Why Can't CrossFit Athletes Front Lever?

CrossFit is a massive success and it continues to grow to the benefit of everyone who loves performance. I'm going to a CrossFit gym tonight (CrossFit Accion - Santiago Chile - to do the weightlifting class with a former national level lifter). Looking for the nearest CrossFit gym is one of the first things  I've done with each new city I've visited on our 3 month tour of Europe and Latin America.

There are lots of reasons why it's so successful and ways that it's benefiting the whole fitness and performance industry. It's shaken up most personal trainers and strength and conditioning coaches because it's changed all the rules. Some try to right it off as old-fashioned circuit training re-dressed but, seriously, when was the last time you saw people snatching 120kg+ or even 80kg in a circuit!

CrossFit has put weightlifting on the fitness map so much so that in the previously unbearable globo gym environment, we can often find a lifting platform!

If you look at the numbers Ben Garard would rank comfortably in the top 10 in the 85kg class if he was to compete in official weightlifting competitions with lifts that he's made under the fatigue of CrossFit Competitions. He even won a NSW level official competition in 2013 with 111kg snatch and 142kg clean and jerk.  He managed 120kg snatches which only 5 guys in Australian weightlifting are on record for achieving in 2015 AWF rankings. (I'm dismally outside the top 50 with my best lifts.)

Now if we look at the CrossFit gymnastics we see amazing amounts of kipping / butterfly pull-ups and muscle-ups. But most gymnastics basics are absent or at least under valued, replaced by high repetitions of movements that gymnasts don't really do.

Where are the front levers, back levers, planches, 1 arm-chin-ups, free-standing handstand push-ups? Strict muscle-ups, V-sits, skin-the cat and ring handstand balancing?

Where are the splits and back bridges, not to mention the Iron-Cross and Maltese which are within reach, but unchallenged for the world best strength and conditioning athletes.

While some of these movements are difficult to quantify for the competitive side of CrossFit, surely they are within the ethos of being ready for anything, or more accurately, masters of physical performance, the "fittest men on earth". Can gymnastics fundamentals be excluded from this?

Making the most of being stuck in Costa Rica for an extra 2 days. I was working some eccentric straddle planche. Still lots of work to do here. #RealMOVEMENTProject #LiveREAL

442 Likes, 28 Comments - Keegan I RealMVMT (@keeganrealmvmt) on Instagram: "Making the most of being stuck in Costa Rica for an extra 2 days. I was working some eccentric..."

Now I'm using Ben as an example because he's a good friend and we're going to add in some of these skills on our training camps at Byron Bay (join the mailing list via the mobility series or e-book download to hear about this first).

Ben is an amazing athlete always looking to learn and improve. I'm proud to present with him at the RealMOVEMENT seminars and workshops and have him support the RealMOVEMENT Level 3 community. I've learned a lot from his experiences preparing for grid league and the world CrossFit Games (15th in the world 2015), things that working as a strength coach in the NRL doesn't teach you about performance and conditioning.

Ben is world class in a lot of things, but Ben can't do much of the gymnastics stuff I mentioned. He's a phenomenal athlete who would do just as well in a powerlifting meet as he would in weightlifting, he’s the ‘15th Fittest Man On The Planet’ (according to the Crossfit Games edict) BUT where is the gymnastics in the world's most well-rounded athletes? I know that Matt Healey and a few other guys are exceptions to this but weightlifting has definitely gone way ahead of gymnastics.

Gymnastics goes back to the Romans and Greeks. It's the base of physical development and yet it's being neglected in the training philosophy that's challenging the world to be prepared for (almost) anything.

I've spent much of the last 2 years learning these movements interning with Coach Sommer and Ido Portal as well as Dan Aubin, Yuri Marmerstein and Niels Jørgensen. The journey has been a very interesting one and as with any physical gains it's always the journey that is the biggest reward. I'll never finish the path into bodyweight training but I'm happy to be a long way further down it than I thought was possible.

It's taken 16 years of performance research and training to realise how to get mobile. Better late than never! 15 sessions later, impossible is easy, well almost! #IdoPortal #RealMOVEMENTProject

336 Likes, 11 Comments - Keegan I RealMVMT (@keeganrealmvmt) on Instagram: "It's taken 16 years of performance research and training to realise how to get mobile. Better late..."

If you want help to be able to perform and teach gymnastics you can join the RealMOVEMENT Global Community on FaceBook, where you can for a limited time only see how advanced gymnastics training can be integrated into your training regime.

Nothing you do online replaces working together in person, we've got 5 places available for a training camp (Byron Bay - January) together with one of the best people and coaches I've met, Former Canadian National Gymnast and Coach, Olympic Training Center, International Handstand Acrobat and Circus Performer, University Lecturer in Communication and Creative Industries, Dan Aubin.

Keegan Smithtraining, coaching, strength