The value of chippers

Max promised us something brutal to finish up strength week, as many folks were feeling itchy having gone so long without a metcon. So he served us up this chipper, which was as advertised:

Run 800 Meters
25 Push-Ups
Run 600 Meters
50 Burpees
Run 400 Meters
75 Kettlebell swings 1.5P/1.0P
Run 200 Meters
100 Jump Squats
Run 100 Meters
125 Double-Unders

38:25 not quite RX
(DU's were a combination of 3x singles and DU's)
Splits (run+exercise): 4:21 | 8:44 | 8:50 | 6:28 | 10:02

This one actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be - I had anticipated it taking an hour to complete. That said, it was pretty painful. Particularly the KB swings and jumping squats. If I could DO consecutive double-unders, those also probably would have sucked. As it was, I just blundered my way through skip-skip-skip-doubleunder until I had a number in my head that bore a resemblance to 125.

After it was all over, I asked Max about the value of chippers, which strike me as somewhat counter to the philosophy of CrossFit - to quote Guru Glassman: "Focus on intensity, not volume." (I should probably clarify here that I'm defining a "chipper" as a workout that has 1) a fairly sizable variety of movements, 2) a fairly large volume of each movement, such that 3) it takes anywhere from 30-60 minutes to complete.) His response was that the definition of Crossfit includes work across broad time domains, as well as modal, and that periodic administration of high-volume workouts was important, so long as they remained under 60 (or, worst-case, 75) minutes, and so long as they did not make up the majority of programming.

As ambivalent as I am towards these sorts of workouts, I think this is wise. Generally speaking, I think I prefer the workouts that get in and get out in under twenty minutes, as I feel that those provide the greatest cost:benefit ratio. However, there is something to be said for endurance, and the ability to self-regulate so that you can maintain a level of, say, 75% suck over a long period of time - as opposed to the 90-95% suck of a Fight Gone Bad - can have real-world benefits that I can envision. For example: we don't venture into the world of LSD (long-slow-distance) much anymore, but we do really enjoy a century or a very long hike every year or so, and I think it is these sorts of workouts that allow us to maintain a decent proficiency in that sort of work. In other words: it's a nice place to visit, but we wouldn't want to live there.