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Joe
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9 months ago
in Crossfit Kills Stupid People? on Natural Bodybuilding with Marc David
You people are ridiculous. The notion of anyone submitting their opinion of what they PERSONALLY know nothing about is laughable at best. The New York Times article is so biased because if she even got 10% of her facts right, the article would never have been published except in positive praise of CrossFit.
The whole section on rhabdo is a gross falsification of what CrossFit stands for. NO ONE takes rhabdo lightly and it is reiterated time and time again, especially for newcomers, to push yourselves but not to the point of killing yourself. CrossFit routines can kill you in the same way that running 100 meter sprints until you collapse can kill you. Essentially it's not the routine that kills, it's not listening to your body what kills you. Even then rhabdo is EXTREMELY rare and doing CrossFit has empircally proven to be safer and prevent injuries than any other workout regime. Need an example?
You may find this on the CrossFit boards but a CrossFit program was developed at the USMC scout/sniper school. The course was 8 weeks long and at the end the recruits physical fitness test scores experienced unprecedented results that never happened with previous fitness routines, there were 0, i repeat 0, injuries sustained in the 8 week long course in an environment when 3-4 recruits are medically discharged from injuries sustained.
I might be mad at the gross incompetence of the modern body building community in not being able to understand the litany of evidence that proves that the CrossFit method produces better athletes and reduces injuries than what traditional body-building routines and 'globo-gyms can offer', but when the Crossfit community experiences 300% growth annually for the last seven years and is taking ever bigger bites out of body-building community, it makes me laugh enough to forgive you guys.
Last question, does this site offer any more articles written about subjects you know nothing about? Perhaps next month you can write about special relativity or the evolution of marine life.
The whole section on rhabdo is a gross falsification of what CrossFit stands for. NO ONE takes rhabdo lightly and it is reiterated time and time again, especially for newcomers, to push yourselves but not to the point of killing yourself. CrossFit routines can kill you in the same way that running 100 meter sprints until you collapse can kill you. Essentially it's not the routine that kills, it's not listening to your body what kills you. Even then rhabdo is EXTREMELY rare and doing CrossFit has empircally proven to be safer and prevent injuries than any other workout regime. Need an example?
You may find this on the CrossFit boards but a CrossFit program was developed at the USMC scout/sniper school. The course was 8 weeks long and at the end the recruits physical fitness test scores experienced unprecedented results that never happened with previous fitness routines, there were 0, i repeat 0, injuries sustained in the 8 week long course in an environment when 3-4 recruits are medically discharged from injuries sustained.
I might be mad at the gross incompetence of the modern body building community in not being able to understand the litany of evidence that proves that the CrossFit method produces better athletes and reduces injuries than what traditional body-building routines and 'globo-gyms can offer', but when the Crossfit community experiences 300% growth annually for the last seven years and is taking ever bigger bites out of body-building community, it makes me laugh enough to forgive you guys.
Last question, does this site offer any more articles written about subjects you know nothing about? Perhaps next month you can write about special relativity or the evolution of marine life.
1 reply
Crossfit's emphasis is very much on form. They bombard you with form. But it is true, that the goal is completion of the workouts in the least amount of time. This emphasis is on Power Output.
Now people may go crazy and use bad technique and form, but that is on their own. I have never seen a Crossfit trainer that would count a rep done in bad form. Moreover, Crossfit constantly run's clinics and seminars on flexibility, form and technique, and nutrition. In a sense it is analogous to people weightlifting with bad for in the gym; their bad form is not constitutive of weightlifting. It is what people with poor training or lack of instruction often do, regardless of the fitness philosophy.
Finally in terms of safety and recovery, there is almost a mantra among Crossfitters to listen to your body and do what works.
Long before I started doing Crossfit, I read and studied it with piqued interest. I believe it took two years for me to be in a position-mentally being convinced and proximity wise to begin training.
I tried many different workouts in the last 10 years. Through the yearsI fluctuated between hulking powerlifting beast and slim weak endurance. I've always wanted something that can do both. Every "fitness" expert out there pretty much said endurance and strength are incommensurate. That is up until I discovered Crossfit.
I've been doing it for 4 months. Dropped down 7% bf. Before I started (in my strength phase) I couldn't run a 5 miles. After a month of training, with no previous running training in 2 years not even in Crossfit. I ran 5 miles easy. I can crank out 10 pullups and I overall feel faster and healthier than ever.
In the end, the only critics who disparage Crossfit are those who have never tried it.
I've often wondered why the criticism is so harsh, and out of hand equally dismissive. There are two things that come to mind. The first is the dominance of training philosophy, long slow technique training. Except for gymnists and track athletes (who by the way seem to be the most all around fittest) the literature has priveleged sets and reps and tons of resting. The other reason for the knee-jerk opposition to Crossfit is the difficulty is producing power. Put in other words, its just plain hard. There is almost zero pushing weight lying on your back or going half way on a squat. No rests over 10 seconds and the 10 seconds rests are reserved for Tabatas. It is just nasty work you have to go in ready for war. People don't like that. Human nature much prefers moderate work over short nasty work. I should mention that the workouts hardly ever approach 30min. most are 20min. or less. Yet, the intensity is for most too much to bear.