With some of CrossFit’s top athletes in Lake Tahoe, Calif., for the Rogue Vs. Again Faster Throwdown, it was a great opportunity to throw the athletes into a room and get them talking with the cameras rolling.
In this installment, Dave Lispon starts off the discussion by asking Rich Froning Jr. how much he works out.
“These top competitors, these guys who finished at the top last year, they’re all high-volume people. I mean they’re doing multiple, multiple workouts a day,” Lipson says.
Ben Bergeron of CrossFit New England says it’s a matter of “the 10,000 rule: 10,000 hours to master something.” This sparks some debate among the competitors.
Chris Spealler says his training regime is a result of his prior athletic background in wrestling, but he isn’t a high-volume athlete.
“I work out once a day until, like, eight weeks away from a competition, then I’ll start to do two-a-days, maybe three-a-days,” he says. “There’s no way that volume can sustain.”
The athletes then discuss whether it’s more practice or talent that takes competitors to the top. To Spealler, it’s not just the talent or the practice but the search for the most efficient movement that is “the art of CrossFit.”
“I think that’s mastery of your own abilities; it’s not a mastery of CrossFit the sport,” Pat Barber adds. “That’s what I think this 10,000 hours will give someone.”
8min 47sec
Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 130 by Justin Judkins, published July 28, 2010.