Which Olympics Sport Would Better Prepare Someone for CrossFit?

CrossFit, a high-intensity fitness regimen combining elements of weightlifting, gymnastics, and cardiovascular training, demands versatility and comprehensive athleticism. With that in mind, is there a sport that is on display right now at the Olympics that would better translate to CrossFit? That is what we are here to find out.

Which Olympics Sport Would Better Prepare Someone for CrossFit?

The beauty of CrossFit is that it isn’t about one exercise performed over and over again. You need to be a jack of all trades. Do you run as fast as Usain Bolt? Doesn’t matter if you can’t lift two times your body weight when deadlifting. Can you snatch 305 pounds (138 kilos)? That does not mean you are the Fittest on Earth if you can’t cycle fast or swim for longer periods.

CrossFit is the kind of Sport that keeps on testing an athlete’s ability to adapt and overcome difficulties. So which Olympics sport could prepare you best for CrossFit elite-level championship? Let’s see what the criteria for selection we are looking at.

Criteria for Selection

To determine which Olympic sport would better prepare someone for CrossFit, we need to consider the following criteria:

1. Strength and Power: CrossFit frequently involves heavy lifting and explosive movements.
2. Endurance: Both cardiovascular and muscular endurance are crucial for sustained performance.
3. Skill Versatility: Proficiency in various physical skills and movements is essential.
4. Mental Toughness: The ability to push through intense workouts and discomfort.
5. Flexibility and Mobility: Efficient movement patterns and injury prevention require flexibility and mobility.

Weightlifting

Overview

Olympic weightlifting includes two main lifts: the snatch and the clean and jerk. Both lifts require significant strength, power, and technical skill.

Relevance to CrossFit

• Strength and Power: Weightlifting develops explosive strength and power, critical for many CrossFit movements.
• Skill Versatility: Mastery of complex lifts translates well to CrossFit’s varied weightlifting components.
• Mental Toughness: The precision and focus needed in weightlifting foster mental resilience.

Limitations:

• Endurance: Weightlifting does not adequately address the cardiovascular and muscular endurance required in CrossFit.
• Flexibility and Mobility: While important, the mobility needs are primarily related to specific lifting positions.

Gymnastics

Overview

Gymnastics involves performing exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, and coordination. Events include floor exercise, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bar.

Relevance to CrossFit

• Strength and Power: Gymnastics builds incredible upper body and core strength.
• Skill Versatility: Gymnastic skills, such as handstands, muscle-ups, and bodyweight control, are directly applicable to CrossFit.
• Flexibility and Mobility: High demands on flexibility and mobility are beneficial for injury prevention and movement efficiency.

Limitations:

• Endurance: Gymnastics does not significantly develop cardiovascular endurance.
• Lower Body Strength: Gymnastics primarily focuses on the upper body and core, with less emphasis on lower body strength and power.

Swimming

Overview

Swimming involves moving through water using coordinated arm and leg movements and breathing techniques. It is a full-body workout emphasizing cardiovascular endurance.

Relevance to CrossFit

• Endurance: Swimming builds excellent cardiovascular and muscular endurance.
• Flexibility and Mobility: Swimming requires and develops flexibility, particularly in the shoulders and hips.
• Mental Toughness: The need to maintain technique and effort while breathing in water conditions mental fortitude.

Limitations:

• Strength and Power: While swimming develops muscle tone and endurance, it does not provide the same level of strength and power training as CrossFit requires.
• Skill Versatility: Limited direct skill crossover to many of the complex movements in CrossFit.

Rowing

Overview

Rowing is a full-body exercise that involves repeated, coordinated movements of the arms, legs, and back to propel a boat. At the Olympics, athletes are rowing a real boat, while in CrossFit the competitors use a rowing machine to count distance and calories.

