CrossFit develops General Physical Prepardness: Lessons from Epictetus to Hackenbruck (no matter what Erin Simmons says)

Avoid Intense Ideology—or at least it’s bad effects

Erin Simmons posted an interesting piece on why she doesn't do CrossFit recently. 

Erin Simmons has a thoughtful take on why she doesn't do CrossFit

I agree with a lot of what she writes. I find some aspects of her critique shortsighted. One feature of her writing that I find completely unassailable is her attempt to get people to think things through carefully instead of blindly buying an ideology.

Simmons has lots of friends who CrossFit. Recognizing that many of them might get upset at a critique of the popular workout program, she sets her sights not on making friends, or even worrying about not alienating people. Rather, her “goal is not to simply go along with what is popular or to avoid tough subjects so that people won’t ‘unfollow’ me. The goal is to educate people about fitness and health and to warn against potentially harmful or unhealthy diet and exercise practices.”

To the extent that she gets people to examine the quality of instruction they're receiving, to consider the potential for benefit and harm their workout program is doing and can do, Simmons is on the right track. 

CrossFitters are often accused of being in a cult. So are devotees of this blog's other subject: Charlie Munger. Munger himself often levels the charge (good-naturedly) at those who attend Berkshire Hathaway's annual meetings to hear him and partner Warren Buffet speak.

If you've ever read this blog, you're aware that I agree with much of what both CrossFit founder Greg Glassman and Munger say and do. And I think being in wide agreement with them and following their prescriptions for physical fitness and worldly wisdom will lead most of us to exceptional results. But blindly following them, taking their opinions and outlooks as gospel, or never formulating one's own opinions or reexamining their positions in light of experience--or own or observed in others--is stupid. 

Munger, in no uncertain terms, announces that such uncritical adherence to ideology is extremely harmful.

CrossFit (and Epictetus) has it right

Why? Because Olympic and power lifts are not meant to be done in sets of 30 or for time. They are extremely technique-oriented and are meant to be explosive and powerful over very short periods of time with plenty of rest.

True. Kind of. Greg Glassman has said that the most important adaptation CrossFit offers happens between the ears. In my opinion, the best thing CrossFit does is cultivate grit in its participants. Thinking that CrossFit gets Olympic lifts ‘wrong’ because they’re designed for power and only power misses the mark.

Glassman’s point behind developing general physical preparedness is that life is unpredictable. Because we can’t know what life will throw at us, the workout program that forces us to tackle what’s in front of us—no matter what that is—is desirable.

Charlie Munger has lauded the importance of assiduity. And he likes it for the same reason Glassman likes general physical preparedness: because you just don’t know what’s coming. “I like th[e] word [assiduity] because it means: sit down on your ass until you do it. Two partners that I chose for one little phase in my life had the following rule when they created a design, build, construction team. They sat down and said, two-man partnership, divide everything equally, here’s the rule: if ever we’re behind in commitments to other people, we will both work 14 hours a day until we’re caught up. Needless to say, that firm didn’t fail. The people died very rich. It’s such a simple idea.

Epictetus on assiduity

 
“Another thing, of course, is that life will have terrible blows in it, horrible blows, unfair blows. And some people recover and others don’t. And there I think the attitude of Epictetus is the best. He said that every missed chance in life was an opportunity to behave well, every missed chance in life was an opportunity to learn something, and that your duty was not to be submerged in self-pity, but to utilize the terrible blow in constructive fashion. That is a very good idea. You may remember the epitaph which Epictetus left for himself: ‘Here lies Epictetus, a slave maimed in body, the ultimate in poverty, and the favored of the gods.’”

CrossFit’s Real problem: Iatrogenics

Despite her misdiagnosis of CrossFit’s unconventional use of Olympic and power lifts in metabolic conditioning workouts, Simmons’s charge that coaches do harm is well taken.

The CrossFit coach, like the medical professional, should be concerned with the phenomenon of iatrogenics: damage from treatment in excess of the benefits. Iatrogenics “caused by the healer,” iatros being a healer in Greek.

