I had a great weekend at the cert in San Diego. Grab a seat, I feel like writing a bit. I’m on a flight home and have some uninterupted time.

CrossFit is constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity. There are a ton of exercise disciplines practiced under the CrossFit umbrella. None claimed to be invented by CrossFit but rather organized in a different way by CF. Here’s a way to think of it…take Moby Dick, a classic book written by Melville, and flip through the pages then randomly pick out any word in the book. Check the dictionary and see if Melville invented the word. The answer is no. There is not one word in the book invented by the author. He just organized the words in a specific way to deliver them like no one has before. Very similar to what CrossFit has done with functional movements. We squat, deadlift, clean, press, snatch, jerk, run, climb, throw, etc.

If you talk to three different elite powerlifting coaches about their lifts you will get some small differences in body positioning and execution of the lifts. It’s true in any discipline. You see, to become a master at anything you have to log hours upon hours. During your hours you try different things. Some work and some don’t and beliefs are born based on personal experiences. I’m talking very subtle beliefs that the average jane wouldn’t give a hoot about. It really turns into an art for coaches. The difference between starting with shoulders over the bar, behind the bar, or in front of the bar. The difference between a high bar back squat and a low bar back squat. The list can go on and on.

Although I think it’s important to discuss these diffeneces to grow CrossFit. I think sometimes coaches in the community spend a little too much time and energy debating who has the “better” way. CrossFit is the future of fitness. As it stands now I’d guess less than one half of one percent of the population is deadlifting, squatting, cleaning, etc. The battle should not be about the differneces of 3 inches in a starting position of a deadlift. The battle should be against donkey calf raises machines, three sets of ten, and the couch. Get people deadlifting. If they want to be an elitist then they can get into different positions. Look, not everyone is going to excel only one way at one movement. Watch the olympics for example. Look at the difference in foot positioning of some of the Chinese lifters versus some of the other lifters. It’s just one example, but the point is summed up by a classic saying…different strokes for different folks.

There are always going to be small differences in movements between elite athletes and that’s okay. Once you learn to deadlift and master it one way, try a different starting position and see if it makes you lift more weight. If so keep it. If not, dump it. The main point here is that CrossFit has done a better job than any single functional movement discipline at bringing these movements to the masses. We need to continue to fight the battle against the couch and bad fitness programs. Not fight micro battles within the community.

Thanks for reading