What we mean by "Modalities"

CrossFit’s definition of fitness includes a couple of terms that, for most people, need some extra explaining. Knowing that Fitness, as we use it, refers to someone’s “work capacity across broad time and modal domains” is all well and good, but what the heck is a modal domain?

Going back to Glassman’s “What is fitness” article, we see the desire, from the beginning, to be able to compare athletes from different sports. How does an ultra marathoner compare to an olympic lifter? These are different modes of physical work. We could break down types of labor into all sorts of categories: which muscle groups they use, which energy pathway they employ, which of the ten physical skills they develop, etc. At CrossFit, we use a pretty simple set of three categories:

• Monostructural Metabolic Conditioning

• Gymnastics

• Weightlifting

These three modes are pretty easily defined. If it is a simple movement that is frequently repeated to get your heart rate up, it’s probably Monostructural Metabolic Conditioning. This includes movements like walking or running, biking, rowing, or using a jump rope. While these movements do improve strength marginally, they mostly pay off neurologically and cardiovascularly. They improve endurance and mostly train the glycolytic and oxidative energy pathways. 

The next modality is gymnastics. This category includes work where the primary goal is to move your body to a different place or position. Movements in this category would include typical “gymnastics” movements like pull-ups, handstands, and muscle-ups, but also things like air squats, rope climbs, sit ups, or lunges. Gymnastics movements tend to help develop core and trunk stability, as well as improving neurological pathways and stability. 

The third modality is weight lifting. If your goal is to move an object, you’re probably doing a weightlifting movement. This modality would include simple movements such as a kettlebell swing or a deadlift, as well as more complicated technical movements like olympic lifts (the clean or the snatch) or a turkish get-up. These movements are primarily used to develop strength in the legs, core, and arms, and often work in the phosphogenic or glycolytic energy pathways. 

We use these modalities (monostructural, gymnastic, and weightlifting) to ensure that our workouts are designed to help develop various muscle groups, neurological pathways, energy systems, etc. That is, to help you improve your work capacity across broad time and modal domains.

To read more on this topic, or to see how the schedule Greg Glassman designed, follow the link here. All information in this post courtesy of CrossFit Inc.