I have been doing some Crossfit workouts as part of my exercise program for about 5 months now, and initally I was pretty impressed to hear that the CF was looking at implementing Crossfit into the "official" fitness program. Prior to starting with Crossfit, I had been following the AFM workouts (for about 3 months), and arguably, if you are following that program, it's not a huge leap to implement Crossfit.
This is where I see a problem: I can see people being "forced" into adopting Crossfit before they are ready for it. By this I mean that I have seen very few people (and/or units) following the AFM PT regimen as it is meant to be followed (i.e one of the various week-based programs). Proof of this: I have seen very few (as a relative percentage of the people that I see working out at the Gagetown fitness facility) people doing the plyometric exercises. I have had people outright stare at me when I was doing the hopping from foot to foot down the indoor track, as though I had just made up some funky exercises. It's in the AF Manual, people!!!! To me, it appears to be the same old, same old: run, play ball-hockey, ruckmarch, and move some weights around, without an apparent plan. And to top it all off, none of the basic fitness principles seem to be being applied for improvement (increase duration/intensity/weight/reps, variety, etc). It's as though many people don't read the manual (which, BTW, I think is excellent, even though I was skeptical when I found out who one of the pers involved in the writing of it was.... a blast from my past, so to speak), let alone follow it. Why? Because it involves planning and catering programs to individual needs. Yes, I said it!! INDIVIDUAL needs. Not the whole unit. The individual. And we all know that soldier's are mindless drones who can't be trusted to follow, let alone plan, their own exercise prescription (which I initially hated as a term, but it makes sense: it is a prescription, the same as a medication. Not everybody is given penicillin when one person has an infection. Not everyone should have to try to run the Boston Marathon, bench press a car, do 50 one-arm chin-ups, etc).
It's all pretty simple: do the 9 tests. Find out what you need to work on (achieving only level 1 or 2 in something, in other words), and focus on those specific areas, without neglecting those that you did well on. We have to stop practicing/focussing on our strengths (runners always running, gym rats only pumping iron, jocks only playing sports, etc) and focus on our areas for development (that's sounds vaguely familiar....). In other words, CROSS-train to achieve FITness. CROSSFIT. Wow, I should copyright that. Oh, yeah. Already done.
And then, once a soldier is ready, and needs a greater challenge (achieving level 3 or better across the board, IMO) move on to Crossfit if they are inclined. People seem to forget (or ignore) that Crossfit is targeted at people who are looking for an "elite" level of fitness (but it isn't limited to elite athletes). Arguably soldiers should be elite (or at the least, strive for that) in all respects, but fitness is definitely part of it.
I have noticed about half a dozen people here in Gagetown doing Crossfit, and yes, I was one of the ones looking at them funny when I first saw them doing the kettle bell swing, or jumping up onto the 24inch high box. My first impression was: Retro trend, which will die off. For those not in the know here's a link for the exercise videos (look for kettle bell swing, and you may figure out what I mean by retro):
http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html
I am now one of the ones getting stared at (particularly by those that simply (and very slowly, I might add) walk idly around the track). I also do a lot of running (up to 21km at a go..... not fast, just long), stretching (very important, in my books, as I neglected it in my youth), and other forms of non-traditional things like head- and hand-stands (kind of a yoga thing, but it also improves balance, and it helps with handstand push-ups). Doing what we have always done (usually too much of whatever is easiest and most convenient) has gotten us to where we are: we need to make changes, or suffer the consequences. Oh yeah, that's already happened.
Which segues nicely into my next concern: the CF (or certain units) will fall head over heels in love with Crossfit, and want to abandon everything else. This would be bad. Even though Crossfit is pretty basic, without a need for fancy-schmancy multi-thousand dollar equipment, I can't see 50 people (i.e a recruit or the like course) doing Crossfit effectively, if it is done as we have in the past: everyone does warmup together, work out together, finish as a team. Unless I am on glue, I can't fathom that happening with most of the "named" workouts (look through the Workout of the Day (WOD) pages, due to the fact that it is mostly GO, GO, GO throughout, and waiting for someone to be done with something defeats the purpose of Crossfit. Then it is basically circuit training (which CF really is, at heart). We would have to re-examine our idea of what constitutes "unit" PT. Would we allow people to determine what "prescription" they need, make a plan, and then follow it??? I do it, but I have the luxury of doing that (rank and position), and I have noticed that every other person in Gagetown who is doing Crossfit (or something similar) is a Sr NCO or officer. Hmmmmmm. Maybe we should stop holding people by the hand (i.e. Pte's/Cpl's/MCpl's) and let them plan (with PSP staff assistance if required) and follow their progress from a distance (i.e. take their word that they are following the plan, and follow-up with testing results after a set period). That's pretty innovative. Actually it's not. They do something similar for those on remedial PT, don't they? Why wait until they are at that stage (needing remedial PT) and let them plan/follow their own PT program.
Of course, there are aspects that must be group-style (sports and ruckmarches), but even then there should be a certain amount of latitude to allow tailoring to different soldier's needs/capabilities. This type of mentality/attitude/culture change likely causes some people to blow a nut just thinking about allowing people to do something other than the same old, same old (I think we all know what type of people I mean by this.....). Letting grown ups act like grown ups. What a concept.
If there are pers who can't/won't plan or follow their own program, punish them, not those that actually want to do what works for them (i.e. continuing with what I refer to as Lowest Common Denominator PT: running only as fast or long as the slowest person can handle, and the like).
All of this would only work post-Basic training, I can imagine, as recruits will require far more direction and guidance (obviously), but let's remember that in a 25 year (let's say that's the average career) career, Basic trg only comprises approx 6 months, or 2%, of a soldier's career: let's focus on the other 98%.
I do hope that Crossfit is "approved" for use in the CF (well, I've been doing it, and haven't been jailed yet, and there aren't any exercises that I have seen that are "dangerous" (following strict form, of course), so I don't know why it wouldn't be "legal"), but it isn't the 100% solution, anyway, as paracowboy points out. In fact, if you read the CF FAQ, it points out that:
Part of the crossfit philosophy includes pursuing/learning another sport or activity, and many crossfitters are also martial artists and competitive athletes in a variety of disciplines.
BTW, I highly recommend reading the FAQ and the Start Here! page before starting with Crossfit (that and view the exercise videos to ensure correct form is used).
Al
Editted for stunned-ass spelling/grammar errors.
Does anyone know any more about this?
