According to Mark Rippetoe, strength is the foundational skill and he may have a point.  Cardio might be the key to surviving the zombie apocalypse but if you aren’t strong enough to get up on your own two feet, all the cardio in the world won’t do you much good.  And come to think of it, all the pavement pounding required to develop world class zombie-evading cardio is going to wreck your joints unless you have strengthened them enough to survive the daily grind.  And then there are the studies demonstrating an inverse relationship between strength and all cause mortality.

So, what does strength look like?  In CrossFit we see many flavours of strength show up in our training.

Powerlifting
These are the slow, heavy lifts like deadlift, back squat, shoulder press, bench press.  These lifts train absolute strength or your ability to move an external load.  The deadlift and shoulder press begin with a concentric muscular contraction followed by an eccentric lowering phase.  The back squat and bench press begin with the eccentric phase and are completed with the concentric contraction.

Olympic Lifting
The snatch and clean and jerk train explosive strength, aka power.  Like the deadlift, these two lifts begin in the first pull off the floor with a concentric contraction applied to an object at rest but in the second pull we see a dynamic application of force as you accelerate the load already in motion.  Then, there is a reversal of direction as you pull yourself under the load in the third pull, followed by absorptive force as you receive the load, especially if you are performing the squat variety of these lifts.  Finally there is the expression of reactive force when upon receiving the bar, you reverse direction yet again to stand it up.  Whew!  There’s a lot going on in these lifts.  No wonder the Olympic lifts have such amazing athletic carry over to most other sports.

Kettlebells
The offset load of the kettlebell creates a dynamic load which changes position relative to your centre of mass during most movements.  This is especially true of the vastly under-appreciated kettlebell snatch and kettlebell cleans.  The shifting of the load demands superior core engagement offering a unique training stimulus.

Medicine Balls
Throwing an object requires a maximal application of force.  Throwing athletes like the shot put and hammer throwers rate among the strongest, most explosive athletes.  Throwing barbells or kettlebells is generally unsafe training practice but medicine balls are perfect tools for practicing explosive force.  The wall ball also requires absorptive force and reversal of direction as in the Olympic lifts. 

Sandbags
The sandbags are difficult to grip and tend to shift around requiring a lot of fascial strength.  These are great for developing functional, real world strength as they toughen all the connective tissue holding your body together.

Bodyweight Drills
Gymnastics exercises train your strength relative to your body weight.  As such, they are incredibly challenging, especially for larger athletes who may dominate in tests of absolute strength.  The strength to control your body through space is a prerequisite to moving external loads.   

Plyometrics
Movements like box jumps train fast twitch muscles helping you to become explosive.

In the real world you want to own all the flavours of strength as they will help you adapt to and survive the unpredictable circumstances of life and reduce your risk of injury and death from all causes.  Your achilles heel is whichever form of strength you neglect to develop.  Lucky for you, Crossfit trains them all.  Make sure you don’t pick and choose your WODs to just do your favourites.  Outside the margins of your comfort zone is where the greatest adaptations lie.

Friday Make Up Day

1) Empower Reset #5-0

1 min Belly Breathing
30/30 sec Head Nods/Rotations

5 mins
20 Deadbugs
20 Windshield Wipers
20 Shoulder Pullovers
20 Egg Rolls

5 mins
20 Bird Dogs
10/10 Kickstand Rocks
10 Plank Bird Dogs
10 Judo Push Up Rocks

5 mins
10 Get Ups
20 Ring Row Squats
20 Alt Ring Row Reverse Lunges

2 Rounds (2 mins each):
Hollow Rocks
Skin-the-cats
Headstand/Tripod with knee tuck and extend

Bar Pullovers

2) 100 double-unders
50 GHD sit-ups
25 power cleans
50 GHD sit-ups
100 double-unders

3) Complete as many reps as possible in 10 minutes of:
Squat snatch