I think our definition of performance has to come from our definition of fitness.

Fitness = potential work capacity across broad time and modal domains.

Performance = expressed work capacity across broad time and modal domains.

Increased performance in your WODs is almost always going to mean that you are more capable of comfortably handling the physical stresses of every day life. I think the distinction that needs to be made is in the individual’s goals, not the definition of performance. For example:

Athlete A is a competitive CrossFitter. His goal is to qualify for and win the CrossFit Games. This means he will have to pay strict attention to his nutrition and recovery, spend a lot of time working on weaknesses, and program his WODs to assure highest possible gains.

Athlete B is a “casual” CrossFitter. His goal is to stay strong and healthy so that he can lift his 8 year old son up over his head, have more energy throughout the day, and generally live a higher quality life.

In order to achieve his goals, athlete B has to pay attention to the same things as athlete A, but not to the same degree. If Athlete A isn’t getting 8-9 hours of quality sleep a night and/or isn’t eating a very quality diet, his training suffers in the long term and he doesn’t perform to his potential on game day. If Athlete B isn’t getting 8-9 hours a night and/or isn’t eating a very high quality diet, he will not make ideal performance gains, but he will still see great benefits from his CrossFit training and will likely achieve his goals. If athlete A doesn’t spend time working on a movement he struggles with, and it comes up in one of the workouts on competition day, his likelihood of qualifying decreases significantly. If athlete B never gets good at that particular movement, he can still reap the rewards of his training in a way which allows him to achieve the desired outcome.

I guess my point here is that I think goals are subjective, where performance is not. That which improves your performance will help you achieve your goals regardless of what they are.

Good post Dutch!

In response to Jacob, you cannot group crossfitters into just A and B.

Crossfit covers the kids who want to have fun, the elderly who just want to get out of bed in the morning, or a professional athlete using crossfit to improve his stamina. Crossfit was developed to be broad and cover everyone’s fitness goals and it does a damn good job of it.

On the point of the athlete using crossfit to improve his stamina, he/she is using crossfit in order to improve his performance in his/her respective sport. The athlete is not as worried about his fran time. For example, the basketball player wants to be able to perform in the fourth quarter and if that means he only has to have a 5 minute fran time to do it, then that is as far as his crossfit needs to go.

In the crossfit world, there are certain times that people want. For example, a 3 minute fran, a 7 minute helen, 25 rounds of cindy. Can a sub 3 fran hurt a finness player that relies on touch? I think it does…

Sorry Marshall, didn’t see your final point…I feel obligated to respond to this:

“Can a sub 3 fran hurt a finness player that relies on touch? I think it does…”

This contention is, for lack of a better word, ridiculous. I want you to give me one valid example of a sport or situation where having a faster “Fran” would be a disadvantage. Just one. Because what you’re postulating right now is that having higher degrees of the 10 general physical skills can, under certain conditions, make someone perform WORSE at their sport. Please give me just one example.

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Jacob,

As a fellow affiliate owner I will explain.

Boosie Girl, good luck with your knitting.

I am talking about a specific example of athlete, no sport in particular. An athlete who relies on touch and placement is who I am talking about. Also, the difference between a 5 minute fran and a 3 minute fran will be explained. If you must have one example, here are three. Basketball, soccer, and handball are all sports where a sub 3 minute fran could hurt the finness player.

Getting yourself to do a sub 3 fran takes a different mind set. A mind set which requires the athlete to force through the workout, almost blackout, and lay shaking for at least thirty minutes. A 5 minute fran is different. The athlete focuses on every movement, making it perfect, still shakes a little after completion, but can recover faster.

I will correlate this to basketball. There comes a point in the fourth quarter where the star player is drained. The score is tied and he must make that buzzer beater to win the game. I would want him to be calm and make every movement perfect and make the shot as opposed to rushing the shot and missing. Being in the mindset of the sub 3 fran, the star may miss the shot due to being frantic when the pressure is high.

The 5 minute fran allows the athlete to be in good enough shape to outlast most and still be in a relaxed mindset to make that last second shot.

I will agree that some athletes with their style of play, and particular sport the sub 3 fran will help them. I want the sub 3 fran in a power forward, who needs to set picks, and fight down low, but not in my finness player who needs touch to make that last second shot.

Jacob,

I am saying that the athlete that uses crossfit as their method to train for sport can have that 5 minute fran and be happy with it and know that he/she can perform at an elite level.

The sport I play is handball. I played four years in college. My best fran time was 3:51. The worst handball I played was when I was my best at crossfit. Worrying about crossfit interfered with my handball practice. In order to get that sub 3 fran I would have to make crossfit my sport. I picked handball. I, yes “intentionally decreased work capacity across broad time and modal domains” to make myself less sore and be able to recover quicker for my sport.

Yes, this is my opinion and if it hurts your feelings, I am sorry. I still think that a sub 3 fran can make some players worse at their sport!

Marshall and Dutch,

You are absolutely right that an athlete who is using CrossFit just to be better at their sport should not focus primarily on CrossFit. However, at NO POINT in any of our points was the contention that CrossFit should be said athletes focus made. I never said it, and neither of you said it. What I am saying is that in the purely physical realm, there is no way that a faster “Fran” is going to make you worse at your sport. If you have to divert attention from that sport to get the sub 3 “Fran,” then sure, the effect may be negative. But it is entirely possible to get a sub 3 “Fran” without CrossFit being your focus, especially with a serious athlete who trains hard and eats right.

Dutch, about the idea of a WOD not carrying over to sport: This is definitely a possibility, and it’s why programs like CF Football exist. I wouldn’t have a lineman doing “Cindy,” (maybe a 1/2 “Cindy” on a lifting day. But like you said, “Fran” is a bit of a stretch, because that extremely short duration/high power capacity carries over directly to pretty much everything (it probably carries over to endurance sports indirectly, though I don’t know enough about them to say for sure.)

Jacob, I’m sure I could knit if I had to! My daughter can, self taught. she’s amazing. Me, not so talented. I’ll stick with cF.