building training for the last 34 years amd in 2018 i tried crossfit for roughly a year, even to the point of taking the coaching course. My body went backwards in terms of size and defintion and even strength. Back to body building with the odd easy cardio session (like walking) and I'm much better off.
hey zack how are you, thats my only way of reaching to you and actually getting an answer. So, I'm a competetive crossfit athlete from Egypt who has a specified lifting only day and I was thinking about getting the reebok legacy lifters 3, my question is should I get it ? keep in mind that's its a bit expensive for me so I REALLY need to think it through. Another option is getting a metcons or nano x3 ( I currently have the x2).
Besides Fran, all single modality tests. I think it would have been more valid with taking out the back squat test, switch row to run, and add two more classic benchmark wods to make it more well rounded “test”
Fair point, but we wanted to test energy systems to see where to most gains are made (strength - mixed - endurance), you can't really do that by doing only CF workouts. That said, the all-out squat test could have been replaced by Helen or sth along those lines, I agree
I have always trained since starting 3 years ago doing compound super sets and intervals and i always considered my mode of training similar to what seemed to be the goal of crossfit(a brand). I do push, pull, core, legs super sets x3 of 11 reps for example, non stop all 4 exercises until the end of the super set then i rest between 3 super sets like this. Alternating days i did walk, run pushup intervals. 58 male and obviously im doing this for functional, flexibility, strength and endurance and it has been effective for my goals. Far better than what most are doing doing 1 set of one exercise and restibg for 5 playing with thrmselves between sets. Colossal waste of gym time and zero indurance and cardio vascular improvement.
I've worked out at 4 crossfit gyms across 4 states in the last 4 years. All 4 generally followed the "warmup, strength/skill, METCON" class structure on most days, I'm curious what gyms the "hybrid is how crossfit's always been programmed" bros are going to. Of the four only one, Crossfit Bluestone, had what I'd consider deliberate strength periodization and progression.
"warmup, strength/skill, METCON" that is my style at my gym. warm up - 20 minutes of strength something like 5x5 squats or 4x6 bench - metcon/wod to close.
My CrossFit gym has great programming. We have focus on something every month. This month is overhead strength specifically for the cleaning jerk. It keeps me well-rounded in my general fitness level. My cardio and strength are better than last year.
CrossFit methodology, especially the "random" element, yields jack-of-all-trades results but may not be THE most efficient. But what we should focus on is the Test it defines, and any methodology that makes you better at that test is efficient functional fitness training. It doesn't matter what we call it, and it's ok if there are different variants. Whatever Jeff Adler and Tia Toomey do, it's WORKING! And it's probably some form of CrossFit, periodization, progressive overloading, etc.
You won't get as strong as you possibly can with "traditional" crossfit, but you will get strong. That doesn't make Crossfit bad, and I encourage anyone to do Crossfit. Just don't expect to max out on one fitness element, but you'll still be within the 1% of the population, so well done.
I noticed I was a better performing athlete who was injury free before I started CrossFit. And my decline in running, swimming and lifting ability began around the same time I tried to take cross fit seriously and became a cf1 and started to teach and compete in my mid 20s at my local box. Felt like I destroyed my body trying to "increase my work capacity"by doing WoDs not realizing the fundamentals is what kept me healthy and I was literally killing my joints with so much varied training.
Doesn't sound like good programing and appropriately applied stimulus... 🤷🏼♂️
getting older may also be a factor ;)
Does it ever bother you that your sleeves aren't cut evenly
I’m going to guess no
His sleeves are less uneven when compared to the mustache.
Homemade shit don’t look perfect
@@vmmr1909 😂😂😂
lol troll level 100
In 2018, I took a year off my CrossFit gym to get better at Weightlifting. I used your UA-cam videos to help me get there. I have never expressed my gratitude to you for that, so here it is…
Thank you for teaching a gym rat from South Florida who you have never met how to weight lift.
Keep up the great work!
i don't know man, i might be an outlier here. I think this kind of study is pretty much common sense. if you strictly focus on one thing (str/skill) at a time then you're going to make more gains. The "crossfit" WODs everyday of the week without a higher level plan in mind is the same as smashing your head against a brick wall expecting the bricks to break.
Don't get me wrong, i LOVE crossfit but its not just the workouts everyday that make crossfit, crossfit. The programming is a small part of the whole thing
I think it’s common sense too. It’s still important to see common sense with hard data. Hard data is something that CrossFit lacks. It’s just nice to see.
@@zacktelander very true, It does make me think there could be a better way at my box.
@@zacktelander What I feel like needs to be differentiated is regular person training in the gym and someone being able to train more often going competitive and so on. This study seems to be focused on the athlete who might really benefit from separating strength and conditioning either in different days or in different sessions. For the regular person who might be going 3-4 times in the week in the gym will get benefit from both the strength and conditioning, which they might not if they were separated in different days
@@РадославПантелеев-и2р To my experience, even greater separation with each mesocycle having a singular focus (endurance, sprints, specific strength, balance, flexibility), has produced the best gains.
WODs everyday without a higher level plan is the only thing unique to Crossfit, all the rest is just traditional S&C
Crossfit got me into working out. I have cerebral palsy and every time I went into a "normal" gym I felt like I did not fit in because I had no idea what I was doing or what any machines even did but with crossfit it felt accessable and after my first couple of classes I knew what every piece of equipment did and that helped me get over my fear of working out.
