The Fourth Curiosity

definition of fitness.  Outside of the three models, there was a fourth curiosity, never quite a model, but important enough not to discard.

  It held that known medical values of health fell on a continuum that ranged from sickness (worst) to wellness (normal) to fitness (best.

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Furthermore, there was not a value, be it blood pressure, triglycerides, body fat, or even more difficult to quantify things such as mood, that the CrossFit formula couldn’t move toward the direction of fitness, and fast.  That is, eating meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar, and doing constantly varied, functional movements, at high intensities 4 to 6 times a week will get you from sick to well to fit, very fast. 

The idea was, because the data fell on the same continuum, keeping yourself in the area labeled fit was in fact a hedge against the ravages of time and disease; once ‘fit’, in order to fall ill or become pathological, your numbers have to pass through ‘normal’ first.  If maintaining at ‘normal’, you are that much closer to being ill.

  The fourth curiosity was so named because it couldn’t exactly fit into the defintion of fitness the way the three models could, but it was still damn important.  Then one day Coach Glassman beautifully and brilliantly articulated the relationship between the fourth curiosity and the definition of fitness by expanding the definition to include health, turning the two dimensional model of fitness into a three dimensional model of fitness and health, which will be explored further next rest day.     

Review the Sickness/Wellness/Fitness section on page 3 of  What is Fitness? and watch the Three Dimensional Definition of Fitness and Health  by Greg Glassman (2 parts). 

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