Diane, loading for Crossfit WODS and a question of strength

[James Evans]

He's a machine isn't he?

And I like the fact he doesn't really look like he should be able to do that which links to that T Nation roundtable this week where they were discussing whether people who looked strong were really strong, blah, blah.

I just find it refreshing when some guy who doesn't look like a monster smashes a time like that.

Top guy.

[James Evans]

Just had a thought, let's take it the other way. Consider those trainees who who don't hit the heavy stuff but can shift impressive numbers when they try to.

Few examples:

1. Kettlebell lifters who say their deadlift has gone up considerably from little more than swings. (Catherine Imes has said that here - I appreciate she has a solid strength background but that's a good point, she's not a novice).

2. Ross Enamait when he called that kid out on his forum and pulled a 200kg deadlift with no training. We all know that Ross is in amazing shape but apparently that was on the back of keg clean and jerks and heavy db snatches.

3. Mark Twight's observation of the guy who they discovered had an impressive deadlift at Gym Jones completely by chance. The guy was training at considerably lighter weight at higher reps and one day when they were testing they found out how strong he really was.

[Kevin Perry]

Thats a lot to think about and it makes me think about absolute stength. Sometimes when I seea CF wod posted I feel intimidated because some of the weights used are ridiculous at first. 225lbs for 25 reps IMO is a hell of a lot of weight to move and takes a long time to work up to. Lots to ponder on.

[Leo Soubbotine]

Olympic weightlifting rules!

Seriously though, I train kids from Team Florida Altamonte Weightlifing.
With no prior CF exposure 3 guys out of 5 did Diane in less than 7 minutes, one did it in 4:24. All at less than 160 lbs bw with an average c&j of 120 kg.

Some of them haven't done handstands prior to this workout.

That's why I've been mostly weightlifting myself and doing CF every once in a while.

If you have time/coaching/equipment - Weightlifting is the way to go, otherways CF is one of the best bangs for the buck.

[Troy Archie]

Originally Posted by James Evans

Got it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YARXjYqC8mU

My roommate went to high school with that guy...small world.

[James Evans]

Hell, for a moment I thought you might have meant the guy in the other video I posted.

[Mike ODonnell]

I would agree that OLY and Gymnastics would give a huge solid foundation that could transfer to excelling at any sport. Conditioning can always come later....that's the easy part!

[David Aguasca]

The amazing thing about that Diane performance is that AFT is 5'5" and 150lbs. his stats include a 400lb DL and a 395lb squat. you can imagine both of those help him on the benchmark girls.

it's pretty evident that putting up those numbers in the basic lifts helps you in short, intense events: Diane, Fran. at what point along the metabolic pathway continuum does that strength become an encumbrance?

i find it interesting that elite endurance athletes in the marathon range seem to be emaciated (at least compared to strength and sprint athletes), but a guy like Dean Karnazes is not emaciated, in any sense of the word. nor is Catra Corbett. she's a crossfitter, though. are they genetic anomalies? i don't know much about ultrarunners, but i'd guess they'd be affected by the same by the catabolic nature of LSD.

[Kevin Perry]

Sorry for my ignorance but is AFT a callsign for someone? Im trying to look up info on the guy but im not sure which affiliate to look to.

[Kevin Perry]

Nevermind i remember now. The Crossfit games article says it all.