FITTEST ON THE PLANET?

\”According to the The United States Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS)1, physical fitness is defined as \”a set of attributes that people have or achieve that relates to the ability to perform physical activity\”.

This description goes beyond being able to run long distance or lift a lot at the gym. Fitness is more than simply a question of listing which activities you do or how long you do them for.Despite being important, these attributes only address single areas of fitness.

This Medical News Today information article provides details on the five main components of physical fitness, which include:

cardiorespiratory endurance (cardiorespiratory fitness) / muscular strength / muscular endurance / body composition / flexibility”

– medicalnewstoday.com

Recently the Crossfit Games have taken place and a lot of eyes have been focussed on the “fittest” people on the planet. If they had to say Best or Strongest Crossfitter, I’d be fine with that, but to say you are the fittest on the planet is quite a statement. And very much like American Baseball or Basketball teams who win the WORLD series or WORLD championship, I wonder how much of the term Fittest is just marketing BS.

Now there is no doubt about the skill level of the participants at the games, and looking at the above mentioned definition of fitness Crossfitters would tick a lot of those boxes. However more than the W.O.D (Workout Of the Day), excessive training, injury risk, randomness of the routines & cult like following of Crossfit, my issue is around the amount of equipment needed. Barbells, Kettlebells, Rowing Machines, Cycling Machines, Pull ups bars, Squat Racks, Medicine Balls, Sleds etc etc and yes I know there is a fair amount of body weight training as well.

Why should fitness be defined by needing so much equipment to prove it?

Crossfit for me reflects our society and the need for more & bigger. More clothes, more food, more technology, more cars, bigger house, bigger body, bigger TV, bigger breasts, bigger ego’s.

It also reflects the FOMO (Fear OF Missing Out) of our world. What if I miss that show on TV, what if I’m not on Facebook to see what others are doing, what if I’m not posting to others about what I’m doing. And so it goes with Crossfit that one must to do all these training disciplines to be “fit”. What happened to learning a skill? To practicing an art? To taking your time? To looking at health and strength over a life time and not over a workout?

The winner of the Crosffit games was Rich Froning, and this was his 4th consecutive time. Winning it once is impressive enough but 4 in a row is an incredible achievement, I’ve seen the way he trains and hats off to him. Aside from being the fittest man on the planet many call him the greatest athlete on the planet.

However while he is good, he is not the world’s best. He’s very good at what others can do better. For example he’s a good Olympic lifter but he’s not an Olympian and others can lift more, he’s a good gymnast but he’s not an Olympic gymnast and they can do more, he’s a good swimmer and runner but hasn’t won any marathons or swimming events.

People will say but he can do so much and the broad definition of fitness is that it covers the 5 main components of physical fitness so therefore he must be the Fittest on the planet. Maybe so but I still feel needing so much equipment to prove it and knowing that others are better at specific disciplines just makes you the winner at a competition created by marketing.

If you want to throw around the term best or greatest, for me that person would be Alex Honnold. Who you say?

Well let me give you an idea….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxt0cipQUiI

Ok so it’s some skinny kid climbing a rock. Yes it’s impressive but he’s the greatest athlete in the world? Yes he is!

If you want more reason as to why I think he is, watch this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQb4_8PyZBM

As someone who has flirted with climbing I can appreciate the difficulty in the discipline, I cannot comprehend how a human being can do what Alex Honnold did by climbing those 3 peaks in 24 hours on his own! I’m not suggesting anyone goes and tries this, in fact Alex himself has said no one should try this. This article is not about which discipline you should do but about the terminology associated to athletes and sports.

The immediate question to ask is why is there no climbing in Crossfit? Surely the movements, skill, attention and strength needed in climbing are all fitness qualities? There is so much equipment in Crossfit anyway, why not throw in a climbing wall for good measure? Fittest on the planet? Let’s leave the Crossfit athletes at the Base of El Cap in Yosemite and see how they fair…..

So I leave you with this thought: Are we led to believe what Reebok and ESPN tell us about athleticism and fitness or do we let nature and man speak for themselves?