The CrossFit Football Story

Did anyone at the games use CF Football? Or as part of his or her own training, use a CFF-style workout plan instead of following the mainsite(or their own version of traditional CF-style)? Does the higher intensity, less volume translate well across all domains? (Eg that 7k hill run...) Or is the mainsite-sytle better at that? Does CFF ever have days where they mix up the domains, such as the main page throwing in run 15k for time?

What are the views on using CFF for a rugby player? Obviously, power and strength are important factors on the rugby field. Football has quick plays with breaks in between. Rugby games have breaks, but they are less often (or some times not until the half ends (40 mins). Should I stick with the mainsite or make a switch to CFF?

Matt, I've been keeping an eye on the CFF site since it's inception and, while I don't do the program entirely, I occasionally pick wods off of it to use for myself and my clients. I'll try to answer your questions as best as I can, but hopefully John or somebody will get on here and clear up any errors I might make.

I'm not aware of any of the individual competitors from the games using CFF, exclusively, as their training program. I think a few affiliate teams that performed well might have used CFF to some degree. CFF programming wouldn't prepare you for a 7k very well at all. That level of long-duration endurance is one of the last things a football player needs for their sport. Especially when the development of that endurance would hurt their primary goals of power, strength and short-duration energy pathway development, which Max mentioned in the video. For this same reason, I don't think you will ever see a 15k thrown in on CFF.com.

I think CFF would work well for Rugby, given the large overlap of needs for the rugby player and football player. Although, the slight differences in time domain that you mention might be worth noting when putting together a program specifically for Rugby. I really don't know enough about Rugby to guess as to how you could adjust the CFF programming to suit those needs. But, I would put a lot of money on CFF doing a better job at preparing a Rugby player for sport, than the CF.com mainsite wods.

just to throw in my two cents the cff program is alot more suited to my needs as an athlete, just as a sprinter and soccer player. I havent followed it religiously, but the overall emphasis on power and speed definitely appeal to me more and have more of a direct carryover to track, but the soccer is helped as well just with those short bursts of speed.

Ryan, I am no expert by any means but I do have a lot of experience as a rugby player and in conditioning myself and others to play at a fairly high level. The first thing you have to factor in is the fact that each position has it's own unique set physical requirements and therefore reliance on different energy systems. I think Crossfit Football would be great for a winger or full back for example as they tend to rely heavily, although not exclusively, on the ATP-PC energy systems for short, explosive bursts and the production of large amounts of power and speed. Crossfit Football appears to replicate pretty perfectly these work loads/time relief ratios.
However, most other positions on the field tend to be involved in the game for more extended periods of play (multi phase ruck,tackle,support etc.) which relies far more heavily on the Lactic Acid System and Aerobic Systems (back row/scrum half in particular), and I do not think CF Football works in the appropriate time domains to sufficiently benefit players in the afore mentioned positions. Having said that I think that supplementing your training with intermittent CF Football workouts would definitely benefit the power/strength/speed requirements of all positions on the field. Rugby is a sport that taxes all of the ten general fitness components and whether you are following Crossfit or CF Football in my humble opinion there is not a fitness program out there that better prepares you for such a variable environment. Hope this helps.

I think this is a great program for football players or any power athletes. Being a former college strength coach I would have loved to suggest some of these workouts or workout designs to the coaches in place now. It is sad to see some strength coaches do meaningless movements such as bicep curls, strict chin ups and lat pull downs to develop mass and strength that could more effectively be delivered through kipping pull ups, deadlifts, cleans and squats. John has done an awesome job getting these programs to people and I applaud him for it. We use alot of the football programming with our highschool football players and have seen great results. We also incorporate traditional crossfit for variety, but I believe they have done a tremendous job delivering a program that is effective and efficient for football players. If you have never done a crossfit football workout try it they are difficult but fair in all aspects as all crossfit workouts are. Great job John, glad to have you contributing to the community.

Anyone know why they took the CFF link of the CF site? Or am I losing it?