Spyro 2 as a background? I am sold.
What is spyro 2?
I was looking for this specific comment 🤩
@@CHICKPEA67 Yea, game was amazing. Bought the remastered edition/trilogy but it was so much easier than what I remembered.
Yooo! 🤘
Zach, I think it’s important to label Hybrid in this study for what it truly is: 4 variations of the squat, 4 variations all using just a barbell, a 2k row which is a fine but isolated aerobic test and only one gymnastics movement paired with a press and deadlift.
These isolated and somewhat singular tests will improve over time if repeatedly tested of course, but is it even fair to compare to crossfit, which is defined as constantly varied functional movements peroformed at high intensity across broad time domains?
You see dumbbells, strongman, gymnastics, barbell cycling and monostructural tests in many forms because crossfitters are striving for virtuosity (assuming ego in the form of rep shaving and not doing the prerequisite work to continue progressing doesn’t plague the athlete). I think hybrid athletes are totally entitled to their training methodology and it’s great that it works for them. But I believe there is even ego involved with making a study like this because there really is no comparison to crossfit…and that is OK
My point here is that there are no “gains” in total fitness. It was gains in a specific test that should yield results if that’s your goal in your training.
great points. It is strange to label what objectively isn't crossfit as "traditional crossfit" and what is something much more closely representative of the crossfit methodology as "hybrid" lol. Crossfit HQ doesn't control how individual gyms incorporate crossfit doctrine. So gyms deciding that strength biased programming was the best route has nothing to do with what crossfit teaches. Also gen pop doesn't necessarily need progressive overload to get stronger, it is simply more optimal to use progressive overload training to get stronger. Getting stronger isn't the only goal of crossfit. Neither is your 2k row.
This was the whole argument taylor self and sentinel training (on YT) made in their breakdown of the wodscience post. Imo they did a much better analysis and discussion around what the test SHOULD be to make a fair crossfit test as they're literally coaches in the space, but I'm glad Zack comes to a similar conclusion about the specifics of the training translating to the specifics testing.
@matthewbrown9129What if instead of looking at the exercise, we looked at the qualities these chosen modalities are looking represent - would your opinion change?
Provided that skill is not the main limiting factor here, as it shouldn't be since most CF athletes will have quite a bit of exposure to each of these movements.
@@derekrebernik3038 seems like it would be easy to just go directly to crossfit competition results. do athletes improve over time? mission accomplished
People really hated crossfit and anything that looked like crossfit. I remember way back when there were so few nuanced criticism of crossfit. One of the first I remember from years ago was from UFC veteran Alan Belcher talking to some random guy in his gym. The rando's argument was about the weird exercises they did e.g. the zercher, he just didn't know the name. Alan was quick to point out that it was a zercher and not a crossfit "thing", this went on for a few minutes. My issue with crossfit was always the performance aspect and programming of it. People would cheat themselves out of a good workout just to beat a number and would go through workouts that lacked coherence.
In other news, water is wet and Tyler1 bench presses 500lbs, a measly 1x body weight.
Water isn’t wet
Also, Crossfit game’s athletes = On Steriods and if thats not clear let me put it this way, On Steriods= Crossfit game’s athletes
Water is wet. Wetness is waters affect on adhesion and cohesion to other objects. Well guess what; those 2 abilities also make water, FUCKING WATER. so yes water is wet@Jackmerius_Tacktheritrix5733
@@Blacknight200 Just like the elite athletes of almost every sport though
@Jackmerius_Tacktheritrix5733
Water IS wet... when it's been drenched in more water.
I was glad that you kept mentioning something along the lines of "wait for the comments in the end for the issues".
Because I was fucking fuming and screaming ""This is what it's originally supposed to be!!"
The masses have understood one thing and greatly misunderstood another thing about the methodology of crossfit.
a) Crossfit has to be intense training and intensity means progress.
b) Intensity means to be dying on the floor after every session gasping for air
People have confused "Crossfit" with "Metcons" so much that it has become synonymous for outsiders, crossfitters themselves and worst of all third party programmers who start programming this stuff because people started feeling like Strength days aren't crossfit.
Our gym uses crossfit affiliate programming (CAP) and I don't think it gets more original than that. I stand by that programming passionately (except for the occasional SDHP) but it is not rare that we get drop-ins asking "That's it?!" on a Heavy day,
Btw I can absoultely confirm the no-show behaviour on a strength day. But the way I see it is: "You pay us to make you fit and to coach you to be a better version of yourself. We think this is the way to do it. And if you don't show up that's on yourself. I will not change the program that I stand by, because you think you know better how to get fit. "
I wish the CrossFit gyms near me had that mentality, but instead they do want to make you die on the floor every training. It's the reason CrossFit never stuck with me. I just felt I was at the edge of burnout too often, making dangerously shitty reps just because that was the ethos of the gym. At least to me, as someone who is natural and over 30, it was just too much for my body to endure. It was fun though.
@@Gusativo you forgot roids. Crossfit works only with roids
I don't think people have misunderstood anything. The official ducking logo for CrossFit is a puking clown dying of rabdo. You literally can't make this shit up.
