What Is Fitness?

Raise your hand if you do CrossFit. Ok, that one was easy. 
Ok, now for the harder question? What is CrossFit? 

Your peers obviously know you workout. Think about what you would say to your friend or colleague when they ask you what you do when you go to the gym. What would you tell them CrossFit is? Chances are if 5 CrossFitters were to answer this question there would be 5 different versions of the reply. 

Constantly varied, functional movements performed at high intensity across broad time and modal domains.  Oof. Is that enticing to someone who doesn’t know what CrossFit is? For what it’s worth, that IS the definition of CrossFit. Earlier this year at the CrossFit for Health Summit, it was presented that an updated definition read as follows: Constantly varied, functional movements, leveraging community across broad time and modal domains. Well still a little bit of oof. But at least we can all acknowledge that one of the special and unique characteristics of CrossFit is the community. So, fitness with friends. 

Now that we’ve laid out the official definition of CrossFit… then how and why is this different from fitness? Well, fitness by the dictionary’s design is specified as the act of being fit… pause for raised eyebrow… DUH. 

Then how do we, those who CrossFit, define what exactly fitness is? 

In a 2002 article from the CrossFit Journal called “What is Fitness” you can read through a detailed explanation of how CrossFit defines fitness across three standards.  For us, the most important part of this definition stems from the Sickness-Wellness-Fitness continuum. 

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It is through this understanding that we can explain how CrossFit is actually a measurement of health. It’s not just posturing when it’s said that CrossFit is healthcare and this continuum tells us why. 

Assume that someone you know has high blood pressure, high amounts of body fat, and bad cholesterol. Perhaps they are on 3 different medications with limited time spent, if any, doing physical activity. It would be logical to say that this person sits on the continuum close to the left, near sickness. It would also be logical to assume that if this same person were to test their fitness they would fare worse than someone who had blood pressure readings, body composition, and cholesterol numbers that were at goal. So the person who was more fit would be to the right towards fitness and the person who was less fit would be to the left towards sickness. 

Chronic diseases that impact someone’s quality of life aren't limited to heart disease and diabetes. We need to include other diseases with modifiable risk factors like osteoporosis, sarcopenia, dementia, and even certain types of cancer. Did you know that on average the last 12 years of a person’s life are spent in poor health, toward the left side of the continuum? 

So big takeaway, we should always be striving to get closer to the right. It’s a continuum for a reason. No one is going to wake up one day and say, “ok, I’m fit” and not have to do fitness anymore. Just like no one is going to wake up one day and say, “yup, all healthy, guess I don’t have to worry anymore.” We all have the natural biological impact of aging to thank for that. Therefore it has to be a constant and deliberate effort to work toward improving our health. 

The CrossFit methodology digs into many of the constructs as to why “CrossFit is the elegantly unique solution to so many of the world’s most vexing problems.” Having an understanding of the Sickness-Wellness-Fitness Continuum puts a little bit of context behind the crazy workouts your friends think you do.  

At some point in the near future you’ll be talking to someone who doesn’t do CrossFit. By all means talk about snatches and burpees… but it’s also about your health and your fight to stay towards the right. 

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