Why Benchmarks are Important

“A benchmark is also considered a milestone, synonymous to a goal, the means to the end of the achievement. This is a great way to improve current fitness levels because the body is constantly adapting to new stimuli. What once was difficult, say running a mile, after time becomes an easily achievable parameter.”

hierarchy of development

When we cover the ‘Back to Basic’ course we talk through the hierarchy of development, and the importance of having a good foundation of fitness knowledge.

For changes to happen it all starts with food in and calories burnt. CrossFit is based around a broad fitness level across Short, Medium and Long energy systems, so to understand strengths and weaknesses we must test these systems.

The past 10 days you have completed a broad test of fitness from heavy lifting, classic CrossFit Girls and Hero WODs. You have also performed some basic fitness tests i.e 1 mile run, vertical jump and L-sit hold, this has then allowed us to address where our current fitness levels are. During the past two lockdowns we have been limited with our approach and now we can begin rebuilding phases of strength and gymnastics. The benefits of the past two lockdowns has been a big shift in focus on building stability in joints using single arm movements and an increase in core work outs to help with lower back pain.

Now gyms are back open…

We can look to rebuild structure into our training approach giving the body and immune system a break from lighter work outs and change the loading and rep range to maintain intensity but increase strength.

In the past training has been based around The CrossFit Open with an “off season” shortly after. This includes building both basic strength and gymnastic, then moving towards Olympic lifts and kipping movements, finally building intensity towards the open with stronger lifts and a higher gymnastic skill set.

CrossFit is still a sport of fitness, but our approach to training should still have structure to build a solid and broad fitness level and not just random programming. There is method behind my madness…Trust me.