The First Fitness Standard

There are ten recognized general physical skills. They are cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. You are as fit as you are competent in each of these ten skills. A regimen develops fitness to the extent that it improves each of these ten skills. Importantly, improvements in endurance, stamina, strength, and flexibility come about through training. Training refers to activity that improves performance through a measurable organic change in the body. By contrast improvements in coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy come about through practice. Practice refers to activity that improves performance through changes in the nervous system. Power and speed are adaptations of both training and practice.

The Second Fitness Standard

The essence of this model is the view that fitness is about performing well at any and every task imaginable. Picture a hopper loaded with an infinite number of physical challenges where no selective mechanism is operative, and being asked to perform fetes randomly drawn from the hopper. This model suggests that your fitness can be measured by your capacity to perform well at these tasks in relation to other individuals. The implication here is that fitness requires an ability to perform well at all tasks, even unfamiliar tasks, tasks combined in infinitely varying combinations. In practice this encourages the athlete to disinvest in any set notions of sets, rest periods, reps, exercises, order of exercises, routines, periodization, etc. Nature frequently provides largely unforeseeable challenges; train for that by striving to keep the training stimulus broad and constantly varied.

The Third Fitness Standard

There are three metabolic pathways that provide the energy for all human action. These “metabolic engines” are known as the phosphagen pathway, the glycolytic pathway, and the oxidative pathway. The first, the phosphagen, dominates the highest-powered activities, those that last less than about ten seconds. The second pathway, the glycolytic, dominates moderate-powered activities, those that last up to several minutes. The third pathway, the oxidative, dominates low-powered activities, those that last in excess of several minutes. Here’s an excellent reference for additional information: http://predator.pnb.uconn./beta/virtualtemp/muscle/exercise-folder/muscle.html Total fitness, the fitness that CrossFit promotes and develops, requires competency and training in each of these three pathways or engines. Balancing the effects of these three pathways largely determines the how and why of the metabolic conditioning or “cardio.”

PARK CITY, UT  In the midst of prostate cancer awareness month, X Games gold medalist Steve Fisher (Breckenridge, CO) recalls what he felt at the age of 20 to learn that his father had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in December of 2003.

“It was completely overwhelming,” Fisher said. “It was literally just before the first Grand Prix in Breckenridge. He had just turned 51 and went in for his routine screening and his report came back that there were traces of prostate cancer.”

According to statistics, one in every six men are diagnosed with prostate cancer just like Fisher’s father, Ed, who was treated at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota a month after his diagnosis. Now, five years later, he remains cancer free.

“So far it hasn’t come back and he’s just really lucky that he caught it early enough to where they could get all of the bad cells,” Fisher said.

It was through his father’s experience and a desire to promote prostate cancer awareness and research funding that Fisher came to be involved with Athletes for a Cure, which is a program of the Prostate Cancer Foundation that enables athletes to raise money for the cause.

This year Athletes for a Cure was represented at more than 200 events across the US and everywhere we went we were greeted by men and their  families who for the most part were under 55-years old who had a prostate cancer diagnosis in the family. Here are just a few stories as told in a short video: http://www.vimeo.com/1881463

There would be no more appropriate time to ask you for your prayers and thoughts than Christmas Eve for the 186,000 men who, on a day they least expected it had their doctor walk into a room and say, “I’m sorry, but you have prostate cancer.” Please add a special thought for those 27,000 families that lost a man in their lives.

Please take a moment tonight to remember them all. Thank you.

Scott