My brother, John, and I started training together for football when he was 14 and I was 17 years old. He was headed to high school and I was headed to college to play football. Our workouts consisted of running at the track and lifting weights. John wasn't a very good football player when we started but we worked day in and day out. Consistency and hard work payed off and I got the chance to watch from high school, college and 10 years in the pros. I had seen John's training over the years evolve and when he roped me into CrossFit about a year and half ago I was sold my first day and have not looked back since. The style of training he has created is making people strong, fast and explosive and we see it on a daily basis as I get to work with this kid I remember as a 14 year skinny kid who benched 115 lbs his first day at the gym. CrossFit and CrossFit Football have added an element to my whole family that I can not describe. Our box, CrossFit Balboa, is more than a gym but a meeting place for our family, old friends and new friends. If you have not had a chance to meet and train with John, Max and Raphael at a CrossFit Football Cert you are missing out. I have seen the training and diet lean me out and the add element of strength and endurance I wish I had 20 years ago when I was heading off to college. The amount of work John and his crew have put into the website, programming and cert is overwhelming...keep up the good work.

I have a couple of national level rugby players at my gym and we have talked extensively about the needs of Rugby players and how CrossFit Football might fit into their programming. I think putting in shorter, heavier workouts is good for any athlete and absolutely strength and size is a huge component in Rugby but I would say as a whole regular CrossFit programming is best suited for the needs of rugby players with some supplemental strength training on a daily basis. In fact I can't think of a team sport that CrossFit fits better for then Rugby. The only real thing that needs to be added for any rugby player is a fairly substantial dose of sprinting and lateral work on the side. We are planning to hold a Rugby specific training camp at CrossFit Lions for the upcoming season which will be run by 3 ex Canadian National Rugby players check out website for updates on the training and more importantly the results.

The Pie
CrossFit Lions

Also would like to put a challenge out their to the community to see if anyone can complete the Kalsu at RX, which was a CrossFit Footbal Hero style WOD. We are going to try this workout at 95# next week and from what I gathered from other affiliates who have tried it is that this is one of, if not the, most challenging CrossFit style workout to date.

Kalsu
On the minute:
Complete 5 burpees and perform max rep 135 lbs thrusters on the minute.

The goal is to complete 100 total thrusters.
*At the beginning of every minute perform 5 burpees, for the rest of the minute perform as many thrusters as you can during that minute. At the beginning of the next minute perform 5 burpees and then max rep thrusters and so on until you reach 100 total thrusters.

Great stuff. Just completely awsome, John you are one of my favorite firebreathers. Great stuff on Every Second Counts too.

Coach finds awesome people for us to learn with! Awesome. Paul

I was thinking that this would port over really well to racquet sports like squash, racquetball, and tennis, especially considering those sports' emphasis on short bursts of speed and quick/powerful swings of a racquet. Or do you all think the generalized CF programming would be better? I just don't see a 10k helping out a tennis player. They never just put it in one gear and cruise. It's sprint, stand around, sprint, stand around, etc. Or maybe even WODs with lighter weights but with more reps would work better for racquet sports. Not quite sure how to think about this one.

I know I am going to get crucified for this... but if one end is of the spectrum is CFE and the other is Oly lift... Isn't the middle CrossFit? I am not a hater by any means but this just seems to be SST not GPP. What I do know is different is that CFE is supplemental to the Main Site WOD.

Chris, I have tried that workout on myself and two of my football players at 95lbs. I have been CrossFitting for over a year and finished the workout in 19 minutes. The other two are traditonal "lift heavy things" oriented and quit at the 15 minute mark. One was at 37 reps and the other was at 55 reps. They have not had much exposure to CrossFit, but can both bench 405 and have deadlifts over 400lbs, and like I said I have been CrossFitting for over a year and I can honestly say....we all agreed that Kalsu was up there with one of the hardest workouts I have done.......along with Fight Gone Bad......I cannot even imagine the 135lb RX......whoever can do that is one powerful and fit individual.