Nassim Taleb points out how painfully slowly the medical profession has been to deal with the fact of iatrogenesis, writing calling the discipline a ‘slow learner’ on the subject. Even worse, though, he writes, is that  “the very notion of iatrogenics is quite absent from the discourse outside medicine.”

If the maxim, ‘first do no harm’ should apply to medical professionals, it should just apply just as much to trainers. And, no doubt CrossFit trainers are sometimes guilty of doing the bad stuff Simmons writes that they do.

Success Leaves Clues

Charlie Munger is famous for saying, “success leaves clues.” He and many who admire his thinking believe that careful study of Berkshire Hathaway’s annual letters would be more valuable than an MBA. Learning from Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger is learning from the best at what they do.

CrossFit’s motto is ‘Forging Elite Fitness.’ Though he formulated a workout program that is ‘universally scalable,’ CrossFit founder Greg Glassman designed his workout program with an eye toward the elite athlete. His thinking in doing so was that people aspire to emulate the best. It’s not a new idea, Aristotle compared the practice of setting laws just above what’s possible to a conductor providing a pitch a half-step higher than the note he wanted his chorus to sing.

Munger has his own reasons to be elitist, too. In his piece, “The Need for More Multidisciplinary Skills from Professionals: Educational Implications,” Munger explicitly gears his arguments to ‘elite academia.’

He begins his piece by recognizing that ‘broadscale professionals’ need more multidisciplinary education. But then he gears his comments toward elite institutions and their elite students. Some of that makes sense; his address was to the fiftieth reunion of Harvard Law School’s Class of 1948. So, when he asks, “Was our education sufficiently multidisciplinary?,” he’s asking an appropriate question for his audience.

Munger’s subsequent exclusive focus on the elite, though, isn’t as necessary. He goes on to ask, “In elite broadscale soft science…” and “how far has elite academia progressed…” He clearly isn’t concerned with what the masses are up to. Partly, I think he shares Glassman’s motivations: changing what’s done at the elite level often has a galvanizing effect on what the rest of us do. You don’t have to look past the phenomenon of kids continuing to wear Jordan brand shoes more than 10 years after Michael’s retirement to figure that out. Munger’s elitism, though, runs a bit deeper than Glassman’s.

Consider his response to the question of what the most important of the 24 causes of psychological misjudgment is most important. Munger begins by saying it’s the way the factors combine to have a multiplying effect. He then goes on to posit why psychology as a discipline hasn’t latched on to this hugely important idea, after suggesting that he was like a truffle hound taking what he wanted from the discipline, he opined, “I don't think it's good teaching psychology to the masses. In fact, I think it's terrible.”

I’m not sure either Glassman’s or Charlie Munger’s elitism is always helpful. I may explore why later, but for now, I’d like to consider the kernel of their elitism that is absolutely valuable.

Correct. I am elitist.

Thomas Hackenbruck: Correct. I am elitist.

That quote doesn’t come from either Glassman or Munger, but from Ute CrossFit owner Thomas Hackenbruck. Hackenbruck exemplifies how strict adherence to elitism is a good thing.

He recently found himself in a bit of a Twitter kerfuffle, in which the charge was leveled against him that he’s ‘an elitist.’  Here’s the charge, “So you're saying there's no truth to "Anyone can CF?" The cost is what makes excellence? That is so elitist”

Here's what made Hackenbruck mad: getting his business undercut.
5 @CrossFit gyms within 20 miles all offering groupings right now. It's called the race to the bottom folks #NeverUs

His response? “Correct. I am elitist.”

Twitter exchange between Thomas Hackenbruck and Eric Kiv and Matt Riffe

It’s his rationale that’s interesting. Remember all of Erin Simmons’s critiques of CrossFit. Read her piece again. Most people will probably recognize some legitimate concerns. I certainly did. Whatever concerns you have about CrossFit after reading Simmons’s piece, consider how many apply to Ute CrossFit’s practice.

