I really enjoyed reading the athletes' stats, although I wish they had vertical leap listed for all of them. O-lifter Cheryl Haworth unsurprisingly has an impressive 30-inch vertical leap. If only they'd tested marathoner Deena Kastor's presumably pathetic vertical leap for comparison.

I also enjoyed the quote from Haworth, who o-lifts in the heavyweight category, obviously, since she weighs in at 300 pounds: "I started training when I was 13, so almost everything about my body is completely different now. I’m taller and a lot heavier than I was. When I say that my thighs are 32 inches, they’re really hard all of the way around, and my butt is huge from squatting all the time."

So watch out, ladies, squatting really CAN make your butt big (but only when you can squat 495# like Cheryl can).

Dave, yeah, each side for each rep count. 1-1,2-2, etc.

hey guys I am off to portugal tomorrow for two weeks with my son to a villiage known for its fishing and ...well its fishing. not for its gyms and not for its crossfit afiliates .
so- my son and i are up for burpees, squats, situps jumprope, pushups and walking lunges-- if they will let us do it in the hallways at this old old tiny hotel we are staying at.

any "workouts while staying at a place with no pullup bars, weights or anything now familar to me as an instrument of terror from a wod" would be appreciated.

what would for example be a good sub for the five pullups if i wanted to do a psuedo cindy? i cant fit my door gym in my suit case...
i tried but i need some shoes while i am there.
see you guys in two weeks. hopefully not 10 lbs heavier.

me-not any of u.

jacinto- wish could i take u with me just to motivate me to get my butt in gear every day.

have a great time in boston guys. bummed i had to cancel. sam and moon-if u r going make sure to hit all the fine dining spots were have grown accustomed to.

hi guys,

just thought i would check in on this article.

Hari - check out Shawn's Vo2 max: 43. Good thing for him he is crazy strong, otherwise things like Fran may actually take him down. I also think the cyclist would be a top CrossFitter right now. A 65ml/kg/min Vo2 max, a 225-pound squat, and a 35-inch vertical leap!!! you guys should all measure your vertical leaps today and see who can jump that high.

But for people to think that any of these people aren't great athletes is beyond me. CrossFitters must realize the CrossFit is a skill in and of itself. Go ahead, practice Fran for 3 weeks and tell me you don't improve more just because of increased neuromuscular efficiency as you do because of an increase in strength and Vo2 max(though all of those obviously contribute).

True these people probably aren't "CrossFit" but I don't see anyone from CrossFit in the Olympics or getting paid to be a professional athlete yet. They are fit according to their jobs (chosen sports). It's my guess that if they took 3 months to get adapted to CrossFit, most of these people would blow us away.

(Just the same, it always made me laugh that CrossFitters believe that LeBron James is not as good an athlete as them because he can't complete a 3-minute Fran. How about this workout: 5 rounds of 45-inch box jumps x 20, sprint 100m 85#KB Swings x 12. Think anyone can beat LeBron in that one? CrossFit lacks in the development of absolute speed, which is basically the most important thing in any ball sport, and in track. Ohio State hasn't lost the last 2 national championship football games because they couldn't squat heavy enough - it's because they weren't FAST enough.)

What amazes me the most is a 300-pound woman with a 30-inch vertical leap!! Do you guys have any 300-pounders who jump that high? Geez!!!

be well,
--danny segelin

Danny
You make a lot of valid points that I certainly wouldn't disagree with. However, I feel like you're also putting words in the mouths of the CFNYC community. I don't hate on Olympic athletes and I don't believe Hari does either.

There's no implication that Hari should replace Brett Newlin on the rowing team. He's just noting that in some aspects, "on paper" at least, a non-elite CF practitioner such as himself appears comparable in one certain measure of strength (CFT) which nobody would agree to be a comprehensive measure of fitness anyway.

Danny Segelin,

"But for people to think that any of these people aren't great athletes is beyond me."

The six athletes profiled are among the best in the world at what they do. No one is disputing that.

"What amazes me the most is a 300-pound woman with a 30-inch vertical leap!! Do you guys have any 300-pounders who jump that high?"

No, but we have plenty of 120 - 220 lb athletes who do 50 24-inch Box Jumps during the "Filthy Fifties." The point I was making was not that CrossFitters are Olympic-caliber athletes; my point was that many CrossFitters have some components of fitness that equal or exceed those of some Olympic athletes.

The need for perspective cut both ways.

I'm coming in for the noon class manana.

