Complete as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:
15 Chest to bar pull-ups
30 second Ring L-sit hold
The Hopper
Last week we discussed CrossFit’s four models of fitness and detailed the first. Today, we’ll talk about the second model of fitness – the hopper. To catch-up check out last week’s post!
At CrossFit Roots, we have a lot of fitness. Yup, there’s a lot of it floating around. But what exactly are we trying to do with all that fitness? A lot of you could spout off a number of specific goals you have for your fitness but at the heart of the matter the fact is the design of the program is supposed to prepare you for, well, anything and everything.
The idea is that a well-rounded constantly varied program will yield an athlete that could perform (at the very least) moderately well at any task that was pulled from a hopper.
For example, while you guys spend many an hour doing deadlifts, thrusters, and pull-ups, the idea is that you would still be able to get yourself up Mt. Sanitas, and realtively quickly, should you need or desire to.
Some of you have experienced the hopper model for yourself. You do nothing all winter long but CrossFit, you hop on your bike after a long hiatus, and magically, you’ve still got some pretty solid riding legs under you! This can not be said for many individuals and the best examples are ourselves, before we found CrossFit.
Some of us used to ride for hours on end and sure, we could ride a bike, but we couldn’t perform even moderately well at any strength based task such as squatting.
So to recap, CrossFit’s second model of fitness is the hopper. In this model it is theorized that through a CrossFit training program an athlete could perform moderately well at any task pulled from a wide variety of tasks and exercises yet a sports specialist would do very well at a few tasks but do miserably in all the remaining tasks.
Xfit has toughened me mentally and physically so I seem to be able to do anything I try–like running up Flagstaff and Green Mountain in one trip. I find myself thinking, I wonder if I can do x? Then I do it. I can hang in for the hard parts, cause now I’m used digging in. I’m in the best shape of I’ve ever been, not something I expected at this stage in my life.
Definitely have stronger legs and deeper lungs for cycling this spring, even though my winter cycling/cyclocross took a big hit this year.
Last year’s Imogene Pass run was definitely a “hopper”. I didnt beat my personal best but I was really happy with my overall performance despite no specific preparation. I definitely appreciated the CF anaerobic conditioning which helped on the mile 9 upward climb at 13000 ft.
BTW…. if anyone is interested in doing the race this year in Sept, today is the day to sign up. Should be a blast.
I signed up. Are you in? Anybody else?
I am in!!
+ Jordan and Sarah
Registration is closed, filled the entire field by 10 am.
I have been using CrossFit to train for the local triathlons for a while now, I have noticed that although I am not as fast as I used to be at the same event, I dont train anything like as much as I used to. Instead of 5 hrs on the bike on sunday and hours running on Saturday, with CF I am about 10 % slower but have much more of a life ! CF does cross over to other sports, but it does not replace dedicated training to one event.