'🗣 No-reps, the nemesis of CrossFit®.
How much advantage does an athlete gain by not meeting movement standards? 🧐💦 Let's consider 19.1 as an example. During wall-balls, a 180cm male needs to displace his center of mass around 55cm to break parallel. This breaks down to 50cm to hit parallel and 45cm to stay just above parallel (approximate numbers). Consequently, when the athlete fails to hit parallel, they end up doing approximately 20% less work per wall ball shot. The actual advantage might decrease slightly if they utilize the bounce at the bottom to leverage some elastic energy. 🦵[Pic2] illustrates the different forces placed on the knee at various knee angles during a squat. When the athlete remains above parallel, the force the quadriceps need to overcome is lower compared to when they break parallel. As a result, fewer energy resources are required per repetition. 🏐 In 19.1, wall-balls accounted for roughly 50% of the total time. Therefore, when an athlete consistently fails to break parallel, their score will be incorrectly improved by 5-10% (these numbers are conservative estimates). 💥 Finally, when the workout is not an AMRAP but a FOR TIME, the advantage becomes even more pronounced. Athletes can perform more repetitions in less time, allowing them to tap into the more powerful anaerobic energy systems. [See pic3] ❗️In conclusion, penalizing athletes who do not meet the standards is highly subjective. The exact performance benefit can never be accurately determined, but it is likely much greater than the few extra seconds or fewer reps that some athletes were given. What are your thoughts? Are these penalties a fair compromise, or should CrossFit® enforce stricter standards? #crossfit #squat #depth #standards #theopen #fitness #wallball #science #biomechanics #sport #exercise #train #elite #fit #biology **Pics are visual representations'
