I couldn’t wait to post this til after the workout so here it is. As soon as I turned on ESPN this morning and was informed that 4 time NASCAR champion Jimmy Johnson was crowned Top Male Athlete of 2009 beating out Roger Federer and Usain Bolt. This just after they had named Tiger Woods the Athlete of the Decade. It’s seems as if they are loosing sight of what it means to be athletic. Johnson receieve 42 votes from editors of US newspapers, while Federer and Bolt received 30 & 29 respectively. These three athletes were the only one to get double digit votes, of all the athletes in the world!!! Now I am not a huge fan of NASCAR, I am though aware that it is more then driving fast and turning left. There is a toll on the body that these drivers take. Holding on to the wheel and taking turns at that speed makes your grip feel like it does after finishing a brutal dumbbell clean and pull up workout I would have to bet. But that doesn’t make you an athlete. Johnson has always believed he is 100% athlete even though he is a race car driver. This is what Jimmy Johnson had to say about it, “I’ve looked at other sports, particularly baseball, and I’ve seen plenty of out-of-shape, fat players,” continues by stating, “So to anyone who wants to go head-to-head with me in athletic ability, let’s go. I talked a lot with Jason Sehorn about this, and I don’t know how exactly you measure athletic ability, but I know my 5-mile run time will destroy most NFL players.” As he boasts his 34 minutes, 55 seconds time. I agree with Johnson and wouldn’t put many baseball players in the athletic category. But I disagree that a 5 mile run is a good measure of athletic ability.  One test does not measure one’s ability or determine your athletic level. Anybody who is anybody is the coaching/CrossFit/training community knows that measuring athletic ability is done in many different categories. Jimmy Johnson said he doesn’t know how exactly you measure athletic ability, well I will explain it to him. CrossFit has a good list of things that should be important in measure one’s physical ability.

• 10 General Physical Skills = Athleticism

  • Cardio/Respiratory Endurance
  • Stamina
  • Strength
  • Flexibility
  • Power
  • Speed
  • Coordination
  • Accuracy
  • Agility
  • Balance

CrossFit is a great way to test all of these variables. And this is done using the:

“Hopper” Model of Fitness:

-    Picture a hopper loaded w/ an infinite # of physical challenges
-    Fitness can be assessed based on your overall capacity to perform well at these tasks.
-    Implication – fitness requires an ability to perform well at ALL tasks, even those unfamiliar.
-    Train with an infinite number of combinations and disinvest in any set notions of sets, rest, reps, exercises, (although we are famous for 21-15-9 etc.)

So I challenge Jimmy Johnson to go up against CrossFit’s elite athletes in the 2010 CrossFit games. He should probably register for his regions sectionals by going online at the new 2010 CrossFit Games website. If he was to qualify he would goes up against the likes of Mikko Salo the 2009 CrossFit Games Champion. Check it out!