Dismantling Fitness Myths Discovering CrossFit's True Essence

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:01

Good morning . Today is Sunday , february 2nd . I came in this morning to get a little work done , nice and quiet , and I put out something yesterday , very brief , very kind of short video , kind of out of agitation , really based on something I had seen on Facebook about some joker , basically like a video using clickbait . This character on camera says to someone off camera and if you saw that little short I put out yesterday , if you didn't , this is a guy on camera and he says to someone off camera if you , if you could start CrossFit all over again , what would you do differently ? So , being a CrossFit affiliate for basically two decades , I bite like okay , what is it who ? Who is he talking to ? Is he talking to our founder , greg Glassman ? Is he talking to another plank owner of our community ? So I , you know , I proceed to watch . Now he's talking to some social media influencer . You know who has , like , however , many followers in the fitness space . But I'll tell you straight up , my experience has been followers in the fitness space . But I'll tell you straight up , my experience has been followers in the fitness space . You have them everywhere , right ? You have them in . Well , in fitness , of course . You have them in martial arts . You have them in jujitsu , you have them in Thai boxing . There are people who and this is no disrespect you're always going to find people who , hey , I always wanted to do that , you know , maybe they just watch from the bleachers , you know that's fine . Or you have people that , oh yeah , I do that , you know I dabble in it , right , you dabble in it , or you immerse yourself in it , and there's there's varying degrees in between there and it's all . You know , it's all wonderful . No-transcript . He's basically some jag off with social media following , probably has clientele , maybe even in , maybe even in the virtual space , right when , where they don't actually go and train with him , but you know they , they train remotely with him or something like that .

Speaker 1 2:44

And what I found interesting was and again , I'm not trying to be negative , I'm laying it out there as an affiliate owner , as someone who has trained CrossFit and to be completely blunt , I started CrossFit at 40 years old , on my first deployment to Baghdad in 2004 . That I was working out of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv , so I found CrossFit at a time where I was just kind of flat with my regular training , training . Coincidentally , that this other individual that I'm referring to advocates . And what I thought was comical was you know to answer the question what would you do differently ? He didn't do anything in the first place , so how could he do it if you were to start CrossFit all over again ? Am I beating that into the ground ? He didn't do it in the first place , so why would we care what he would do differently ? But what he said was the . That was the bread and butter of it .

Speaker 1 3:46

All right , first of all , I'd eliminate all the Olympic lifts . Okayfitters in general do not specialize in Olympic lifting . Olympic lifting is a part of the CrossFit programming . Our coaches strive to learn the Olympic lifts so that they can teach it with absolute attention to detail to our athletes . With absolute attention to detail to our athletes . Some of those athletes go on and compete in Olympic lifting because that's to their liking . What we use Olympic lifting for in the CrossFit space is the dynamic , explosive movement .

Speaker 1 4:25

You don't want to do it . Nobody's holding a gun to your head . I would eliminate that . Then he says I would eliminate kipping pull-ups , essentially the gymnastics component . All right , so let me share something with you , super Chief , and I'm not going to go into the science of it and the distance times , weight over time and how you know that's horsepower . That's a simple mathematical calculation , which I'm not sure you could spell mathematical or calculation . So you notice how I'm leaving names out of this so as not to offend anyone's delicate sensibilities . It's not the point and I don't want to be childish , but what I do want is you know again just maybe I'm ranting right now but if you could start CrossFit again . Strike one you never started it in the first place . Strike two you're only a personal trainer who probably got his credentials online , never having to actually sweat or do anything for them . All right . Then you start talking out your ass , because your mouth knows better , and the things that he would eliminate essentially turn his program into today's back and biceps , tomorrow's chest and triceps .

Speaker 1 5:38

I do a double split routine . You know , when I want to emphasize the full tricep , I hold my grip thusly . When I want to emphasize the outer , when I want to do anything else , you know I hold my grip thusly , all right . When I want to do anything else , you know I hold my grip thusly , all right . Look again , as I mention all the time , every day I strive to be a better , more mature version of myself . Most days I come up short . This is one of those days because it kind of , you know , I think the success of CrossFit has brought with it that our community has made itself a target . All right , made itself a target for those in the multi-billion dollar a year fitness space , right .

Speaker 1 6:23

So you got guys like this who you know . If this were back in the 70s , they'd probably be advocating a class utilizing the Thighmaster . All right , I actually think you probably have to be my age to know what that reference is . But Google it . Google it , the Thighmaster . But the point that I'm trying to stay on track with is this and I will use a martial arts paradigm maybe for a lot of you out there . I know that a lot of folks have kind of dissected this over time , because everybody's looking for the what's the one thing , what's the one thing , and they all maybe use that as like that's the best . Therefore , the rest is the worst or not the best . But you know , jocko's talked about it more than once on his podcast Rogan .

Speaker 1 7:09

Anyone with any type of fighting background can . And I think the reality of it is you know , what would you study if you could only study one thing ? Well , you can't , you can't only study one thing . I mean , no such situation exists . But if you ask me , I would say be a solid striker and have a solid ground game . You know , personally , have a a pretty significant boxing background . I started as a teenager , uh , boxed through college , boxed into the navy and um , kickboxing , uh , americanized . You know , kickboxing , um , and brazilian jiu-jitsu is is my , my , my ground passion , all right , my , my ground game , if you will . And you know , um , I think the reality of it is , without striking and without a ground game , every fight ends up on the ground , no matter what you think , no matter what you've heard , no matter how . Chuck Norris and I , I adore Chuck Norris , right , but you get taken down . Any fight , every fight , you'll end up on the ground . If you don't have a ground game , you're in a hurt locker , all right , but anyway , I guess that's what I'm getting at .

Speaker 1 8:28

So here's , super Chief , I would eliminate the Olympic lifts , I would eliminate the gymnastics movements , I'm like , but you just took everything away that creates functional fitness . All right . So play this forward , you and your little strict weighted pull-ups , that's great . We do them too , but at the same time , if I'm being chased by hostiles and I have to get up and over an eight foot wall . I'm going to use every bit of my gymnastic capability to get up , get over leverage up and over . Do you think , for I'm going to use every bit of my gymnastic capability to get up , get over leverage up and over .

Speaker 1 9:00

Do you think for a minute , if I had to do a movement resembling a bar muscle up to get myself up to a second level to accomplish a mission , do you think I would say , oh no , that's cheating . You know , let me dead , hang , you're an idiot . And you're an idiot who's probably never seen the need for the practical aspect , the other side of what we do and why we choose CrossFit as that modality , and you know not to be like . Well , if these guys do it , it can't be wrong . But let's just say , when Naval Special Warfare turns to CrossFit style training , when the US Naval Special Warfare turns to CrossFit-style training , when the US Army changes their readiness test , thank God , to CrossFit-style training . Nobody's looking for your dumbass to come out and train them all right . So listen , you stay in your lane , I'll stay in mine . You know , if I were you , I'd hope those lines never crossed .

Speaker 1 9:55

But anyway , happy Sunday . Wanted to finish that rant a little bit , but think about it . I mean , aside from my personal negative slant on this character , functional training there's a reason for it . If you don't like it , it's not for you . Leave it at that to get clicks on your little . You know what do you call it insta face or x , or you know twitness , but that's still a thing . You know what I'm talking about . All right , good to be back , miss y'all , and uh , I will see you again soon . Enjoy the remainder of your weekend .