2009 GPP Manifesto

Hopefully you will find this post helpful as you establish your own reasons for continually showing up and delivering the highest level of intensity you are capable of. Basically, “Why the hell am I doing this to myself again?”

During this morning’s workout, Phil and I had a brief discussion regarding workout programming. I had mentioned wanting to tailor my workouts as if I was preparing for “the games” meaning the Crossfit Games which have been the subject of some previous posts. He asked the obvious question, “Well are you training for the games or for life?” That was about the end of the conversation. I told you it was brief, but it triggered a thought process over the next several hours. Then I read an article by Greg Everett titled ‘CrossFit Criteria’ that provided more insight and helped me notice something about myself.

Since I stumbled across CrossFit, GPP (General Physical Preparedness) has been my basic context for utilizing the Crossfit methodology. To that end, my pursuit has been the balanced development and consistent improvement over the ten physical elements (strength, power, speed, endurance, stamina, flexibility, agility, balance, accuracy, and coordination). My life has become richer, fuller, and much more enjoyable thanks to my ability to participate in numerous adventures and exploits at a higher level and in the best shape possible with confidence and relative fearlessness of injury.

Now I am noticing that I started to slip away from that GPP approach toward a context many people have embraced – ‘CrossFit as a Sport’ or ‘Doing CrossFit for the sake of getting better at doing CrossFit.’ I believe my shift in attitude is due in part to the amazing feats of power and work capacity performance shown often on the CF main site as well as the affiliate pages. However, I am realizing that this shift in context and any changes or specification of programming is not consistent with my long term goal and may not benefit me in the long term. Thanks to this morning’s quick dialogue on the matter, I realized that I needed to review my map, check where I am headed, and reset the directional bearing accordingly if needed.
My compass is pointing towards – Fitness. Most basically defined by CrossFit as the opposite of sickness. Defined in Everett’s article as a general approach to greater GPP with no specific athletic goals or priority given to a particular element of fitness. High standards of movement must be maintained, even at the cost of time/work/power performance, because the goal is to train for ALL functional movement and increase ALL the elements of fitness.
Compare this GPP approach to the ‘CrossFit as a Sport’ approach. In Everett’s words, “the pursuit of impressive times and feats encourages a relaxation of standards as a means to gain and edge on competitors.” The problem with this is the standards become relative, flexible, and cross the line of flawed technique because as you approach max effort, technique fails. For example, it is hard to compare times when one person’s squats are to their ankles and another person’s are ½ squats. There was a video recently of a 500 lb deadlift for rep’s when on every single rep the back was severely rounded. The CrossFit as a Sport approach “…typically encourages the field to conform to the methods of leaders, producing a gradual deterioration of technique standards that produce meaningless improvement.”

It is totally legitimate to pursue the CrossFit as a Sport approach to training. The performances by these “monsters” and “fire breathers” are impressive and worthy of accolades. I am definitely expecting my proficiency at all of the basic movements and performance on benchmark WOD’s to increase as well as my power and work capacity; but I cannot pursue CrossFit Sport performance at the expense of, for instance, being able to hike Whitney in a day with a moderate pack, fast pace, and good attitude.

I guess this is a personal manifesto of my return to GPP focus. I am not sure what any of your goals are (except Nehal’s) or if you found this comparison of GPP and the Sport of CrossFit interesting or useful. I would like to know what you think about it or if you have ever thought about this stuff, too.

My goal is to compete all of the Athletic Skill Level III items by the end of 2009. The Crossfit Seattle Skill Level Chart is a comprehensive list and a great measure of GPP. It exposes both weaknesses and strengths. It has given me ‘specific goals’ to use as a tool to move toward greater GPP, which as stated above, can sometimes seem to lack specific goals.
Happy Training in 2009.