Yeah, I talked to him a few times. He said he liked the crossfit but felt he wasnt getting the kind of gains he wanted from it so he was experimenting outside of it. I dont think my point above was made fromt he persepective of a gym rat. I am 180lbs and 5’8" Not huge by any stretch with a 44" chest. I am actually trying to loose some fat weight to cut down to 170. I squat reps at 225 and deadlift for reps around 240 depending on the day. My squat routine is 2 warm up sets of 9, 3 work sets at 225x8 to 9, and one “cool down” set for depth with just 195. I bent over row 85lb dumbells (85x3x8) and overhead press 70x3x5. I dont think I am a gym rat, I dont crossfit, and I have a hard time believing I lack in overall body strength. I am also 37 and injury free (except minor stuff) for 3 years. Last year I was running 3 times a week, but compartment syndrome keeps me from doing that now.
This…
J-dub, please don’t take this in a negative way as this is not intended towards you in any way. I am just putting this out there. I have family that are in various health and fitness occupations. I can say with certainty that there are Ph’ds and MD’s that are in the fitness profession (physical therapist,biochemist, and etc. I am not talking about someone with a degree in kinesiology,i.e a “trainer”) that don’t have a clue on different fitness topics. There are many studies and research data that is inaccurate. I say that because there is alot of conflicting data and information out there. That is why the health community is in such a disarray. That is another whole topic, but the point I am trying to make is that there is not only one way to do something. We have to learn from other peoples real world success that have gotten repeatable results.
Just because someone does not understand or get a certain program or method, does not make it inadequate or not effective.
First and foremost what is the individuals fitness goals? After you establish your immediate and long term fitness goals you can then decide what approach to take. You would not put a golfer on a strict strength program. (bad example, but you get the point).
I am a CF’r and it has its pros and cons that I can could go in detail about. Most importantly it depends what you are trying to accomplish. People have to learn how to think for themselves and what will benefit them positively or negatively. They have to be honest with themselves and were they want to go
The dislike people have between the different training methods, going both ways is juvenile at best and shows that the individual does not understand that particular training philosophy and what it is designed to do.
People have all sorts of different goals and there are many ways to accomplish these.
Also concerning injury, it can happen. People can get hurt in any type of exercise. Don’t blame the program, blame yourself for getting a little too careless.
One of the big problems is that the explosion in popularity of CF, plus the fact that all you need to do to get a cert/affiliate is pay, has led to a lot of subpar gyms. http://greyskullarticles.blogspot.com/2009/10/recently-ive-received-lot-of-emails.html
And some of the exercises they use are pretty dangerous when form breaks down (which is inevitable as fatigue sets in), such as the O-lifts.
Crossfit, and those types of workouts, make more sense to me than any of the traditional strength/cardio alternating, LA Fitness, type programs. Something else to remember about Crossfit is that if you really follow their program and recomendations you’re also participating in some kind of other physical activity. Soccer, football, cycling, whatever. They typically don’t advocate for simply showing up to the CF gym for 30 minutes a day on your way home from work. But even if that’s all you do, I suspect you’re going to get better results, be in better shape, and have a better range of real-world strength than if you spent the same 30 minutes a day at LA Fitness.
That also means you develop the constituent components of fitness to a lesser degree. I don’t give a shit what Couch Glassman says, you aren’t going to build a 600 lb. deadlift using the CF WODs. If that isn’t your goal, fine, but a lot of the stuff coming out of CF HQ is just flat-out bullshit.
Crossfit isn’t for everyone, especially those that can’t get past what they’ve been taught. Finding a good gym, with good trainers, seems critical to me to ensure that you don’t get hurt, but the people that like it seem to really, really like it. I’m sure that to an extent part of that is the belonging to a subculture thing, but if that gets some fatbody off the sofa and doesn’t get him hurt, this is a bad thing how?
It’s better to do something than nothing. But getting a fatbody to not be a fatbody requires long-term compliance, and that isn’t going to happen if they get hurt: http://board.crossfit.com/forumdisplay.php?f=12
Interesting analogy, since many in the fitness community refer to crossfitters as “acolytes” or “cultists.” 
+1 on Kevin P I think the OP has gotten I little too focused on the negatives of the brand of fitness, which like any sport/workout, when done incorrectly can cause injury and of course someplaces might charge a bit high on their prices. I personally set up a pretty good collection of tool for XFit for under $500. CrossFit for me is really the only way I like to work out. Sitting in a gym having everyone eyeballing you isnt all that much fun compared to getting outside and doing something new and different everyday. For me thats what Xfit provides is something different that gets me away from what the “norm” is doing. In conclusion, as it’s starting to seem that you aren’t really reading the informaiom here so much as trying to find new and excitig ways to defend you obvious opposition to CrossFit, I have to be in agreeance here with some of the other posters in that even if it only improves a handful of peoples lives and isnt regularly harming others, then isn’t it worth it?
