CrossFit Endurance: Intro to Programming

Originally published in the CrossFit Journal May 16, 2011. “This is really what CrossFit Endurance is designed to do: it’s to make you suck less,” says John McBrien, a CrossFit Endurance coach. “Find the area where you suck, and then make it suck less. That’s the goal, right?” According to McBrien, traditional endurance training focuses on volume and intensity, with technique training only as a “last resort.” However, CrossFit Endurance programming, like CrossFit itself, starts with technique, then adds intensity and volume only after the technique is sound. “One of the reasons we came up with CrossFit Endurance was to help the CrossFit athlete develop a bigger gas tank; that is, develop stamina,” McBrien explains. He says CrossFit Endurance seeks to replace cardiorespiratory endurance with stamina. “Think about stamina as gears on a car—you want to use all the energy systems effectively. If we can teach the athlete to use all of them effectively, it’s not only going to help their anaerobic capacity but it is also going to help their cardiorespiratory endurance,” he says. For the CrossFitter, CrossFit Endurance brings pacing, and for the endurance athlete, it brings intensity with interval training. The CrossFit Journal -- (http://journal.crossfit.com) The CrossFit Games® - The Sport of Fitness™ The Fittest On Earth™