Tell me about cross fit?

[Anonymous]

Just spent a week of vacation with friends. This husband and wife are obsessed with cross fit. It's all they talked about. They are in good shape but to be honest I thought my friend-the wife-looked too bulked up. I don't see the appeal.

[Anonymous]

It attracts a lot of douchebags and douchebaguettes.

[Anonymous]

First rule of cross fit: never stop talking about cross fit.

I think there's a range--some boxes are run by people who really know what they are doing and others, not so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous


"First rule of cross fit: never stop talking about cross fit. "

Exactly! These people would not shut up about it. Like they had discovered the greatest secret of the universe. The bought of lifting barbells etc does not appeal to me. I have washboard abs, a tight but and killer arms. I do yoga. But I don't try to convince everyone else to do it. In fact I like having my own thing. They've never done yoga so they think I'm a wimp.

[Anonymous]

I find the best part of it is how they say at first no, people don't get injured doing it and then within a few months or so they get hurt.

I have worked in a gym for many years, these fads come and go, I have told many of my clients who want to try it to go ahead but they will not get the same results as working hard, doing the exercises through a full range of motion without bouncing and throwing the weights.

They all come back, most injured, some because they do not see results they have been getting.

[Anonymous]

I think crossfit boxes can be good if they are run by folks that actually know something about weight lifting but that is really rare. Most only seem know about weight lifting from and in the context of cross fit and haven't spent any time learning about proper form. You end up with people doing terrible lifts and hurting themselves badly.

I also can't stand the near religious fervor people seem to have for it. It seems to be a life cycle instead of a workout for them. Anything less than full devotion is unacceptable and you sure as hell better have an instagram full you doing your WOD and your Sunday meal prep of unseasoned baked chicken breast and steamed broccoli.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think crossfit boxes can be good if they are run by folks that actually know something about weight lifting but that is really rare. Most only seem know about weight lifting from and in the context of cross fit and haven't spent any time learning about proper form. You end up with people doing terrible lifts and hurting themselves badly.

I also can't stand the near religious fervor people seem to have for it. It seems to be a life cycle instead of a workout for them. Anything less than full devotion is unacceptable and you sure as hell better have an instagram full you doing your WOD and your Sunday meal prep of unseasoned baked chicken breast and steamed broccoli.

Lifestyle, not life cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find the best part of it is how they say at first no, people don't get injured doing it and then within a few months or so they get hurt.

I have worked in a gym for many years, these fads come and go, I have told many of my clients who want to try it to go ahead but they will not get the same results as working hard, doing the exercises through a full range of motion without bouncing and throwing the weights.

They all come back, most injured, some because they do not see results they have been getting.

+1

My SIL works in a spine care clinic. Says these cross fit types and people that do similar programs are always coming in there with back injuries.

[Anonymous]

I teach yoga to cross fitters because they need it so desperately because of how they abuse their bodies. I see so many injuries- I also see more people gain (unnecessary) weight than lose it. It's like a cult. I loathe it.

[Anonymous]

A friend of mine was always checking in at his local box, and posting all sorts of crap about Paleo on his FB page.

I didn't see him for awhile, and the next time I saw pics of him, I was shocked - he had gained like 100 pounds in maybe a year. Supposedly while doing CF and Paleo. (he was not a skinny guy to begin with.) I had so many jokes in my head about him being the worst advertisement for CF/Paleo ever, but I kept them to myself.

[Anonymous]

it's a pseudo cult.

[Anonymous]

My DH does it, he likes the intense workouts, but he doesn't "bring it home" and talk about it constantly. He is by far the exception. We have other friends that do it elsewhere and they will.not.stop.talking about it.

Lots of injuries. Crossfit basically just leases their name out to whatever gym wants to use it and then sells the gyms training. They don't have any oversight on what is happening in the gyms that are using their names. Lots of these dudes running these gyms have no idea what they are doing.

Dh is pretty conservative and just competes against himself, not against others, and he still got hurt. It's ridiculous. He had to take like 6 months off to heal his back and he still has trouble with it if he sleeps completely flat. My DH is super fit and only 30.

I don't know ANY of our friends who do crossfit who haven't gotten an injury from it or an existing injury majorly exacerbated.

Expensive as hell too. And lots of them aren't air conditioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DH does it, he likes the intense workouts, but he doesn't "bring it home" and talk about it constantly. He is by far the exception. We have other friends that do it elsewhere and they will.not.stop.talking about it.

Lots of injuries. Crossfit basically just leases their name out to whatever gym wants to use it and then sells the gyms training. They don't have any oversight on what is happening in the gyms that are using their names. Lots of these dudes running these gyms have no idea what they are doing.

Dh is pretty conservative and just competes against himself, not against others, and he still got hurt. It's ridiculous. He had to take like 6 months off to heal his back and he still has trouble with it if he sleeps completely flat. My DH is super fit and only 30.

I don't know ANY of our friends who do crossfit who haven't gotten an injury from it or an existing injury majorly exacerbated.

Expensive as hell too. And lots of them aren't air conditioned.

What is up with that?!?! Who wants to do it not air conditioned?? I never, ever want to pay to sweat unnecessarily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DH does it, he likes the intense workouts, but he doesn't "bring it home" and talk about it constantly. He is by far the exception. We have other friends that do it elsewhere and they will.not.stop.talking about it.

Lots of injuries. Crossfit basically just leases their name out to whatever gym wants to use it and then sells the gyms training. They don't have any oversight on what is happening in the gyms that are using their names. Lots of these dudes running these gyms have no idea what they are doing.

Dh is pretty conservative and just competes against himself, not against others, and he still got hurt. It's ridiculous. He had to take like 6 months off to heal his back and he still has trouble with it if he sleeps completely flat. My DH is super fit and only 30.

I don't know ANY of our friends who do crossfit who haven't gotten an injury from it or an existing injury majorly exacerbated.

Expensive as hell too. And lots of them aren't air conditioned.

Lemme guess - he was doing high rep olympic lifts in a fatigued state??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Lemme guess - he was doing high rep olympic lifts in a fatigued state??

No idea. But he said he heard something snap. It was bad. Back experts, MRI, chiro, etc etc etc. The fact that he continues to go is beyond me. He is a pretty laid back person in general though, and I think that is where he gets his "aggression" (for lack of a better word - or maybe intensity) out.

The air conditioning thing is especially crazy given that we live in a southwest state similar (think Arizona, New Mexico, etc). None of them have AC here. And when we lived in the midwest none of them had it either. It's like a badge of pride thing, they're all about being "hardcore."