worlds fittest "crossfit or guinness book of records

[Sean Richard]

Back before the games started in 2007 I remember reading is guinness books of records about a guy that did 2 back to back ultra ironman's and they were saying he was the worlds fittest man. It seems those outside of the crossfit field look at fitness as endurance and work output but crossfitters look at fitness as strength and work output. Maybe we need this ultra ironman guy to sign up for the games next year.

[Brent Eno]

I look at it like this: I think that if you took Graham Holmberg or Chris Spealler and gave them a month of specific training for marathons, they would be able to match this guy's feat. But could he do just a few of the things that Graham and Chris can do, as well as they do it, on only one month of Crossfit training? Probably not. He may be the most fit triathlete, but I wouldn't say he is the fittest athlete alive.

[Justin Z. Smith]

Originally Posted by Brent Eno

I look at it like this: I think that if you took Graham Holmberg or Chris Spealler and gave them a month of specific training for marathons, they would be able to match this guy's feat. But could he do just a few of the things that Graham and Chris can do, as well as they do it, on only one month of Crossfit training? Probably not. He may be the most fit triathlete, but I wouldn't say he is the fittest athlete alive.

But is the ultra guy even claiming to do CrossFit nearly as well as CrossFitters can?

"We do your stuff nearly as well as you do, you can't do ours very well at all, and we do everything that we both don't do much better than you can. Not very humble, I know, but true."
(http://board.crossfit.com/showpost.p...6&postcount=66 safe for work, home, etc.)


Justin

[Brent Eno]

"But is the ultra guy even claiming to do CrossFit nearly as well as CrossFitters can?" He probably doesn't even know what Crossfit is. He's a specialist. He's very good at a few things, but it would take a long time for him to get to the all-around fitness that Graham and Chris embody. On the other hand, I don't think it would take those two very long to do what he did.

[S.S.]

Originally Posted by Brent Eno

I think that if you took Graham Holmberg or Chris Spealler and gave them a month of specific training for marathons

No way.

A month?

Maybe two years....maybe...

[Brent Eno]

"A month? " An arbitrary length of time.

Theoretical discussions never go anywhere. Calling someone the fittest person on the planet because they can do a few things very well and for a long period of time is pointless. But if Chris Spealler decided that he wanted to do this, and put everything he had into it for a few months, I would not bet against him.

[Dave Hardy]

On the other hand, I don't think it would take those two very long to do what he did.

Seriously? Back to back Ironman's inside the space of a few months? Spealler I would imagine might be able to a do marathon with relatively little training, (or possibly complete one with none if didn't mind ruining himself) but an Ironman? Much less two, back to back? I'm calling shenanigans on that one.

[Chris Mason]

I argue the CrossFit guy is fitter if you consider fitness to be more than one form of physical expression. Being able to move at a super low intensity forever is impressive, but certainly not well rounded.

Calling that guy the fittest would be akin to calling Donnie Thompson the fittest (because he has totaled 2,905 lbs in one powerlifting meet).

[Jonathan Yoon]

The person in Guinness is either Joe Decker, Rob Powell, or Paddy Doyle. All three really tough guys and all of them have work capacity abilities that can kill most of the firebreathers with what they've been able to do.

[Patrik Tomasson]

With all due respect to Chris Spealler, that is a ludicrous statement

Being a good crossfitter is a world away from being an elite endurance athlete.

You would be talking about an unbelievable athlete to accomplish that in a few months. And if you are that talented you would probably (this isnt a criticism) be doing a sport other than crossfit professionally.