Ok, so I want to be honest: I enjoy tearing down xfit. In
the area in which my facility is located, xfit is the only real competition we
have, so I take every opportunity to criticize, knock around, and pick apart
the xfit methodology. For instance, what methodology?
But to be fair, xfit does one thing for which I am envious:
they have created a great community atmosphere. The community may or may not be
made up of people I’d like to hang with on a regular basis, at least not the
xfitters I’ve come across as of yet, but the community is strong.
With that said, this blog is not about how wrong I am, no no…
This is about an interesting site I came across (remaining un-named) by a
fellow chiropractor and avid xfitter. Perhaps I’ve not blogged my position on
doctors and xfit, so allow me this sentence: It is my opinion that doctors of
the health field should not endorse xfit, especially p.t.s and chiros.
I have taken the 4 primary ideas from his website/workshop
series and decided to allow his points to make my own. His website is designed
to help people identify and correct movement dysfunction while at the same time
promoting xfit. While I will not join him promoting xfit, I could not agree
with him more: who better than chiropractors and physical therapists (and
perhaps movement specialists) to address deficits in people’s movements, right?
So here are the 4 primary ideas:
First: Movement dysfunction has
many causes and there is no one size fits all solution. Mobility limitations
are one piece of the puzzle. There is also lack of stability or motor control.
There is also peripheral and central sensitization. There is also poor
technique. I see just as many, if not more, people who need more stability than
they do mobility.
Second: When we were infants and
toddlers, we moved much better than we do as adults. Not just in our mobility,
but also in our patterns. We were able to roll, crawl, deadlift, and squat
better than we can as adults. We need to get back to better movement. We had it
once, we should pursue it again.
Third: Things always evolve.
Much of what we think we know today will be proven wrong in 10 years. I hope it
is. We call that progress. I am not here to preach to you that I know all the
answers. I don’t. No one does. We do the best we can with the information
available to us. I do not claim to be a guru. I have many people that I learn
from and they have learned from many people before them. Everything I know I
learned from someone else who learned from someone else. ___is a compilation of
all the amazing things I have learned from my predecessors in movement.
Fourth: Train to Improve,
Compete to Win. There is a big difference between training and competing. There
are things you do in a competition that you shouldn’t do in training. We take
risks in competition to win, but we shouldn’t train that way. Training should
never injure us, it should make us more resilient. Competition is the place
where we put our bodies on the line. You can’t compete if you injure yourself
in training.
The first idea is a good one: there is no “one size fits all”.
The problem here is that in my experience with xfit the training is about
fitting everyone into the same movement patterns. For example, squats are all
done “ass to grass” no matter who you are and what your body type. Also, all Olympic
lifts are done very specifically, because that’s what Olympic lifts are, and
there is little to no room for deviation no matter your body type. So this
point of no one-size-fits-all, as good as it is and I can’t enough of it, is contradicted
by the methods of xfit training.
I am less excited about the second idea. As infants and
toddlers we did not have fully formed skeletons and our connective tissue was
lacking. Trying to compare adults to toddlers is not a very good point, but I
do agree that everyone should actively seek joint mobility on a regular basis.
Joint mobility has benefits that reach much further than just being able to
kick your leg high or put your arm behind your head. Those people who have regular
routines tend to be stronger and healthier than those that don’t. This point, while
poorly made is still good.
The third idea is something that was preached to me by my
mentors and teachers and is, in turn, preached by me. When I read this, I
realized that the there is a thinker under all that xfitter. That this may be someone
with whom I could sit down with and have a spirited debate, not a trait I normally see in xfit. Not a trait xfit breeds into its professionals. This point is that this is wise, plain and simple. All that I know will be changed, all I must do
is live long enough.
Train to improve, compete to win. This is a good, solid
statement that I absolutely agree with… for competitive athletes (as an aside,
I would never send a competitive athlete to xfit because it just won’t fit). Xfit
competes in their training sessions. They perform Olympic lifts for time,
something that must NEVER be done. Xfit does this continuously, as it can be
read on their WOD’s. Training is supposed to make an athlete, or fitness enthusiast,
resilient, stronger and injury free. Training should ultimately build the body,
but xfit has its clients competing with each other all the time. So how do they
build if they are always putting their bodies on the line. Again, xfit
contradicts my new friend.
This website/workshop series is not alone. Throughout all of
xfit-dom you can read conflicting philosophies from xfit enthusiasts. I have heard
the argument that there is a vast room for interpretation in the xfit
methodology, however, if you actually read the main website, or better, read
the manual, there is little to no room for interpretation. The fact is, these
guys are probably not doing xfit, probably some sort of hybrid… or I can’t see
how they can. You can’t preach different body’s equal different mechanics then
train everyone the same, or claim to teach proper form and then train under time.
You can’t have it both ways. Either you’re extreme or you’re safe, either you’re
one-size-fits-all or you’re individualized, but you can’t be both because one
gets sacrificed to make room for the other. Either you’re doing xfit or you’re
not.
Linked Athletics is completely our own. We go through all of
these struggles and come up with some pretty good compromises’, but every time
we weigh what we are sacrificing against what we are gaining. We did not take
someone else’s brand and bastardize to make it fit. Instead, we create a
fitness methodology and philosophy that is intense, purposeful, and builds resilience.
We train everyone from elite competitive athletics to adults to kids under our
brand and we help mold athletes, every one of them. While we are not for
everyone, we can train almost anyone.
Linked Athletics, be a stronger you.
Thanks for reading,
docBdc
