Who Crossfits?

It's definitely not a one size fits all. The blurb from the site about Olympic athletes and grandparents is simple - your body was designed to move in certain ways - squat, lunge, climb, press, etc - and those movements should be used at all levels of training. Volume, load, intensity, etc are relative and variable.

CrossFit is a set of principles.
Conjugated Periodization is a set of principles.

How you apply those principles are going to depend on your strengths, weaknesses, and goals. If you have no idea what your weaknesses are, there's a generic WOD posted for free. Try it and see what you suck at. After a few months of experimenting, you will have a better idea of where you need work and can start to tweak.
 
Its not generic. Crossfit801 down the road from my house won't even allow individual workouts. Only group class workouts, that is generic in it's essence.
 
Vedic said:
Its not generic. Crossfit801 down the road from my house won't even allow individual workouts. Only group class workouts, that is generic in it's essence.
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There are approx 400 CF gyms - not all of them are going to be run the same way. Some cater to Weightlifting (C&J, Snatch), some cater to triathletes, some cater to MMA Fighters, and the list goes on.

Obviously 801 isn't for you. And that's okay. But that doesn't mean you couldn't gain something from the baseline principles and apply them to your unique situation.
 
Bainbridge said:
There are approx 400 CF gyms - not all of them are going to be run the same way. Some cater to Weightlifting (C&J, Snatch), some cater to triathletes, some cater to MMA Fighters, and the list goes on.

Obviously 801 isn't for you. And that's okay. But that doesn't mean you couldn't gain something from the baseline principles and apply them to your unique situation.
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What are the basline principles of CF?

BTW, I saw your profile on the crossfit site. Nice lifts.
 
Barut said:
What are the basline principles of CF?

BTW, I saw your profile on the crossfit site. Nice lifts.
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Thanks Barut.

Variety: this can be as simple or complicated as you want. Different shoes (or no shoes), different bar, different environment, altitude, temperature, humidity, pre-workout meal, time of day, sleep/rest/previous workout, sequence, exercise choice, weight used, % of max, total volume, etc.

Functional: this is NOT the bosu ball/wobble board bullshit that you hear about. Think movement patterns: squat, deadlift, climbling, jumping, pressing/pushing, pulling, cleans, etc. This list can also be modified to suit your sport, although I generally feel that strength work should be separate from skill work.

Intensity: an oversimplified translation would be "power output" at various time frames. How much power can you produce in less than 5 seconds (think vertical jump, max effort squat, max effort clean, snatch, whatever). How much power can you produce in 3 minutes? 5 minutes? 30 minutes?

Combine these three principles in a way that
1) addresses your weak links
2) is measurable
3) is progressive

I know that CF has been slammed for not doing the above, but a freely posted WOD is not a replacement for self-education and/or seeking out a good coach. I can tell you that there are tremendous athletes who do nothing more than the WOD, but there are also athletes who tweak and modify ... yet still follow the three basic principles.

As for safety, there are two ways to look at this. First, no successful program will be injury free. If you want injury free your intensity will be so low as to not produce a response in adaption (which will eventually result in injuries because the individual is a pussy). Show me a training program or sport that hasn't experienced some type of injury. Second, despite the claims of "high injury rates" from people who have never used it, CF has been independently tested by numerous military, police, and fire departments and proven to be safer than existing programs. I know that studies are never perfect, but it gives you some measurable results to help in the decision process. Obviously you will have to weigh pros and cons and see if the benefit is worth the risk.

Regarding the "same workout for everyone" bit ... I hope it is obvious that workouts are modified to the individual's level. Most people have enough common sense to scale back when something is posted that they simply can't do. I don't know many females who would complete 45 reps of 225 deadlift and handstand pushups, but I know quite a few who can complete 45 reps of 95 pound deadlifts and pushups. (This is just an example)

You wouldn't expect a beginner to walk into the gym and deadlift 600 pounds on first try.
You wouldn't expect a beginner to walk into a world class BJJ academy and wipe the floor with a BB.
And you wouldn't expect a beginner to tackle the WOD as written.

Scale to your level and gradually build up - just like anything else.
 
I agree that variety, functionality, and intensity are important. Crossfit does not have the corner on that market though.

Good luck in your fights.
 
I have tried Crossfit and liked it, but like a lot of people I don't have access to a lot of the equip required. Who is this "Ross" person and what are the names of his book? It sounds interesting.

I try to come up with my own workouts based on combat type exercises I have seen over the years. It works for me but I am always open to something new.
 
Barut said:
I agree that variety, functionality, and intensity are important. Crossfit does not have the corner on that market though.

Good luck in your fights.
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You are absolutely correct ... nearly every successful program will involve similar principles.
 
eddie77 said:
I have tried Crossfit and liked it, but like a lot of people I don't have access to a lot of the equip required. Who is this "Ross" person and what are the names of his book? It sounds interesting.

I try to come up with my own workouts based on combat type exercises I have seen over the years. It works for me but I am always open to something new.
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Ross Enamait..

His site is RossTraining - Bridging The Gap Between Ordinary and Extraordinary

His most recent books are Infinite Intensity, Never Gymless and Full Throttle Conditioning (DVD included) I have all 3 including some of his earlier publications which are no longer available.

I highly suggest you check his site and products out. You won't be disappointed.
 
Anthony:

Since you didn't answer the question in the video on the Crossfit Games profile,

How long have you been straight?
 
That really isn't needed man, and it won't help this discussion any.
 
Well I have seen the videos of some of the guys doing the wods in like 2 minutes and at that point I dont know how much conditioning your getting even with that kind of output. I also think that when you do the 1 set 5 reps lifts you may not be adding a lot of strength unless you are really trying to get your 1rm which for a lot of people doesnt seem safe I think. But for the most part I like it alot. The variations are good the site with the exercise demos is very usefull. The funny thing is I found out about crossfit on this board!
 
While I don't agree with Eza getting all defensive with Bainbridge; Eza is right in that I swear some Crossfit trainers never lifted a day in their lives. The quality of instruction is very individual gym specific.
 
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