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Old Forum A good reason not to do crossfit

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My only bitch with Crossfit is that it requires too much equipment. The negative press is fear based headline grabbing...nothing more. Rhabdo is more common to marathon runners than Crossfit, and still it is rare.
 
@ 100  % agree with you, there is bad and good Crossfit Coach and bad and good kettlebells instructors.

- Nothing to do with Crossfit, but most of competitives elites athletes are training past exaustion at the pre- competition phase of their periodiodised programs.

 
 
Matt, that article is really interesting. He is basically saying that the good crossfit has done is made the tools available for everyone and that the only good crossfit coaches aren't crossfit coaches (general resistance training coaches). But coming from Rippetoe it's almost praise, has he gone soft? :)
 
These guys are all over the place with training and programming.  Let's pick a bunch of random exercises to do as fast as we can.  Makes no sense to me.  Also, the top guys from the crossfit games are all taking drugs-steroids, etc.  They can get tested but one can get around that as well.  The top guys also don't practice what they preach for most of the training they do.  Yes, doing this is better then sitting on your a#@ and doing nothing, however, If someone has chosen to get off there backside and do something many things are better then some random things thown together.
 
Something that hasn't been mentioned, is that we love to hate Crossfit.  At least I do.  As a coach who has been doing this professionally for a living for almost 10 years, Crossfit has really put a dent in my own business.  It has been harder (actually just starting to recreate momentum) to sell one-on-one training sessions at big dollars because Jane can just run down to the local Crossfit and pay $130 per month and have unlimited "classes."

Let's not forget that these members of Crossfit don't give a hoot about post novice training as Rip puts it.  These people don't care about progression because let's face it, how strong does John Q Public need or want to be?  Crossfit is hip, it's a culture, and people eat it up.  Doesn't matter that Jane is only strong enough to deadlift the bar and training plates.  It doesn't even register with her.
 
Phony bravery pisses me right the hell off. We have boys in combat facing genuine life-threatening situations and these Nancy’s don’t pack the gear to sever the cord of their comfortable lives and go join them so they opt for the cheaply-bought warriordom of running through an idiotic electrified obstacle “as a team, Bro” . On Monday they’ll be back in their 72 degree offices at the accounting firm regaling their fellows with tales from The Land of the Hardasses before they all adjourn down to Paddy Murphy’s Pub for a few Jaegerbombs and electric cigarettes right about the same time the Genuine Badasses abroad get back from a snatch-and-grab of some piece of terroristic human debris who would gladly bomb everybody in Paddy Murphy’s.

A pox be upon them.

 
Hahaha this plus one billion!
 
Here's a little comedy.  Offensive language.  The guy also parodies himself as a classic bro:

http://youtu.be/qnjYyfkcaNI
 
I think some of you guys are missing the point of crossfit. Do I love it no. Do I hate it no. Crossfit main page is GPP. Does it work, yes. If you want to increase work capacity across broad time and modal domains then you can crossfit or yes you can do other things. It is no different than Randy Coture using multiple tools in timed efforts to mimic a fight. That is GPP and like crossfit.. The only thing Crossfit has is Glassman who was smart enough to market it. As far as steroids, Whoever said that doesn't really know what he is talking about and has no proof at all. You are pretty much throwing everyone that crossfits in a box with a opinion. My opinion is that is wrong. I know Rich Froning personally and he has not taken steroids. I do know they test but then again so does MLB, NFL, and so  on. I personally like Pavels stuff and have friends that like crossfit. Who is right and who is wrong? Does not matter for, as far as I know, one can choose the implement they want.
 
Matt, I agree with everything you said.  Except I think GG had a lot of help marketing crossfit, in fact if I remember some of the stories correctly he was pushed into marketing it.  His personality rubs some the wrong way which is unfortunate.  I like him myself.  He always said Crossfit is whatever produces the best work capacity (GPP).  "If you have a way to do it better than we do, come to our games.  If your box wins, Crossfit will become what you do."  Paraphrasing, I don't have the exact quote.  As far as people getting hurt, everybody who trains people has people get hurt.  CF has some bad trainers and "boxes" but far more good ones.  I love Crossfit, if I hadn't crashed and burned with afib I'd still be doing it.  I still have some CF goals.  I think Pavel is a true genius and I'm sold on the kettlebells.  For me, at this point in my life, the kettlebell is the best path to fitness.  I particularly like Pavel's new book and the daily workouts.  Walking mid day and S&S in the evening is becoming the hub my life will revolve around.  But one day I will get a muscle up (I presently can do ring dips with 25lbs and weighted pull up with a 24Kg KB), a CF total of 700 (presently 670), and 10 reps of OHS (presently 2) with 95lbs.  But I think the chipper style workouts are a thing of the past, "FGB", Cindy etc.  Froning is awesome.  I watched his first games and comps, he'd win but it was obvious many of the movements were new to him, I thought what an engine.  A heart as big as a horse.  I frankly don't know what to think about people who say things like "Crossfitters' are stupid".  I'm glad Pavel has the courtesy to not say things like that.
 
