OP, I take it you're doing a UXF class at a gym, rather than at a crossfit box? If so, that may also help with the injury issue. the uxf classes I've taken do a lot of crossfit inspired moves and workouts, but are generally minus the complex heavy lifts (and perhaps the time/competition). I went to a place in LA that essentially billed itself as crossfit without oly and it was an awesome workout.

OP, just out of curiosity, if you like UXF why don't you keep doing that? It's basically wsc's crossfit. I've done both (tried crossfit after quitting my WSC membership) and I actually liked UXF better. Just my $.02.

as a trainer here, i can give you a workout that iwll leave you feeling the same way the "cross fit types" swear by withouth hurting you at all,. no swinging weights, no jerky motions etc, the problem with crossfit is that you use momentum to complete a lot fo the exercises and that is where you get hurt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The truth is it will vary from location to location and from coach to coach. I feel comfortable doing Crossfit, but only because I've been training in various lifts for 2 years. I am completely confident in proper form and can hang with the best of them. Even so, if someone told me to do an O-lift for time, I would tell them to kiss my ass. It's stupid, unnecessary and leads to an extremely high rate of injuries in the CF community. I trained two weeks ago with a local box a few days, but only because they have speed and strength component I was interested in. I saw one of their top athletes go down with a squat that was so heavy (no power rack) she sunk quickly her knees and had to bail the weight off her back. It was quite ridiculous. I won't ever be a CF'er because I can put together all those workouts myself and more importantly it's EXPENSIVE AS HELL!

All that being said you should check it out for yourself. Most of them offer a free week. You can get an excellent workout as long as you know not to do anything stupid.

LOL, can we be friends? I feel exactly the same way. I rowed through college and after, and many of our weight workouts included Olympic lifting (plus many years of running, swimming, etc.). It is NOT meant for cranking out as many reps as possible. You need to focus on proper form every time, or you can easily get injured. I love the idea of working out with a group, and miss my team sports days, but I just can't get past the whole "do as many cleans as you can" thing. That's not the point.

Sure, we can! As long as I don't have to hear you repeat over and over again that you don't want to lift a heavy weight and you don't want to bulk and that you just want to TOOOONNNNEEE! lol I workout in Alexandria

One mans opinion....give it a try. Find the right 'box' to try it out with. The one I signed up with pushed me but also stressed building up very gradually. Hell, they did not want us even getting near the olympic bar until we really showed that we were getting the form down properly.

As with any kind of training/gym environment there are good and bad out there. Try the free class or better yet, find a groupOn. When I did it I signed up for a month of unlimited classes for $99 dollars. The first three classes they don't even let you train with the regular class.......they had one of the instructors walk you through a scaled workout. After that you can join the regular class.

After a month I had a decent handle on the basics and now incorporate crossFit stuff into my workouts at home. Way cheaper to set up my own work out stuff than drop the $150 - $200 a month they want. Still, I got a great intro and feel confident in doing it on my own.

~N~

PS In terms of equipment.....

DIY Plyo box 20x24x30 - $34
DIY Climbing rope - $21
Jump Rope - $12
DIY Parelletes - $28
Biggest expense so far was the olympic bar and weights.

Anonymous wrote:The truth is it will vary from location to location and from coach to coach. I feel comfortable doing Crossfit, but only because I've been training in various lifts for 2 years. I am completely confident in proper form and can hang with the best of them. Even so, if someone told me to do an O-lift for time, I would tell them to kiss my ass. It's stupid, unnecessary and leads to an extremely high rate of injuries in the CF community. I trained two weeks ago with a local box a few days, but only because they have speed and strength component I was interested in. I saw one of their top athletes go down with a squat that was so heavy (no power rack) she sunk quickly her knees and had to bail the weight off her back. It was quite ridiculous. I won't ever be a CF'er because I can put together all those workouts myself and more importantly it's EXPENSIVE AS HELL!

All that being said you should check it out for yourself. Most of them offer a free week. You can get an excellent workout as long as you know not to do anything stupid.

LOL, can we be friends? I feel exactly the same way. I rowed through college and after, and many of our weight workouts included Olympic lifting (plus many years of running, swimming, etc.). It is NOT meant for cranking out as many reps as possible. You need to focus on proper form every time, or you can easily get injured. I love the idea of working out with a group, and miss my team sports days, but I just can't get past the whole "do as many cleans as you can" thing. That's not the point.

