Is CrossFit for me?

[Marfa]

TS, I did Crossfit for a while (almost two years). I had never done anything remotely so athletic previously.

Let me tell you the song of my people:

- The trainers were not obssessed with it to the point of being obnoxious, and had previous experience oly lifting and in professional sports. This is important because they emphasized form with lower weights instead of risking snap city every 5 minutes. Yet people went to snap city a couple of times. Good trainers are important, if your trainer does not teach you the basics and makes sure you adhere to them, you are going to snap city. If your trainer is on you everytime asking for more reps with more weight when you don't have the form, you are going to snap city.

- Community training in the Crossfit environment promotes "secret" competition with your peers. There will always be someone trying to best someone else, or judging someone else, based on your results, which will be public. Some people get very annoying asking for your results every damn day.

- They don't sell just exercise, but a way of life. You're entering in a community, and so you can expect shit like paleo diets, eating organic, buying Reebok, watching the Crossfit Games...etc. This can get annoying and push people out if they don't like it / are bored with it.

- Careful with the clown.

Because of the training method, the developed obssession, and all the supplements some people ingest, the Crossfit Community has a recurrent gag about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdomyolysis This is to be avoided, and a problem that should not be present on everyday people doing Crossfit.

- Crossfit professional athletes program their workouts different from what you'll be doing. They do a lot of specific work to improve aspects of their game (lifts, balance...), and then the Crossfit WODs to get good at them. Regular folk don't have the time (and body chemistry) to do specific exercises to improve their deadlifts on top of doing WODs several times a day.

- I stopped doing Crossfit because I plateau'd. I didn't have the time to improve my form on oly lifts, as I'm a slow learner and need many hours drilling shit to get it right, and I was not willing to add weight without proper form. This led to me getting behind other people who continued to improve. As the "improvers" moved on, they created their own circle of cool people where they discussed crossfit-related things non-stop, and me and others were left to our devices creating another group. Every time a new chick arrived, and said chick started to gravitate towards us, the improvers would immediately discard their shirts and chat her up. This happened several times in very noticeable fashion. I got bored of how things were going, of being stuck, and so I left.

To sum up, enjoy it, but be careful to not get sucked in with the bullshit.

 

[Swoliosis]

You can't go wrong with a 5 by X program be it 5x5, 5x3, or 5x1 ramped. In my opinion time in the gym should be solely for strength and power development.

Cardio and muscular endurance are really sport specific and can be easily accomplished in training.

haha I know I was just fucking around

I started 5x5 a few years ago to build a solid strength base and these days just do a push/pull split with mostly compound movements. Recently started some of the conditioning drills from Infinite Intensity to help me with my weekend warrior games of football and/or drunken wrestling.

 

[mmafreedom]

It entirely depends on the crossfit gym. As others have said, there are good gyms and bad gyms. I coach at a crossfit gym and even I disagree with some of the 'wods' programmed at mine.

Key things i'd look for;
*Planned and proper macro, meso and microcycles.
*Coaches with a solid S&C knowledge who understand why the programming is the way it is.
*Coaches who walk the walk, not just talk the walk.
*Are the students exhibiting good technique? If not then you can bet your bottom dollar the coaches aren't reinforcing it.
*Are the coaches telling people to dial back in weight? All to often I see guys not checking their ego, going too heavy and then getting a disgruntled look when I tell them to dial back the weight.
*Friendly, fun environment. Do you like the people you train with? Do you like the coaches? If not, why bother with that gym when you could train at a commercial gym, or another crossfit gym and have a better experience.
*Is it cost affordable? Lots of crossfit gyms are quite expensive so you want to make sure it's within your budget.

Just a few things that come to my mind on the spot. The benefits of a good Crossfit gym are huge. The potential risk factors of a bad Crossfit gym are once again, huge. It's the same with everything though, boxing, jiu jitsu, commerical gyms, it's just a part of life.

 

[oyaji poi]

Unless your goal is to be good as Crossfit, Crossfit is not the best way to get to your goal.

But if you just want something inclusive to do, don't mind the cost, and can tolerate the occasional (or very frequent) zealot, then it's better than nothing.

Just be aware that gym and coaching quality vary drastically with Crossfit

The thing is, the people who do the best at Crossfit don't actually do the daily workouts, they train specific strength and conditioning qualities that they need to improve upon. Mostly this involves strength and skill training - squats, deadlifts, presses, and the O-lifts.

