Crossfit & Endurance Team Sports

I have been quite pleased with Crossfit as a fitness program for myself. Moreover, I can certainly see the benefit of the program for military, law enforcement, and fire personnel as well as athletes in sports that require short and frequent bursts of energy coupled with periods of rest, such as football. However, I was wondering what everyone thought about its benefits for athletes whose sports require considerable endurance as well as speed and power, e.g., basketball, soccer, water polo, hockey, etc. I am considering starting a water polo team, my sport as a youth, and was thinking of incorporating Crossfit for general conditioning. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

Dave

[Lincoln Brigham]

Basketball, soccer, and hockey are not really endurance sports. From personal experience I've seen that endurance athletes are not in the right kind of shape to play soccer. On a soccer field, I've seen elite cross-country runners gasping for air while other players ran circles around them. "Sprint, jog, sprint, jog, sprint" is not typical of endurance activities.

If an off-season basketball player can run the 5k better than the 1k, I'd say he's doing the wrong kind of conditioning.

Crossfit should fit the sports you mention perfectly.

Thanks for the input. I suppose your right about those sports not really being endurance sports. Thinking back to when I was playing water polo, it was more of a long series of sprints than, say, swimming a 1500m race--although with considerably less rest between sprints than in football.

Do you, or does anyone else, have any input regarding whether to rely on Crossfit all year long or only during a strength & conditioning phase? Bare in mind that considerable time will need to be spent in the pool working on offense/defense fundamentals. Thanks again.

Dave

[Larry Lindenman]

I would work the WOD all year long with modifications approaching specific events ala tapering for a large meet. The WOD usually takes up 15 - 40 minutes of your training day. I believe skill work should be done in a seperate session. In most sports, speed kills. Faster teams with better conditioning will usually win. Crossfit will give you a faster, better conditioned team. Check out the CFJ with team workouts if your team will workout together.

Larry

Thanks again. Great advice.

Dave