Dear CrossFit, Strongman Cert Demonstrates Definition of CrossFit
“We want to send you home dirty, tired, and sore, after having had a lot of fun.” Rob Orlando, September 14, 2013, StrongMan Cert in Akron, Ohio. Well Rob, you did just that. Rob is a friendly, highly accomplished, well-spoken freak of nature who spent some quality time with me. I had the good fortune to train with him today, which included flipping tires, lifting atlas stones, lifting kegs, carrying a yoke, doing farmer’s handle carries, and using the log. We’d had a chance to train once before, on September 9, 2009 at Jason Khalipa’s box in San Jose while Rob was on the East Coast vs. Norcal tour (I have a photo of this and will find it and post it, Rob is 40 pounds lighter today than he was then). Anyway, how does all this equal “Strongman Cert Demonstrates Definition of CrossFit?”
Rob wrote a definition of CrossFit on the board: “constantly varied, high intensity, functional movements, of large loads, long distances, quickly.” Let’s see how strongman fits the definition (hint, it fits it very well).
Constantly Varied: check! flipping tires (I got a 682# tire to flip!) is not something I do every day. It’s not something anyone does every day. It’s different, but useful. I will admit I’ve flipped a tire before, and even wrote about it. http://jtkalnaynovels.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/dear-crossfit-i-flipped-a-tire-and-i-liked-it/ But I didn’t know how to do it right. Now I do. Flipping tires has a lot of technique to it. And some of that technique is counter-intuitive to an adult. But flipping a tire is hugely functional. Compare flipping a tire to pushing a car stuck in the sand, pushing the grandchildren in the stroller over uneven terrain, making a huge bottom ball or a snowman. In my book, anything that involves the grandchildren or snowmen is functional! A 683# is also a large load, and when you flip it the length of a tennis court, that counts as a long distance in my book.
Constantly Varied: check, check lifting atlas stones, lifting kegs. I’d never done this before (I thought), but then realized this is the same as hoisting that 50# bag of dog food up onto my shoulder, or flipping one of the kids up on my shoulder, or getting that BIG log up onto the log splitter, or getting that 20 foot long 8×8 up on my shoulder and then walking it from the truck to the job site or any of the hundred other things that I didn’t realize were CrossFit Strongman. We lift heavy stuff that has odd shapes from ground to our shoulder all the time. Now I know how to do it better.
Constantly Varied: check, check, check carrying a yoke (I carried a yoke loaded with 500# for 50′, and was able to move the yoke loaded with 600#). It was really impressive to see some guys smaller than me move the 600# 50′. Anyway, I’ve never lifted a yoke before, I thought, but then realized it was a whole lot like giving the bigger kids a piggy back ride, or carrying really heavy stuff around the farm on my shoulders, or moving that 20′ 8×8 beam, or doing a fireman’s carry with a wounded infantryman over my shoulder. Firemen do this all the time when they’re carrying hoses to the scene, and removing victims from the scene. Functional? ’nuff said.
Constantly Varied: check, check, check, check carrying heavy loads using farmer’s handles. Once again, I’d never done this before, but then remembered back to 1979-82 when occasionally there was an ammunition box to be carried from point a to point b. And then I thought about bringing in the groceries in one trip (instead of 3 or 4), or moving a wheelbarrow full of dirt around the farm. So, there’s no doubt that the movements we did today CRUSHED constantly varied, and functional, and heavy, and long distance. As I’ve pointed out for each movement, it is also functional.
When I think functional, I think “what is going to keep me at home, instead of in the home (e.g., nursing home)? It’s the ability to get in and out of bed by myself, to get on and off the toilet by myself, the ability to get to and from the car by myself, the ability to get in and out of the car by myself, the ability to put groceries in the car and to get them from the car to the fridge, the ability to help my loved ones if they fall, the ability to help my loved ones get on/off the pot, in/out of bed, in/out the car, and so on. It’s a lot of lifting loads and moving loads (and dropping a load?). These are functional things to me. The Strongman movements we did today involved moving yourself and a load from point a to point b. If I’m going to stay at home, instead of going to the home, I’d like to be able to have some fun and be useful too. Thus, I’d like to be able to lift the kids in/out of the playpen, lift the kids in/out of the car, push/pull them on the sleigh, build snowmen (BIG snowmen), push their stroller, move loved ones from place to place, and do other fun things that make life meaningful. Strongman movements help with all this.
Large loads? Check! 682# tire flip! Yeah that’s large. 400# farmer carry? Yeah that’s large. 500# yoke carry, 600# yoke lift? Yeah that’s large! The loads you can lift using some of the strong man implements are larger than the loads you can lift with an Oly bar, kettlebell, or anything else. Once you get used to lifting a 500# yoke, a 400# deadlift isn’t going to be quite as intimidating.
Long distance? Yes. On an oly lift, you move the weight from the ground to overhead. That’s 8 feet in my case. When you carry the yoke, you carry it fifty feet (or further). Which leads to a cautionary tale, watch the volume. It’s easy to do a LOT of volume when doing strongman stuff.
Quickly? Well, I’m in my silver years, and nothing moves that quickly (except my few remaining years), but yes other people were moving quite quickly at times. So, Strongman training with Rob Orlando certainly satisfies the definition of CrossFit he provided. It also satisfies my definition of CrossFit, training so that I won’t suck at life, so that I’ll be harder to kill, and so that I’ll be useful and fun. If you get a chance to train with Rob, please consider doing so.
I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…