Interesting video and study. I started crossfit about 1.5 years ago and feel like it added just a general boost to my level of athleticism. The last 6 months or so I have focused mostly on CF with a little bit of my usual powerlifting / hypertrophy sessions in between. I PR'd my squat and deadlift when we did a CF total at our gym. This was after a block of training that was programmed more towards that goal. More recently our programming is geared towards running / cardio endurance. I think what I am saying is I think CF is at it's best when the programming is dialed and more specified. Which I think that is the point you were making at the end of the video.
Been doing Crossfit for 10 months now, and I've never stuck with anything sports related this long. It's been such an eyeopener for me and I can see the difference both in my weight and my muscle mass. At our gym, you can also take a weekly olympic weightlifting class, which I ABSOLUTELY love doing. I've been going 3 times a week with regular WOD's which was one of my goals, before that I did 2 WOD's and 1 olylift class. Next goal is to be able to do 3 WOD's and the olylift class. But I love the C&J man...
This study proves that the original CF methodology works. Strength and heavy days separated from metcon days. What they call Hybrid CF, is actually how CF was written by coach Glassman. Thanks for putting this out ZT.
The affiliate(in last 5-6 years) got pigeon holed into making people think they have to get most bang for their buck by doing stength & metcon in one 1hr class, 5-6 days a week. That is not true CF in my opinion.
Pat Sherwood of Crossfit Linchpin I think has nailed 'crossfit' style programming. I always make gains all around, worth checking out on BTWB
I used to do linchpin programming wayyyyyy back in the day!
I love CF Linchpin. Keeps me interested and in good shape without beating my body up.
I believe that what works is what people can commit to doing consistently. It would be great if the average Joel understood that splitting their training is beneficial, as the study suggests, but reality isn't like that. I'm the head coach of a CrossFit gym in Australia and looking at our data, there's a massive drop off in attendance on days where there's only a strength or only a conditioning component to the workout. We've tried educating people on the subject but it can only go so far, so we'd rather have people actually doing the workouts than programming something that even though is more effective, doesn't bring members through the door. I'd love to know how the gym you go to got to the point that people still show up to a rowing and running session as you mentioned.
So they funded a study to prove that the product they’re selling is more effective than their competitors? Crazy
Funny how that keeps happening.
Companies do this all the time, but it's rare they publish when it shows their product is sub-optimal.
😮yy
The problem with crossfit is the intense Cardio fries your CNS so you're highly susceptible to injury. That's how I got a grade 1 slipped disk in my back. Been rehabbing it for almost 5 months but ill never do crossfit again. It's just not a good formula for training. Intense Cardio and weightlifting should be programmed correctly.
Facts unless ur on juice
This is EXACTLY why I quit. Fatigue exercises should be limited to bodyweight movements. Barbells plus fatigue plus speed is an equation for injury.
As a physiotherapist, it's a running joke, that prime location for a private practice is across the street from a Crossfit box, or a place that offers Les Mills Body Pump. Same reasons - workouts are way too demanding for the people who participate, and few places offer adequate beginner's course. Despite the possibility for endless scaling, there are more coaches catering to the "i want to die" crowd, than actual functional progressive training, mostly because they don't come from strength and conditioning or similar background.
CrossFit has its issues and is not perfect, especially depending on the gym and the coaches, but I am sorry, if you slipped a disk from “too much cardio” you would have likely done the same thing in a regular gym pushing hard on something else. The only times I have gotten any sort of injury in CrossFit and outside of it training like a power lifter or body builder, is when I let my ego take over and not listen to my body. I was a strength and conditioning coach for 3 years for all age (youth to professional) athletes, and I was very much against CrossFit, but once I tried it, I saw the value and also saw the correlation of injury being a product of not listening to your body because you want to be better than “that person”. And there is nothing wrong with also being a competitive person. If you push and train hard at anything you will accrue injuries. Period. That is the reality of pushing your body to adapt.
Sane comment
Interesting. I've been in the crossfit scene since late 2006 (no typo - getting to 18 years now!) - and one thing that has changed since the early days of the sport is that (stereo-)typical "warm up - strength/skill - metcon" trajectory designed to (a) fill a 60 minute class and (b) leave everyone feeling like they got hit by a bus. Back in the Day (TM) the front page WOD (which I followed one my own and most early boxes also followed) was typically ONE SINGLE element - like, JUST Fran or JUST 10 DLs or JUST a 5k. (You started with the CFWU, which took me 10-15 minutes.) And: Back in the day, I regularly spent a good hour working on those 10 DLs.
There were definitely weaknesses (as well as strengths) to that older approach, but one thing I've noticed since the transition is that the strength and/or skill segment often feels a bit rushed - and you may actually feel hesitant to give it your all because you're saving energy for the metcon at the end (which always feels like "the real WOD"). This is particularly relevant in (also typical) programming scenarios where the movement trained the strength/skill section is important for the metcon. I.e., you work up to a heavy rep 5 rep front squat - then do a metcon where you do, like, 30 DUs, 20 C2Bs, 15 T2Bs, 10 FS (@70kg) for 3 rounds. (I just made that up, but you've got to admit that it looks pretty typical.) In scenarios like this, if you really go all in on the 5 rep max FS, your WOD-pals are going to destroy you on the WOD.