 

[Ethan]

The reason we dislike crossfit is because it's either not optimal or directly detrimental to the goals most of us have, which is to increase strength to help performance in our respective sports. If you want to do crossfit for fun, why not? You sound like you'd enjoy it.

 

[Oblivian]

TS, I did Crossfit for a while (almost two years). I had never done anything remotely so athletic previously.

Let me tell you the song of my people:

- The trainers were not obssessed with it to the point of being obnoxious, and had previous experience oly lifting and in professional sports. This is important because they emphasized form with lower weights instead of risking snap city every 5 minutes. Yet people went to snap city a couple of times. Good trainers are important, if your trainer does not teach you the basics and makes sure you adhere to them, you are going to snap city. If your trainer is on you everytime asking for more reps with more weight when you don't have the form, you are going to snap city.

- Community training in the Crossfit environment promotes "secret" competition with your peers. There will always be someone trying to best someone else, or judging someone else, based on your results, which will be public. Some people get very annoying asking for your results every damn day.

- They don't sell just exercise, but a way of life. You're entering in a community, and so you can expect shit like paleo diets, eating organic, buying Reebok, watching the Crossfit Games...etc. This can get annoying and push people out if they don't like it / are bored with it.

- Careful with the clown.

Because of the training method, the developed obssession, and all the supplements some people ingest, the Crossfit Community has a recurrent gag about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdomyolysis This is to be avoided, and a problem that should not be present on everyday people doing Crossfit.

- Crossfit professional athletes program their workouts different from what you'll be doing. They do a lot of specific work to improve aspects of their game (lifts, balance...), and then the Crossfit WODs to get good at them. Regular folk don't have the time (and body chemistry) to do specific exercises to improve their deadlifts on top of doing WODs several times a day.

- I stopped doing Crossfit because I plateau'd. I didn't have the time to improve my form on oly lifts, as I'm a slow learner and need many hours drilling shit to get it right, and I was not willing to add weight without proper form. This led to me getting behind other people who continued to improve. As the "improvers" moved on, they created their own circle of cool people where they discussed crossfit-related things non-stop, and me and others were left to our devices creating another group. Every time a new chick arrived, and said chick started to gravitate towards us, the improvers would immediately discard their shirts and chat her up. This happened several times in very noticeable fashion. I got bored of how things were going, of being stuck, and so I left.

To sum up, enjoy it, but be careful to not get sucked in with the bullshit.

Quotes as this seemed like a very fair writeup.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Quotes as this seemed like a very fair writeup.

Yeah, I thought this was a really fair writeup.

 

[JauntyAngle]

You can't go wrong with a 5 by X program be it 5x5, 5x3, or 5x1 ramped.

(5x2) x 10 is pretty money too. Especially for bench and curl based programmes. GVT = previously untouched levels of athleticism.

Less seriously... Barbell circuits and other anaerobic stuff done in the gym is a part of the toolkit. Maybe note the biggest part and not one most people here need to use, but it has its place. Joel Jamieson uses circuit training for development of anaerobic lactic power. And he would be the first to tell us that developing conditioning just by doing your sport can only take you so far and will normally lead to some weak spot in your conditioning- it's the basic premise of his method.

 

[Miiiiiiighty]

Are you going to bang any hot crossfit babes tho

I am actually considering to do a few monthes at a crossfit box nearby just for that reason TBH..

 

[ironwolf]

I am actually considering to do a few monthes at a crossfit box nearby just for that reason TBH..

Me too...

 

[Roca]

The reason we dislike crossfit is because it's either not optimal or directly detrimental to the goals most of us have, which is to increase strength to help performance in our respective sports. If you want to do crossfit for fun, why not? You sound like you'd enjoy it.

Truth right here. Crossfit is fine as a hobby. I think it just bugs people who are serious about training because Crossfitters sometimes seem to believe/promote that crossfit is the ultimate training method for everything, which is not true. If you are training for a sport then following a periodized strength and conditioning program tailored to the needs of you and your sport is far more beneficial.

Your s&c program needs to be accommodating of your body's current condition, your sport specific training, and the schedule of your specific sport. These are things that crossfit does not do, in fact it completely disregards everything I've mentioned this far.

