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.

How to Really Burn Fat

Everyone knows that to lose weight it is necessary to burn calories. And that's absolutely true. Simple Physics really: if you take in fewer calories than you burn, your body will be forced to tap into its fat stores to make up that deficit. As long as that deficit isn't so great that it causes other negative things to happen, the equation holds true.

So, to use up some of our fat we need to burn a lot of calories during our workout, right? Since it consumes a lot of calories, it sure sounds like cardio is a great way to do this. Well, let's find out:

For this example, you're a 200 pound man in really good shape, so you run 10 miles. Over that 10 miles, you'll burn 1300 calories (try your own calculation here) -- that's a lot! Then, over the next 2-3 hours, your metabolic rate will be elevated as you recover. This point is the key.

Assume your normal metabolic rate (what your body needs just to get through its day) is 100 calories per hour. For the next 3 hours after the run, this will increase to 300 calories per hour. So, after burning 1300 calories running, you've burned an additional 600 calories (200 extra for 3 hours), for a grand total of 1900. Good job!

Let's now check in with your friend, Ike. Ike doesn't really like to run, so he comes into the ARP clinic to do UltraFit. Most of his workout consists of holding some lunge and squat positions for several minutes, and occasionally moving some weights really fast. He claims he's working hard, but even though he somehow has a good physique, you don't buy it. In fact, during his time in the gym he may only burn 200 calories. Yikes!

But, when the body is stimulated correctly (high load and high velocity), the metabolic rate is altered more dramatically and for a longer period in recovery. So, instead of burning more calories for 3 hours after, Ike is going to burn more calories for 8 hours after. And instead of burning an extra 200 calories per hour, Ike is going to burn an extra 400 calories per hour.

And that is where the magic happens: In addition to the 200 calories during the workout, Ike is going to burn 400 extra calories per hour for 8 hours. That is 200 calories during the workout plus 3200 calories during recovery, for a grand total of 3400 calories.

In light of Ike's example, those 1900 calories you burned during the run and subsequent recovery don't sound quite as impressive. As I'm sure my wonderful readers have caught on by now, the point is to expand your focus. It matters not how many calories you burn during your workout, instead it matters how many calories your workout stimulates you to burn during an entire day.

Hopefully this example sheds some light on the riddle of why so many of the treadmill users have a little extra flab on their bodies, while a larger portion of the nice physiques are in other parts of the gym. To see a few examples of UltraFit training, check out our YouTube page.