In this article, we delve into the age-old debate of quality versus quantity, exploring how this concept applies to both CrossFit training and nutrition. Discover why focusing on the quality of your movements and food choices can lead to better results and long-term success in your fitness journey.

Quality vs Quantity

Over history, in many aspects, our focus as humans has often been about how we can get more, or less.

More money. More holidays. More power. More followers. More friends.

Less taxes, less work, less body fat, etc.

We focus on HOW MUCH.

CrossFit and Nutrition do follow the same trend.

We want more weight on the bar, more reps, and more 6-packs abs.

We try to get better, often by changing ‘HOW MUCH’ we do, over ‘HOW WELL’ we do.

“To get better at squatting, I must add weight on the bar!”

“To improve my gymnastics, I need to do more pull-ups!”

“To lose weight, I need to eat less food!”

While true, these statements are just one way to improve. Not the best one, if you ask me.

So, how can we shift our thinking from HOW MUCH to HOW BETTER can I do?

Let us look at Quality versus Quantity.

Quality Movement

CrossFit is a high intensity sport.

By definition, we are aiming to raise our heart rate, get our muscles to work hard and our bodies to adapt to new movements and positions. Intensity drives results – we know that much!

Intensity also comes last. Before adding intensity (which can be defined by weight, time, volume, complexity), athletes should develop good mechanics, consistently.

By good mechanics, I mean moving well and safely. I mean being able to squat your bodyweight with your chest up and your back straight. If you move poorly without intensity, you are likely to move even worse once weight or complexity is added. Then, what happens? You cannot progress because your foundations are weak. Worse, you can get injured.

Unfortunately, having good mechanics alone is not enough. It also needs to be sustained over time and volume. You need to show good mechanics under intensity A, before we get to intensity B.

Think of it this way: you can do 1 perfect Back Squat, with a rested heart rate, at 100kgs. Maybe even a set of 5. Then, we add a couple of double unders, running and GHD Sit-ups. How does your set of 5 Back squats at 100kgs look like now? Worse? Then, you are not consistent. Therefore, not ready for intensity.

Or you can row those first 400m with a resistance at 8, but on round number 3 your pace has dropped by half. Again, you were not ready for “that” intensity.

You will get infinitely better at CrossFit if you move consistently well, even if it means lowering intensity, for now. You will progress faster, stay injury free and, fear not, still get that nice sweat on!

You will often hear me say “A good scale is always better than a bad RX” – that is the message I want you to remember next time you show up in class.

Quality Food

Calories in VERSUS Calories out.

If you have been looking to lose some weight, or gain muscles, you’ve probably heard that before. This is as close a universal truth as we can get when it comes to nutrition. It is undeniable.

Eat more calories than you burn in a day: you will gain weight.

Eat less calories than you burn in a day: you will lose weight.

The problem is there are so many variables in that equation that we often think it is broken. It is not.

However, here are a few reasons why it is tricky:

• We very often underestimate how much we eat (do you count your sugar in the coffee, the big spoon of olive oil in your salad? That half piece of cake you had mid-morning?)
• We overestimate how much calories we burn (1 hour of CrossFit normally burns between 350-500 calories at most – the equivalent of 1 croissant and a glass of orange juice)
• Food labels aren’t accurate so the calories listed on any ingredients can be off by as much as 25%
• We track calories during the week, but we go crazy on weekends (you can easily over consume 2-3,000 calories on a single booze-heavy binge evening)

There are more, but you get the idea.

So, instead of counting every single piece of food that enters your body, the best approach is to focus on the quality of food you’re having.

Eat more fruits, vegetables, lean protein, nuts, seeds, whole grains, legumes, and single-ingredient, whole, label-free foods. They are low in calories, and high in important nutrients (vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc…). Therefore, they will make you feel full, satiated, and satisfied much longer than other ultra-processed foods (which are, by the way, specifically engineered to make you eat a lot of).

You can easily understand that just increasing the proportion of such ingredients in your daily diet will likely reduce your hunger and make you less likely to crave other sub-optimal foods.

Naturally, when we want to lose weight, we tend to reduce the quantity of food we are already eating, or completely eliminate some food we enjoy. A more sustainable way is to ADD quality food as described above, and, trust me, naturally, you will be on the way to make profound, sustainable and powerful changes to your health.

Moving the needle towards Quality

I want to leave you with a few things you can already start doing to move your attention towards quality and not quantity.

In the weeks that follow, try:

• Putting less weight on the bar, and see how better/faster you move
• Hitting a few workouts with scaled movements, so you can maintain intensity longer
• Adding one or two more servings of fruits/vegetables in your day.

Those seems trivial, but a small shift now may very well lead to a powerful change in 3, 6 months or even years from now.