Why a StrongFirst Coach Still Competes in CrossFit
What competing at TFX and the 806 Classic is teaching me — and what it means for how I coach you.
By Dayne Douglass · Dayne Train Strength
People are sometimes surprised. I'm StrongFirst Elite, which is about as "strength is a skill, leave reps in the tank" as it gets. And I still sign up for CrossFit competitions where the whole point is to empty the tank.
I've competed at TFX and at the 806 Classic, where I took 5th place in RX.
Fifth isn't first. That's the point. To me, a competition is a list of weaknesses you can't hide from, and that list is worth training.
Here's why, and what it has to do with you.
Competing keeps me honest
I played college football at Texas A&M–Commerce. I was a true freshman on the 2017 Division II national championship team, and played the next two seasons in a playoff program until COVID. I think when the games end, it's easy to lose the thing that made you train.
Competition gives me that back. It puts a date on the calendar. It puts me next to people who want to beat me. And it tells me the truth about my fitness in a way no mirror ever will.
If I'm going to ask a 16-year-old to push or ask a busy parent to show up at 6 a.m., I'd better be doing it too.
Strength first makes you better at everything else
CrossFit tests a lot: barbell lifts, gymnastics, running, rowing, odd objects, all mixed together under a clock. You'd think that means you need to train everything, all the time. I'd argue the opposite: the stronger you are, the more the workouts feel like conditioning instead of a max effort.
The way I see it, a weight that's light relative to your best is one you can move for reps inside a workout. That's the StrongFirst idea, strength has a carryover, playing out on a competition floor.
That's why I believe strength work belongs underneath the conditioning, not instead of it.
Short, hard and effective
The other thing CrossFit gets right is intensity. Not every session needs to be long. Short, hard intervals produce real fitness. Research on low-volume high-intensity interval training has shown it can drive many of the same muscle and cardiovascular adaptations as traditional, much longer endurance training (Gibala et al., 2012, J Physiol, DOI).
That's exactly why I build 20-minute hard blocks into ~45-minute sessions for my busy adults. You don't need an hour of cardio. You need a short block done with intent.
The key word is done right. Hard intervals are not a license to throw form out the window. Kettlebell swings in a conditioning block still need to be crisp swings. If the reps get ugly, the set is over.
What I'm training for right now
I'm a business owner coaching 8–10 clients a day, and I still find time to train. Right now I'm training for two things at once: CrossFit, and the StrongFirst Beast Tamer challenge. I still play basketball, softball and volleyball every week, too.
What I'm learning that you can use
Get strong first. Whatever your sport or goal, more strength makes the hard stuff easier.
Train hard, briefly. A short block done with intent beats a long, half-effort session.
Form is the limit, not the clock. Fast and ugly isn't fit. It's how people get hurt.
Have something on the calendar. A competition, a test, a standard. A date makes you train.
Recover like it matters. Sleep, food, easy days. You don't get fitter from the workout; you get fitter recovering from it.
Come train
Whether you're an athlete looking for an edge, a former athlete who misses competing, or a busy adult who wants to feel athletic again, this is how I coach: strong first, hard when it counts, and always with a standard.
CrossFit® is a registered trademark of CrossFit, LLC. StrongFirst® is a trademark of StrongFirst, Inc. This post is for education, not medical advice. Get cleared by your physician before starting high-intensity training if you have a heart, blood pressure or other medical condition.
References
Gibala MJ, et al. Physiological adaptations to low-volume, high-intensity interval training in health and disease. J Physiol. 2012. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22289907/
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