Max El-Hag: ez CrossFit?

Írta: Radnai Tamás
2022. október 13.

Max El-Hag, a Training Think Tank alapítója és főedzője (atlétáik többek között Noah Ohlsen, Travis Mayer, Alexis Raptis) nemrég kommentált egy kérdést Dave Castro egyik edzésbejegyzése alá, amelyben Dave egy kis úszás, elemelés kombót csinált és nem mérte az időt. A kérdés az volt, hogy akkor ez még mindig CrossFit edzés, ha nem méri és nem tudja az intenzitást? Nem gondoltam, hogy Castro válaszolni fog, de megtette a legutóbbi heti videó bejelentkezésében.

Azt magyarázta, hogy elfelejtett mérőeszközt vinni, ezért nem mérte az időt, de egyébként intenzíven hajtotta végre a couplet-et, de ez az intenzitás relatív volt, mert este volt és már fáradt volt.

Egyben arról is beszélt, hogy az edzéseket nagyobb kontextusban kell értékelni, de amit csinált, az mindenképpen CrossFit volt.

Max El-Hag erre a válaszra is kommentált egy hosszabb bejegyzéssel, amiben azt fejti ki főleg, hogy az eredeti CrossFit 'mantra' annyira nem igaz és nem hasznos. A CrossFit-hez nem szükséges magas intenzitás nagy mennyiségben, valamint az állandóan variált edzés koncepciója is limitált, mert a gyakorlatban nem történik igazán meg, a legtöbb ember egy szűk feladatcsoportból választ mindig (ez a koncepció véleményem szerint kettős: a teljes gyakorlat lista az egyik, a másik pedig, hogy az egymást viszonylag közel követő edzések mennyire mások, tehát csak félig van igaza Max-nek – a szerk.) Nem fordítom le, de alább Max írása:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate hearing how you think about the training. For the record, I didn’t say your workout wasn’t crossfit.

I suppose I will explain why I asked the question. For many years there have been many experts in the crossfit world talking about lower intensity training to improve. Hinshaw is an example. In his CEU’s he might encourage walking in running intervals to maintain stimulus. Bergener in CEU’s emphasizing working with an empty barbell or pvc pipe to refine your technique is another example. Additionally, many games athletes’ coaches use intervals. Mat Fraser talked about how much “zone 2” endurance volume he does after he retired. So lots of examples of people excelling while doing a lot of easy training.

So it’s clear from my vantage point that crossfit really doesn’t require intensity. I’ve seen many people succeed in classes never getting to even a high relative intensity. They may never push 1 RMs, never trying to go as fast as possible on metcons, etc. but even operating at these low to moderate intensities all the time, they get great gains as amateurs.

However one of the fundamental components of defining the methodology is the catch phrase “constantly varied, functional movement, performed at high intensity.” I personally think the phrase is outdated and lacking truth. For example:

Constant variation: in theory we want to be constantly varied but in application we reduce down from the infinite number of movements that we could do in fitness and spend most of our time in the MGW style movements. That means throwing, striking, dancing, and martial arts as examples NEVER show up in crossfit programs. If we were truly constantly varied, there would be juggling, combat, and a variety of other potential movements. Instead, crossfit as a culture has reduced the number of movements down to probably 50 movements that have taken up 99.9% of all crossfit programs all over the internet from all sources. So it’s not that varied.

High intensity: as discussed earlier you are one of the most badass people on the planet who has done crossfit for the longest period of time. You were a Navy Seal, ran the Games, etc. So if you are doing lower intensity training, the best athletes are doing low intensity training, and most of the affiliate owners I know prescribe “for quality” sessions or low intensity work, then it seems not to be a requirement of crossfit.

Functional movement: I’ll roll with this one and say that I like the concepts of core to extremity and multi joint movements as the backbone of the methodology. I think that is one of the core truths that has been in the methodology from the beginning across all the ways people do crossfit.

So, I asked a question to highlight the contradiction to open the discussion. I think CVHIFM is no longer a phrase to accurately describe crossfit. I think many newbies go into the affiliate and go too hard too soon and burn out. They leave the gym and the coach doesn’t necessarily yet have the knowledge or experience to understand that people need to build fitness over time to handle that type of sustained intensity. So I think new affiliate owners could be saved time, money, and customer retention for having a better concept of some of the programming nuance you covered in this video.

But I also don’t work for crossfit and I’m not Dave Castro so I’d be happy to hear your thoughts on the matter if you think I’m way off base here. And if you think the L1 methodology covers everything perfectly, then I shall bow to your authority and respect you to do what you think is best for the brand.

Thanks again for replying.

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