Looking at Two Popular Training Systems: P90X and CrossFit

In my last post, we discussed evidence from neuroscience and how it points to the importance of both consistency and specificity in training. Because of how important these principles are, you'd think they would be incorporated into all successful training regimens. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.

Let's look at two of today's popular training programs, CrossFit and P90X. CrossFit has become extremely popular in recent years. And with good reason -- it gets some results. People who do CrossFit put on muscle and burn fat in a relatively short period of time. As a training regimen, however, it lacks specificity in terms of training body position. Position is the foundation of human movement, and, almost without exception, CrossFit has people training out of position.

For example, CrossFit'ers routinely perform high repetition olympic lifting movements like the clean, which can be seen in this video. Observe how far forward of vertical the athlete's knees travel. This position trains the body to be very quad dominant at the expense of hamstring development, which leads the body to produce compensation patterns. And these compensation patterns are the reason most people who do CrossFit suffer some type of injury within the first few months.

A major issue with P90X can be seen in its tagline, "Muscle Confusion!" If you're confusing your muscles by constantly mixing up your training, then it's pretty clear you lack consistency. In effective training your nervous system receives one stimulus repeatedly, and your body lays down some myelin (a fat-based substance that insulates your nerve pathways) to improve the efficiency of the neurological pathways that are being used. That's how movement patterns form, and to prevent injury proper training must stimulate the body consistently to develop proper movement patterns.

Though I have my preference, I'll never argue that there is only one correct way to train. What is absolutely necessary is following underlying principles that must be present to make training effective. That means we must train to be strong enough to handle the forces of life. If we don't, our body responds with inflammation and our health, mobility, and quality of life are jeopardized.

Training technique itself must emphasize position and velocity. Position ensures we use the correct muscles to do their intended jobs, and velocity ensures we activate the appropriate reflex arcs in our nervous system that teach our muscles to stay long, absorb force, and keep us healthy and active. These principles are the foundation of our training program, so please get in touch through my web site if you'd like to learn more.