Great video Zack! I'm a masters thrower (age 64) and I don't need much endurance training, however I do split up the weekly workouts as follows - 2x week Olympic Lifting, 2x week Strength training, 2x week throwing (shotput/javelin + discus/hammer) + one day rest. So Power - Strength - Skill - Repeat - Rest. Each weight workout session is 1 hour - five exercises per session. Throwing sessions 30 mins each for two events. Seems to work well for me. Thanks!
Everything works. It's what you'll do consistently and safely is what will work for you.
Uh , some things work much better than other things… that’s like saying an Audi and a ford focus both work…
I swear some people overcomplicate lifting, just pick up the damn weight, you aint going pro, it doesn't have to be a science lmao
@@CadeCarnett yeah, but let's be honest not many of us are winning medals. We're working out to live not living to workout. Do what you like in a progressive and safe manner. I completely see your point though, especially if your occupation depends on your fitness/physique.
What i love about crossfit is that I've been going 3xs a week for about 7 years. I've never stayed with something so long. Just started going to the gym and using weights for the past 6 months, and i do enjoy it, but unfortunately, i already feel myself getting bored. For me, crossfit is just lifestyle
Very true! WOD’s are so much fun even when they’re not 😂
Just lifting can be really boring but a great way to take a mental break and stay strong.
Hope you get back at it!
I do both. Crossfit ultimately gave me fitness goals too achieve, where as, prior to that I had nothing to consider outside of just looking fit.
I can’t understand people saying “CrossFit is so fun just lifting isn’t” it’s literally the same thing with different programming, you can just do the programming you enjoy lol
@shannonsteven3982 for me I think its more of the class environment and energy. It's hard for me to muster the same energy when lifting alone
@@shannonsteven3982 The subjective opinion tells the other subjective opinion who is most correct. This is like saying marathon running is the same as lifting but different programming. Yah, we are all just living our lives but with different programming, lol.
very tired of fitness science at the moment where in the search of the most optimal we forget that we as humans need to explore different things, make mistakes and learn from them
Every crossfit gym I've ever worked out at, I always eventually went out of my way to sign up at a globo gym to work on strength building. Your right when you said less people show up for full on weightlifting days because I've witnessed it myself in the past 10 years. It made me wonder if the owners plan it with less weightlifting activity because they recognize that also. I love crossfit, the community, and it's competitiveness, but I always have to supplement in doing extra stuff outside of it to get more well rounded....typically in strength.
I get bored with standard bodybuilding style workouts, cardio, or powerlifting/oly programs.
CF style training keeps me interested and going to the gym. So people can say what they want about it, I like doing it and keep going vs I just give up on other stuff after a few months. I’ve been going to the gym consistently for nearly 8 years now doing CF style training.
Doing crossfit for a year reduced by 1RM across the board. Too much cardio, not enough actual strength training. Turns out all the big boys in the crossfit gym were on steroids .
I ate half a pint of ice cream while watching this.
My gym has a crossfitty training program and a strength training program and you can cross between the two as you want. The programming is related but focused on either MetCon or on Strength depending on the class. Its good stuff.
You are correct about ego. Ego is what gets you in the gym, but to become strong you need to park your ego outside. As you get older your ego will get you injured.
So since I did leg day today and then swam for two hours afterwards, does that mean I did a CrossFit?
As a CrossFitter, I've always assumed this would be the case. I think the mixed sessions are great for the average person though to keep things interesting. A lot of people don't need/want to be as fit as they can possibly be, they just want to be "healthy" with 2 or 3 sessions a week.
I used to be in the 5am group at a local box. After the WOD was over, I would then have to get in a lift. That told me everything I needed to know. I work for a living and banging my head for HSPUs was super funny. LOL! Needless to say, I stopped going. Plus it was expensive to be a member as well. Luckily I was smart enough to avoid getting injured while I was there, but lots of other people did get hurt and had things they wouldn’t even do.
Funnily enough, this is actually very similar to Andrew Huberman's training style. I believe he has a pretty structured plan, but its basically just strength, cardio, strength, cardio, strength, cardio, rest.
Great video as usual, I’ve been doing CrossFit Linchpin for 1.5 years now and coach Sherwood fully embraces this, our whole workout today was 4x8 front squats with some optional accessories, and we very purposefully moderate intensity, only going full send 20-40% of the time depending on how we feel. I’ll never go back to a lift/metcon “new CrossFit” program ever again. I keep getting stronger and my fitness keeps increasing, even though I’m much less beat up than I used to be.
I think your content is highly underrated, I really like the way you present and analize your videos, I have used several of your previous technique videos on weightlifting and training programming. Regarding crossfit, I hate it when I´m doing front squats or some variation of clean or snatchs, like a balance or a hang, and someone says "hey dude, I also do crossfit"... I don´t understand why peolpe relates weightlifting, gymnastics or body weight training to CF... but it is what it is, without a doubt CF is fun and can be effective (as any training you commit to and follow along side a good diet), so people that like it, all good, is just that CF is not the only kind of training.
I don't know where each reader trains, but this is "somehow " how we program in our affiliate.
