The first two standards of fitness for CrossFit are the 10 General Physical Skills and being able to perform well at any task, The Hopper Model. The third standard is performing well in all 3 metabolic pathways. Here is an excerpt from the CrossFit Level 1 manual explaining this.
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“CrossFit’s Third Fitness Standard
There are three metabolic pathways that provide the energy for all human action. These “metabolic engines” are known as the phosphagen pathway, the glycolytic pathway and the oxidative pathway. The first, the phosphagen, dominates the highest-powered activities, those that last less than about ten seconds. The second pathway, the glycolytic, dominates moderate-powered activities, those that last up to several minutes. The third pathway, the oxidative, dominates low-powered activities, those that last in excess of several minutes.
Total fitness, the fitness that CrossFit promotes and develops, requires competency and training in each of these three pathways or engines. Balancing the effects of these three pathways largely determines the how and why of metabolic conditioning or “cardio” that we do at CrossFit. Favoring one or two to the exclusion of the others and not recognizing the impact of excessive training in the oxidative pathways are arguably the two most common faults in fitness training. ”
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At our level we can put the 1 rep back squat as a good example of an all out effort in less then 10 seconds= phosphagen pathway.
The 500m row would be a good example of an effort in the several minute range= glycolytic pathway.
And a 5k run would be a good example of an effort in the excess of several minute range= oxidative pathway.
Keep in mind that your body doesn’t stop using energy from each pathway and “switch” solely to the other. There is a continuous use of each metabolic pathway but your body naturally adjusts the percentage for optimal energy sourcing for the energy needed in each of the different pathways. A 1 rep max back squat may use up the bulk of energy stores in your legs in 10 seconds while the 5k run will adjust energy sourcing to supply it in a constant state over 20-30 minutes. It would be interesting to see how quickly your body may change from doing a heavy barbell lift to running for 10 minutes then changing back to a 2 minute drill of pullups. This kind of multi pathway training makes CrossFit unique in its programming. Powerlifters will spend the majority of their time in short bursts of strength work, marathon runners on the other hand spend hours at a constant steady state. They train in these pathways and do well in them. But they would not do well outside of their training parameters. Some of the most effective workouts CrossFit uses generally fall into the 10-20 minute range, it seems to give enough volume of each of the pathways to give a good growth response, burning fat and building muscle. Does that sound good to you?
SCHEDULE THIS WEEK- Monday-Friday 5am, 6am, 4:30 pm, 5:30 pm. Saturday at 8am WEIGH AND MEASURE ON FRIDAY, JULY 4TH THE GYM WILL BE CLOSED, SIGN UP FOR THE 5K/10K RUN.
WORKOUTS FOR THIS WEEK- POKER, RUN/ROW/SQUAT, ROW/THRUSTER, JERK/BOX JUMPS, TOES TO BAR/PUSHUPS/PULLUPS AND OVERHEAD SQUATS.
SORRY NO RECIPE THIS WEEK.
HOW ABOUT CHICKEN THIGH STIR FRY WITH A LITTLE BROWN RICE?
SEE YOU AT THE GYM
3,2,1 GO!!!
DEAN