Hypothetical CrossFit vs Gymnastics S&C

Started by Jay Guindon, April 22, 2010 · 9 Replies · 7,410 Views

Jay Guindon

So I have a hypothetical scenario that I personally thought would be a fun thought experiment, maybe you guys won't so much so if you don't, don't be too hard on me.

You have two twins, same height and weight, both eating a paleo diet, for our purposes they are as close to the same as you can possibly get. One trains CrossFit for a year, the other trains Coach Sommers Gymnastics S&C. They both have great programmers and both get the best programming from each discipline and thus have equally sound programs in their respective training modality.

At the end of a year and a half they compete in a series of mixed gymnastic/lifting WODs

1) 21-15-9 of 225lb deadlift, handstand pushup

2) 21-15-19 of 135lb clean, ring dips

3) 21-15-9 of 95lb thruster, pullups

4) 5 rounds for max reps of bodyweight benchpress and pullups

5) 40 pound Dumbbell snatch, 21 reps, right arm then 21 L Pull-ups then 40 pound Dumbbell snatch, 21 reps, left arm then 21 L Pull-ups for three rounds

6) two muscle ups, 4 handstand pushups, 8 32kg kettlebell swing as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes

7) Five rounds of 7 muscle ups and 21 95lb sumo deadlift high pull

8 )95 pound Overhead squat, 21 reps, 42 Pull-ups, 95 pound Overhead squat, 15 reps, 30 Pull-ups, 95 pound Overhead squat, 9 reps,18 Pull-ups

9) 115 pound Thruster, 21 reps, 15 ft Rope Climb, 12 ascents, 115 pound Thruster, 15 reps, 15 ft Rope Climb, 9 ascents, 115 pound Thruster, 9 reps, 15 ft Rope Climb, 6 ascents

Would the CrossFitter be better because that is what they train for or would the gymnastic S&C twin be better because they have much better command of the gymnastic components and also are really strong at the weightlifting because gymnastic S&C transfers well to moving external objects too?

The next scenario is what if they only did weightlifting workouts

1)30 reps of 135lb clean and jerk

2)Deadlift 1.5 bodyweight, bench bodyweight, clean .75 bodyweight for 10rep,then 9,then 8, 7, 6, down to 1

3)75 reps of 75lb power snatch

4) CrossFit Total

Who would do better. The gymnastic S&C because they are generally stronger or the CrossFitter because they do lift in workouts but not usually for max strength type stuff

If you respond, thanks for playing the game!

rubadub

I think you would have to get quite specific, e.g. you said handstand pushups, crossfit HSPU would be called HeSPU to a lot of people here. Also are the pullups kipping etc.

Also look at the style of ring dips this crossfit guy is doing.

DHTAAutmlJY

Slow ring turned out ones are far more difficult than those, even during the video it says "use of legs is acceptable".

Jay Guindon

If it was HeSPU than it should be even easier for the gymnast. And if it's CF ring dips then again it should be easier for the gymnast. But because they're CrossFit workouts then it would be to CrossFit standards not gymnastic standards.

Neal Winkler

That's a silly scenario. Specificity rules. Plus there is lots of technique in the cleans that gymnast won't be familiar with at all.

braindx

Basically, everything you listed CFers do...

But you didn't list a single thing that a gymnast only would be training.

Max handstand hold?

Rings HSPUs?

Back lever/front lever/planche holds?

Etc.

Seems biased. Why are they all metabolic workouts?

It's clear the CFer would dominate in most if not all of them. But the gymnast probably wouldn't lag behind that much except in workouts that require more technique such as the Olys

Jay Guindon

The whole point was just because I was wondering if a gymnast could be as good at CrossFit without doing CrossFit, that's all. That's why there's metcons and it's all CrossFit stuff. It is not uncommon to see people who don't train CrossFit come in and dominate at the CrossFit Games, and I was wondering if a gymnast could do that. As far as the technical aspect, yes Olympic lifts are hard to learn to be GOOD at, they are not however hard to learn to do in a few hours to a sufficient level to complete a CrossFit workout. I'm not an olympic lifter but I can do Randy (the snatch workout) just fine and I've only olympic lifted a handful of times. i am not however awesome at Olifitng.

Neal Winkler

Those people at the crossfit games who don't do crossfit, that is only year round. They still have to get their metcon up beforehand, so they train crossfit.

Endurance is faster to come and go than strength, so they don't have to do the metcons year round.

Blairbob

Case in point:

http://games2010.crossfit.com/blog/2010/04/laurie-galassi/ She came in 1st at the Norcal Regional. You can read her log here http://beyondthewhiteboard.com/members/9566

You may also want to check out this:

A gymnast probably wouldn't have a difficult time with 1,4,5,&6.

The thrusters and cleans might pose a problem and might not.

However, the clean may not pose that much of a problem, actually the thruster might pose more of a problem if the gymnast could power clean. I think I remember learning the clean on day 1 since it never stumped me when I was introduced nor did the FS. I was not a gymnast at that time though into amatuer BW manipulation (martial arts and polevaulting with rudimentary gymnastics as our drills).

The gymnast would probably have a helluva time with the BS, not only the mechanics but the sensation of being crushed by a weight.

However, the clean, thruster and SDHP and OHS are all light enough that they may not pose any issue. Still, more than likely the CFer would have a lot more strength endurance besides CNS adaptation but according to this, who knows:

http://board.crossfit.com/showpost.php?p=97294&postcount=3

Seiji

I found out that about a 5 minute walk away from my high school is a CrossFit Evolution.

EVEN BETTER: There's a cheerleading gym (which most likely means all they have are tumbling apparatuses) almost directly across the street from my new school.

Just felt like sharing, all my opinions on this topic have already been said by others.