Pottstown Athletic Club

-  Mike Warkentin, managing editor, CrossFit Journal Are you addicted to met-cons to the detriment of overall fitness?  Yes, we know you feel like you didn’t accomplish anything on deadlift day.  It’s very clear you’re unhappy that you are not out of breath and dripping with sweat.  We’re just going to lie here on the rubber with shaking legs while you head over to the corner to bang out 100 burpees for time.  We’ll even start the clock if you feel the need to hit a quick Fran.  But we’re wrecked from heavy day, so please don’t ask us to join you. Here’s why: You’re part of a CrossFit program. Conditioning is a big part of CrossFit. Many workouts done in CrossFit gyms and programmed on  CrossFit.com  cause you to sweat heavily, breathe hard and collapse on the floor at the end. These workouts range from relatively short tests such as Fran to longer challenges such as Cindy, and many Hero workouts take athletes into time domains past 2...

To move all significant health markers in the right direction, do more work faster, trainers say. The only way to know intensity is to experience it. It is not a mythical creature born of grunting loudest, sweating most or cheering excitedly. It is also not a matter of opinion. It’s physics. Scientifically speaking, intensity is defined as power: force multiplied by distance, then divided by time. Simply put: Intensity is doing more work faster. “You have to teach people how to do it,” said Chris Spealler, a member of CrossFit Inc.’s Seminar Staff and a seven-time CrossFit Games athlete who owns CrossFit Park City in Utah. Fran, for example, is a workout most of the general population should be able to finish in roughly 7 minutes or less, he explained. The workout calls for 21-15-9 reps of thrusters and pull-ups. For an athlete who is trying to break into that time domain, Spealler provides the road map: Do the 21 thrusters and 21 pull-ups in no more than 2 sets each,...