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CROSSFIT FOR SPORTS PERFORMANCE PART II
How to adapt the training methodologies for sports specific preparation

Last post I talked about some traditional exercises commonly used in CrossFit workouts that should probably be replaced or at least adapted.

What may be more important is for what CrossFit trainers can ADD to their programming if they happen to be training athletes for ther particular sport and not necessarily for CrossFit. Again, that is the point of this. If an athlete is in their post-season or first off-season phase and they are training for crossfit, then by all means, do crossfit.

Most coaches that have never done crossift or have interacted wit their coaches would be surprised that the general training session structure is very similar to a strength & conditioning format.

Pre-Hab Soft Tissue Work
Warm-Up
Skill or Explosive Movement
Strength Exercise
Hypertrophy or conditioning circuit or supersets
Finisher

The application may be different, but there is a structure. It is not just everything to failure and then throw-up while showing everyone your callouses.

So what consideration need to be made if you have an athlete preparing for their season?

You could just have them do CrossFit because in your mid Crossfit is awesome and covers everything. The preparation of Soccer Mom;s to be the front line against the Zombie apocalypse is not really the best plan to get your 15 yer old ready for their pre-season camp.

Here we go...

Needs Analysis

I don't want to sound condescending, but if you don't do this before training athletes, you need to. You have to. If you don't know what a Needs Analysis is then you must stop training athletes immediately. Seriously, stop. Some coaches will do this without knowing because they have been training for so long.

I am not going to take everything straight from the NSCA Essentials text so I will summarize and paraphrase. Here is what needs to happen before you prescribe one exercise. Ask these questions:

1.) Evaluation of the Sport
Basically, the coach needs to understand the fundamental movement analysis of the sport. Know how the athlete is required to move during a particular contest. This is specific to the sport, the position, and even the level the sport is played at. Training all football players a the same may seem logical. And mostly because of scheduling and logistics, they are. But if you watch an offensives lineman and a defensive back during a game, they don't even resemble the same sport. Understanding the movements required will help develop an exercise pool. I am in no way saying to simulate these movements in the weightroom. Just to understand what is required of them to success at their sport.

Secondly, the coach needs to understand the bioenergetics of the sport. What is the primary energy system needed for competition of the sport? I realize that the body never uses just one energy system, but coaches need to understand the basic work to rest ratios and the variability between them.

Lastly, and most importantly, the coaches needs to understand the common injuries most likely to happen for each sport. Injury rates will =differ from sport to sport and for each gender. Understanding the different between a combat, collision, contact, non-contact, and no contact sports will help with certain pre-habilitation protocols. Not doing direct neck work for collision and combat sports is borderline negligent. Female athletes should always have an ACL prevention protocol. Overhead or throwing athletes should have extensive posterior shoulder girdle and thoracic spine mobility exercises incorporated in the program.

2.) Assessment of the Athlete
Creating a profile for each athlete who walks into your gym may seem like a daunting task. But, having your 19 year old collegiate swimmer train the same as your 49 year old insurance salesman doesn't make sense. CrossFitters often use the term scaling to adjust workouts for their member, but that is a short cut in my opinion.

Assessing the training age and history of every athlete is important. I am not a huge fan of movement screens in general. I have have had many colleagues get trained on and then implement the FMS on their teams. Every single time, the general outcome of the teams concluded that their players had weak abdominal strength, week posterior chain strength, and week posterior shoulder girdle strength. Well, no shit. I could have told you that was the outcome. That is the standard profile of just about every athlete. As much as I don't agree with the FMS (are you really changing the training program based on their score?...really?) I do think you have to possess a general understanding of how long they have trained for, what they did if they have trained before, and what they need to improve on. If nothing else to make you a better coach.

Lastly, you will need to have an injury history available. This isn't as easy as it seems because I doubt you will have a physical on your new members and they not always willing to divulge past injuries. Once this information is attained, scaling workouts may not be enough. You will most likely need to develop a progression to et the player from the cleared stage (post-rehab) to the full-go stage. Assessing what the athlete can do and when they are ready to do more take time and knowledge. The athlete cannot leave your facility more injured than when they arrived.

10 Exercises to Add to Common CrossFit Programming

I don not want to assume that your local CrossFit gyms aren't incorporating these exercises. Also, every sport is different, so this list will be very general.

1.) Direct Neck Work for Collision and Combat Sport Athletes.
This is the best course of action to reduce the chance of concussions, stingers, and spinal injuries.

2.) Posterior Shoulder Girdle Exercies
Exercises for the rear delts like scapular retraction and external rotation can help reduce shoulder injuries.

3.) T-Spine Mobility
Especially for throwing athletes. T-Spine mobility can increase the range of motion and thus velocity while decreasing the stress placed on the gleno-humeral and elbow joints.

4.) Torso Stability and Anti-Rotation
Planks, Fall-outs and Palloff presses generally address the the abdominals in the way they are used in sport.

5.) Strict Pull-Ups, Chins, and Rows
Understanding how the lats and upper back are used in most sports is important. Besides rowing and combat sports, the upper back is used to decelerate the arm in motion. It protects the should joint. This is done eccentrically. So the pulling exercises should emphasize the eccentric contraction of the lift equally.

6. Direct Hamstring Work
Cleans and deadlifts may not be enough. Exercises like Glute-Ham Raises, and Glute Ham Bridge and Curls can improve speed and reduce the chance of pulls and knee injuries.

7. COD Drills
The ability to decelerate and accelerate in multiple directions is imperative for improved sports performance.

8. Sprints
Proper distance, volume, and rest intervals are the most important, second only to intensity. Remember if you are not running full speed (because of fatigue from high volume of short rest periods) you are not developing speed.

9. Sports Specific Conditioning
Understand the Energy system required to be developed for that particular sport. Adjust the distance and rest rations accordingly. Also, incorporating the Prowler®, sleds,and running on the actual field or court all need to be added.

10.) Gripwork

Final Note
Unless the athlete is getting tested on Fran, find out what they will be tested on when they return to campus. Will they have to max> What is their conditioning test etc. Communicate with the sport coach or the strength coach to build a positive rapport

Mark Watts' Training Log

Articles by Mark Watts

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