Simmons’s assertions that CrossFit coaches get certified in a weekend, that the only barrier to opening a gym is money and that trainers don’t have any real knowledge of proper form, especially regarding Olympic and power lifts, are undoubtedly accurate in some instances. But they’re not universally applicable, either, as Hackenbruck’s example makes clear.

A different set of anecdotal evidence

Thomas Hackenbruck and his wife Bobbie Jo decided to open a CrossFit gym largely on the basis of exactly the kind of anecdotal evidence Erin Simmons pointed to in her recent piece. In an interview with Stack, Bobbie Jo cited the lack of results clients at the corrective exercise clinic where she worked were getting to being a major factor in her deciding to open the gym. Clients were paying $300 to $400 per month and “No one was really getting fit at the corrective exercise clinic," she said. Especially compared to the results she was getting and her friends were getting from CrossFit.  "I thought, 'These people are paying a lot of money and not getting any real results.'" 

Hackenbruck’s practice: Do as I do

Hackenbruck gears the training offered at his gym to those who will receive it. 

CrossFit Ute has about 400 members; about 10 percent of whom are interested in competing in CrossFit. Not only are the 'regular' people numerically greater, they're the main focus for the gym. “They are the heart of your box and community," Bobbie Jo said. "We try to keep the CrossFit Games aspect separate. Training for the sport of CrossFit is a completely different thing than real CrossFit."

Thomas echoes his wife's sentiments, if "you have five or six people that are really asking for [competitive CrossFit courses] and want it and want it and want it but it’s only five or six people. You create a whole new class. You could have 15 people doing the regular class or you have four doing the competitors’ class. That’s not good business." 

Ute CrossFit minimum standards for 2013 CrossFit Games

To each according to his need; to each according to his ability

So, his solution was to treat different people, who have different goals and expectations, differently. "The thing that we’re really lucky here is we have the two spaces so we can do a competitors’ class over there and a regular class here," Thomas said. "We never ever want to cancel a regular class to do anything else unless it’s more important. Having two spaces has worked really well to do that stuff. I think your bread and butter has to be just CrossFit." 

Not only are the Hackenbrucks good at providing opportunity and instruction tailored to the different clients with different abilities and limitations, they're good at being up front with them as to why they get treated the way they do. 

"It was really important for us to make this known to everybody: if we’re going to have a separate group at a separate time with different workouts we need to explain to everybody in the gym why we do that so they don’t walk in the gym and look over and see someone doing that and think that person’s in better shape, what’s up with these secret workouts and how come we don’t do them if these are really the best things to do? I think it all comes back to taking care of your clients and developing trust with them. 

If we make a big change in the gym or we make a big decision or we add a new program it’s important to explain to every client this is what we’re doing and this is why we’re doing it and then they can make the decision if they want to do it or not. You never want to alienate your big client base. If you have this little secret group going on and people don’t understand what it is then it could be an issue."  

The Hackenbruck Secret to injury prevention  

The Hackenbrucks have a 'secret' that is especially applicable to the ten percent of their clients who are interested in CrossFit competition: the 1-to-1 Injury-Proofing Rule.

According to this rule, every one hour of training means a corresponding one hour in recovery and restorative work. 

And Thomas is no exception to that rule. “He gets in body work, he foam rolls, mobility exercises and the like,” Bobbie Jo said. “After his morning endurance workout—even though it’s at an easy effort—he takes a 20-minute ice bath.” 

The 1-to-1 training-to-recovery ratio works in preventing injuries. And when Ute CrossFit athletes complain of sore muscles or being tired, they're prescribed a bodyweight-only training program until they're right again.   

One final anecdote  

Before the 2013 CrossFit Games, which Thomas led his team Hack's Pack to its second consecutive win in the team competition, Hackenbruck had a 550-pound Back Squat, ran five kilometers in under 22:00, and had a 285-pound Snatch. 

 


Not everyone will be capable of those kinds of results. Even if Greg Glassman is right (and I think he is) that CrossFit is infinitely scalable, CrossFit may not be for everyone. But Thomas Hackenbruck is a wonderful example that CrossFit can bring out one of our best qualities: assiduity.