Open letter to CrossFit HQ by Dr Adam Schulte

[Jon Campbell]

Originally Posted by Christopher Morris

This is a great video. The Murph event would have looked different if athletes had known and followed the practices suggested here. K Star and Brian McKenzie are knowledgeable members of the CrossFit community. I would love to see this knowledge put out to stay ahead of the problem, rather than a shoulda woulda coulda.

Brian McKenzie: "We've been doing this (cooling techniques in heat event sports) for over a decade. Maybe some things we should have gotten out a little earlier."

At the end of the day it was a 40 min event. How many high school kids are practicing for over an hour in much hotter temps in full pads. While I think HQ could have done a better job with ensuring the pull up bars didn't get so hot, I'm not sure how sorry I feel for anyone of the athletes complaining about "bad programming".

[Christopher Morris]

Originally Posted by Jon Campbell

At the end of the day it was a 40 min event. How many high school kids are practicing for over an hour in much hotter temps in full pads. While I think HQ could have done a better job with ensuring the pull up bars didn't get so hot, I'm not sure how sorry I feel for anyone of the athletes complaining about "bad programming".

Also from the video, K Star said about the Murph event, "I don't think that's a programming problem at all. I think it was athletes not recognizing the implications of the heat."

The video points out a lot of athletes were without shirts, without hats during that event. They discuss cooling guidelines like wearing white shirts, hats, having damp fabric around the neck to cool large veins in the neck that draw blood to the body's core.

[Jon Campbell]

Originally Posted by Christopher Morris

Also from the video, K Star said about the Murph event, "I don't think that's a programming problem at all. I think it was athletes not recognizing the implications of the heat."

The video points out a lot of athletes were without shirts, without hats during that event. They discuss cooling guidelines like wearing white shirts, hats, having damp fabric around the neck to cool large veins in the neck that draw blood to the body's core.

Yep, Brian said the same thing.

[Dare Vodusek]

Originally Posted by Christopher Morris

They discuss cooling guidelines like wearing white shirts

Arent black clothes better in this situations? Thats why most people wear black in middle east areas.

Or is it a matter of humidty as middle east's humidity is very low, compare to california?

[Jon Campbell]

Originally Posted by Dare Vodusek

Arent black clothes better in this situations? Thats why most people wear black in middle east areas.

Or is it a matter of humidty as middle east's humidity is very low, compare to california?

There are different variables that come into play. The problem with white clothes is they reflect your body heat back in towards your body. Now they are also reflect the sun's heat. However while black absorbs the suns heat it also absorbs your body heat and with some breeze blowing will move the heat away from your body better. Black is also more protective from UV than white so it has a higher SPF level.

What I'm not sure about is how the tighter moisture wicking clothes play into this.

[Christopher Morris]

So... ideal coloring would be clothes that are white on the outside and black on the inside?