Work Capacity Versus Constantly Varied

The CrossFit Paradox

Here is something that has been on my mind: the inherent tension within the stated CrossFit goal of ‘Increased Work Capacity Across Broad Time and Modal Domains’. Here’s my question: do you put the emphasis upon ‘Increased Work Capacity’ or on ‘Across Broad Modal Domains’. One will necessarily restrict the other.

The Cost of Specialization

Studies have demonstrated that load being equal, higher volume training produces better performance outcomes. This means, provided your training loads are equal, weightlifting five times per week will make you stronger than weightlifting two times per week. The same is true of running or any other skill. Provided your body is able to recover and adapt to the imposed stimulus, more work will result in increased work capacity. But the work capacity is specific to the skill you are training.

And therein lies the crux of the problem. Every skill has its deficit. If you run long, slow distances, you lose your ability to sprint. If you focus on upper body lifts, you neglect your legs. For every specialization, you sacrifice some general capacity.

Gym Strong vs. Farm Strong

This then describes the difference between gym strong and farm strong. A person who is considered gym strong possesses a high competency within narrowly defined movement parameters. Someone said to be farm strong, in contrast, is strong and resilient in all positions. Indeed, studies have shown that athletes who come from labour backgrounds, such as growing up working on a farm, are stronger, more durable and more resilient to injury than their urban counterparts whose fitness is derived only from the gym.

This is not to hold labourers up as paragons of fitness. The same studies demonstrate a U-shaped curve. People who do hard manual labour all their lives without any training in the gym are more prone to injury and disability than their sedentary counterparts, most likely due to the repetitive nature of the stresses on their bodies. The researchers concluded that optimal outcomes were achieved by a balance of gym work combined with some exposure to manual labour.

The gym is a great place to develop work capacity because we use controlled movements, with calibrated loads and reps in a safe environment. Broad modal domains are better developed in the chaotic world outside the gym where your body is exposed to a variety of previously untrained movement patterns.

The 150 Push-Up Question

This comes up for me a lot when I see high-volume CrossFit workouts. For example, a recent workout included 150 push ups. My push ups are quite strong, but I wonder how many push ups are required to make me fitter. I will allow that someone who can perform 150 good push ups in 10 minutes is fitter than someone who needs 15 minutes to complete the same volume. The first person clearly has the greater work capacity. But does their work capacity extend beyond the limited domain of the strict push up? And does this very specifically defined movement pattern produce weaknesses that may lead to injury if their body is unexpectedly exposed to forces that do not conform to the trained movement pattern? Or are they at risk of overuse injuries caused by repetitive joint strain?

My goal is to be strong in every position. Life in general and combat sport in particular expose me to unknown and unknowable movement variables, and what good are 150 push ups if my body breaks the moment it is required to apply force along vectors that deviate from the trained range?

If I want to improve my work capacity in standard push ups then performing 150 of them is the best option, but increasingly I find myself opting for alternatives. In this case, I mixed it up, alternating between finger push ups, clapping push ups, spiderman push ups, dive bomb push ups, Tyson push ups and standard push ups in the hopes that the greater variety will produce a better-rounded, more resilient athlete who is strong in a wide variety of positions and movement patterns. Had I been in the gym I would have added ring push ups, archer push ups and maybe even some handstand-push ups. I understand that this will not improve my standard push up work capacity as much as if I had done all 150 as prescribed, but I’m not clear that it matters.

The result of deviating from the workout prescription was my body feeling a greater general fatigue but less specific soreness. My joints were not beat up as they would have been had I performed a high volume of repetitive movement. And while I did not increase my work capacity to the degree 150 standard push ups might have, I would argue that I did increase my capacity across broad modal domains. That begs the question, who is fitter, the athlete who can complete 150 standard push ups faster or the athlete who can perform good push ups in a variety of positions?

Fitness for Life, Not Just for the Games

The CrossFit Games were conceived as a test of fitness, but through trial and error across almost two decades of iterations, it has been found that some movements are very hard to standardize and judge. Through a process of elimination, the field of possible competition movements has narrowed to reflect this reality. No, I do not think spiderman push ups should be programmed for CrossFit competition because scoring them would be a nightmare. But just because it cannot be tested, does not mean it is not a great test of fitness or, more importantly, a great builder of fitness.

The focus on the leaderboard has blinded many athletes to why we do CrossFit in the first place: to be fitter, not to stoke our ego. The increasing focus on easily measurable and testable movements has created a fitness deficit in athletes chasing the rankings. Their work capacity is unquestionable, but the breadth of their capacity is in doubt.

I am not training for the CrossFit Games but for life. As such, I am willing to give up a bit of work capacity in order to develop greater breadth with the belief that over time, a broader foundation will support higher peaks. I don’t want to just be strong in the gym, I want to be strong for life!