Our initial hope was to design a competition that would not only reflect CrossFit’s broad fitness concept but would also accommodate men and women, large and small athletes, the young and seniors, and individuals of all fitness levels. Additionally, we wanted a competition that would motivate and reward fitness improvements among our fittest. Specifically, we set out to motivate an improvement in the absolute strength, relative strength, and gymnastics foundations of all CrossFit participants. Unfortunately this last consideration rendered the design troublesome for many who are other than already very fit and male. So, what we ended up with was a competition where the ability even to complete the test suggests a fairly advanced level of fitness.
Looking at the ten general physical adaptations to exercise (cardiorespiratory endurance, strength, stamina, power, speed, flexibilitity, agility,accuracy, coordination, and balance) we saw that advanced calisthenic and weightlifting movements present an excellent opportunity to advance neurological skills like agility, accuracy, coordination, and balance. We realized early that any test that pushed the envelope for gymnastics movements was going to eliminate a large segment of the exercising public and indeed some of our dedicated athletes.In the end we decided that improving these neurological skills and thereby encouraging a greater level of fitness in our participants was more important than offering a test that was universally inclusive. We are, ultimately, a program of elite fitness, and any test of elite fitness will contain elements that cannot be performed by everyone. We also felt that many of our best athletes, while among the fittest people on earth, needed additional motivation for improvements in absolute strength, relative strength, and gymnastic foundations.
While we make no apologies for offering a fitness test that best serves the already very fit, we have developed several strategies whereby others can participate and, more importantly, benefit from practicing for and working toward completion of the test. For every phase of our test we have suggested adaptations for women, juniors, seniors, or anyone else who may not yet be able to complete all of this competition.
Similarly vexing was the difficulty of testing for various capacities simultaneously rather than separately. The origins of this concern arise, you may have guessed, from our oft-repeated contention that the blending and mixing of demands most clearly replicates the demands of nature.
One aspect of athlete testing that remains tricky is balancing elements favorable to larger and smaller athletes. We referee debates between our bigger and smaller athletes almost daily. The big guys want to deadlift, bench press, and throw. The smaller guys want to run, jump, and do pull-ups.
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