The above points are all very true, to me at least. The Olympians are great athelets but are obviously lacking in certain areas, especially the marathoner (strength); and Xfitters have some components of fitness that are impressive relative to pros.

What stands out to me is the caloric intake and the body composition of these atletes. Mark Sisson has written numerous times on the trade offs between performance and health, and I believe this article is a portrait of that dynamic (except for Crawford).

Hah hah, hilarious. Only the sprinter looks crossfit. WTF does that mean?
Every single one of those athletes is highly accomplished. The shot putter - just to pick the first one that comes up - could probably out leap 99% of the xfit faithful, besides out lifting.
I don't know his training, but check out former WR holder in shotput training here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJECepNeCJ0
That's 125kg on the bar, too, I've heard.
Anyone you guys know have a real 30" in vert?

Quote:
No, but we have plenty of 120 - 220 lb athletes who do 50 24-inch Box Jumps during the "Filthy Fifties."

A 24 inch box jump is nowhere near a 30 inch vertical jump. Not even close. You are delusional.

Allan Moore,

"Hah hah, hilarious. Only the sprinter looks crossfit. WTF does that mean?"

It means exactly what it says. The average person would not look at five of these six people and describe them as appearing to be exceptionally fit.

It does not mean all six are not extraordinary athletes; they are. (Apparently this is exactly the point the NYT is making by illustrating the range of body types among Olympic athletes.)

Quote:
No, but we have plenty of 120 - 220 lb athletes who do 50 24-inch Box Jumps during the "Filthy Fifties."

That's like saying, "Sure, Peyton Manning can throw a football 70 yards, but we have a lot of athletes who can throw a ball 30 yards, fifty times in a row."

Is today's focus on just the Rip style back squat or will be able to practice OHS and front squats as well? Maybe even practice taking the bar off the ground into the OHS and front squat, and maybe even adding in a jerk after the front squat?

I thought these people were "looking crossfit."
http://www.albanycrossfit.com/.a/6a00e393358748883400e553c6e2848833-pi

JD,

"A 24 inch box jump is nowhere near a 30 inch vertical jump. Not even close."

JD makes a valid point. A 24-inch box jump does not require a 24-inch vertical leap, only about 15 inches. The additional distance comes from bending the knees and lifting the feet towards the hips. Thus, my comparisson was not particularly helpful to my point.

"That's like saying, 'Sure, Peyton Manning can throw a football 70 yards, but we have a lot of athletes who can throw a ball 30 yards, fifty times in a row.'"

In general, we agree that Olympic lifters have extraordinary explosive power. I have no doubt that they have superior jumping skills and superior sprinting skills over very short distances.

One more time: The point of my post was not to suggest that any of these athletes are not among the best in the world at what they do. My point was that many CrossFitters have some components of fitness that are close to or greater than those of some of these athletes.

This might be the equivalent of pointing out that some world-class intellectuals lack the math skills of an astute ninth grader. It doesn't change the fact that the intellectual might be the greatest in the world at what he or she does.

Allan Moore:

Exactly. Those people do "look CrossFit". Word Up.

Steak Sauce
The 2nd link doesn't work.

It's time for some truth.

ANYONE can do Crossfit workouts. Anyone can do the workouts and eventually become good at the workouts.

Not anyone can become an Olympian. Most who do Crossfit workouts have never been anything remotely close to an Olympian athlete in any sport. And if I'm wrong, go take 100 of your best Crossfitters and let's get them ready for the 2012 games. It will never happen, and we all know that.

I don't mean to come off as a prick, but the fact that Crossfitters are better at workouts that they practice weekly doesn't mean anything, aside from the fact that Crossfitters do these workouts weekly. One would hope that those who do such workouts weekly would be better at these workouts.

Working out isn't a sport however. Some people can't figure this out.

Show some respect for our nation's Olympic athletes. Comparing random workouts in your basement, garage, or gym to a competitive Olympian is ridiculous.

Go beat on your chest in your basement, but also put on the TV this month and offer support and respect for those athletes who are doing something that we all cannot do.

The Truth

Jeff--fixed. Thanks for letting me know.

We can all safely say that I can be compared with an Olympian as long as my habit of filing my calluses can be compared with "the lion on the cheese grater".

The Truth, writes,

"Show some respect for our nation's Olympic athletes. Comparing random workouts in your basement, garage, or gym to a competitive Olympian is ridiculous."

I am comparing one and only one thing: an objective measure of strength as reflected by three specific lifts, estimated in part by using data provided by the athletes for the article.

