"The ability of the heart, lungs and blood vessels to deliver oxygen to working muscles and tissues, as well as the ability of those muscles and tissues to utilize that oxygen."
Muscles require oxygen in order to produce energy for exercise periods beyond 4 minutes (here's a link that explains energy pathways in detail)
The more efficiently your body can intake oxygen, infuse it into your blood, transport it to the working muscles and eliminate the waste created, the greater endurance you will have.
In addition to efficiently creating energy, the body is also attempting to regulate it's core temperature. Respiration and perspiration both contribute to ensuring your body doesn't overheat during a workout.
1. Cardiovascular and respiratory endurance
The Goal of CrossFit is to constantly improve general physical preparedness. In order to do this, workouts and their component exercises address some or all of the 10 domains of fitness.
2. Stamina
3. Strength
4. Flexibility
5. Power
6. Speed
7. Coordination
8. Agility
9. Balance
10. Accuracy
What is CrossFit > 10 Domains of Fitness
“The ability of body systems to process, deliver, store, and utilize energy.”
Stamina allows athletes to function at high intensities over various periods of duress. In addition to oxygen, muscular systems require a balance of macronutrients for activity.
In a sprint the body will call on different energy systems than a marathon. Conditioning each metabolic pathway will allow for optimal performance in any type of physical activity.
Wise nutritional choices will help the body create the energy reserves it needs for each energy system.
“The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force.”
Applying force to an external object such as a barbell is how we manipulate the outside world. The greater force we need to move (or lift) the object, the more strength is required.
The cross-sectional area of a particular muscle group along with the intensity of the muscular recruitment determines the force produced.
Strength is the most important domain in play when athletes are testing 1 rep maximums.
“The ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint.”
Flexibility allows the body to assume certain positions and is necessary for the proper execution of many exercises.
Limited flexibility can contribute to injury and improper form. Flexibility can be increased over time by stretching and mobilizing joints and muscle groups. Commonly overlooked in overall fitness, this is crucial in staying healthy and preventing injury.
"The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply maximum force in minimum time."
Power is CrossFit’s primary indicator of performance in MetCons. An example of power measurement would be moving a barbell from the ground to overhead. A clean and jerk occurring over 5 seconds would have a lower power output than a snatch occurring over 3 seconds, assuming the barbell had the same weight and was moved to the same height.
In CrossFit it is very important to keep intensity high, maximizing the athlete’s power output.
Power is determined by work (force x distance) / time.
"The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement."
Speed is very important component of power. Small cycle times will allow movements to be completed many more times in the same length of time, increasing the amount of work done.
Great acceleration requires the use of fast twitch muscle fibers, similar to max effort lifts.
"The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement."
Many exercises use multiple bodily moves to generate a single repetition. Different parts of the body work together to create these movements many times during a workout.
Developing coordination will allow athletes to carry out complicated movements such as the Olympic lifts. Combining the slow pull from the ground, aggressive extension of the hips, quick pull under the barbell, and catch on the shoulders will result in the single distinct movement, the clean.
"The ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another."
Generating force many times over and in different directions is crucial to the completion of a CrossFit workout. Agility is responsible for the change in body position when changing direction or changing the acceleration of an external object.
Jumping rope, box jumps, and Olympic lifts are examples of exercises that require the athlete to provide rapid movement transitions.
"The ability to control the placement of the body’s center of gravity in relation to its support base."
Center of mass of a given system can change drastically with different weight distribution. Adding an external object to an exercise, such as a loaded barbell, can create a need for increased stability and balance.
Overhead squat, for instance, will force an athlete to keep the barbell in a single plane as it moves through the repetition.
On the other end, handstands will require and athlete to rotate their center of mass to center it over their hands, now acting as the support base.
"The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity."
Accuracy helps us manipulate external objects in complicated lifts and “throws” such as wallball or clean.
Being able to hit a target, or throw a weight to a certain height is an outcome of accuracy in fitness.
Power without the ability to control it would do us very little good. Accuracy allows fitness to become more useful in real life applications and can be better trained through continuous movement repetition.