An Open Letter To "Muscle & Fitness" From CrossFit East Bay 4-03-08

Eric Velazquez, Senior Editor
Muscle & Fitness
21100 Erwin Street
Woodland Hills, CA
91367

cc: Peter McGough, Editor in Chief

Dear Mr. Velazquez,

I was recently startled by your direct response to my comments about your magazine on my blog, relating to your upcoming article on CrossFit. You challenged me to pick up your magazine, which I admit I have not read since the early 1990s, having switched to "Muscle Media 2000". I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. While the magazine, in my opinion, still has some way to go before I would want to pay for it, it certainly has moved somewhat towards the "Fitness" side of the masthead.

I read the April Issue, cover to cover, and look forward to reading the May issue, with the CrossFit article. I especially liked the article on Bruce Lee, and I agree that he is a good role model, at least insofar as his weight training methods are concerned. The routine said to "include squat, deadlift, clean and press and bench press" is what your should be recommending to your readers who are new, or intermediate to the iron game and want to put on muscle. In the words of Mr. Lee, so much of what is found in your magazine is still a "fancy mess" with too many assistance exercises and not enough heavy deadlift, squat, clean, press and bench, which is really what the beginner, even the beginner bodybuilder should be focused on. To quote Coach Greg Glassman, the founder of CrossFit, and the finest mind in fitness alive today, "Response to stimulus is systemic, not mechanical". Therefore the movements that have the greatest benefit, even in terms of building muscle are those with the greatest metabolic impact. To quote Coach again, "The most important criterion for exercise selection is neuroendocrine effect. Regardless of your sport or your fitness goals these moves are the shortest path to success."

Another article I was surprised and pleased to see was "Against All Odds" about a triathlete who came back from a coma to compete again. I also enjoyed what seems to me to be at least the beginning of a distinct CrossFit influence: Buddy Lee jumpropes, Turkish Get-Ups, weighted pull-ups, and proper push-up instruction. I also liked the Westside Barbell influence (chain bench press) and HIT article. The feats of strength were very interesting. As always, your nutritional advice is light years ahead of the mainstream. Still not perfect, but excellent.

While so much was good, as above, a lot of the exercise protocols in your articles, while better than nothing, seem like a waste of time. The 4x4 arms workout? Try googling "Arms Day at the L Street Gym" for thoughts on this sort of training. Actually there is nothing really wrong with this, but for all but the advanced, it seems like wasted effort. In the Turkish get-up, I would like to see a bit more weight, perhaps not a 135# barbell, but at least a 55# kettlebell, so you could see some effort. The sissy squat? Please, this movement would only be more silly if he was standing on a stability ball! The "Simply Huge" training plan was more fancy mess, even though it claimed to be simple! As Coach Mark Rippetoe, the world's foremost authority on the slow lifts states in "Practical Programming" the sort of plan outlined is paradoxically both "too much stimulus and not enough". I also found the bench press instruction to be substandard. You and your staff should, run, not walk, to find a copy of "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe and read it cover to cover, along with "Practical Programming". This would do more for your magazine that anything else I can think of, since you are so focused on the slow lifts.

Finally, the near total lack of simple effective gymnastics moves is a shame. The muscle-up on the rings is the king of upper-body exercises, and if that is not hard enough for you, add a weight vest. Also the handstand push-up, knees to elbows and pistols are fantastic movements that anyone can benefit from developing. As you say in your blog you have to "cater to the majority of your readership", but I guarantee if you did a well-written article on the muscle-up you would get a very positive response.

To quote Coach again:

"A strength and conditioning regimen devoid of gymnastics practice and skills is deficient."

"Traditionally, calisthenic movements are high rep movements, but there are numerous bodyweight exercises that only rarely can be performed for more than a rep or two. Find them. Explore them!"

Maximus Lewin
Owner, CrossFit East Bay

800 Potter Street
Berkeley CA
94710

520 20th Street
Oakland CA
94612