Crossfit...Cult, or Culture?

[kirkland]

I just can't get on board with doing olympic lifts for time, seems like a recipe for disaster to me, I'd rather take my time and focus on good form, and those swinging pull-ups they do are a joke. Otherwise crossfit is pretty cool I guess.

[zk556x45]

I just can't get on board with doing olympic lifts for time, seems like a recipe for disaster to me, I'd rather take my time and focus on good form, and those swinging pull-ups they do are a joke. Otherwise crossfit is pretty cool I guess.

Background/disclosure: I've been doing CrossFit in one form or another since 2006. Started when one of our river instructors made us do it on the beach before work and all we had was rafts and rigging gear to throw around. Here's my take on the "oly lifts for time is dangerous" and "kipping pull-ups are silly" arguments:

Yes, both of those statements CAN be true depending on the athlete's skill level, capacity and objective. Some athletes have the capacity to perform high-rep snatches at moderate (and even fairly heavy) loads. That's not dangerous, and it can be a very intense and effective workout. An athlete who lacks the skill and experience to perform those lifts correctly should not be doing them for time as they will very likely become injured. But it is a mistake to throw the entire modality out because some people might hurt themselves by getting out of their depth.

As for kipping: when you see an athlete moving through kipping pull-ups, their goal isn't (shouldn't be) the same as someone else moving thru strict pull-ups. They're different movements, with different objectives which will stimulate different changes in a person's body and work-capacity. Ideally, a well rounded athlete should do both.

I think the main reason for complaints like these is related to the affiliate structure in CrossFit and the fact that HQ is hands off as long as they get their affiliate fee (not advocating for change here, it's a fantastic business model). IOW, the problem is not oly lifts for time and kipping pull-ups; it's the fact that some (many?) coaches and athletes don't know how, when or why to use them.


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[WS6]

I just can't get on board with doing olympic lifts for time, seems like a recipe for disaster to me, I'd rather take my time and focus on good form, and those swinging pull-ups they do are a joke. Otherwise crossfit is pretty cool I guess.

Much like saying I'd rather not take a carbine class. I want to prep the trigger, gently squeeze, follow through, call my shot. Not shoot stupid vtac drills all willy nilly.

But that's not exactly the right way of seeing it. The post above mine sums it up very well. I have hurt myself doing lifts on my own, no time goal, more than I have at Crossfit style lifting. By far.

[WS6]

And from my experience doing it for 4 years in Hungary and the US is that the main detractors are those who never figured it out and those who never really gave it a good chance.

I will say this at the beginning of my journey and even now at certain crossfit gyms which I hate and are mainly in Budapest , there are assholes and bullies who poke fun of the newbies.
That pisses me off the most out of everything else I have experienced. Gyms that do thst instead of encourage beginners and newbies deserve a quick and painful death.

I don't believe in coddling but I do believe in making people be stronger than their excuses.


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Eating your young is the surest path to extinction.

[kirkland]

Much like saying I'd rather not take a carbine class. I want to prep the trigger, gently squeeze, follow through, call my shot. Not shoot stupid vtac drills all willy nilly.

But that's not exactly the right way of seeing it. The post above mine sums it up very well. I have hurt myself doing lifts on my own, no time goal, more than I have at Crossfit style lifting. By far.

Not even close to being a good analogy. Focusing on good form when lifting is good, taking a carbine class to improve your shooting skills is good, rushing through olympic lifts and potentially hurting yourself is bad. Some crossfit workouts seem to prioritize speed and how many reps for time you can do ahead of good form, and as fatigue sets in and form breaks down and you're still cranking out reps pushing for time, the potential for injury can be great. I started doing snatches, cleans, and jerks when I was 16 back in high school, looking back on it now, we had shitty form back then, we didn't know any better, but we were teenagers and we could get away with it, not so much anymore. If you're hurting yourself when you are lifting then you should look into improving your form.

[WS6]

Not even close to being a good analogy. Focusing on good form when lifting is good, taking a carbine class to improve your shooting skills is good, rushing through olympic lifts and potentially hurting yourself is bad. Some crossfit workouts seem to prioritize speed and how many reps for time you can do ahead of good form, and as fatigue sets in and form breaks down and you're still cranking out reps pushing for time, the potential for injury can be great. I started doing snatches, cleans, and jerks when I was 16 back in high school, looking back on it now, we had shitty form back then, we didn't know any better, but we were teenagers and we could get away with it, not so much anymore. If you're hurting yourself when you are lifting then you should look into improving your form.

Some VTAC drills seem to prioritize just making noise and squeezing a trigger over accuracy.

No. Wait. No they don't. And neither does Crossfit do as you say. The goal is not to just flop out as many half-ass sloppy reps as you can as quick as you can. The goal is to do it RIGHT as quick as you can. Shitty coaches and ego-fed meatheads that only care about the whiteboard are the only one's who place "number of reps" above "number of correct reps". Why? because a) It will get you hurt, as we both know, and b) It will get you "no-repped" in competition. So it's not a win in ANY sense of the word. Just like rattling off rounds on a VTAC 1-5 is no sort of success unless you are using your sights and making accurate hits. This is why lifts have standards, and VTAC targets have boxes/zones. Only idiots ignore either.

[sadmin]

How awesome is it we are arguing whether it's a cult whilst on a board dedicated to shooting, dressing, and training with a weapon that statistically speaking, will never be used in a life or death situation for 99% of the reg. members. Not to mention most people don't shoot regularly or compete / have the dedication to shooting on the level of the crossfitting socermom.

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[ramairthree]

How awesome is it we are arguing whether it's a cult whilst on a board dedicated to shooting, dressing, and training with a weapon that statistically speaking, will never be used in a life or death situation for 99% of the reg. members. Not to mention most people don't shoot regularly or compete / have the dedication to shooting on the level of the crossfitting socermom.

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You have to take into account the level of emotional investment and important self identification people get from the the type of workout they do, what cars they have, where they went to school, their profession, the kind of gun they buy, the kind of dog they have, etc.

[thebarracuda]

Hey man, whatever it is, I'm just there for the chicks...

[Endur]