It will come as no surprise to most of you that CrossFit’s view of fitness is a contrarian one. We cannot support a traditional approach to fitness as the very definition of fitness does not include words such as: strength, speed, power, coordination or even endurance. Even more troubling is the belief that the general public holds both in opinion and in media that endurance athletes are exemplars of fitness. We do not.

CrossFit makes use of three different standards (See “Fitness Standards” for a more complete definition) or models for evaluating and guiding fitness. Collectively, these three standards define the CrossFit view of fitness.

The first is based on the ten general physical skills widely recognized by exercise physiologists. The second standard, or model, is based on the performance of athletic (or even everyday) tasks, while the third is based on the energy systems that drive all human action.

The motivation for the three standards is simply to ensure the broadest and most general fitness possible. Our first model evaluates our efforts against a full range of general physical adaptations, in the second the focus is on breadth and depth of performance, with the third the measure is time, power and consequently energy systems.

Adapted from “What Is Fitness?” found in The CrossFit Journal, October 2002 issue written by Greg Glassman.
To read the entire article, click What is Fitness.

For additional information read CrossFit Foundations.