Relevance to CrossFit

• Endurance: Rowing is excellent for building cardiovascular and muscular endurance.
• Strength and Power: Rowing develops significant leg and back strength.
• Mental Toughness: The repetitive and strenuous nature of rowing builds mental resilience.

Limitations:

• Skill Versatility: Rowing is a repetitive motion, offering less variety in movement patterns compared to CrossFit.
• Upper Body Strength: While rowing uses the upper body, it does not develop it as comprehensively as CrossFit demands.

Decathlon

Overview

The decathlon comprises ten track and field events: 100 metres, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400 metres, 110 metres hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, and 1500 metres. It demands a high level of all-around athletic ability.

Relevance to CrossFit

• Strength and Power: Events like the shot put, discus throw, and javelin throw build explosive power.
• Endurance: Middle-distance runs and hurdles develop cardiovascular and muscular endurance.
• Skill Versatility: The variety of events develops a wide range of skills, beneficial for CrossFit’s diverse demands.
• Mental Toughness: Competing in ten different events over two days builds significant mental resilience.
• Flexibility and Mobility: Necessary for events like the high jump and pole vault.

Limitations:

• Specificity: While decathletes are generalists, the specificity of CrossFit’s technical lifts and gymnastic skills might require additional training.

Modern Pentathlon

Overview

Modern pentathlon includes five events: fencing, freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross-country running.

Relevance to CrossFit

• Endurance: The swimming and running components develop cardiovascular endurance.
• Skill Versatility: The variety of events promotes a wide range of physical skills.
• Mental Toughness: The diversity and intensity of the events foster mental resilience.

Limitations:

• Strength and Power: While offering a variety of skills, modern pentathlon does not focus extensively on developing strength and power.
• Flexibility and Mobility: Less emphasis on the specific flexibility and mobility requirements seen in CrossFit.

Boxing

Overview

Boxing involves striking your opponent with fists while maintaining defensive techniques, requiring strength, agility, and endurance.

Relevance to CrossFit

• Endurance: Boxing requires high levels of cardiovascular and muscular endurance.
• Strength and Power: Punching power and defensive maneuvers build significant upper body strength.
• Mental Toughness: The physical and psychological demands of boxing foster mental resilience.
• Flexibility and Mobility: Effective boxing requires agility and flexibility.

Limitations:

• Skill Versatility: While beneficial for endurance and upper body strength, boxing does not cover the full range of CrossFit skills.
• Lower Body Strength: Less emphasis on the lower body compared to CrossFit’s comprehensive demands.

The Best Preparation for CrossFit

Given the multifaceted nature of CrossFit, the ideal preparation would involve a sport that develops a broad range of physical attributes. While each of the sports discussed offers significant benefits, some stand out more than others.

Decathlon

The decathlon’s combination of strength, power, endurance, skill versatility, mental toughness, and flexibility makes it a strong candidate. The varied demands of its ten events closely mirror the diverse challenges faced in CrossFit. Decathletes must be proficient in both strength and endurance disciplines, akin to the balance required in CrossFit.

In our opinion, decathlon is the best Olympics sport that would better prepare an athlete to compete at the highest level of CrossFit. Yes, we know, most of the exercises done at decathlon are not in CrossFit (shot put, high jump, discus throw, pole jump, or javelin throw) – but all these sports help the athlete to become proficient in different forms of athleticism, which is the basis foundation for CrossFit.

But there is one more sport that also would help… yes, you know which one.

Weightlifting

Weightlifting would ensure the development of strength and power, while gymnastics would enhance skill versatility, upper body strength, and flexibility.

If you could combine weightlifting and gymnastics, this would be perfect to excel at CrossFit, better than Pentathlon itself. But between the two of them, weightlifting is best at preparing you for high-level CrossFit competitions as two of the most dominant athletes in the history of the Sport have come from weightlifting backgrounds (more on that below).

Weightlifting and gymnastics, together, cover most of the essential components of CrossFit, though additional cardiovascular training would be necessary to meet the endurance requirements.

