It's as opposed to doing curls in the mirror. Beach buff as opposed to synergistic exercises designed not only to build muscle but also to recruit multiple muscle groups and at a high enough intensity that you get some cardio at the same time- not to mention flexibility and coordination. Lunges recruit multiple muscle groups, require balance and coordination, and when done within the context of a wod, will keep the heart rate up pretty high. There's also stressing of cartlige and ligaments that makes them stronger over time. Same thing with hand walking, bear crawls, etc.Digs...good post. As far as fittest athletes...I'd like to see Tim Kennedy try XFit games one year...just to see where he'd be? Because that man is an animal and just trains so crazy. He's SF, so he made that selection and Q Course and then did it "over there." Now he fights full time, when he's in fight camp he does three a day workouts, when he's just training he's doing two a days, one of those workouts would crush most of the guys I know that call the gym home. Prior to his last fight he was training at Trauma Crossfit in Round Rock...which is not a high performance gym at all...but he trains everywhere adding personal knowledge.
And then add that he turned down an appearance on Top Chef and Grillmasters right before UFC 162.
Also...how is a 100 meter overhead lunge walk and 100 meter hand stand walk functional fitness?
How did/does Froning not do CrossFit?
One thing I have found since moving to the USA is people here (particularly in the Military) put much more emphasis on strength and size over fitness, endurance, speed.
Ive rarely seen a big muscular strong guy be as fit like "normal" or smaller sized guys.
I'd challenge any crossfitter to complete an SAS selection course.
There's actually a post on Hit The Woodline about the concept behind strength taking precedence over endurance etc. in the military environment. It's actually a pretty good post and opened my eyes a bit about the whole training concept.
http://hitthewoodline.com/athletica/2013/6/9/military-and-special-operations-fitness
KARMA! Muhahahahaha!I just wrote a long cunt of a post and lost it!
I probably should have worded that better, he wouldn't be following the Crossfit HQ or programming template that you'd see in a normal box.
All his programming would be individualised, training multiple times a day, addressing his own specific weaknesses as they come up etc. and given the level that he's at now, his work for improvements would go far beyond the basic Crossfit template. His training is completely sport specific, not the general GPP programming that Crossfit claims to be about.
Froning is a monster, I just wish some people wouldn't act like he's at that stage now by just trucking through a daily WOD up until Games season.