Yes, people want to get a good sweat, but it also has much to do with: What is the objective of today's training? and this is a vital point to be understood
For example,
Warmup
Strength: Let us assume exactly like the sets that Zack showed,
Metcon
In this case, if the objective of today's session is to focus on strength, then the focus and the time will go to the strength, and the class will be taught to go heavy and push harder,
while the metcon is taking like an extra to give a final push " short and less intense than usual."
The next day, you will have a skill first part and then an intense WOD
I was constantly training like this, except when I was preparing for a competition or getting obsessed with being better in a specific movement
I bet that, despite the comments, 80% or more of affiliates do not do "Strength Only" sessions. Originally CF proposed such sessions (heavy days with only one movement) but much less frequently, not twice a week and with multiple movements as it was done in this study. So well done for pointing that out
What if you have no choice but to attend a gym that does strength + WOD style programming? Choose one as your intention for the day and go low intensity on the other? + mix in some runs/cardio on off days?
I agree with the isea of a blended approach. For me, 64yo male cf/wl for 3 yrs now, is that what I do hits all fitness modalities The variety keeps it interesting. My blocks were 2-4 weeks for a while with focus on different areas but never leaving out str/cardio/speed. Yes, at times I gravitate to str, get beat up, and then dial it down and dial cardio up.
The best ive ever felt in my my life is hybrid training between lifting weights and running. I did crossfit for a year and a half and I never felt anywhere as good. Everyone always just wanted to feel like they died instead of feeling like they had a great workout.
Making that transition now. Would you mind sharing the program that you followed?
Coaching/programming is vital to get the desired gains and appeasing the gym clients. I love how our coach creates adequate lengthed cycles with progressive overload in mind for us to get stronger. There are days where we just do strength work without a WOD because he wants us to get enough volume, and not burn us out. He even tells us that we don't have to go max intensity on WODs to avoid injury and reduce recovery time; that it's okay to do a WOD and walk away breathing a bit heavy, but feel good. I have improved my deadlift and squat numbers, and I have also earned a personal best on my 5k all while doing Crossfit.
Zack, did the study mention anything about nutrition and sleep of the participants of the study? I feel like not enough people who go all out every day during Crossfit eat an adequate amount of protein to help them optimize recovery time and build muscle.
Ratchet and clank music for the ad😂 i dig
Nice video!! There’s a lot that i would like to point out as someone that does CrossFit for about 8 years and as a PT. But the thing that stand out to me is that I’m Brazil people tend to skip conditioning days and jump strength but even more to high skills days (butterfly pull up, bar muscle up,HSW) but principle stays the same if the coaches do not find a way to insert a little bit of everything into the week programming people just cherry pick workouts and complain, it’s veryyy hard
My own anecdote on the study is that I would agree. I feel better doing WODs and lifting when it's kept separate in workouts. My old gym used to have pure strength days twice a week, not only just lifting heavy, but working the auxillary movements that help the power lifts. Did this for a little over 6 months and saw huge gains in strength. They stopped doing that and went back to the "traditional" style WODs and I found that I've basically plateaued in all aspects of training.
Thank you for the upload baby Brother! This is exactly how I train: high density training ergo two times per day or more; a.m. tends to be c.v. but life demands sometimes I do it later, p.m. strength. Sometimes I do strength endurance based routines especially if only time to train once that day & I have no goals within the current periodisation other than this. Sometimes I do S&C 10-20 minutes rest then c.v. which still builds up both systems very well almost to the same degree as 4 hours apart!
Peace & Love!!!
That workout looked a lot like my typical Crossfat superset training :)
@@m00nkiid 😂😂😂
@@m00nkiid I would add preacher curls with a belt and knee sleeves
Petition to rename it as "CrossShredded"
I think part of this is that as a culture, fitness has been forced into boxes. Either you do general bodybuilding (which is then broken down into things like leg day, back day, and upper body), Pilates, Zumba, CrossFit, etc. So when you list a workout like you did with the front squats and rows or running and rowing, people don't know what to do with it so it's labeled CrossFit. And CrossFit is relatively vague in it's definition that do many things can fit in it
In my experience, the main difference and nuance in how "affiliate programming" is programmed stems from class engagement. The average athlete walking into an affiliate will not understand the "why" of the programming, all they know is they won't feel the same pain from a front squats and gorilla rows that they will from a tough metcon.
Outside of the affiliate, you will find more of the "hybrid" take on programming you mentioned. If you looked at training from top 20-15% of athletes in the Open then you will find many more cases of the hybrid methods.
I like crossfit, done MY WAY, which is "allow me to lesrn from what you do and calculate a rational progression for myself instead of YOLOing my joints just because the workout says i have to do so many reps even though I'm 18 months removed from any workout despite my body not looking like I don't work out every week".
Oddly specific, i know, but it's weird that it can be applied to so many people.
I wanted to watch the whole song so I Googled and found the Telander Music channel. The song definitely has a country vibe, and although I'm not a huge country music fan, I liked this one. It also had a bit of a bluesy vibe to it. Nice job. "People change and maybe you should, too." We should play this one for our favorite dogmatic strength coach! :)
As a former active and competitive Crossfitter, the “Hybrid” style training is what I do nowadays although my strength and conditioning as separate macrocycles.
