Good post, solid replies from your readers.
Speaks volumes to the quality of your Blog.

Chow On

Allen, I recall those discussions. Sometimes it gets a bit ridiculous with the “yeah, well I wonder what Jerry Rice could do Fran in.” As if Jerry Rice cares…

Keith, good advice. I have a 2.5x bodyweight deadlift, a nearly 2x back squat (below parallel), a 4:30 Fran, and 9:30 Helen…not sure what level you’d categorize that at. It’s not elite, but I think it’s probably 75th percentile of CFers just looking at the comments. Unfortunately I’m far from an Olympic hopeful, just wanting to go out and have a good time at the amateur event. My conditioning is in great shape from CrossFit-type workouts, but I’ve been out of true sprinting for so long that my major weakness is my start. The main focus is improving my top speed through lots of fully-rested short sprints (up to 60m) and acceleration as well. My weight sessions are built around Westside Barbell Maximum Effort and Dynamic Effort days…really exploding the weights up. Other power related stuff is plyometrics: hurdle jumps, high box jumps (40″+, not metcon style like CF uses), bounding, A skips, B skips, etc. I do think the CF workouts have bumped up my ability to deal with lactic acid as my tempo workouts have been fairly easy thus far. This is the last week in my first cycle with a 1-week back off period before entering my next phase where I’m going to really crank up the intensity on the tempo days…I used the first 4 weeks to get my legs into shape and get things moving properly. More on how a 28-year old trains and eats in a future post though.

Eric, I actually meant to make note of that fact. The people running CrossFit specifically make note to put “Sport” at the top of the pyramid and Dave Castro and Nicole Carroll specifically used the term GPP in reference to “What Is CrossFit?” several times this weekend. I think Greg Glassman has said something to the effect of CF not being a replacement for sport specific training. But that’s why I definitely didn’t want this to sound like an anti-CF rant. It’s an issue in the training world all around.

Adam, very interesting way of breaking things down. So your ASP is actually more along the lines of traditional SPP whereas your SPP phase is more mimicking the time and energy demands of the particular sport?

Cheers
Scott

To further the discussion about progression towards the specific needs of the intended goal, it may be of interest to note that in the CST system we actual distinguish even further than GPP / SPP into four progressive layers of preparation.

General Physical Preparedness:
In essence, GPP exists to prepare the client for the rigors of training specific to their sport or activity. So it is general only in that it specifically prepares the athlete for the general demands of the training which is to come. Therefore, the popular notion that it is sufficient to develop a broad GPP “base,” without taking the specific needs of the activity and individual into account, is actually a misconception which shortchanges the athlete and limits their eventual progress. To avoid a future ceiling to performance, we must at the outset identify and address any deficits carried by the athlete client which might affect performance in the sport/activity, increase risk of injury or affect general health.

Specific Physical Preparedness:
SPP builds off of the base of GPP. If building GPP is the development of one’s general athletic capacity, SPP is concentrates on the specific energy systems that dominate a particular athletic endeavor - they are more tightly relevant to the needs of the athlete and their endeavor. We will be sure we ‘Activate’ the athlete’s energetic and muscular needs without ‘Simulating’ the sport’s movement patterns. Our athlete/client has other technical coaches (or training facets), which address the exact movements/timing/strategy/etc. for their sport. Our job is to ready those necessary systems without coming so close to the movement patterns that the athlete’s Central Nervous System (CNS) has difficulty distinguishing between our conditioning drills and the actions in their sport – Activate rather than Simulate.

Activity Specific Preparedness:
By the time we evolve into the Activity Specific Preparedness phase of our training plan, 80% of the conditioning effect should already have been achieved. What is hard for many trainers and athletes to grasp is that the final 20% cannot be won through the same emphasis on quantity of hard work accomplished. The focus now becomes the particular quality of work which must be accomplished. The final conditioning edge comes from being more specific, not continuing to work harder. As we move into ASP, we are taking the great work capacity earned in GPP and SPP and funneling or focusing it into the cone of range and depth of motion specific to the sport or activity we are targeting. In this way, we are fostering prime conditioning for the sport or activity. Many systems fall short by continuing to pound away at the work capacity represented by the GPP and SPP phases. This makes for athletes who are never fully restored for peak performance.

Mental/Emotional Preparedness:
Mental and emotional preparedness involves the development of the athlete’s ability to recover from failure and perform without distraction or as quoted from Coach Scott Sonnon in his 3DPP Manual, “Mental toughness refers to your ability to resist failure when faced with hopelessness, overwhelming odds, surprise or shock. Mental toughness builds upon the physical.”

I think it’s important to note that even Coach Glassman recognizes that “sport” is at the top of the hierarchy of athletic development, with all of the GPP that Crossfit induces serving as a foundation. He’d be hard pressed to make the claims that a lot of new CF trainers make regarding Crossfit being the only training protocol required regardless of the training goal.

You see this behavior across the board. From the martial arts circles (my style is best) to diets etc etc. I guess it’s human nature. Our little ego’s run around trying to convince everyone that “my/our” approach is best. I like to stick to the thought that we are “all the same unique individuals”

Marc

As people are more athletic it becomes less transparent whether they have serious flaws in their GPP that would hinder sport specific performance. However that’s the fun of being a trainer, trying to figure out how to improve an athlete’s performance. I would look at things like the athlete’s ability to actually complete an SPP training session without deterioration in form/performance. For example if you’re running 200m x 6 and there is a noticeable drop in the last two splits (or your form goes to crap), I would be concerned that the athlete isn’t as prepared as they should be and would want them to do some Helens and Frans and Nancys to get their work capacity up.

Of course athletes need to train in their sports and at a competitive level. A good GPP program like CrossFit can better prepare most athletes for long and hard practice sessions than say more running. It also provides some variety and prevents burnout and repetitive stress injuries.

I don’t know how fast you run or if you are an olympic hopeful so I don’t know what is right for you, Scott. However, as a CrossFit trainer I have seen more novice and intermediate runners increase their times doing nothing but CrossFit. I haven’t personally witnessed any elite level runners increase their times with nothing but CrossFit. I would say that the benefits of GPP to someone who is not a high level runner are probably more profound than to an elite runner with regards to sport specific improvements.

Another thing that I find is often overlooked is training your weaknesses. Often training your weaknesses even though they seem unrelated to your specific sport often leads to unexpected gains. I wouldn’t totally discard handstand pushups for example just because they seem entirely unrelated to your sprinting. It’s weird and unexpected and hard to believe but if you keep hitting your weakspots on top of you SPP you’ll probably break through some plateaus.

You seem to know your body and have your training and food under control so I wouldn’t worry about it. I would focus on the running and kick a$$ in competition! Good luck.

I echo your sentiments. Too often do you see people asking specific questions and getting the answer “do more Crossfit.”

The latest discussion I can remember in this realm was with Donny Shankle on the PM board as well as the CF board and there were people making the comment of “if he did more GPP he’d be a real beast” and other comments to that effect. Thankfully there were more experienced people that were voices of reason explaining specificity.

What it comes down to is this: Just like there is no one-size-fits-all diet, there is no one-size-fits-all fitness program. Some are much better (and worse) than others, but it really only helps when its applicable to the goal(s) of the individual.