CrossFit aims to elicit a broad, general, and inclusive fitness that gives you the capacity to tackle any challenge life throws at you or any adventure you choose to pursue. We understand nature punishes the specialist, so we specialize in not specializing. We want to be good at everything and not woeful at anything. To illustrate what we mean, take world-class triathletes for example, often held up as the epitome of fitness. When it comes to swimming, biking, and running in combination for long distances, they are unrivaled. Triathletes are also good at many different swimming, cycling, and running events, although as these events get shorter, like the 400-meter run, more powerful athletes will dominate them. Many top triathletes will struggle to compete in any challenge that doesn’t include long swimming, biking, or running distances. They will also likely demonstrate subpar performance in CrossFit workouts, weightlifting, powerlifting, strongman, obstacle course, calisthenics tests, or power sports.
This is not an indictment of triathletes. It’s simply an example of how developing highly specialized skills in one area leads to deficiency in many other areas. This is a compromise CrossFit is not willing to make.
CrossFit’s second fitness standard — the hopper model of fitness — explains that “fitness requires the ability to perform well at all tasks, even unfamiliar tasks, tasks combined in infinitely varying combinations.” In this model, the fittest may not win any single event, but they will perform best across a series of physical challenges pulled randomly from the hopper. While the hopper model is a fun thought experiment to illustrate CrossFit’s view of fitness, there’s a great benefit to applying it to real life and testing our fitness outside the gym. As CrossFit athletes, we can jump into countless races, meets, and challenges with little or no preparation. We do very well because of the incredible work capacity we build with constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity.
Level 4 CrossFit Coach Lindsay MacDonald recently back-squatted 300 lb and then ran her first marathon less than two weeks later with only one run of 11 miles in the bank!
So, while our daily workout is a challenge in and of itself, testing ourselves in unfamiliar ways adds spice to our lives and develops a tremendous sense of accomplishment.
For those eager to test the fitness they’ve built with CrossFit, there’s a wide array of challenges available. From rucking to Olympic lifting, powerlifting, track and field, and strongman events, there’s something for everyone.
Rucking
The GORUCK Challenge offers four difficulty levels, lasting from three to 24 hours. These are team-building events led by former special forces cadre. With just a little ruck training in addition to your regular CrossFit workouts, you will be well-prepared to tackle these challenges. The sense of camaraderie and teamwork will leave you feeling connected and part of a larger community.
Project Grit organizes long rucks ranging from 26 to 75 miles at various sites. The challenge is the journey. You pack your ruck with what you need and then put one foot in front of the other for hours until you arrive. You learn a lot about yourself and your fellow ruckers along the way. Your fitness will come in handy as the hours go by.
Olympic Lifting
USA Weightlifting lists local meets on its website. These meets are an excellent opportunity to test yourself on the platform and see what you can snatch and clean and jerk. All those high-rep Olympic lifting workouts and heavy days will set you up for success.
Powerlifting
Interested in testing your strength in the bench, squat, and deadlift at a powerlifting meet? Check out Lift Vault for powerlifting events near you. You might need to spend a few weeks fine-tuning your bench press before the meet, but the deadlift and squat are squarely in CrossFit’s area of expertise.
Track and Field
A search on Running in the USA will help you find local track meets. Here, you can enter any race from 100 meters to 10K or try your hand at the shot put, high jump, or long jump.
Strongman
Check out the Strongman Corporation to find strongman events near you. Test the strength you’ve built in the gym on events like yoke carries, log presses, and stone lifting.
Challenging ourselves regularly with events like these is a great way to test and assess our fitness. Each competition teaches us many lessons about what we might need to work on to correct a deficiency in our fitness. In “Fitness in 100 Words,” the last line recommends “regularly learn and play new sports.” Searching out events like those listed above is a great way to do this.
What’s your favorite challenge you’ve completed to test yourself? Let us know in the comments.
About the Author
Stephane Rochet is a Senior Content Writer for CrossFit. He has worked as a Flowmaster on the CrossFit Seminar Staff and has over 15 years of experience as a collegiate/tactical strength and conditioning coach. He is a Certified CrossFit Trainer (CF-L3) and enjoys training athletes in his garage gym.
Putting “The Hopper” and Your Fitness to the Test