Love these musings. As I understood from the L1 and the coach who programmed the first gym I was a part of, CrossFit is not just about the MetCon although it's one of the more unique things about CrossFit, but a WOD can be anything, and lifestyle like diet and sleep are also part of the CrossFit methodology. When I first went to a gym that had strength + MetCon every day, I thought it was super weird. I was used to having specific strength days and other days that included MetCons of various intended stimuli/time domains. And others were just pure single modality (like a 5K run).
As a rugby player who trains primarily to be a BETTER PLAYER (bigger stronger faster)
I’ve done (and this is all around my sport specific practices/ games)
Concurrent training where I hit multiple modalities each training session.
Example: warmup with a conditioning circuit to INCLUDE POWER (box jumps, power cleans etc)
Hit a 5x 5 back squat, press, pull etc
Do hypertrophy work
Conjugate method where
I made every one of these modalities A DIFFERENT SESSION even if it was corny and one for conditioning took only 15 mins……
Example
Session A power
Session B strength + conditioning AT THE END
Results have been IMMENSELY better for me in all aspects and transferred well to the pitch by breaking the sessions up!
I feel this is because you put max effort (or close to) into each modality and can truly progressively overload them all!
Also with conjugate I took an entire workout out to replace it with rest.
As with everything it depends on what YOUR goal is. But for ME in specific I will not go back to the “hybrid” style workouts.
The great thing about exercise science and being a "science-based fitness UA-camr" is that you really never run out of material because you can contradict yourself next year when new 12-subject studies drop that contradict what you are saying now. Sponsors love it. UA-cam loves it. If anything, they are going to start censoring channels that criticize it (mark my words).
Crossfit is undeniably the most practical type of training. I workout at home and am generally done in about 20-30min. I work 12 hour shifts as a paramedic and have little babies that keep multiplying. I have been able to remain injury free and continue to be far fitter and stronger than the majority of civilians. Constantly varied, functional movements performed across broad time and modal domains is the bread and butter of what crossfit is, and it would be hard to diminish the effectiveness of that training for the average person.
13:51 I think the term “CrossFit” has become synonymous wit any hiit training. It’s how most people were introduced to those style of workouts and oly lifts, so even though CrossFit is a brand, in general conversation I think people just use it as a term to describe hiit workouts.
Back in the day, there was cross-training, which combined strength and endurance into a workout. Then, the whole CrossFit movement came about and decided to take cross-training and make it competitive. It looks to me that in your video, you were going back to Cross-training, doing the workout but not trying to beat a clock.
I think its great that Pedro Pascal is doing Mandalorian but also talking about CrossFit
I didn't know what to call it back then but this how I've been training for some time now. 3 training days dedicated to hypertrophy, 1 day of strength training, 1 day of running 5-10 kms (depending on how recovered I feel) and 1 cycling day 30-50km.
Taking 1 week off every 3-4 weeks.
I've been making gains in strength and size, endurance and cardio to the point people were starting to think that I'm taking a little bit of something except for creatine.
I've hit a plateau recently though and completely ditched cardio as a test, now on my 2nd month. Guess what, I'm making even more strength gains LOL.
Maybe I can mix in some periodizations every year.
I'll see how this goes though. Have great fitness journeys everyone!
Maybe even take it a step further and take a lesson from history. The greek tetrad system is a pretty awesome system set up. You can definitely use it to program for hybrid athletics or cross training and it has a somewhat built in wave loading progression, along with a built in active recovery system. It was effective because it allowed everyday training for greek athletes and olympians without burnout, which led to higher frequency training to get better.
Zack, I keep thinking about the video where you mentioned some guy at the bar who kept talking smack about beavers. I’m really sorry you had to go through that 😢
I do agree that the "hybrid" is the trad CrossFit style programming but as an affiliate owner I can confirm that the normal (warm-up/strength/metcon) is highly demanded by the people. I like to program the real CrossFit on deload weeks and days when nothing else seems to fit.
All I know is right now my CrossFit gym is KILLING it with their programming. However if they program a mid to end of the week strength day, there’s a lot of no shows.
doesn't that make the premise of the study kinda bogus though? The problem isn't that crossfit training is wrong. The problem is that crossfitters and a lot of gym owners think they know better than Greg Glassman and don't actually follow the methodology.
Splitting the strength and conditioning, even on the same day is what I've seen with other forms of strength and endurance training. Doing conditioning immediately after strength will cut into the adaptations of the strength training. Alternating weeks of strength and conditioning is something I haven't seen, though.
The main problem is that some of the people which got hooked in crossfit due every class was random and different will lose interest if the sessions became a ordenate rutine like if they were training as triatheltes or powerlifters. Crossfit appeal people which do pilates or zumba; a very structured program will deliver BETTER results but will be LESS appealing for the mases, and the interesting thing with crossfit is that for general people made lifting weights interesting.
I think in this study "hybrid" style benefited from limited time period and limited amount of things to focus on. Crossfit tends to develop people more broadly but slowly with intention to train every modality, skill, time domain. From personal experience, I tend to lose some skills or strength aspects if I don't repeat them consistently and it's harder to achive in hybrid style imho
Yeah, doing hybrid is certainly the best approach. One just need to find what is the right dose of metcon training in order to not hinder the strength training. Regular people should prioritize strength over conditioning and it fits right in with a novice str program...
As a big fan of CrossFit, too many jump into it without a plan and just try to go balls to the wall every day with every wod which increases chance of injury and I think lowers performance over time.
