The “sport of fitness” and why it isn’t.
Today I was watching a video a colleague sent me about CrossFit. During the opening minutes I heard mention of falling in love with the “sport of fitness”.
I had to stop. Said to myself, “Fitness is a sport? That’s news to me.”
See, CrossFit workouts are what I look at as GPP (general physical preparedness). They’re not sport specific, and follow no apparent form of periodization. Last time I checked, GPP was not a sport. Sport requires specialization on some level.
Now, I’m sure that many CrossFitters out there could brag about being able to smoke a professional rugby prop in a mile run, but how many of them can tackle his 110+kg mass as he’s storming down a pitch? They can perform high repetition deadlifts at 185lbs, but how many of them can pull 700+lbs like competitive powerlifters?
Let’s look at it from Dan John’s/Pavel’s quadrant examples in Easy Strength. QI is essentially GPP. All of the basic movement patterns, a large number of qualities required at very minimal levels of mastery. Every other quadrant includes sports which requires moderate to high levels of mastery in fewer and fewer skills as you progress II-IV (think about the aspects of contact sports like football, rugby, or hockey then progressing up through to very specialized sports such as sprinting, powerlifting and so on).
Sports require some level of specialization in a handful of qualities or skills in order to excel. GPP requires the ability to perform a very broad spectrum of movements. They are two very different things, and to hear GPP called a sport is bothersome because that is exactly what it isn’t.
That’s not to say that GPP is evil or useless. We all go through it at some point (think about a quality physical education coming up through school). It has its place in our physical development, but further specialization is required to create and athlete. Off-season training could include some GPP for athletes, but otherwise most training should be sport specific and work to improve the qualities which the athlete requires to compete at their absolute best.
For those of you looking to improve your general wellness and fitness, GPP would be a good place to start. But if you’re looking to become an athlete and compete at any level, you should be training specifically for that event rather than wasting your time on how fast you can do x amount of hand stand push-ups.
Interesting points. I agree that ‘fitness’ and ‘sport’ are two different things but do you think Crossfit is a sport? .
I don’t feel that CrossFit is a sport. I think it’s a training modality which is effective in enhancing GPP. The fact that they treat it as a sport by holding these “CrossFit Games” is a joke. Winners being considered the fittest on the planet is a joke. They’re not specialists in anything, but are well-rounded human beings. The way I see it, they are decent at many things, but fantastic at none. It’s all well and good to want to enhance GPP and round out your fitness to live a healthy life, but that doesn’t make what you’re doing a sport, and it doesn’t make you an athlete.
I see what you mean about crossfit and GPP. It’s definitely very general and non-specific training. I think crossfit is too hyped up and they shouldn’t call themselves the “fittest on earth” but I think it is fine for them to hold the crossfit games. It’s a specific challenge that all of them must complete. I’ve even competed in a regional crossfit games that was a lot of fun even though I don’t do crossfit.
Triathletes get the same criticism about not being specialists — that they are good at swimming, cycling, and running but not excellent at any of them. Maybe crossfitters are specialists at being generalists haha
Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about crossfit. Regardless of whether we think it’s a sport or not, the crossfit founders have managed to convince the crossfit community and many others that it is one. I’ve also heard crossfit referred to as a “lifestyle.”
That’s a fair point about holding the games as a challenge, and I can see the merit in that. I think it has a place in the lives of people who may not want to be athletes, but still want to develop some strength and endurance. Generalists would definitely be a fitting term.
As for triathletes, I see them as specialists in a sense. They’re just as specialized as a QII athlete, where they can perform a number of skills at a high level of proficiency. They’re also specialized in endurance events. You wouldn’t have a triathlete compete against an Olympic sprinter in the 100m, or against a weightlifter in the clean and jerk.