If it gets people into exercise it’s a good thing, to some people getting up at 6am and swimming a mile, spending an hour running around a track, or 45mins at the gym is too boring and they may not be able to keep a routine like that for long. Crossfit has a lot of different and interesting stuff that can keep someone entertained, and there’s always the aspect of “working out like the military does” (obviously BS but every 28-45 year old Joe Average wants to think he is a SEAL) that attracts a lot of people. I would never do crossfit personally, I think the potential for injury is too high and I have enough activities outside my lifting/cardio routines that are injurious enough as it is. Crossfit gyms are still popping up everywhere in this area, and although that also means an influx of people that go to a few classes and talk your ear off about how hardcore they are, still better than another fat dude complaining about how hot it is/Food Network programming. Any fitness is good fitness these days.
A little about me:
31 YO male, fitness is an occupation priority for me. Prior to my current job, I was an NASM certified trainer working for one of the largest gym chains on the east coast.
Recently, I’ve recently looked at my fitness levels and determined that my current protocol wasn’t working. I was primarily using the Joe Weider mindset, but working in whole body sessions, with separate exercises for separate body movements. Muscle growth? Yes. But, I felt that I wasn’t fit. My body fat was up, I wasn’t comfortable manipulating my body through space, felt that, despite being able to move a lot of weight, I couldn’t grapple as well as others, despite 2+ decades of martial arts training- felt gassed, inflexible, etc.
So, I enrolled in a crossfit-like gym. Love it. In 3 weeks, I’m now feeling much more fit than I’ve felt in years. I can run faster/longer, move and carry my own bodyweight more efficiently, losing weight (less me to move around), etc. I feel that my work capacity has increased. Are these subjective? Yes. Are these different goals and measures of success than NASM, NSCA, and hordes of gym rats use? Yes, but my goals and measurements of success lie beyond the gym.
How is this different for Crossfit than other workout philosophies? Squats, running, bench press, and turkish get-ups, spinning class all run a risk of personal injury. Crossfit gyms aren’t the only ones handing out injury waiver forms at sign up. You have to learn the moves, properly, under the guidance of a trainer, regardless of your gym, a Crossfit black box or a Bally’s.
Never tried Crossfit but have used Cardio Strength Training with good results. Nothing wrong with combining cardio sessions and strength training. Nothing wrong with seperating cardio sessions and strength training either. Tomato, tomato, potato, potato.
There are risks for injury in just about anything we do whether it be driving, swimming, skiing, or shooting. Jumping into crossfit without a clue would be like handing a ignorant child a loaded gun with the safety off. Just as we have graduated licensing for teens and cars and not handing them the keys when they turn 16.
I’ve done a few WOD’s and I’m continuing to implement crossfit exercises that I’ve already been familiar with prior to my learning of CF. As a student I’m in the financial hole, once I’m out of that hole I hope to enroll in a crossfit gym considering the vast number of credible people I’ve heard swear about it.
I’m a level 1 CF instructor for a non-profit fire department affiliate and have been training our firefighters in CF for the last year and a half. I’m a professional firefighter and don’t have a degree in exercise science or anything related, being a trainer is secondary. We, as an organization, have witnessed the benefits of CF and its applicability to our profession and daily lives. I don’t intend to sway anyone to the “CrossFit Way” or discredit traditional fitness programs and this isn’t aimed at anyone taking part in this discussion. I simply feel the need to share some things about CF as they have been explained to me.
The aim of CrossFit is broad general fitness or to be able to perform well at any and all tasks. Having a strong deadlift is as important as running a 5k. We strive to improve performance in 10 physical attributes;respritory/cardio endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy and do this through constantly varied, high intensity, functional movement.
Instructors and certs - before the summer of 2010 Level 1 instructors paid money, went to a class, and got a cert. Today they pay money, go to class, take a test and if they pass they get a cert accredited by the American National Standards Institute. They must also retake the level 1 class every 5 years to maintain competency and their status as a trainer and/or affiliate.
Safety - is paramount, we endorse form before intensity. Unfortunately a new athlete can suffer from a coach’s lack of experience or ability to identify and correct poor form, that can be said for any fitness program or sport. CF does not support poor form for the sake of an intense gut wrenching workout. We won’t put a load on anyone (strong as an ox or not) if they don’t demonstrate good form first, and if form deteriorates during a WOD then the load is reduced or removed until form is recovered. I won’t deny however, that this isn’t the case for all gyms or “boxes” but that is dependent more on the instructor than the program. Instructors have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their athletes by understanding and enforcing good form and to scale as needed to reflect that form.