Elite CrossFit Athletes with Backgrounds in Weightlifting, Track and Field, and Running

CrossFit is known for its diverse and high-intensity fitness regimen that combines elements of weightlifting, gymnastics, and cardiovascular training. Many of the sport’s top athletes come from a variety of athletic backgrounds.

The transition from other sports to CrossFit highlights the diverse skill sets required to excel in the sport. Athletes from weightlifting, track and field, and running backgrounds have found significant success in CrossFit, leveraging their prior experiences to enhance their performance. Weightlifters bring strength and technical proficiency, track and field athletes contribute speed and power, and runners provide endurance and mental resilience.

CrossFit Athletes with Weightlifting Backgrounds

Mat Fraser

Mat Fraser is perhaps the most famous CrossFit male athlete with a weightlifting background. Before dominating the CrossFit Games with five consecutive championships from 2016 to 2020, Fraser was a competitive weightlifter. He trained at the Olympic Training Center and competed at national levels, earning accolades such as the Junior National Champion title. His weightlifting prowess laid a strong foundation for his CrossFit career, particularly in events that involve heavy lifting and technical lifts.

Tia-Clair Toomey

Tia-Clair Toomey, the most decorated CrossFit Games individual champion with 6 titles to her name, also has a background in weightlifting. She has represented Australia in weightlifting at the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics. Her experience in competitive weightlifting has contributed significantly to her success in CrossFit, where her strength and technique have been major assets.

CrossFit Athletes with Track and Field Backgrounds

Kara Saunders

Kara Saunders, a prominent CrossFit athlete from Australia, has a background in track and field. Before becoming a CrossFit star, she was involved in athletics, which helped her develop the speed, endurance, and agility necessary for success in CrossFit. Her versatility and strong performance in endurance events at the CrossFit Games can be attributed to her track and field training.

Katrín Davíðsdóttir

Katrín Davíðsdóttir, a two-time CrossFit Games champion, also has roots in track and field. As a teenager in Iceland, she competed in various track and field events, including sprinting and hurdles. This background gave her a solid foundation in speed and explosive power, which have been crucial to her CrossFit achievements.

Kriti Eramo O’Connell

Kristi Eramo O’Connell is a prominent CrossFit athlete known for her impressive performances at the CrossFit Games. Before her rise in the CrossFit community, Eramo O’Connell had a strong background in endurance sports, particularly swimming and triathlons. Kristi Eramo O’Connell transitioned to CrossFit in 2014 and quickly made a name for herself in the sport. Her background in endurance sports translated well to the high-intensity, varied nature of CrossFit.

CrossFit Athletes with Running Backgrounds

Chris Hinshaw

Although not a competitor, Chris Hinshaw is a renowned CrossFit coach with a background in endurance running. He was a professional triathlete and competed in Ironman competitions before becoming a coach. Hinshaw has worked with many top CrossFit athletes to improve their endurance and running technique, demonstrating the crossover benefits of a running background.

Lauren Fisher

Lauren Fisher, a well-known CrossFit athlete, has a background in basketball and running. She competed in track and field during her high school years, which helped her develop the cardiovascular endurance and mental toughness necessary for CrossFit. Her running background is evident in her strong performance in endurance events at the CrossFit Games.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Olympic sport that would better prepare someone for CrossFit is the decathlon. Its comprehensive development of strength, power, endurance, skill versatility, mental toughness, and flexibility aligns closely with the demands of CrossFit. However, integrating elements from weightlifting and gymnastics could provide a balanced and robust foundation, potentially making the transition to CrossFit even smoother.

Key Takeaways

By considering the physical demands of CrossFit and comparing them to the training regimes and skills developed in various Olympic sports, we can identify the decathlon as the most comprehensive preparation, with weightlifting and gymnastics also providing substantial benefits. This approach ensures athletes develop the necessary attributes to excel in the diverse and demanding world of CrossFit.