Who would win in a H2H?
Who would win in a H2H?
2 completely different disciplines. Guess it depends on H2H events. I think it would be harder for crossfitters to adapt to hurdles, long jump, pole vault etc.
In German the field events are called "technical". Crossfitters don't even perform pullups correctly, instead swing and kick to get in as many as possible.
Decathlon is not mainly about supreme fitness. It is about explosivity and the ability to perform a wide range of sometimes very challenging techical events (with the toughest sequence hurdles, discus, pole vault) on a high level.
CrossFit would be trying to get all the events done quicker. Time, distance do not matter. Get those jumps in quickly and move on.
Two different sports. Both have great athletes.
What would be interesting would be to see who can adapt better to the other's sport. It is obvious that if a decathlete stepped into a crossfit competition without specific training, they would get stomped and vice a versa. But what if you gave them a year of specific training before they had to compete at each other's sport. I think the crossfitter would bomb at the decathlon an the decathlete would be fairly competitive at crossfit. It is just too much even for a top crosfitter to be able to perfect their technique on 110 m hurdles, discus, shot, pole vault, javelin while also getting lean enough to be competitive from 100 to 1500m. Crossfitters just have too much muscle meat on them and would have to make too much of a transition to be able to reshape their bodies for track and field events. But decathletes already have a huge base of fitness and strength that can easily be converted into crossfit specific events. It doesn't take any technique to pull a sled or do deadlifts. You just have to train to be able to handle the volume of lifting and speed that is required for crossfit events. Not saying the decathlete would win the world crossfit games, but they would probably be able to go toe to toe with a ranked crossfitter after a year of training. But a crossfitter would not even be able to place in the top 20 at a college decathlon competition after a year of specific training.
Really good question. The highest level decathletes are truly amazing and very specialized. It takes years of high quality training and competitions to be able to string together 10 events the way they do and it isn't just strength/fitness that allows them to succeed. The women's heptathlon would be interesting though for an athlete like Brooke Wells. I could see Brooke do well on a national level in the 7 eventer.
I think the only way to do it would be to firstly eliminate the most technical aspects of each, so no overhead snatch or ring muscle ups, then do likewise on the decathlon side.
CrossFit would never do this because they are petrified of shattering their own 'fittest on earth' myth, but if you want to go H2H, instead of say doing run a mile then 10 cleans at 180, you have run a mile, then clean 2000 pounds and the athlete gets to set the weight on the bar. Can be as high or low as they want but they need to do as many reps as are needed to hit the total weight.
Anyone who watched the CF games knows they massively short change the run legs so their times on longer run legs are BS, but if you had events like 5k run, 2000 pound deadlift or like 8 x 400 with 500 pounds of deadlifts each lap - who do you think would win?
Rich Froning would dominate the decathlon EASILY
Xfit_guy_the_old_one wrote:
Rich Froning would dominate the decathlon EASILY
LOL! There are guys in the Oly 73kg weight class that can clean and jerk 50lbs more than Fromgig. I get that he doesn't specialize in clean and jerk but you would think that someone that spends so much time on weights would be able to lift more than guys 30+lbs. lighter.
Crossfit is more of an endurance based event. Yeah the top guys are pretty strong but they aren't very close to world class strength for their weight, they work up the ability to do all sorts of reps and different weights for a sustained amount of time.
I was at the Crossfit Games this past weekend and the only true explosive workout they had was the 1 rep max stanch. There was a 550yd run where the top guys did 1:15. For their weight it's okay but very slow compared to what any decathlete could do. It's hard to imagine top crossfit athletes being able to train for and be competitive in the decathlon. If they had the speed and power of a top decathlete they probably wouldn't be as good at crossfit.
Decathlon is totally different. All about the explosive movements and speed. Yes you have to be strong for the throws but the training is about using your strength to move the implement which is very different than top crossfit athletes.
I think both are impressive athletes but I doubt top level guys would overlap much even with years to train in each others discipline.
Also I will throw in that CrossFitters only get drug tested at major competitions. So there is much more opportunity to use PEDs. I believe the sport is more in line with worlds strongest man in terms of drug use, all of the top level athletes are going to be on something.
Would take years for Crossfitters to even finish a Decathlon with the proficiency of a DIII reject. Maybe 10 percent of those who attempted would succeed. (The pole vault is a pretty high hurdle.)
Would take two or three weeks for a decathlete to be among the top ten percent of Crossfitters, a few would probably be world or whatever champions after one or two tries.
786hjgjkoiyswer wrote:
Would take years for Crossfitters to even finish a Decathlon with the proficiency of a DIII reject. Maybe 10 percent of those who attempted would succeed. (The pole vault is a pretty high hurdle.)
Would take two or three weeks for a decathlete to be among the top ten percent of Crossfitters, a few would probably be world or whatever champions after one or two tries.
Seems about right.
I did the Dec in college (nothing great, a little over 7,000). Did CrossFit for a little bit after college and I firmly believe that decathletes are able to transition to CrossFit pretty easily They won't do well in events where being shorter is better (burpees and bodyweight squats for example) since most decathletes are pretty tall. I don't think the transition would work well going the other way though. It's funny because as a dec, usually the 1500m is one of your weakest events, but compared to Crossfit athletes you're practically Mo Farah
I'm a big CrossFit guy, but there is a world of difference in being in great shape, vs being a great athlete. All decathletes are in great shape by any reasonable measurement. But I've yet to see a high end Crossfitter that was a great athlete.
Take someone like Ashton Eaton, who is 6'1", 185lb. This is a guy who ran 10.2 in the 100m, while being able to run 4:15 in the 1500m, while being able to high jump 7ft. An athlete of this caliber could've been a pro in basically any sport he dedicated his time to, because he has that kind of ability.
Then look at Mat Fraser, who is 5'7", 195. He can't run a 100m in under 12-seconds, or a mile in under 5-minutes. Because of his height/build/athletic ability, he couldn't high jump anything. His only option was CrossFit, where all you really need is the work ethic (and a lot of it), over many years, to be successful.
If you look at the CrossFit community, none of them were high end athletes. A few were low-level college athletes. The day someone with high end athletic ability dedicates his time to CrossFit, it'll be game over for everyone else.
Spartan stuff is much the same. These things are like the ultimate for everyone who never figured out how to do anything else.
a few years ago, one of the top crossfitters was a decent division 3 runner from Ohio. I believe he ran about 48 seconds in the 400, not any faster. He transitioned to crossfit with a podium finish.
Decathletes are fine tuned athletes and athleticism isn't the same as overall fitness. As others pointed out it wouldn't be too difficult for some of our decathletes to transition to crossfit and dominate it. They would just need to increase their work capacity.