CrossFit (Still) Isn’t Circuit Training

Fitness is such a funny slice of life. Just behind religion, politics, and maybe nutrition, we tend to have all the emotions possible when the topic of fitness comes up. Rest assured that most arguments about fitness begin with a heavy dose of ignorance.

Since CrossFit evokes lots of emotion without much understanding, let’s start with a common stereotype of the practice of CrossFit. The statement “CrossFit is like circuit training” misses nearly the entire essence of what it is.

CrossFit, in fact, is mostly not circuit training. If it weren’t for the amount of variance require to achieve CrossFit’s ultimate goal of increased General Physical Preparedness (GPP), it wouldn’t be circuit training at all. The trouble is that every 38th day or so in your CrossFit practice, you may find a training day that looks like a circuit.

The breadth of CrossFit is almost only limited to creativity. It’s most literally three things. Firstly, it is comprised of functional movements. By definition, these movement express the most power and, therefore, demand continual refinement of best practices and efficient movement. Functional movements tend to be an upgrade in movement selection for most fitness practitioners. Second, CrossFit demands variance. The broad, inclusive fitness we aim to build combined with the need to drive adaptation means we can’t do the same old routine and expect new results. You can’t argue with that. Lastly, CrossFit calls for relative intensity. This is the stimulus require for all fitness adaptation (whether you’re doing CrossFit or not). As you can see, “Circuit training” (still) doesn’t come up.

The responsibility CrossFit takes on is far too diverse to be a circuit training program. We could only hope to get the opportunity to educate anyone who seeks it.

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach