Comments on: Can You Physically Save Yourself?

By: ITS Admin

ITS Admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:20:40 +0000

Paul,

We’ve written an article awhile back on Mountain Athlete and Military Athlete, but wanted to keep this article without mention of a certain program.
http://www.itstactical.com/2009/07/17/military-athlete-and-mountain-athlete/

Thanks for the addition,
Bryan

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:47:52 +0000

I can’t believe no one here mentioned Military Athlete or Mountain Athlete. Its kina like crossfit, but with specific goals with a focus towards outdoorsmen, military/leo activity like humping in a-stan or climbing multiple 14ers in Colorado. Check out http://www.mtnathlete.com or http://www.militaryathlete.com

By: theotherryan

theotherryan — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:34:56 +0000

A lot of the military community is moving to include weight lifting in their fitness programs. People who do not spend some time at the weight pile can’t usually get there self over a wall while wearing body armor. They almost certainly can’t get their buddy (who is wearing 50lbs or kit) up onto their shoulder to fireman carry him. All sorts of little single muscle exercises and body weight stuff do not fill the role of big multi joint movements such as the dead lift, squat, power clean and shoulder press.

By: gilligan0211

gilligan0211 — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:16:42 +0000

LOST 41 pounds with it… thats what I think about P90X… got me some sweet guns, and I can now do one-arm pull ups.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:16:09 +0000

Parkour is a great way to develop functional strength and movement skills, especially in combination with crossfit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEYB6YvcRi4&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuIhf1zRoqs&feature=channel

By: Jayson K

Jayson K — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:45:14 +0000

Bryan,

I could not agree more. I like the flavor of CrossFit’s “Kool-aid”, but often spike it with other workouts and movements. I have been doing a lot of CF Endurance lately, in preparation for an adventure race and have seen performance gains. My personal goal has long been to have some proficiency at any given task or at least the physical and mental prowess to allow me a fighting chance. CrossFit has helped me with that, but I do not believe it to be the “be all, end all” method either. I think that mindset would stiffle the evolution of functional fitness.

Thanks,
Jayson

By: ITS Admin

ITS Admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:46:32 +0000

Thank you for your comment Jayson, I’m also a certified CrossFit Instructor myself, but wanted our community to broach the topic before suggesting it to them.

I’m one of those people that does not actively teach CrossFit, nor profit from it. I simply got certified a few years ago to learn the movements as best I could, and gain the experience to give back to others.

I think you definitely summed up CrossFit, and I couldn’t have said it better myself. That being said, and even as a die-hard CrossFitter, there are plenty of ways to still increase functional strength without it.
There are some that feel it’s the be all, end all of exercise, but I tend not to agree. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great, but I don’t just limit myself to CrossFit for exercise.

Granted this article is not about exercise, its about Functional Strength, and CrossFit definitely has that covered.

Thanks for the comment,
Bryan

By: Jesse

Jesse — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:39:45 +0000

Well put Jayson.

By: Jayson K

Jayson K — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:29:01 +0000

Let me start by saying that I believe CrossFit to be the best thing going if you are seeking functional fitness. The CrossFit community would be the first to tell you if there was some better method out there, and they would be doing it. That being said, I think anything that gets you up and moving is better than sitting on the couch watching “24” re-runs. The P90X program has some good points. It incorporates some compound movements and introduces some intensity. TRX suspension systems have some cool qualities, namely portability, but so does a set of rings. If anyone is interested, shoot me an email, and I will send you directions how to make your own rings, on the cheap. Bodyweight exercises as found in Naked Warrior by Pavel Tsatsouline and Combat Conditioning by Matt Furey are awesome when you are living on the move.

Back to CrossFit… http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/start-how.html

CrossFit is constantly varied functional movement done at high intensity. CrossFit’s ultimate goal is, “To increase work capacity across broad time and modal domains.” At my first CrossFit cert, I scratched my head when they told me that. So, they provide me a country boy definition, “So you can move more stuff, further and faster.” Work, in any physical form performed more efficiently. I’m for it!

The link I added above is an excellent place to start. If you have questions about the movements or just want to add some things to what you are doing now, you can check out exercises and demos. I know it must sound like I’m trying to sell Amway or something, but this is all free if you are willing to put in the sweat and effort. The forum/message board is an awesome source of fitness info. I think it is important to recognize that CrossFit is a system that is built on performance. Function over fashion. I think everyone here can appreciate that.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a certified CrossFit instructor and do own an affiliate, but my goal in this comment is not profit or further the company. They can do that on their own merit. I am just passionate about seeing the good guys come home safe.

CBCS

By: Homer J. Simpson

Homer J. Simpson — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:29:28 +0000

“Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” — Vince Lombardi