"you just don't get it, man"
no, i get it. it's stupid. The only thing it offers that is good is a supportive group enironment, and that has become a cult...so even that is bad.
Jesus, I give CrossFit one shitty backhanded "compliment" and some of you tear me a new one. Let me explain. My first comment there was worded crappily, I admit it.
I'm not promoting Crossfit, I just try to have an informed opinion of it when most bro-dybuilders and strength athletes I know make (weirdly passionate and angry) claims about this latest dumb fitness trend that don't match what I've seen in person. I don't do CF. I have observed several sessions though, and that's what I'm basing my opinion on.
I said CrossFit's core concept is good for the typical gym-goer is because most of those people have no idea what they're doing, no coaching, and will piss away their time and effort doing useless routines from magazines, switching every few weeks - because they're bored or because some "functional training" article tells them they need to "confuse" their body. And that's the extent of their research, because the Starting Strength book has too many big words and diagrams. And that doesn't matter to them, because they have no real performance goals outside of the gym.
As a movement and organization, CrossFit is flawed. I was talking about the core idea of performing semi-random circuits (they're meant to be semi-intelligently programmed) that encompass the traditional facets of fitness training (mobility, endurance, strength/power, speed) for people with no specific performance goals. That's not necessarily dangerous, neither is it ideal. There's nothing in that definition that says it has to involve high-reps of dangerous or complex movements. In fact the practitioner is supposed to only attempt what's within their capabilities at the time. Anything beyond that, such as being pushed into trying to do 15 reps of 215lb snatch after running half a mile, three times, is not strictly part of the definition.
In any CF class I've observed, it's never looked like that. The "Death before DNF" mindset is dying out.
CrossFit brought back into public view the concepts of training for strength and performance, and useful barbell movements that the average recreational lifter would never do otherwise. Remember that even Rippetoe has complimented CF for this. Running SS or something similar (Blaha's novice program, Greyskull, whatever) is a better idea for almost everyone hitting the gym, but they're not going to freaking run those because they're HARD, and CF is drawing people in who would otherwise never train at all. Why do WE care what lonely housewives do to keep moving and make friends?
No seriously, why the hell do you care?
And I've not personally seen any of the problems everyone insists is rampant (injuries, retardedly dangerous circuits, terrible coaching) to any real extent, so it's not inherent in CF. It's part of the culture. In fact, the coaches/practitioners are supposed to scale workouts to their abilities and a
full half of all CF sessions I've seen were dedicated to thorough explanations of movements and lifts, coaching and mobility work. So these housewives/douchebag bros aren't all getting crippled out there.
Injuries and injurious programming comes down to individual Crossfit boxes/instructors, and from the CF guys and gals I know personally, I haven't heard of a single injury.
"Coaches" with 1 week certs and nothing else? None of them run any "box" I know of. Every coach at the CF box near me has multiple qualifications, including government certified ones. Rampant cases of rhabdo? Not seen that anywhere. WODs centering around endless heavy reps of C&Js? Not seen it at all. I believe they exist, sure, but I'm right near the premier box in my region and I've not seen any of this.
"And yet, crossfit hq pimps it as a solution for athletes, has specific programming for football players, and pays athletes from actual sports to do stuff with crossfit."
CFHQ is full of crap. The athletes in the CF Games don't do crossfit WoDs. Most crossfitters that I've spoken to know that. And that they're almost all on PEDs.
CF as a movement and an organization is dangerous and reckless. There's no disagreement there from me. CFHQ itself came up with some of the more idiotic WoDs.
"Yes, some crossfit boxes don't do crossfit. They do traditional strength and conditioning programming and use the crossfit label to charge you 3x the price."
If you think I don't know the difference between CF and traditional S/C programs, you're wrong. They're doing CrossFit. They're just not being utterly retarded about it. There are degrees.
Dude you are wasting your time.
(snip)
That guy you are arguing to is probably convinced that something like box jumps are just functional.
Eh?
What I would tell a novice lifter/athlete to do is probably
exactly what anyone else here would tell them. In fact, it was this forum and 7chan that got me away from bodybuilding style routines to doing shit that actually works. (Btw you're refering to specificity of training there, not "functional training." As a term, it originated in physiotherapy and has a specific meaning.)
I already said I wouldn't recommend CF for anyone who actually cares about their performance or metrics as an athlete. So you can disagree with what I said about Crossfit here if you want, maybe I'm completely wrong, I don't care. It's not like I'm going to do it or promote it to anyone. Fuck it.
