The definition of being "big"

[Hakan Yilmazkaya]

I know crossfit makes you look good but it's not the primary goal of crossfit. But as you guess many people that starts cf has some kind of physical expectations too. Many people say crossfit makes you ripped but it doesn't make you big. At this point i think crossfit has to define it's limits. What is ripped, what is big ? We all can agree that khalipa is big and it's very hard to do with just crossfit wods but for example what about josh bridges ? Are just crossfit wods are enough to give you that amount of mass without doing any additional strength program ?

[Jeff Enge]

What's your definition of "ripped" or "big?" That's all that particularly matters.

[Mark E. Wallace]

Originally Posted by Hakan Yilmazkaya

At this point i think crossfit has to define it's limits.

No it doesn't. Why would it have to do that?

- Mark

[Jeff Enge]

Originally Posted by Mark E. Wallace

No it doesn't. Why would it have to do that?

- Mark

I'm confused on that too. If CrossFit's stated goal is to get people more fit, why do they need to define something unrelated like what is considered big or ripped?

[Hakan Yilmazkaya]

Originally Posted by Jeff Enge

I'm confused on that too. If CrossFit's stated goal is to get people more fit, why do they need to define something unrelated like what is considered big or ripped?

Originally Posted by Jeff Enge

What's your definition of "ripped" or "big?" That's all that particularly matters.

You are absolutely right, but again being "fit" is also different for most people, that's why i think crossfit needs to define what they mean by being "fit". There are millions outside that find that fit and okay with it;

http://i1.mirror.co.uk/incoming/arti...675-404011.jpg

My definition of big includes khalipa and all experienced bodybuilders which i don't think there is a natural way to get that kind of body. Fit ? Rob forte, josh bridges, mikko salo, they are not huge but you can clearly say they are athletes even when you look at them when they have t-shirts on. I know many crossfit athletes combine some strength program with crossfit metcons but i'm wondering if crossfit wods alone are enough to have that kind of body or not without needing additional strength programs. My fit with a picture;

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Sz8PisWOoT..._7261927_n.jpg

Does my definition of fit goes along with crossfit's ??

[Jeff Enge]

CrossFit DOES define fit (I know this definition off the top of my head since I got my l1 last weekend). "Work capacity across broad time and modal domains." In other words, if you drew a curve with time domain in the x axis and work done in the y axis, according to CF the person with the greatest area under the curve (greatest integral of W with respect to t for calculus people out there), also known as "power," would be the fittest person.

That's a pretty specific definition, and has nothing to do with how big or ripped someone is besides how your curve may skew.

[David Meverden]

Hakan, don't confuse LOOKING fit with BEING fit. For people that compete at CrossFit LOOKING fit is only a nice byproduct of BEING fit, it's not the goal of their training.

The very origins of CF and what helped it take off was the idea that fitness could be measured objectively using the definition Jeff listed and that improving that measure of fitness is a more worthy goal than being vascular or having big biceps.

If you want to get bigger or more ripped that's fine, but CrossFit is based around the idea of measurable fitness, not aesthetics. And, yes, you need to do a lot more heavy lifting than comes up on the mainpage (along with heavy eating) to be big, by pretty much any definition.

[Matt Thomas]

If by "crossfit WODs" you mean metcons then no probably not. As you've already mentioned I can't really think of a top level athlete who doesn't do strength work. Strength is a part of CF as much as anything else. If all you do is conditioning work then you're really not doing CF anymore anyways.

[Dakota Base]

Originally Posted by Jeff Enge

CrossFit DOES define fit. "Work capacity across broad time and modal domains."

I like this definition, but I think it's lost in translation on some people.

I think of it this way:

Consider an athlete's training to be a wagon wheel, a central hub with spokes jutting outwards.

These spokes are contemporary for size/hypertrophy, strength, speed, metabolic conditioning, slowtwitch endurance, agility, etc.

Ideally, these spokes should be balanced to create a round wheel, which rolls. Too much development in ONE spoke means the athlete can't flex to support other aspects, i.e. a marathoner won't have much strength, a powerlifter likely can't hold a 7min/mile pace for very far.

Crossfitters can choose goals to focus on each of these spokes differently. Some Crossfitters might want to get larger, so their programming might focus on hypertrophic development. A crossfitter that needs more strength, as in the case with CFFB. So they may have a bit of a lopsided wheel, but they DO develop all of the spokes, rather than solely focusing on individual spokes.

So if you want to get big, Crossfit has an app for that, if you want to get fast, Crossfit has an app for that.

There's something to be said that "the Master of All is a Master of None," which is fine for a Crossfitter. Nobody wins bodybuilding competitions by Crossfitting, nobody wins Powerlifting titles, nobody wins triathlons by crossfitting. But athletes that need a well balanced wheel, like a football player, basketballer, fighter, high jumper, etc etc; these athletes can benefit from crossfitting.

But at it's core, how you define "big" is up to you. Guys like Jason Khalipa are "big," but the average Crossfitter really isn't THAT big. 185lbs, 5'10", not really that big, but bigger/more muscular than the average joe by a long shot. If you follow mainpage "metcon mill" programming, you won't get big. If you follow any fairly standard "balanced" crossfit programming, the average athlete will get more muscular.

[Chuck Golden]

Originally Posted by Dakota Base

There's something to be said that "the Master of All is a Master of None," which is fine for a Crossfitter. Nobody wins bodybuilding competitions by Crossfitting, nobody wins Powerlifting titles, nobody wins triathlons by crossfitting. But athletes that need a well balanced wheel, like a football player, basketballer, fighter, high jumper, etc etc; these athletes can benefit from crossfitting.

I think you're simply approaching CF the wrong way. If you're a competitive level athlete, you should only be doing strictly CF WODs if your goal is to compete in CF. Saying a power lifter wouldn't win a title by CFing is certainly true but that's the exact opposite of CFs goal. CF is designed not to specialize in any one area so why would a specialist train exclusively CF?

CF doesn't position themselves as the best way to train, regardless of your goals.