There are times and places for intensity, just not everyday
Getting to the point where I really don't know what CF is anymore... maybe I never knew. Also, I did like the workout showed; originally, I would set the push press at the beginning of the session, but the more I consider its purpose in the workout the better I feel about its placement.
Great video! Do you prefer/recommended partitioning strength vs conditioning a day at a time, or a week at a time?
I'm incorporating more plyo movements into my training and ngl my first thought was "people are gonna think I do crossfit" 🤣
When i owned my crossfit the hybrid style was similar to how i set up our programs and everyones favorite day was the strength day!
Good video. Good points. CrossFit or Glassman didn’t really “create” anything as much as it took from existing science and packaged it or presented it differently. In a way we used to think wasn’t possible.
The science is Force x Distance divided by Time equals POWER. Weightlifters, Powerlifters, Strongman , track, field, baseball, football etc in one way or another are all chasing that same formula. It just looks different on the outside to our eyes but a “slow” lift powerlifter and “fast” lift weightlifter train for that same formula. That formula is how CF defines intensity. Whether it’s Fred Hatfield, Louie Simmons or let’s say Don McCauley that formula is what we all want. Depending on your modality it just looks different to our eyes.
And CF is just that, your fitness and capacity across different modalities and time domains. Period. It’s not a fast Giant set or Super set. It’s not HIIT. It’s Fitness Across different time domains and modalities. As all modalities may look different depending upon your community, your coach , your culture so too CF can look different.
The Science is Force x Distance divided by TIME. Now apply it for each ones goals.
Thanks for defining your terms. I recently watched a podcast where they referred repeatedly to the SAID principle without decoding the acronym. I turned it off partway through.
Also, to me I wouldn't know the distinction between "conjugate" (together like a marriage) and "concurrent" (together in time). To me, with my 4 years of Latin, they both just sound like a loose statement roughly meaning "closely joined." Thanks, this'll help me parse others' videos.
I agree with the results, and likely is the most efficient and effective way to train, IF someone stuck to a regimented schedule with high compliance. However we know that's not always the case with the general public, it could be one day a week one week, 3 the next and 2 the week after then 4. So they would have a tough time following a program like this as the ratio of strength/skill and metcon could be off. The advantage to having strength and metcon in one session is no matter what day you come in, you get some of both. Its not ideal but especially for new people this is a great solution. As peoples training evolves, the hydrid method can be introduced. It may not be "ideal" or best but for many people especially those early on, they will see improvements, and likely increase their attendance if they get a bit of both.
I still do Crossfit occasionally but def not the way I used to. I used to be obsessed with Crossfit and actually ended up getting Rhabdo for real and was in the hospital for 4 days. It was one of the most physically painful and uncomfortable things Ive experienced.
I got into marathon running after that and still weight train but its aimed to improve running or just weightlifting for the sake of enjoyment of snatch and clean and jerk.
The programming needs to make sense. The last couple of years our gym has just been diverting to whatever peogram Froning or Frasier does and Im like...bro we arw not Games athletes. What even is this?
Lately I've being going OLY-WOD-OLY-WOD-OLY i.e. 5 days a week 3 Oly 2 WOD (sometimes 3 WOD 2 OLY) and feeling pretty good - numbers are decent all round although admittedly neither is optimized - I think you are onto something - being in the off season this seems to make a lot of sense.
I’ve found this at Red Wolf CrossFit in Huntington Beach. If you ever come to Huntington you should check it out !
I see Crossfit as a competition, I don't think it's training.
Watching these videos and reading these comments make me appreciate my crossfit gym even more.
By the looks of it, a LOT of CF gyms don't do much programming at all or not serious anyway.
My gym goes by quarters, and each quarter had an emphasis (olympics, strength, and so on)
We follow planning designed by folks with decades of experience and ridiculously educated.
Every WOD starts with 20+ minutes of warm up, tissue rolling (or ball depending on the workout ahead and what we've so far.) As well as an insane amount of movement practice before we get into the WOD, which sometimes can be as little as 3 sets of 5 minutes.
Sorry for the other fellow crossfitters who got the short end of the sticks with coaches that throw random bs at ya.
But I have physical evidence that this sport, when done safely and planned, yields phenomenal results.
It would be interesting to compare 2 days strength and 2 days conditioning protocol.
I think one of the issues is that the crossfit space is getting so many more programs pumped out there from different camps and athletes - there is a lot of noise and "traditional" CrossFit is going out the window in many of these programs. I feel like there are a lot of influences in regards to this mainly coming from all the hub bub @ Crossfit HQ. The brand is overtaking the methodology in terms of importance and it shows. Peep the alcohol-inclusive tickets to this years games, when if you truly follow CrossFit you shouldn't be touching the stuff. As a person of middling fitness not a bit deal to me, I think it's fun I do it, that's really it
I'm sorry how is _that_ a well-thought out programe? 1.) you pyramided up on your Frontsquats, which is nuts because you could have moved way more weight if you had pyramided down. Also you could have moved way more weight in way more muscles hence creating a better sstimulus for strength _and_ hypertrophy by using a different squat variation altogether, i.e. low bar squats 2.) the same goes for the rows, if you had done barbell rows -> more weight, less reps, more strength gains. 3.) Ans again the same for the push press, which is not a strength exercise altogether, but also not a power exercise the way that you did it.