" But it’s a terrible idea to confuse exercise with adventure."

Well put, Matt. I think you summed up a lot of what is going on in the fitness world today.

 

 
 
Glassman's marketing came in the response of law enforcement and military wanting to get instructors certified. That is what all of crossfit grew out of. It started back when it was on a blue board online. I personally know the first two LE guys/departments to call him when this started in 2000. I agree 100% with Pavel's stuff. I own everything he has ever come out with.  If you look at numerous sites that use parts of crossfit (military/LE) it is huge. Some of the most popular are Military Athlete  but Rob programs for certain things throughout the year with a very logical though out process. Sealfit which uses croft/military athlete programming, TFBlack-good stuff, SOFwods bunch of PJ's, and on and on. I personally use KB and Pavels stuff as my main programming while at home. If I am on the road and have to fly, have flown with KB but its hard to do for I have destroyed many rolling suitcases and its a lot of money, I use crossfit bodyweight wods or practice pistols, 1 arm pushups, planks, hspu, etc.
 
Crossfit style training is certainly nothing new,  Back in 1987 my karate instructor had me do similar burnout sessions at the end of class.  I personally think crossfit is a joke of a training system for most higher level fitness/athletes.  It's better then doing nothing, but foolish to think 1 WOD is good for all.  If people need instruction/direction they would be way better off in  1-1 training sessions.

P.S. Top crossfit athletes do not practice what they preach, they are also on steroids.  I'm not against steroids, however, don't compare people who take copius amounts of PED'S to people that don't.
 
Crossfit from the perspective of a running coach:

http://www.scienceofrunning.com/2013/12/why-crossfit-worksbut-really-doesnt.html

I will beat this dead horse until it's nothing but glue.
 
Why?  Besides being pointless, you're shooting at a moving target.  The interesting thing to me, being as I've trained in several CF affiliates  with different coaches, their bookshelves are full of Pavel's books, Dan John's, Rippetoe's, Robb Wolf, Greg Everett.  Any of the stuff posted here or on Dan John's site is likely to be posted on their forum, everything's open to discussion.  No affiliate I've been at is in lockstep with CF HQ.  I think that's true of a great many of them.  In the last seven years the performances of the top Crossfitter's is greatly improved, workout times that were world records five years ago are achieved by top athlete's in any good size affiliate.  Of course what they do won't make sense to someone with different goals.  Measure them with any yardstick other than their own and they won't measure up.  But the reverse is true.  "Beating a dead horse" criticism of people who love what they're doing just because it's different than what you prefer to do looks a lot like bullying.  I've learned recently that's what beta males do.
 
Fair 'nuff Mike, technically I shouldn't care how other people train.  I'm hardly capable of bullying the Crossfit empire.  Just thought people might like the article -- seeing a critique from the running viewpoint.  He also has smart thoughts on high intensity interval training.

One comment I've never read is "StrongFirst is great, as long as you fix it and ignore everything Pavel says."

There was a time when Joe Weider had a monopoly on popular training information.  It was a scam;  The bodybuilders appeared to be amazing, ghostwriters concocted elaborate workouts, Weider sold sugary "Mass" powders.  I wasted a lot of life energy.

Crossfit isn't so different.  It sure appears hardcore -- all the cool equipment, people looking busy and getting tired.

Here's a Nietzsche quote:

There are horrible people who, instead of solving a problem, tangle it up and make it harder to solve for anyone who wants to deal with it.  Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
 
Crossfit is not new at all,  it is just " a circuit training " very well market by Mr Glassman, same as kettlebells in USA, very well market by Mr Du Cane.

Rhabdo is very common in all endurance sports, not in pure Strenght training of course, few minutes of recovery are necessary to lift very heavy weights for few reps.

I also don't find anything wrong to run in the rain or to train 6 days per week alternating HIT or not, all the opposite, I really feel good, just a matter of technique and good periodised program. Tired and sore of course, but never in pain...we are all differents, the most important is to find what is working " for you " and for your goals, playing the game " safe ".

 

 
 
This story is so complicated I'll leave it for future historians.  Best wishes.

http://youtu.be/MplUPcQVf8A
 
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