He's got a point wrote:
Im not a big fan of this guy, but nobody can deny he has a point. There are always exceptions, but the average distance runner is very inefficient and clumsy looking. Look at one of our best, Abdi. Looks like an 80 year old man shuffling along. Of course he can do it very quickly because he has a big engine under the hood and weighs a buck-ten, but don't ever tell me he looks remotely athletic.
One thing people have to remember is crossfitters never claim to be elite at anything. They want to be decent at everything, that's their entire mantra. Crossfit will get the average person in shape to run a 20 minute 5k. That's good in their book, not so much here.
1) no, I can EASILY deny he has a point. You completely didn't understand what he seems to be trying to say. He seems to be trying to say that a guy like abdi SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO EXIST. That a guy like abdi, that yes, shuffles along for tons of miles week in and week out ("destroying himself"), at a relatively "slow"pace (for him), and who probably RARELY (if ever) does a heavy session of squats or deadlifts, or some idiotic combination of exercises that some pseudo, self-proclaimed fitness experts made up ("Fran"), that a guy like him should be slow, slow, slow. THAT his point. His point is that: in order to improves one's endurance (NOT to just look good or improves one's all around fitness), that focusing on heavy volumes of endurance training is pretty useless, and that one would be much better off focusing one's time doing cross-fit regimes and heavy lifting, and then supplementing with endurance training. THAT is what he is saying. He is saying Ryan Hall, Abdi, and all the africans, and ALL the TdF cyclists have it wrong: they should be doing less endurance volume, and more HIT sessions, more squats, and more crossfit instead of LSD, and if they did, they would be faster. He is wrong. (of course adding some supplemental strength training, and doing some high speed stuff can be supplemental to one's aerobic volume work. Everyone already knows that. Thanks for nothing Brian)
2)
a) i think many cross fitters DO think and claim they are elite at many things. Most of them are pretty ignorant of times in endurance sports, and they think 20 mins is elite. I mean, look at Brian himself: he believes he is some sort of elite athlete, and he is not CLOSE to being one.
b) the average cross fitter I see is about a 30 min 5k runner, so you are way off. I pass by 2 cross fit gyms occasionally where I live and most are extremely fat. I am being serious. I see them jogging around outside in traffic or parking lot after some explosive weight training and most are about 30+ bmi I would say, with high % body fat. I am sure there are some ripped guys and gals at these gyms, but 1/2 that group probably started off that way. Crossfit didn't get them there necessarily.