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Why Do CrossFit Women Develop Such Weirdly Unique Physiques?

Jun 23, 2021 - permalink

I’ve always been fascinated and perplexed by CrossFit women. They power and weight lift, and develop that type of thick body, yet they’re somehow all shredded and top heavy, but not to the point of a bodybuilder on prep. It’s never made any sense to me. They do supposedly functional exercises, yet look like they are created in a lab, and the difference between a CrossFit woman and other female athlete physique is much starker than that of men. Brooke Ence is probably the best example, though she incorporates other workouts now too. And it’s not a PED thing, because I had a friend in college who crossfited and wasn’t on anything. She developed an attainable, much less extreme physique, but still very similar to other CrossFit girls. There’s literally no other workout where you can immediately look at a person and know what they do.

Jun 23, 2021 - permalink

Maybe the whole answer lies in these weird "kipping" pull-ups... xD

Jun 23, 2021 - permalink

roids and anybody denying that isn't paying attention.

Jun 23, 2021 - permalink

roids and anybody denying that isn't paying attention.

My whole point is that bodybuilders and powerlifters take PEDs too, but only Crossfitters have that distinct physique. Even the ones, like my friend, who definitely wasn’t on anything

Jun 23, 2021 - edited Jun 23, 2021 - permalink

Just a guess: crossfitters’ mid sections are typically thicker. Abdominals, obliques, and spinal erectors are all developed for functional strength. Bodybuilders and fitness folks are obsessed with having that super thin midsection to achieve an exaggerated “X” shape. They even avoid developing certain abdominal/oblique muscles so as not to look “blocky.” Cross fitters clearly do not care about this.

Look at these fitness/bodybuilding articles:

ab training mistakes

Avoid these waist widening exercises

Jun 23, 2021 - permalink

My guess is CrossFit only targets large muscle groups. That and exercising them to be exhaustion versus more balanced workouts that most normal people do. And drugs

Jun 23, 2021 - permalink
Deleted by Gatsby28
Jun 23, 2021 - permalink

Go Gatsby! 👍

Jun 23, 2021 - permalink

Ok, that explains the blockiness, but why are they so shredded compared to regular powerlifters? Drugs plays a part, but powerlifters take drugs too and don’t look like that.

Jun 23, 2021 - permalink

Because regular powerlifters aren’t doing bodyweight-intensive gymnastics movements like muscle ups, handstand push-ups, etc. For all the bodyweight stuff that we do you want to be as strong as possible at as light of a weight as possible. A 240lb powerlifter will squat, bench and deadlift more than me, but I guarantee he won’t be able to do as many handstand push-ups or muscle ups as I can.

Also, there is a lot of endurance and conditioning required in CrossFit. Doing that on a powerlifter’s physique is much, much harder than if you are strong with low bodyfat

Jun 23, 2021 - permalink

Go Gatsby! 👍

Thanks! Coming back from knee surgery sucks, but I’m getting back in it!

vr4
Jun 24, 2021 - permalink

Ok, that explains the blockiness, but why are they so shredded compared to regular powerlifters? Drugs plays a part, but powerlifters take drugs too and don’t look like that.

Because most WODs are done while keeping a high HR which burns way more calories/fat

Jun 24, 2021 - permalink

I not trying 2 be the best at working out" Kenny Powers 😂

Jun 26, 2021 - permalink

Is a completely different approach. Bodybuilders specifically train to get the look, they train to attain atrophy of each muscle and go to extreme detail. They will target the upper head of this muscle, the lower part of that muscle etc etc. I dunno much about crossfit but I assume they train specifically for strength and endurance ie a completely different approach. I know a top-level FBB who freely admits that her fitness/endurance is terrible.

cgsweat
Jun 26, 2021 - permalink

I always got the impression that a lot of crossfit exercises target the core, and so you tend to see that with a lot of them. They'll have this thick, muscular torso that, compared to a bodybuilder, seems disproportionately large compared to the rest of their body. They still have well-muscled limbs, but their muscles aren't swollen like a bodybuilder, for reasons already pointed out above.

Jun 26, 2021 - permalink

As others have mentioned, it's mainly due to the training. Crossfit has you doing lots of squatting, dead lifting, power cleans, etc. "pull ups" and muscle ups.

Bodybuilding is all about the look and glamour. Lots of ISO exercises, especially to get the lat and shoulder width for the X look.

Jun 26, 2021 - permalink

Is a completely different approach. Bodybuilders specifically train to get the look, they train to attain atrophy of each muscle and go to extreme detail. They will target the upper head of this muscle, the lower part of that muscle etc etc. I dunno much about crossfit but I assume they train specifically for strength and endurance ie a completely different approach. I know a top-level FBB who freely admits that her fitness/endurance is terrible.

We’ve had a couple bodybuilders drop in out my gym. Our workouts completely wreck them, even if they heavily scale the weight or movements.

It’s tough! My very first WOD I threw up.

Jul 20, 2021 - permalink

I often think real life amazon would do a lot of crossfit!

Jul 20, 2021 - permalink

One of my gfs is a crossfit athlete and she is THICK. Shoulders wider than mine, thick torso, veiny arms. I have to agree no other sport creates those physiques.

Agree with everyone above: PEDs play a big part + the sport requires A LOT of strenght & endurance... Plus crossfit folks are absolutely insane and will train to exhaustion every day.

Jul 21, 2021 - permalink

I think what you're seeing is the result of lots of deadlifts/power cleans/snatches combined with PED usage. I was trained by a serious S&C coach from my first days in high school football, and he always said that power cleans were the king of all movements because they built nearly every muscle group in the body. Consistent, heavy work on power cleans give that thick shoulder girdle like nothing else.

Then, of course, there are PEDs, which the chipmunk cheeks and distended six-pack bellies on these women demonstrate are widely used among the Crossfit elite.

Jul 21, 2021 - permalink

Function dictates form. Crossfitters have more in common with Olympic Weightlifters than BB or powerlifters.

All the exercises they do are open chain, standing up. This develops the core heavily even without any specific ab work. Thus the thick midsections. Crossfit also has no weight classes, only a specific bodytype can do well in competition, short and thick with high power to bodyweight ratio. Same as gymnasts and Oly weightlifters.

To all the above add PEDs, you get turtle abs, add marketing, you get sponsors that prefer leaner physiques.

IFBB has only aesthetic criteria for women, X frames, big curves small waist.They train for that, most of their training is done on machines, abs are much less taxed. Competition day you can push for even more extreme conditioning that would be detrimental for performance if you were a crossfitter.

Feb 13, 2022 - permalink

Nice topic

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