Search For The Northwest Passage

Between 1493 and 1906 colonial powers from Europe and Asia searched for a Northwest passage to shorten the trip between European and Asian trading partners. After 400 years such a route was found.

Just as the colonial powers searched for a way to shorten the journey between Europe and Asia, many CrossFitters wonder today if there is a way to shorten the journey from average nebbish to elite CrossFit athlete. Many would say that there be dragons there, and that it is safer and more fruitful to follow the WOD, as written, with no modifications, in deference to the genius of Coach Glassman, and, make no mistake, his genius is not in question here. Some of us have active, perhaps overactive minds however, and dream of adding some small improvement to the totality of CrossFit: CF is not static, it is a dynamic system, constantly evolving, being added to, refined and improved. It is my hope to be able to at least suggest some possible directions for refinement, and even, perhaps, add something to the mix that will benefit some part of the CF community.

One thing that I have found striking, although possibly very obvious, is that athletes who come to CF with good body composition and above average muscle mass move much more quickly towards the front of the pack than those who are either fatter, weaker, or both. This seems true even in the case of athletes who have superior capabilities in other areas: cardio-respiratory fitness, coordination, etc.  It seems reasonable to speculate that one might ultimately make faster gains by focusing more on strength and improved body composition first than on simultaneously trying to build all ten of the CrossFit fitness parameters:

1) Cardio/Respiratory Endurance
2) Stamina
3) Strength
4) Flexibility
5) Power
6) Speed
7) Coordination
8) Agility
9) Balance
10) Accuracy

I have experimented on myself quite successfully along these lines, and my improved performance due to better body composition is well documented at my blog  CrossFit  Zone  Diet.

As it happens Coach Mike Minium, the founder and  co-owner of CrossFit Oakland has just bumped up against this phenomenon, as one  of the new CFO athletes is pulling ahead of him due to excellent body composition: he is 5' 7" 170 lbs and perhaps 9% bodyfat at most. Coach Mike, while blessed with excellent cardio/Respiratory endurance stamina, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance and  accuracy, is somewhat deficient in pure limit strength and muscle mass at 6", 160 lbs and perhaps 8% bodyfat. Despite his probable superiority in every other department, Mike's deficiency in limit strength is holding him back from his highest possible performance.

Mike has agreed to be my test pilot to begin working on my nascent theory of body compositional improvement being a metaphorical Northwest Passage to increased ability in the WODs. For him this will mean emphasizing strength while maintaining or improving in every other parameter as well.

We did our first experimental workout today, which I am calling "Tabata Mikey Likes It":

Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are deadlifts @ .75x bodyweight, the second 8 are bench presses at .5x bodyweight, the third 8 intervals are cleans at .375x bodyweight and , and finally, the last 8 intervals are thrusters at .375x bodyweight. There is no rest between exercises.

This was a good one, and worked similar energy pathways to the posted WOD "Tabata Something Else" while putting more of an emphasis on strength. I'll be posting some video of this and little more discussion of about what I am trying to do here tomorrow.