By Greg Glassman
This article, by BSI’s co-founder, was originally published in The CrossFit Journal. While Greg Glassman no longer owns CrossFit Inc., his writings and ideas revolutionized the world of fitness, and are reproduced here.
Coach Glassman named his training methodology ‘CrossFit,’ which became a trademarked term owned by CrossFit Inc. In order to preserve his writings in their original form, references to ‘CrossFit’ remain in this article.
Download a pdf of the original article HERE.
I want to help with some of the basic terminology of metabolic conditioning, so here’s Pukie’s guide to easy bioenergetics complete with commentary
Pukie
V02 max:
Maximum amount of oxygen that can be used continuously divided by body mass. Long the gold standard of aerobic fitness, the slight advantage that endurance athletes have over anaerobic athletes in V02 max can be attributable to the low body mass of endurance athletes. I can use a similar definition of strength – by dividing lifts by weight – to show that little guys are stronger than big guys.
Aerobic:
Low powered, low intensity, long duration – more than several minutes. This is the easy stuff. Introduced to real efforts these guys crumble!
Anaerobic:
Higher-powered, higher intensity, shorter duration efforts– those less than several minutes. Anaerobic is Greek for “worth while.” Pukie wants to know why there are 1 million recreational triathletes but only 7 recreational 800 meter athletes.
Lactate threshold:
The point as work intensity increases where lactic acid levels in the blood rise faster than can be controlled. Lactic acid is a waste product of anaerobic work. Also known as “anaerobic threshold,” the lactate threshold marks the point in intensity where work has become largely anaerobic. This is also the “pussy rest-stop.”
Interval training:
Exercise protocol of set periods of high intensity rest and work. This is how anaerobic athletes develop tremendous levels of aerobic fitness – through intervals. I want to meet the scientist who invented this. How else could you do high intensity work?
Heart rate monitor:
It’s all about the performance. Forget heart rate. The heart rate monitor is a fun toy, though. Mix dehydration, beer, steep hill, bicycle, hot humid day and see who can get the highest number. I’ve seen seven people over 200 at once on the same hill. What can you and your friends do?
Download Original PDF
Greg Glassman founded CrossFit, a fitness revolution. Under Glassman’s leadership there were around 4 million CrossFitters, 300,000 CrossFit coaches and 15,000 physical locations, known as affiliates, where his prescribed methodology: constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity, were practiced daily. CrossFit became known as the solution to the world’s greatest problem, chronic illness.
In 2002, he became the first person in exercise physiology to apply a scientific definition to the word fitness. As the son of an aerospace engineer, Glassman learned the principles of science at a young age. Through observations, experimentation, testing, and retesting, Glassman created a program that brought unprecedented results to his clients. He shared his methodology with the world through The CrossFit Journal and in-person seminars. Harvard Business School proclaimed that CrossFit was the world’s fastest growing business.
The business, which challenged conventional business models and financially upset the health and wellness industry, brought plenty of negative attention to Glassman and CrossFit. The company’s low carbohydrate nutrition prescription threatened the sugar industry and led to a series of lawsuits after a peer-reviewed journal falsified data claiming Glassman’s methodology caused injuries. A federal judge called it the biggest case of scientific misconduct and fraud she’d seen in all her years on the bench. After this experience Glassman developed a deep interest in the corruption of modern science for private interests. He launched CrossFit Health which mobilized 20,000 doctors who knew from their experiences with CrossFit that Glassman’s methodology prevented and cured chronic diseases. Glassman networked the doctors, exposed them to researchers in a variety of fields and encouraged them to work together and further support efforts to expose the problems in medicine and work together on preventative measures.
In 2020, Greg sold CrossFit and focused his attention on the broader issues in modern science. He’d learned from his experience in fitness that areas of study without definitions, without ways of measuring and replicating results are ripe for corruption and manipulation.
The Broken Science Initiative, aims to expose and equip anyone interested with the tools to protect themself from the ills of modern medicine and broken science at-large.
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