And Hari, if you refuse to acknowledge the implications or inference of your comparison, then I guess you're admitting it is worthless.

Allan,

"And Hari, if you refuse to acknowledge the implications or inference of your comparison, then I guess you're admitting it is worthless."

My points were not implied; they are clearly stated using the four bullet points in my post. I stand by each one of them.

Can you offer a rebuttal to any one or all of those points; or in the alternative, can you spell out what else you have inferred from what I have written?

With all due respect to the athletes profiled, I think it is a reasonable point that they would probably be, and appear, more "fit" if they used their incredible athleticism, drive, and determination to pursue an intense generalist program like crossfit rather than extreme specialization. And it's a good bet they would whoop all of us if they did that. But that would probably come at the expense of not being invited to the olympics.

I now suspect that Haworth's bench press number (reported as 160 lbs) is wrong. The other five athletes have bench presses equal to between 60% and 90% of their squats. It seems doubtful to me that Haworth would bench less than 33% of her squat.

off topic
any ideas on why we're running backwards?
http://crossfitnyc.com/2008/08/back-it-up-1.html#comment-49864

I can ride my bike with no handlebars! Can the Olympians? Who cares!

The following were my comments to someone who notified me that my comments may have been overblown. Hopefully this will explain what I meant. If this post doesn't work it is because I'm typing on my blackberry.

"Whoa, I wasn't trying to blow him up. I respect his opinion here and I never thought he was making a comparative statement about xfit and other sport athletes. I just thought he was saying that those folks didn't look xfit. He NEVER said they weren't fit period, or that rthey weren't good athletes. Hari is too smart to say something like that.

Comparing xfit with other sports is just like comparing OPT with Tiger (though I don't think golf is a sport, I think Tiger is an athlete and that is precisely why he is better than everyone), LeBron, A-Rod, and Federer. All are fantastic at what they do and I respect their athleticism overall and their skill at their sports. Plus it's doubtful that any of those men could compete with any of the others is his main sport. I guess my point is that xfit is its own "sport" and has its own set of skills to be mastered.

Hari, about Cheryl Hayworth and her bench press. She probably doesnt bench or very rarely. She is an Olifter and most Weightlifters don't do bench presses!!

Kevin Durant couldn't bench press 185 pounds in the NBA pre-draft workouts. This came after he was named the 2007 National College Player of the Year. The next year he was named the NBA Rookie of the Year Award.

Now the Crossfit elite can call themselves more physically capable than elite NBA players.

Unfortunately, no one will pay you millions of dollars to perform muscle-ups in your garage, as you thump your chest and proclaim superiority over world class athletes.

Take my advice, go sign up for the 2012 Olympics and start playing a few professional sports. Crossfit has created a new level of monster. I'm expecting to see more records broken from you all in the NBA, MLB, and NFL, not to mention the Olympics, but the Olympics shouldn't even count. That's just a walk in the park to someone with a good Fran score.

In the Crossfit world, no one stops to think about athletic ability. It involves a lot more than lifting a dead piece of iron.

A friend of mine used to say: :You are what you repeatedly do"... The same friend was an elite martial artist and was completely destroyed one day playing football...He never played football. When someone on the other football team figured that meant he could beat my friend in a fight, he was sadly disabused of that notion and briefly relieved of his consciousness... Different horses for different courses.

Hari is comparing numbers and looks here and at no point has he ever insinuated that anyone at CrossfitNYC is planning on showing up to compete in Beijing.

Someone who trains in an Olympic sport is an elite athlete, Crossfit has its share of elite athletes as well. I would make the comparison with some of the people I work with, who are elite in multiple areas - masters of none in particular - but are beaten by specialists all the time. For our purposes, the diversity of skill is more useful than the specialization.

Crossfitters are looking for the breadth of skill and ability as well - broad-based fitness. Perhaps some elite crossfitters could specialize in an areas they have particular skill in and compete at elite levels, even Olympic, if they chose...

Again, horses for courses...

Did Griff today 12:46 at Astoria Park track.
Interesting to run backwards. First time doing that
Also did my 22 burpees and some misc.calisthenics at the pullup and dip station

More Truth writes,

"In the Crossfit world, no one stops to think about athletic ability. It involves a lot more than lifting a dead piece of iron."

In the trolling world, no one stops to think about reading comprehension. It involves a lot more than lifting a few clauses out of context while hiding behind an anonymous identity.

I rarely bother going into the comments section of the main site, but I picked a good day to peek in.
http://www.crossfit.com/mt-archive2/003942.html
Much more interesting discussion going on there than here, actually, and I'm not just talking about the Icelandic guy with the big lats.