I know lots of people who love Crossfit. I have friends that do it and love it. The one thing that all my CR friends have in common is that they all hate to run. They complain on cardio heavy days. I don't think its that way for all CF folks, but I find it strange. They also seem to push the paleo diet and Advocare supplements, both of which I think are bullshit, but YMMV.

I do the Sergeant's Program every morning and our "Sarge" also does Crossfit for herself as well as works out with us. I love my boot camp. We do a mix of running, core strength and upper and lower body strength moves. We meet 5 days a week, 2 upper body days, 2 lower body days and 1 cardio day. We do some of the same things that Crossfit does like push ups, pull ups, box jumps. We use weights we bring ourselves. I use 6 lb dumbells, the guys use 10-12lb. There is a chance for injury, but it doesn't feel the same as CF. We get pushed but if an exercise is too much, we take a break.

If you're looking for metabolic conditioning, take a boot camp class. If you want to o-lift, get an o-lifting coach. I agree with the PP that the main problem with Cross-fit is mixing of high reps of moves that have the potential for injuries if performed incorrectly (like, when you're tired from performing high reps).I'd also ask yourself what you want to get out of Cross-fit. Because the only thing it makes you better at is .... doing Crossfit.

The truth is it will vary from location to location and from coach to coach. I feel comfortable doing Crossfit, but only because I've been training in various lifts for 2 years. I am completely confident in proper form and can hang with the best of them. Even so, if someone told me to do an O-lift for time, I would tell them to kiss my ass. It's stupid, unnecessary and leads to an extremely high rate of injuries in the CF community. I trained two weeks ago with a local box a few days, but only because they have speed and strength component I was interested in. I saw one of their top athletes go down with a squat that was so heavy (no power rack) she sunk quickly her knees and had to bail the weight off her back. It was quite ridiculous. I won't ever be a CF'er because I can put together all those workouts myself and more importantly it's EXPENSIVE AS HELL!

All that being said you should check it out for yourself. Most of them offer a free week. You can get an excellent workout as long as you know not to do anything stupid.

I loved it, but it is dangerous as hell and is never do it again. No matter how much you know the proper form and do it well most of the time, if is impossible to be perfect every time when you are working until exhaustion and beyond.

In general, you do have to know your own body, know its limits, and understand the difference between pushing your limits and doing something stupid but given your background, this should be par for the course for you, and it sounds like you’re the kind of person who would love it, to boot.

I think its important to find a gym that is supportive of safety and that does not have a competitive culture so much as a collaborative one. My gym also has a nice mix of people--ages, body types, levels of fitness--and encourages safety first. I have many chronic issues and 3 different ortho surgeries under my belt and am in no way as athletic or strong as you sound. Even so, I have not gotten injured in crossfit yet, but I am pretty careful with many of the more complex weight lifting moves. I will say that its definitely increased my physical fitness and strength.

I've been doing Cross Fit 3 times a week for the past 4 months and I am one of the most risk averse people you ever meet. Other than being very, very sore the first time I did it, I haven't been injured.

Given your history with sports and competition I think you will love it. I am not a fan of group classes at the gym but I loved crossfit when I did it. It got me to push harder then I ever could on my own own and to do things i wouldn't normally avoid like burpees or snatch. Only stopped because of the cost and because the class times weren't great for my schedule.

as far as injuries... you can get injured doing any sport if you don't listen to your body or know your limitations. i did it for 3 months with no injuries. Versus various running injuries i had over the years. It actually made some previous pains go away- i think because i worked out some muscle imbalances.

I say give it a try. You have nothing to lose and worse case you hate it and move on, no big deal.

I just did it this morning, and I really like it. I think the most important thing is to find the Crossfit gym that you like. Mine is not overly competitive, and has a solid mix of ages and body types, which appeals to me.

At my Crossfit, they go over every single lift and move before you do it, and it's highly recommended to do weights that you can actually lift. I think if you try to go too big too fast, you will get hurt, but everything is scalable. The other cool thing is that everyone is good at something and everyone is working on a personal goal, which is great.

I really love it. Every workout is different, which I need or I get bored. Give it a try. A lot of gyms will have a foundations class to teach you the lifts before you commit to the high prices.

So--crossfit is this really what it's all cracked up to be??

Still contemplating trying it.

I am a 44-year old female. Former competitive soccer player (thru college), 8-time marathoner (3:45 best), I lift, squat, spinnin, etc. I got hooked on UXF at my gym and my body has really transformed. It tightened my core like nothing else.

I keep hearing about crossfit injuries. I have always worked out hard 6 days per week and yet to have a muscle or joint injury.

What are your experiences??