A Clear Definition of (Spiritual) Fitness Part 1

The Goal of Physical Fitness

One Sunday morning, my nine year old son and I were sitting in the large auditorium of a church building where I was about to speak. As he looked up at the impressive architecture he asked, “What would you do if all of this stuff starting falling down on us?”

While making a mental note to more closely monitor the number of disaster movies he watches on TV, I said, “Probably nothing. We’d be crushed.”

To which he replied, “I thought the reason you did CrossFit was to be able to run fast in emergencies.”

Somebody give that kid a gluten-free cookie for paying attention.

One of the slogans CrossFitters throw around—and we love throwing around slogans almost as much as bumper plates—is:

What do we train for?

Tomorrow.

What happens tomorrow?

Exactly.

People start doing CrossFit for a variety of reasons. They want to lose weight, look better, feel better, get stronger, or improve their 5k time. While CrossFit can help in each of these areas, all of these goals are secondary outcomes to CrossFit’s ultimate goal: General Physical Preparedness.

This is a fancy way of saying that CrossFit is designed to get us “ready for anything.”

Whether it’s running fast or picking up something really heavy once or moving something light many times; CrossFit aims to prepare us for a broad spectrum of physical challenges. Fitness isn’t just being able to run fast or run far. Nor is it strictly about being able to move heavy loads. For CrossFitters, fitness is being proficient in all ten established fitness domains: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy. This is summed up by another favorite CrossFit slogan: We specialize in not specializing.

There is even a fast growing CrossFit Games that seeks to find the world’s fittest individual by putting athletes through a variety of grueling workouts over a three day period. The games have become a living parable of the overall fitness philosophy of the CrossFit community. The athletes must train for events that aren’t announced until the event begins. Sometimes they don’t know what workouts they’ll be doing until they step into the arena. To compete in the CrossFit Games is to sign up for the “unknown and unknowable.” The winner of the games is the athlete who excels across a spectrum of events designed to measure performance in each of the ten domains.

CrossFit’s definition of fitness is also functional. The point of the exercises isn’t the exercises themselves. Rather, each exercise is preparing us for real world challenges, like, you know, running out of a crumbling church building that has just been zapped by an alien laser beam.

One critique of the bodybuilding movement is that it produces men and women so muscle bound they can barely move.  What good is all of that muscle if you can’t use it for anything productive? What’s the point of having huge biceps if you have to drink with a two foot straw because you can’t bend your arms? I only poke fun at bodybuilders because I know they can’t move fast enough to catch me!

One reason for CrossFit’s success is that it gives its athletes a vision for everyday, functional fitness that translates into real life applications.

• Soldiers love CrossFit because they know that being ready for anything can save lives, both theirs and their buddies’.

• A soccer mom does CrossFit so that she can sprint down her driveway and grab her toddler before he zips into the street.

• Police officers and fireman do CrossFit so that as they speed across town with sirens blaring they’ll be ready for whatever challenge awaits.

• A school teacher loves the way CrossFit gives her confidence to jump between two students about to go after each other in the hallway.

• A graduate student does CrossFit so that he’ll be ready and able to help his best friend move his fiance’s piano up three flights of stairs (Assuming he can’t come up with a good excuse to be out of town the weekend his friend moves.).

It’s gratifying to know that when I walk into my CrossFit box to take on a workout I’m preparing for the unknown and unknowable. With each workout I complete, with each new complex barbell movement I master, with each new Personal Record (PR) I set, I leave the gym with greater confidence. I’m getting better, stronger, and faster. I’m ready for anything.

At least I’m ready for a variety of physical challenges. There are some things for which CrossFit can’t prepare me. There are stresses, strains, temptations, and difficulties that require more of me than the ability to do 25 unbroken pull-ups.

Paul, a leader in the 1st Century church, articulates this deeper need when he tells his protegee,Timothy, “Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:7-8)

Paul was no stranger to the world of athletics. He lived in a Greco-Roman culture that celebrated athletic achievement almost as much as our culture does.  He uses enough athletic imagery in his letters to make me wonder what his mile time was back in the day.

While recognizing the value of physical fitness, he reminds Timothy that there is something even more important and beneficial. Something that is helpful not only in this life, but in the life to come.

Paul calls it godliness. Others might call it Christ-likeness. For the purpose of our discussion here, let’s call it Spiritual Fitness.

To be continued . . .