Did an unpleasant wod with Keith at the Box during squat the seminar.

20 Burpess
10 Power Clean-Jerks @ 112.5lbs

4 rounds

15:59

"Hari is comparing numbers and looks here and at no point has he ever insinuated that anyone at CrossfitNYC is planning on showing up to compete in Beijing."

Amen. Well said Kurt.

Hari's comments are clearly reasonable, at the least.

You may not agree that Shawn Crawford looks Xfit, but one could make a case that he looks more like the male competitors at the Xfit games than the other athletes profiled, no? You may not agree but is it so insane it would lead to a sarcastic comment such as, "Hah hah, hilarious. Only the sprinter looks crossfit. WTF does that mean?" WTF do you mean? Do you think the shot putter looks like the model crossfitter? Or how about the marathoner? Yes, we all look different, but MOST of us are trying to achieve that sprinter build and many of my fellow Xfitters have achieved it.

Marathoner Deena Kastor is very weak based on her lifting numbers. Fact.

Weight lifter Cheryl Haworth has (relative to her lower body) little upper body strength -- based on the numbers this is a fact.

-Hari's CFT is only 32 lbs less than rower Brett Newlin- fact, again, based on the numbers given.

What are people talking about when stating that Hari is implying that Xfitters are better athletes than Olympians? There have been some ridiculous comments today that ruin the spirit of the blog. Criticism is fantastic but sarcastic trite adds nothing to the conversation and does nothing in the way of incentivizing the owners and coaches to work hard to provide a quality forum for discussion.

Now, off to thump my chest.....

Who is this "Truth" guy? Paul, Hari, and Kurt, your verbose and well though out criticisms are great and welcome but I'm going to just carve out the pith. It's just asinine, incendiary crap. Call it quits, chief.

Kirk, not Kurt.

Haworth jerks 290lbs and her (estimated) press is 107??
Seems strange to me.

As danny said, "guess my point is that xfit is its own "sport" and has its own set of skills to be mastered."

The funny thing is, there is no mastery attained at any of these SKILLS by xfitters on average.
The lifts are ugly.
The gymnastics competency is beginner.
What other "skills" require mastery? Thrusters? Squats? Basic moves, each easier to learn than throwing a curve ball or hitting a jump shot.
The xfit games have made xfit into a sport, or are trying, but it's still just a bunch of yelling and cheering for people flopping around doing endless ugly cleans with low weights. Sure, some endurence-power production is tested, but is it any wonder nobody but xfitters watch this crap?
Real sports test real skill in adverse conditions - challenging stuff, often with an opponent in your face.

andi,

"Haworth jerks 290lbs and her (estimated) press is 107??
Seems strange to me."

I agree, and am now inclined to believe it's a mistake on the part of the NYT. All the other athletes have benches between 60% and 90% of their squat. It seems incredibly unlikely that Haworth would bench (160 lbs) less than 33% of her squat (495 lbs).

Brendan, easy, we turn off anonymous posts. Anonymous posts always throw wrenches into great forums. Soon "The Truth" will be "oh, that guy".

Deena Kastor, doesn't need as much upper body strength as these other athletes. She's the 4th fastest marathoner EVER!! She ran 2:19 when she won London marathon in 2006, the second fastest 8k on the roads ever, numerous titles and records, including a bronze medal from the Olympic marathon in Athens in 2004. A distance runner trains the upper body to power through the later stages of a race, when the legs are wearing down. She trains almost every day in the gym with weights, it's high repetition stuff, not bulking up exercises. You gotta be light, strong, and very very efficient! = Deena Kastor.

All of these athletes are fantastic. They all deserve praise not criticism from unknowing recreational "armchair athletes". One person posted "Deena Kastor's presumably pathetic vertical leap"....I say, try and stay running with her for 2 or 3 minutes and you'll find yourself dialing 911. A big vertical leap won't get you too far running at a sub 5 minute per mile pace! Look at her VO2 max compared to the others. A marathon is forward distance, and jumping vertically isn't gonna score any medals. I think most people do not understand the amount of dedication, training and talent they possess and that different events require different strengths. To use the word "pathetic" in describing an Olympic medalist, and major marathon winner, only describes the level of knowledge and lack of respect of the poster.

I'll take the high road. I know what its like to train hard and be passionate about the sport I love.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF OUR ATHLETES. HOPEFULLY one day the sedentary, uneducated will learn....instead of criticize others.