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If you've ever been an athlete, and have spent 30 seconds watching crossfit - it becomes obvious the goal is to see how dumb of an "exercise" you can do before

• dominotw 7y ago
  Always wondered how one of my friends is uninjured from CrossFit doing it 3 times a week for 10 yrs. I am guessing he doesn't push himself to the limit.
  • amluto 7y ago
    Supposedly there are (rare) good CrossFit trainers who keep their class safe.
    • wallace_f 7y ago
      Supposedly. In personal experience, I've observed an actual 100% fit for people who lack critical thinking skills, or often even general intelligence, and significant Crossfit engagement. I really do think it is an obviously anti-intellectual consumer cult. I know many people who have tried it and decided it was not reasonable. Edit: I think my comment comes across as a generalized put-down, which rubbed people the wrong way and garnered the downvotes. The experience I shared is truthful. Every single person I know that has really fallen into the Crossfit consumer cult is as far as I can tell a person who proves themselves to be susceptible to morally bankrupt, intellectually inept ideas. All of these people legitimately lack critical thinking skills. That's my own experience. As far as the actual regime goes, it is pretty-well established to be anti-intellectual and flagrantly dismissive of science. They advertise this. Yes some very fit people also do it and profit off of it. Some very rich people also promote MLM, which is a consumer cult deserving of similar, but worse criticism. Should I not be able to criticize people who fall into MLM consumer cults? I think we need to allow criticism. What about scientology, or other religious cults? What about other anti-intellectual cult of ideas like flat earth, anti-vax or phrenology? Tell me exactly where the line is drawn, and why.
      • deleted 7y ago
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      • mateo- 7y ago
        great conversation here guys
        • wallace_f 7y ago
          What would you say about other intentionally anti-intellectual dogmas? I do think they are worth considering, but also worth criticizing when they're proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be worse than useless.
          • mateo- 7y ago
            > worse than useless what is anyone's goal when partaking in exercise? And how about joining a club? Look at the CrossFit Games winners - do you think they've achieved nothing? I don't partake in it, for the record. And I do acknowledge that many of the exercises seem ill-advised. But I made an account after like 6 years of lurking to point out that you're being pretty dogmatic in your criticisms of dogmas.
            • wallace_f 7y ago
              HN throttles your ability to comment if you get downvoted on a couple of comments. I could not reply so I edited my comment above, earlier, to respond to you. I do think it's blatantly obvious that Crossfit is anti-intellectual consumer cult. They advertise this themselves. It's a bit much to say every single person who does XFit is stupid, but I was sharing my own observations honestly. Have you met any MLM people? Would you not say the same? Crossfit intentionally dismisses science and warnings related to potential problems with health and injury. Is that not unethical? Also, all of my negative Crossfit comments seem to have been hit with the same exact number of downvotes here. I wouldn't expect it, but also wouldn't be surprised if there is some brigaiding here.
              • 7y ago
    • dogma1138 7y ago
      There are plenty of “bad” trainers out there in any field. And by bad it doesn’t mean they don’t know what they should be doing but rather cave into the demands of their clients that want quick results and to feel the pump. Just look at how many people go straight into weight lifting with compound exercises without first spending months working on stability, flexibility and burst speed/power. Then what happens is that they get into a worse state and hit a wall even if they now can bench press 1.5 their body weight. You would be much better off benching only 100 lbs while being able to stand straight against a wall while keeping your lower back, shoulder blades, elbows and the back of your palm against the wall comfortably throughout a shoulder press. I’ve literally seen people getting so stiff after “training” for 6 months that I’m not sure if even 2 years of corrective exercises could bring them back to their starting point yet alone to the point where they can start building muscles safely. And while in the mid 20’s to mid 30’s they might not notice it once they hit their 40’s and couldn’t stand straight because their lats and delts were developed incorrectly and they have no core they sure will.