All this information aside the argument will always remain and both sides will fling mud in order to validate their own beliefs. Whether you agree with any one program or not is irrelevant, fitness is a personal choice and whatever program helps you achieve your goals is a good one. Whether we’re experts or a layman, people don’t care what we think because they ultimately need to find out for themselves what works for them. Spend 30 days in both programs and take the time to educate yourself in their methodologies, then decide for yourself.
“I’ve done a few WOD’s and I’m continuing to implement crossfit exercises that I’ve already been familiar with prior to my learning of CF. As a student I’m in the financial hole, once I’m out of that hole I hope to enroll in a crossfit gym considering the vast number of credible people I’ve heard swear about it.”
Tom, some people here are missing the original intent of Crossfit, in idea crossfit was meant to be able to do for a few dollars from your garage. Like I do, or in your living room, or in a park on a playground the idea that you have to pay $100-xxxx is absurd. Just go to crossfit.com and read around, their journal even gives design idea’s how to build the stuff with simple tools. Once you have the equipment to do the CF warm up you pretty much can use your imagination from there out…y buy a 45# olymipic bar when some PVC pipe from home depot with sand in it will get the same basic result, I’m not saying that you can completly avoid spending a little coin, God knows thats impossible now adays, but you can get started into CF really cheaply and you dont have to pay all that overhead, thats why youtube and google are so amazing watch for free and START SLOW…Build speed with profieciency…Just like Room Clearing…they dont start you with live grenades and a SAW you have to work your way up to it…
EXACTLY …
I have been doing Crossfit mainsite workouts since 2006 with the exception of three months I spent doing Rippetoe’s Starting Strength in 2008. As others have mentioned, if you have a specific goal it makes more sense to choose a more specific program. However since I have started I have made steady improvements in strength, speed, and endurance, and developed skills I probably would never have attempted otherwise like muscle ups and handstand push-ups.
I understand why people are skeptical about the program, I was too before I had done it for several months. Can you get hurt doing it? Of course. But if you spend some time learning the movements before doing them quickly and/or with heavy weights and approach each workout with a realistic goal the risk can be minimized.
I train in my basement with equipment I have gradually accumulated over several years, so it really hasn’t cost me anything. However looking back, if I wouldn’t have had that option it would have been worth it to me to pay $100/ month to get to where I am now.
You didn’t see a previous thread on @Fit.
I’ll add that none of the top crossfitter use CF as envision by Couch or programmed by CFHQ. That ought to tell you something. Heck, it seems most of the folks posting on the crossfit forum aren’t even doing the WODs anymore, but instead are trying to get stronger on Starting Strength or 5/3/1. A lot of the top competitors at the Crossfit games are relatively new to @F (as in a year or two), that ought to tell you something too. Why are none of the original CF firebreathers dominating, since they’ve been doing @fit longer?
And yes, I’ve done more than dabble in it. I drank the koolaid back before it was cool. I didn’t get stronger. I did get better at lifting low weights for high reps.
You may still get hurt. No matter how good that trainer is, who by the way probably started training people after just a weekend seminar, overuse injuries will occur.
I completely get what your saying but I live in residence here at University unfortunately and can’t have all that equipment I have a $50 gym membership with the school although can only do so much without a trainer and without like minded individuals. The places I wanna go and the things I want to do will require me to be at the top of my game.
This summer I’m planning to be doing “Murphs” with a Eagle LVAC & a pullup bar at my cottage. I want a trainer though, I’m tired of working out in a gym where dudes are bigger then me and lifting less or have arms the size of my legs but a giant gut.
I’m already trying to work up to just completing a “Fran” and I’m in better than average fitness compaired to most people in general. I’ve also done WOD’s like “Cindy”. Right now I just don’t have the time to jump into CF unfortunately.
Well that is certainly better written and more subjective then what that other, shall I say asinine, link had to say about it. Thanks for bringing that to the discussion Will.
Bro as long as you’re doing something it’s better then sitting on the couch wasting perfect minutes of your life and the great thing about crossfit IMHO you get a really great work out catered to what your desired form of out put is in under 30 min…all the people on here saying “I don’t get it” is usually because they haven’t got off their arse and tried to…as we say…get some! Good luck with your workouts and don’t stress those cats at the gym…all the muscle in the world won’t stop a controlled pair of 5.56 to the chest…
Covered a lot of different aspects here.
Look at the highest performance athletes around. Be it olympians, triathaletes, or military athletes. NONE of them do “crossfit”. Some of their training may look occasionally like a “crossfit” workout but none do it exclusively.
As ive said in the other thread. It is quite a bit better than regular weight lifting, but its just a step on the path to true fitness training.
It seems to me that a lot of crossfit, the USMC CFT, and a lot of these circuit programs are just variations on a theme of metabolic resistence training. All of it is ice cream (or beer, pick your analogy), just different flavors.