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CrossFit is a strength and conditioning programme that has become a global community, supporting the development of thousands of small gyms. CrossFit is unashamedly bold in its claims to "forge elite fitness" and specifically claims to be suitable for fighters, saying, "We've used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don't change programs."

But others argue that CrossFit is too unspecialised, too randomised and too general to be an effective training programme for any athlete in isolation. CrossFit, they say, is simply another variation of general physical preparedness.

So is CrossFit just for CrossFitters, or is it actually an effective training system for fighters? FK.UK asked two functional fitness heavyweights to go head to head on the issue. Jacob Tsypkin, martial artist and owner of CrossFit Monterey argues for the claim that CrossFit is suitable for training fighters, and Phil Nourse, a UK Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist argues against.

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[chronyx]

OK to discuss?

As it was enjoying Muay Thai conditioning but being, crap is the term I think , at fighting/sparring that meant I found out about Crossfit and from there FK.UK.

For me, I'd say the met-cons have a bit more of a resistance element built into each one (50 rep kicks on a bag either side/pad work vs squats, push and pull ups) but there's definitely more variety too.

For me, it's spot on. The chances of me getting into a ring are negligible at best!

Would be interesting to see what the real fighters on here think!

[FK Pimp]

should the discussion not have been crossfit for fight conditioning?

[greg]

seems fairly obvious to me, "is crossfit good for doing a specific sport", the answer is invariably no. It may help, but specific training would obviously be better. "Is crossfit good for somebody who does a random assortment of sports", the answer would probably be yes.

[mrbourgot]

As an ex fighter and pretty much ex crossfitter, I found crossfit pretty useful in getting in shape for fighting. However, I do think it needs to be tailored. MP WODs and some of the half hour jobs aren't much use at all. Something like fight gone bad is obviously a bit more relevant.

A big point that Ross Enamait makes is that your conditioning should complement your fighting. One of the dangers of crossfit is that that becomes the focus and you start to think that your fran time is more important than your ring skills.

[Mark]

I agree with parts of Jacob Tsypkin piece, however it is very broad in its description so it is easy to do so. I am, along with Phil Nourse most certainly of the mind that CF in its purest form is not suitable for fighters as a singular training mode, for reasons as simple as: If the fighter is two weeks out from a fight 7 singles of max effort deadlift is simply pointless, as is lifting 60kg 30 times above the head AFAP, even though that type of workout can be classed as a work capacity improver, at no point in a fight does it have any relevence.

I certainly would not put fighters through kipping pull-ups, muscle-ups, high rep Oly lifts or deadlifts on a random basis or structured as the chances of injury is to high when put into context with the technical training/sparring etc, the chance of over use injuries is huge.

A combat athlete certainly needs a specific program that leans towards the art/sport they take part in, with a little randomness thrown in.

CF in and of itself does not develop elite fitness for any sport other than CF sport events and many of the top perfomers with 'elite' fitness in the CF circles were already top performers in their physical pursuits prior to them training in CF methods.

The question in reality is an easy one, are there any major elite sporting titles being held by anyone that trains purely with the CF method? The answer I think we can safely say is no.

CF is an awesome tool as a methodology, the gains that the general trainer can make is fantastic and I would point any one towards a CF gym if they are frustrated with their gains, but would a I point a sports person? No not if they were serious about competing to win!!

Mark