  • sweeeety 7y ago
    It is really impossible to say. There are just too many variables to consider here. For example: Some CrossFit gyms have more offerings than just the traditional WoDs. E.g.: your friend might have be mixing mobility training, strength, cardio workouts. Also, your friend might have latent injuries or have to stop for a week or so due pain/soreness. It is just you are not aware of those. Some people are anatomically more fit for certain exercises than others. I'll skip any days with dead lifts because it is an exercise I cannot compromise proper form. So, I protect myself even if for many CF coaches it is just temporary weakness I could improve.
• inglondon 7y ago
  I can't verify the quality of these studies but it seems that injury rates per 1000 active hours of crossfit at 0.27 - 0.74 [1] are significantly lower than more common sports such as running at 2.9 - 4.4 and basketball at 6.3 - 12.9 [2] [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6201188/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6201188/ [2] http://bionics.seas.ucla.edu/education/Rowing/Injury_2004_01.pdf http://bionics.seas.ucla.edu/education/Rowing/Injury_2004_01...
  • lwansbrough 7y ago
    Last I checked there wasn’t CrossFit for basketball. You should compare apples to apples. How does it stack up against (trained) non-CrossFit weight training? Judging by how those idiots abuse gym equipment I’d expect poorly, but prove me wrong.
    • busterarm 7y ago
      I power-lifted. I got injured. Many of us did. It's much higher. Even the studies show it: https://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Injury-rates-in-strength-sports.png https://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/wp-content/u... https://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/2014/07/08/injury-strength-sports/ https://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/2014/07/08/i...
      • lwansbrough 7y ago
        Powerlifting is definitely not the same as general CrossFit and is pretty obviously a dangerous sport. I would guess that based on the amount of jerking and twisting I see in CrossFitters doing powerlifting that the injury rate would be higher still within that specific discipline. Again, all speculation on my part. I’m thinking an intense workout with good form and control vs. a standard CrossFit workout.
        • mbrameld 7y ago
          > I’m thinking an intense workout with good form and control vs. a standard CrossFit workout A standard CrossFit without is done with good form and control.
• cglace 7y ago
  I was a multi sport athlete and loved crossfit when I did it. Guess it all depends on where you go.
• pen2l 7y ago
  Just wondering here -- Isn't crossfit different depending on where you go? I believe it was invented by some European guy... who did stuff with kettlebells. And most of those exercises are good. I think the American variant is the one that's dangerous. (Or am I misinformed here?)
  • 121789 7y ago
    Don't think it's a geographical split. Crossfit is great if you have really well-informed trainers that put a strong emphasis on getting form and movements correct. Unfortunately there are significant numbers of trainers that do not have the qualifications to be teaching and they put people at serious risk of injury (and end up creating ridiculous exercises for the internet to make fun of).
    • hi5eyes 7y ago
      kipping is fucking hilarious
      • User23 7y ago
        What's hilarious about using momentum to progress to a muscle up and eventually a strict muscle up? In my observation, and this is at many gyms (btw I don't do Crossfit), very few people do every rep of a pull up from a true dead hang. Kipping is silly looking, but the technique does allow you to progress your way into a muscle up, kind of like a push press can help you train your strict press past what you otherwise could.
        • xwdv 7y ago
          That’s because people are impatient and weak. Dead hang pullups are real pullups. Kipping only leads you to kipping muscle ups. Go on YouTube and see examples of real muscle ups from dead hangs with no momentum. That is true strength, and a worthy goal. The sooner you stop kipping, the faster you can get there.
          • 7y ago
• atupis 7y ago
  It probably depends gym, at least gym where I did go did not do anything super dangerous and it was more powerlifting, bodyweight exercises and some kettlebells exercises. Most dangerous thing was probably box jumps and there instructor advice to step down instead of jumping down.
• NicoJuicy 7y ago
  Well, I have short hamstrings. Which makes squatting a little bit more difficult. They saw it in CrossFit and suggested a quick-fix. On all the time I fitnessed, they were the only ones that saw it. Just my 2 cents
• viksit 7y ago
  Curiously - have you personally tried it?