Core to Extremity, Then

If you’ve picked up these pages with a curiosity about CrossFit, it would be understandable to raise your eyebrows at the deep dive into purpose just above: horizon of ultimate value as an expressive delight able to companion the suffering of self and others. No one I know has come to CrossFit in conscious pursuit of any horizon of ultimate value, let alone the one I name above.

Folks usually come in to exercise, to get in shape, to redress a health issue in a more accountable practice, or to get ripped muscularly, to tone one’s body composition to social norms desired. That said, the glimpse I offer above does embody several fundamental principles or themes in CrossFit. Core to extremity, for example. I will honor the more formal definition within the physicality of CrossFit before goading you into the metaphorical and metaphysical, where it also holds true. The others will then weave and dance into the prose: midline stabilization, posterior chain engagement, active shoulders and full range of motion.

Core to extremity describes the ideal way for your bones and muscles to work together for greatest capacity, safety and efficiency in whatever you’re trying to do, physically. In CF speak, any movement should begin with a stabilized midline (more about that later), i.e. the “high force-low velocity movers called your abdominals, spinal erectors, etc., and the hips. Your “core,” of which mine always needs more strengthening. When grounded in this fashion, force for whatever you’re trying to do can “radiate outward” to what we’ll call the “moderate-force-moderate velocity movers (i.e. glutes, hamstrings, quads, shoulders, etc.). Big muscles doing the first pass at anything you’re trying to do, which is both wiser and safer than trying to use the small muscles for big muscle work. Any movement is then to be completed by the “low force-high velocity” movers of the extremities (calves, arms, wrists, etc.). Whatever you’re trying to do can be guided and completed with the smaller muscles further away from your core. Your extremities. Core to extremity is a fundamental principle of CrossFit for purposes of efficient movement and safety. When those are both familiar and habitual, then capacity can build for greater power, higher intensity that is safe, efficient.

A word now about midline stabilization, another fundamental theme in functional movement, CF style. Everything, and I mean everything begins with a stabilized form, neutral spine, core engaged. Lifting something over your head? Midline stabilization, so to use the strongest, largest muscles to transfer or radiate force upward before trying your smallest muscles, extremities. Lifting something off the floor? Midline stabilization, so to insure neutral spine, core engaged, use of the largest muscles to “push the floor away” more than use your arms or back to “pick something up.” Every move we do in our bodies should come from an engaged core, a stabilized midline. That’s what the big muscles are for…to help the little ones.

The other formal themes in functional movement worth nodding to include posterior chain engagement, full range of motion, and active shoulders. The language can feel formal, but each is an attempt to bring consciousness toward healthy movement and away from sedentary habits and the poor posture that comes from hunching over a computer or screen-device for hours a day. Posterior chain simply refers to all the muscles on the backside of your body. The lingo from CrossFit.com is "The front side is for show, the backside is for go." Erectors (lower back), glutes, and hamstrings are all your "performance engine," which, when strong, can also prevent injuries to your back or joints. Most folks are quad dominant--like me--so conscious intention needs to be directed toward trusting those muscles to get stronger and your balance, your performance, to improve.

Active shoulders is another counter-intuitive, structural part of functional movement. Finding the proper form of muscle engagement and arrangement of tendons, rotator cuffs, and fascia will most likely require coached or professional guidance. Most of us work and move in such a way that shoulders hang or fall forward, without active engagement. When all the muscles and tendons are actively engaged, in proper form, the right muscles get strengthened at the right times. Injuries are prevented with conscious activation. From CrossFit.com: "Active shoulders means "positioning your shoulder to maximize range of motion, strength, and joint stability. ... applying force with your shoulder opposite to the load, or resisting yielding to whatever force is acting on you." Proper form. Conscious activation of force from core to extremity.

Lastly, full range of motion completes the thematic pieces for functional movement, CF-style. Conscious confrontation of aging invites each of us to maintain the movements of our joints to full end ranges for as long as possible. Life naturally constricts and range of movement can become limited. Moving regularly in multiple planes of motion, with full range of your joints capacities, insures a most mobile and healthy life, able to confront the unknown as well as the known.

Go to any CrossFit box, however, and you’ll see the “state of the practices” or "themes" here for each and every one of us. I know this stuff in my head, but when I’m trying to lift a weight on a barbell that scares me a little, I will revert to what feels most familiar to my body. I’ll forget to stabilize my core and try to depend on my quads, because I trust them the most. When I’m getting a barbell overhead, I forget at least 50% of the time that my larger muscles are radiating force upward, causing the barbell to fly up almost like magic so my arm muscles don’t have to do the work. They simply need to support my skeleton in good form to catch the bar. Except I’ve moved with poor functionality for five decades, not knowing any of this! My body is faster at remembering now, eight years in, but it’s only been eight years.

Core to extremity also holds true for the less physical aspects of the community of practice called CrossFit. Tia Toomey makes this point in her recent book, The Heart is the Strongest Muscle. Knowing your “why” is what changes your mindset toward excellence. Knowing your purpose is what grounds you into why you’re where you are. It shapes all the storying of how you got there, and can attune you to the desires of where you want to go.

For a variety of reasons, often over-diagnosed and argumentative, most of us tend to get this bass-ackwards. We look to strong figures in our life for guidance in how to be. We argue from our favorite sources of authority (Scripture(s), especially) so to argue for how human being should look. Shaped to honor the strong man, no matter how incompetent he may be, we hope he will take the heat for whatever pains our group may be suffering. Or we look to previous generations with an accusatory eye for the pain and challenges we face today. We construct our purpose toward relieving pain and finding pleasure, shaped by external sources and customs.

When one of us actually stumbles into the mysteries and graces of deep inner work–contemplative practice, embodied disciplines, communal witness, accountability and celebration–the whole world shifts open in ways wisdom traditions have been saying for generations. The pathway toward wholeness in both body and community begins within, at least for today. Our imbalances mean a strong focus on looking within. 

Looking to your own core to learn what’s there. And as anyone who hasn’t done a lot of core work can tell you, when you begin, you find muscles you didn’t even know you had. Core to extremity means stabilizing and making peace with all that is in conflict within you. Stabilizing your midline gives you a place from which power can radiate outward, not needing power or insight to come from out there, some formal authority, some historic Authority of Tradition. All that will remain where it is–out there–and it can then become a conversation partner. But looking to you own core is where the power begins.

Core to extremity. Inner work to outer learning unto excellence.