CrossFit as a Training Intervention in Tactical Strength & Conditioning

CrossFit as a Training Intervention in Tactical Strength & Conditioning

Where strength and conditioning applications in sport are centred around athletic performance within known dates and parameters of competition, tactical populations require access to sustained operational readiness to use in a variety of conditions, circumstances, environments and time periods (Scofield & Kardouni, 2015). In this context, the appeal of CrossFit among tactical populations, with the total fitness and super-wellness it offers as the prize from following it’s constantly varied, functional and high intensity training protocols (Glassman, 2002), seems to make sense. Tactical populations could include first responders – fire, law enforcement, paramedic, and the military, with applicants drawn from a broad span of the general population and with wide ranging physical fitness histories. These, tactical athletes, require uniquely high levels of generalized fitness, but though there may be alignment with the diversity of fitness components and methodologies found in CrossFit, consideration might be given to the limitations and risk of injury that comes with it (Schlegel, 2020).

CrossFit is effective in delivering tactical athlete desired (Bergeron et al., 2011) concurrent strength and endurance-based fitness outcomes in both the long and short term (Schlegel, 2020), though care must be taken to in the organisation of training, allowing appropriate recovery periods, in particular between hypertrophy and endurance focused sessions, and following the principles of progression, overload, and specificity (Scofield & Kardouni, 2015), (Schlegel, 2020). Advanced CrossFit athletes, identified by their superior body composition, strength, capacity for endurance, and lean mass, may have arrived at such status as a result of a strong training history and long established and supportive choices and behaviours around sleep, nutrition, stress management, and recovery (Mangine et al., 2020), however these same complementary elements might not be familiar, instinctive, nor afforded to the tactical athlete, who may not have the same access to sleep, nutrition, down time, and even low level daily activity as they spend long hours at a desk or in a vehicle. Sleep, in particular, can have a significant impact on athletic performance, and optimising this one component of health appears to result in improved reaction, endurance, and accuracy (Watson, 2017), suggesting that a sleep hygiene strategy for tactical populations might be of great value.

The soldier athlete, a term launched by the U.S. Army in 2010, aimed to map their new fitness initiative against collegiate strength & conditioning programmes, to improve physical performance, but also injury mitigation and enhanced nutrition (Scofield & Kardouni, 2015), suggesting a high value placed on holistic programming to maximise health & wellness in tangent with the physical development of their operators. Alongside a recognition that strength was a component of great value (Orr et al., 2022) just as endurance, this consideration of health might also explain the reason for older law enforcement candidates having a higher separation rate (Lockie et al., 2019), as they may not have lived within a culture of health and physicality until that point. A holistic approach to programming for tactical populations might also give validity to the CrossFit WOD, workout of the day, which though perhaps ineffective in driving notable physiological adaptation due to is non specific and random nature (Schlegel, 2020), might play a role in developing some of the mental qualities that would certainly benefit the operational athlete (Raabe et al., 2021). Mental tenacity, time pressured objectives, competition, and working with, or against, others, can be strongly linked to the characteristic of the tactical athlete (Băițan, 2021), though this may be in the context of a natural lean towards viewing tactical athletes through the lens of combat ready operators, which may narrow our scope of practice and impact in tactical strength and conditioning.

Injuries among tactical populations are not uncommon, but though undesired in operation, it is argued that an injury free fitness programme could by its very nature be ineffective, and indeed detrimental in establishing an expected standard of fitness and body composition (Poston et al., 2016). The injury rate in CrossFit is comparable with strength sports, Olympic Weightlifting, powerlifting, and gymnastics, and most commonly reported issues link to the lower back and shoulder (Weisenthal et al., 2014), and has been shown comparable to the injury rates in traditional military training (Poston et al., 2016), however, some of these might be further reduced by ensuring a warm up that includes isometric exercises, and additional focus when performing exercise that involve the shoulder or lower back (Szajkowski et al., 2023). This might also help make clear the different needs and requirements of differing sub tactical populations groups, these injury risks may be less acceptable in first responders than they are the military. First responders are themselves a diverse group, but as they more broadly represent the general population, it is reasonable to surmise that many will not meet physical health guidelines (Feito et al., 2018), which may indicate that their needs are met with more creative and accessible exercise interventions but still linked perhaps to CrossFit ideals in their need to include high intensity functional training.   

There is clear and compelling value to tactical populations in the fundamental nature of CrossFit’s high intensity functional training and exercise principles, but perhaps this ought be viewed as a consequence of attained body composition, strength, and aerobic endurance (Meier et al., 2023), as well as their inclusion of loaded carries, which play a significant role (Marins et al., 2020) across all tactical populations groups, but might be arrived at by more tailored, organised training models, but also through the wider lens of holistic health and fitness. Reducing the risks of injury and disease, helping manage stress, and encouraging choices and behaviours that result in healthy body composition, might have as great an impact on the tactical athlete as any physical training intervention in respect to longevity of career and operational performance (Hofman, 2015). A suggested approach then, might be to cherry pick from the components of CrossFit that carry the most benefit, and integrate these with strategies and interventions that promote recovery and wellness, movement and relaxation, health and connection.

May we stay curious, appropriately sceptical, and open to different.  

Coach.

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