All in all it seems to me what you're looking for is a program à la Starting Strength.
are you still doing any S & C, for any rugby clubs.., I’m just asking as an old rugby player.
keep up the great work on the channel
I think CF hits all the fitness bases for most people. That said, most people will hit a plateau if they do no separately do pure strength training and zone 2 (high volume low intensity) cardio.
CF style training is very focused on zone 5-6 (ultra high intensity aerobic to lactic acid and hypertrophy training ). This should improve VO2 max and muscle size, but are limited by heart stroke volume and 1RM strength. CrossFit is not intended to do the style of training for 1RM strength, and certainly not zone 2 cardio, but it leverages the benefits of both.
I see it like a fitness pyramid. You increase the height by building up 1RM strength. You increase the width by doing zone 2 cardio. CrossFit (and similar) lays all the other bricks.
Realistically, doing a few heavy reps of squats and 30-60 minutes zone 2 cardio do not result in much fatigue/soreness, whereas CF does, so I work them into my non-CF days. Finding great results with this approach
What do you recommend for a typical week for hybrid training? How many rest days?
Exercise is training for your specific sport or personal maintenance. I think it’s insane to do exercise at break neck speeds, because it’s just begging on hands and knees for an injury.
Dude, the last time I watched a video of yours was in 2022 sometime. You look much broader in the shoulders since then man 👍
Can this be applied to natural bodybuilding or do you think the gpp days would interfere too much with recovery?
I think was probably worth noting is that all the successful long term Crossfit boxes, IMO, don’t really do Crossfit as their focus. And I say this as a "Crossfitter". Sure they do WoD’s etc each day but they will have dedicated strength classes, gymnastics classes, Olympic Lifting classes, conditioning/Engine/hyrox sessions. The small and/or unsuccessful boxes….. WoDs only. Its just a banner you do fitness under.
Ive been doing body building training for the last 34 years amd in 2018 i tried crossfit for roughly a year, even to the point of taking the coaching course.
My body went backwards in terms of size and defintion and even strength.
Back to body building with the odd easy cardio session (like walking) and I'm much better off.
hey zack how are you, thats my only way of reaching to you and actually getting an answer. So, I'm a competetive crossfit athlete from Egypt who has a specified lifting only day and I was thinking about getting the reebok legacy lifters 3, my question is should I get it ? keep in mind that's its a bit expensive for me so I REALLY need to think it through. Another option is getting a metcons or nano x3 ( I currently have the x2).
Did you add the ratchet and clank theme to the ad? Respect
Besides Fran, all single modality tests. I think it would have been more valid with taking out the back squat test, switch row to run, and add two more classic benchmark wods to make it more well rounded “test”
Fair point, but we wanted to test energy systems to see where to most gains are made (strength - mixed - endurance), you can't really do that by doing only CF workouts. That said, the all-out squat test could have been replaced by Helen or sth along those lines, I agree
I have always trained since starting 3 years ago doing compound super sets and intervals and i always considered my mode of training similar to what seemed to be the goal of crossfit(a brand). I do push, pull, core, legs super sets x3 of 11 reps for example, non stop all 4 exercises until the end of the super set then i rest between 3 super sets like this. Alternating days i did walk, run pushup intervals. 58 male and obviously im doing this for functional, flexibility, strength and endurance and it has been effective for my goals. Far better than what most are doing doing 1 set of one exercise and restibg for 5 playing with thrmselves between sets. Colossal waste of gym time and zero indurance and cardio vascular improvement.
lifted most of my life, 30+ yrs of lifting and only got hurt playing hockey and the two times i tried crossfit
I’ve seen the opposite- people don’t wanna show up to conditioning days and love only strength
Usyk used crossfit in order to help him to make a step from cruserweight to heavyweight.
“People Change” goes hard!
I've worked out at 4 crossfit gyms across 4 states in the last 4 years. All 4 generally followed the "warmup, strength/skill, METCON" class structure on most days, I'm curious what gyms the "hybrid is how crossfit's always been programmed" bros are going to. Of the four only one, Crossfit Bluestone, had what I'd consider deliberate strength periodization and progression.
"warmup, strength/skill, METCON" that is my style at my gym. warm up - 20 minutes of strength something like 5x5 squats or 4x6 bench - metcon/wod to close.
My CrossFit gym has great programming. We have focus on something every month. This month is overhead strength specifically for the cleaning jerk. It keeps me well-rounded in my general fitness level. My cardio and strength are better than last year.
CrossFit methodology, especially the "random" element, yields jack-of-all-trades results but may not be THE most efficient. But what we should focus on is the Test it defines, and any methodology that makes you better at that test is efficient functional fitness training. It doesn't matter what we call it, and it's ok if there are different variants. Whatever Jeff Adler and Tia Toomey do, it's WORKING! And it's probably some form of CrossFit, periodization, progressive overloading, etc.
Dude, I loved the spyro's background ! 💯
You won't get as strong as you possibly can with "traditional" crossfit, but you will get strong. That doesn't make Crossfit bad, and I encourage anyone to do Crossfit. Just don't expect to max out on one fitness element, but you'll still be within the 1% of the population, so well done.