CrossFitters are known to be well-rounded athletes who can perform a variety of different tasks and adapt to new movements and/or sports quickly. CrossFit boasts that the purpose of the sport is to “forge a broad, general, and inclusive fitness.” It is a training program that best prepares trainees for any physical contingency—it prepares them not only for the unknown but for the unknowable. (Crossfit Level 1 Training Guide) Therefore, you would expect that anytime a CrossFitter decides to participate in another type of fitness regimen outside of the sport of CrossFit (such as Orange Theory, any type of Bootcamp, other field sports, etc.) they would naturally excel because they have built a base level of fitness that is transferable to any other type of fitness environment.
However, it has become clear, simply from my personal experience, that the CrossFit training regimen actually has two gaping holes: sprinting and multiplanar movement. If you look at Crossfit.com’s programming over the last couple of months, you will find that they have neglected to incorporate any kind of sprint work or multiplanar movement into their daily workouts. You might be asking yourself, ‘Why is that a problem?’ Well, for the average CrossFitter who simply shows up at their local Box to get in a good workout for an hour, it’s not. However, for those athletes who want to compete at a higher level, knowing how to sprint properly and training for those shorter distances is important; and for those athletes who like to participate in field sports outside of Crossfit, they will need to build a foundation of multiplanar movement in order to avoid injury. So, how do you build those bases?
The only way to get better at these two capacities is to practice them. Below are some examples of sprint workouts and multiplanar movement drills to help you start building these much-needed bases:
Sample Sprint Workouts:
5 rounds- Every 2 minutes
100 m sprint (run)
1 @ 85%
1 @ 90%
3 @ 100%
rest 3 minutes, then:
5 minute EMOM:
50 m sprints. All at 100%
With a continuously running clock perform-
1 sprint (10 meters) the first minute
2 sprints (10 meters) the second minute
3 sprints the third minute
and so on, continuing to add 1 sprint each
minute until you can’t complete the required
number of 10 meter sprints in the given minute.
Ladder Drills:
Lateral Plyometric Drills:
Dot Drills:
Sources:
http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ_English_L2_TrainingGuide.pdf
https://www.boxrox.com/develop-speed-sprint-training-crossfit/