I do have a couple of problems with 'crossfit'. The quality of the 'boxes' (wtf? it's a gym) varies wildly from location to location. Speaking with a co-worker who goes to the local crossfit, the training seems ok, they start with pvc and slowly work up in weights. She seems to be well aware of proper form, so I believe the local instruction is good. This does not seem to be the case everywhere.

Another problem is the overuse of AMRAPs and the emphasis of doing things for speed. I believe these lead to the majority of crossfit injuries, and are not particularly beneficial in a training sense. As I've seen posted here before, trying to combine strength training and cardio/conditioning training means you are not maximizing the benefits of either.

My final problem with crossfit is the peer-pressure aspect combined with the AMRAP/Reps-for-time culture leads to people doing too-much-too-fast-too-soon. This also leads to injuries, particularly since crossfitters are often just 'regular people', not highly trained athletes with years of experience.

TL;DR: Crossfit is ok if you wanna do crossfit. If you wanna be stronger/faster/better at your sport, then there is probably a more optimal way to spend your time and money.


Note: I am not an experienced trainer or coach, and there are many posters on this forum with more experience in s&c training. I'm just a guy who takes my sport seriously, and takes my training seriously (except for beer. beer is good.) and these are my opinions.

 

[Miiiiiiighty]

Me too...

We should start a thread with the pics of our pickups

 

[Possum Jenkins]

Crossfit is fine for those that have a hard time working out by themselves and/or have never lifted in their lives and live very sedentary lives.

So I'd tell TS to give Crossfit a shot, just to get familiar with lifting and physical exertion. But after about a year or so, I'd suggest leaving and adopting a conventional strength & conditioning program at a conventional gym.

 

[Cmart]

I'd also suggest you give Scientology a trial run.

 

[Eric Brown]

Why not try a plan that has been shown to produce results without the risk of injury that crossfit has. Many crossfit gyms have shit for instruction and then you will spend more time trying to fix the problems bad coaching causes.

 

[nonsense1989]

Why not try a plan that has been shown to produce results without the risk of injury that crossfit has. Many crossfit gyms have shit for instruction and then you will spend more time trying to fix the problems bad coaching causes.

My experiences with Crossfit gyms have been pleasant. The coaches seem well versed in the technical lifts, understand the importance of periodization, and they typically have WL coaches who offer WL only classes

I do understand their dilemmas too though. They strongly advocate smart programming with a strong emphasis on the lifts, but the majority of their clients simply won't show up to any classes beyond the basic group WOD classes.
It'd be like MMA coaches know the importance of wrestling, and strongly advocate their members to go to wrestling classes (coached by high level wrestlers), yet the majority of their members would only do BJJ classes

And when it comes to running a business, it's the majority group that helps you pay the bills to keep the business running

P.S: I am speaking from a purely non-biased view. I have a professional job that pays well and outside of committing some big crime , I will never lose the job. My income doesn't depend on Crossfit guys paying me to coach them WL.
I only deal with Crossfit gyms to use their WL equipments whenever I am on the road (thanks to my job)

 

[Kozbot]

How strong and aerobically in shape are you? If you are fundamentally weak and also can't finish a 5k I'd round out those areas before diving into crossfit. I see a lot of people totally new to exercise come in and try crossfit, something which requires a combination of flexibility, coordination, endurance, and strength without having a base in any of them

 

[IceWolf]

I'd also suggest you give Scientology a trial run.

Bahahahahaha you are a DELIGHT!

 

[IceWolf]

How strong and aerobically in shape are you? If you are fundamentally weak and also can't finish a 5k I'd round out those areas before diving into crossfit. I see a lot of people totally new to exercise come in and try crossfit, something which requires a combination of flexibility, coordination, endurance, and strength without having a base in any of them

This is true, there is an abundance of research that shows without an adequate aerobic base, high intensity training can actually be detrimental to your overall cardio gains. I mean, you'll still get some benefits, but you could be getting a lot more with a sufficient base.

 

[selfcritical]

Why not try a plan that has been shown to produce results without the risk of injury that crossfit has. Many crossfit gyms have shit for instruction and then you will spend more time trying to fix the problems bad coaching causes.

OP explicitly wants a group fitness enviromnent with peer pressure to show up, and if he's not interested in a particular sport I don't see a problem with that. He might get the same experience for cheaper with a YMCA triathlon training group or something similar (although that will of course, have way less totally awesome barbell work). Most places probably won't have a gym dedicated to powerlifting with team practices and the like.