Kyle S., I agree. Strength helps to build endurance before endurance helps to build strength, especially in a program like CrossFit. You see a lot of distance guys that come to CF workouts and flounder because they lack the strength. When a person with a powerlifting background comes to the game though, they typically make nice jumps quickly because they can throw the weights around.

Troy, you win the prize, which is….nothing. But I was waiting for someone to catch the Oregon Trail reference. You’re right…there are certain sports that reward generalism more than specialization, your sport being one (though I don’t know the rules of Aussie football). On a football field, certain positions are more generalists, for instance a safety vs. a lineman. I agree with you that there’s something to pursuing excellence in one area, even if you have to give up something. Obviously I do just that in pursuing sprinting…my endurance is only decent. My 5k and 10k times suffer a bit, perhaps 8 minute miles, but I don’t enjoy those events, so it doesn’t bother me. I like your idea for tennis…reminds me of things I’ve heard of like doing a round of Helen, then playing chess for a certain period of time; thinking under extreme physical duress.

And I love that you make note that CF is not the perfect toolbox for everyone. I think some new trainers come to it and have found this wonderful new hammer that’s made them much fitter than they were before. They then neglect to see anything outside of their new world view, which I think you can see from the trainer that sparked my initial post on this topic.

Cheers
Scott

Answering your question regarding how much GPP is necessary for a specialist is difficult without knowing more. There are specialists and there are specialists, really. My sport right now is Australian rules football, and it heavily rewards GPP. Your task on the field is largely variable from moment to moment. You could be asked to leap up in a crowd to catch a ball, break a tackle, evade a tackle, scoop up a ball bouncing erratically , and chase down an opponent all in the same minute. A football lineman, however, has a very defined task. He knows within a few seconds how long each play will last, and largely what his job will be. We see his incomplete GPP when he recovers a fumble in the open field and runs out of gas before he can reach the endzone. No one finds this strange because sprinting 80 yards is not in his regular job description, and even though it does happen sometimes, building the ability to sprint 80 yards would hurt his ability to do the things he does day in and day out. This isn’t a value judgment, and I hope to preempt the inflamed response by saying that football lineman are extraordinary athletes, with much more agility and speed than most people know. The fact is that we as trainers (even if only self-training) really need to understand the specialty, if any, and know that the more defined the task, the more specialized training will be needed. Look, CrossFit is awesome; I love it and it’s a very comprehensive toolbox for athletics. More often than not, it does contain the right tool. We trainers just need to make sure and not confuse a “very comprehensive” toolbox with and “exhaustive” one.

I’d also like to note that I’m speaking from a trainers perspective and am only talking about things that are fitness based, not skill based. I won’t be coaching athletes on their tennis serve, and even though those things are physical in nature and do require adaptation, actually honing a skill should be dealt with separately. I do think there’s huge value in practicing an already earned skill under duress, however. 20 kettlebell swings and 6 fair serves, 5 rounds for time. Tennis anyone? I think it’s that sort of thing, or pushing a sled for a lineman, that we mean by sport specific training.

I don’t think that there is a concrete need for sport specific work for the everyday person. In fact, one of the great benefits of CrossFit is that it allows people to scratch their competitive itch without being part of a traditional sport. For me though, there is something more to team sports than CrossFit can offer by itself. I guess something about two groups of men meeting on a field and only one leaving the victor touches something primal, I don’t know. Being part of a sport gives a specific purpose to my workouts, and when I look back at the dog-tired opponent behind me, it’s somehow more fulfilling and affirming than shaving seconds off my “Fran” time.

Even though it may not be necessary, I do think that there is great personal benefit from picking things to focus on here and there. One of the best things that CrossFit gave me was a sudden broad fitness foundation. A stepping stone to go dabble in whatever sport realm I choose. It’s precisely these specializations that make us unique and interesting, and even though the end result of a comprehensive GPP program like CrossFit is a large mass of very fit generalists, I don’t think that’s really the point. One of the great values of GPP is that you can go specialize if you want, and then turn around after a while and specialize in something else. Is focused work necessary for a fit, healthy, and happy life? No. I would absolutely say, though, that taking some small hits in some aspects of your GPP to go focus on a healthy pursuit will pay off in the end.

Loved the “Oregon Trail” reference, by the way.