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Bad for your health?

xeromal 7y ago
100%. Everyone says it depends on the box(gym), the crossfit open ,the crossfit games, and works posted on the crossfit main site are definitely not for your average joe. Crossfit in general will give you tendinitis and blow out your back eventually. It's just really hard to dial back your intensity while everything is a race. Anything for time that involves barbells and pullups will eventually cause an injury. I say this as someone who was doing it in 2008 - 2013 in the early days and helped coach. We all had level 1s and one had a level 2. Edit. haha. Just checked out crossfit.com and it looks like they finally updated their site. It looked like ass even in 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130305075530/http://www.crossfit.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20130305075530/http://www.crossf... Second edit: If the bone and ligament injuries don't get you, the rhabdo will. We had a few older folks who started peeing brown and we finally figured out that their muscles were so blown out that they developed rhabdo.
- arcturus17 7y ago
  That’s madness, I’ve been lifting heavy and doing HIIT for 14 years in a more traditional style and not once have I been injured.
  - raverbashing 7y ago
    I agree, CrossFit is not great but that comment is being a bit over the top. All of the problems mentioned are manageable. Know your body, take it easy at first (as much as you think you can do as much as the other people), in exercise more is more but up to a point, and don't think the top athletes got there by only doing CrossFit exercises (or only exercises). (That being said I did have some minor injuries from lifting weights and other sports, it is safe when performed correctly but these minor injuries happen)
    - xeromal 7y ago
      I really don't think I'm being over the top. Doing any form of crossfit with powerlifting or olympic lifting is almost guaranteed injury. I lifted in SLC which is a hotbed for crossfitters. Pretty sure they still field winning teams every year. I was part of the community early on so I got to drop in and workout with a lot of the gyms. I even went to Chris Spealler's gym in park city a few times. Now, if you don't do heavy weights against time and keep most things safe, you're not really doing crossfit anymore. You're doing bootcamp and I wholeheartedly think a lot of bootcamps are safe. They only use dumbbells and smaller things to do work with. I personally do orangetheory which gets me a bunch of grief from my old crossfit buddies but I finally realized that I got into fitness to improve my body. If my body is always breaking down, what's the point. lol. I'd say another reason I have this take is because I'm an average athlete working out with some above average guys who placed in the regionals. I'm sure that didn't help things. The people who avoid injury are usually just athletic animals with high recovery ability. People like rich froning and neil maddox.
      - raverbashing 7y ago
        Yup, I definitely agree the issue with crossfit is trying to put together heavy weights and quick execution and that usually won't end well. > I have this take is because I'm an average athlete working out with some above average guys who placed in the regionals. I'm sure that didn't help things. The people who avoid injury are usually just athletic animals with high recovery ability I feel you. But it's not only genetics at play and let's leave it at that ;)
Alex3917 7y ago
The workouts are designed to be hard, not to increase your fitness. It’s basically fake exercise.
- zarkov99 7y ago
  Bullshit. There isn't anything fake about it. You will get stronger, faster, and have far better cardio. But yes, you will likely also get injured.
  - Alex3917 7y ago
    > There isn't anything fake about it. It's nowhere near the efficient frontier curve, in terms of maximizing the amount of strength / cardio / flexibility gains you make per unit work. Instead it's maximizing the amount of work you do, and any increase in fitness you experience is merely an incidental side effect.
    - zarkov99 7y ago
      OK, that is a much more defensible thing to say. What do you think is a more efficient form of exercise then?
      - Alex3917 7y ago
        Well there are three components of fitness (strength, endurance, and cardio), so there isn't going to be a single answer. But in general, the more boring something is the more effective it is. Just sitting on the rowing machine at 75% of your max HR for 90 min is always going to be more effective than taking a class where you are constantly going at different paces but are doing it more for entertainment rather than because you're trying to do intervals.

100%. Everyone says it depends on the box(gym), the crossfit open ,the crossfit games, and works posted on the crossfit main site are definitely not for your average joe. Crossfit in general will give you tendinitis and blow out your back eventually. It's just really hard to dial back your intensity while everything is a race. Anything for time that involves barbells and pullups will eventually cause an injury. I say this as someone who was doing it in 2008 - 2013 in the early days and helped coach. We all had level 1s and one had a level 2. Edit. haha. Just checked out crossfit.com and it looks like they finally updated their site. It looked like ass even in 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130305075530/http://www.crossfit.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20130305075530/http://www.crossf... Second edit: If the bone and ligament injuries don't get you, the rhabdo will. We had a few older folks who started peeing brown and we finally figured out that their muscles were so blown out that they developed rhabdo.

arcturus17 7y ago
That’s madness, I’ve been lifting heavy and doing HIIT for 14 years in a more traditional style and not once have I been injured.
- raverbashing 7y ago
  I agree, CrossFit is not great but that comment is being a bit over the top. All of the problems mentioned are manageable. Know your body, take it easy at first (as much as you think you can do as much as the other people), in exercise more is more but up to a point, and don't think the top athletes got there by only doing CrossFit exercises (or only exercises). (That being said I did have some minor injuries from lifting weights and other sports, it is safe when performed correctly but these minor injuries happen)
  - xeromal 7y ago
    I really don't think I'm being over the top. Doing any form of crossfit with powerlifting or olympic lifting is almost guaranteed injury. I lifted in SLC which is a hotbed for crossfitters. Pretty sure they still field winning teams every year. I was part of the community early on so I got to drop in and workout with a lot of the gyms. I even went to Chris Spealler's gym in park city a few times. Now, if you don't do heavy weights against time and keep most things safe, you're not really doing crossfit anymore. You're doing bootcamp and I wholeheartedly think a lot of bootcamps are safe. They only use dumbbells and smaller things to do work with. I personally do orangetheory which gets me a bunch of grief from my old crossfit buddies but I finally realized that I got into fitness to improve my body. If my body is always breaking down, what's the point. lol. I'd say another reason I have this take is because I'm an average athlete working out with some above average guys who placed in the regionals. I'm sure that didn't help things. The people who avoid injury are usually just athletic animals with high recovery ability. People like rich froning and neil maddox.
    - raverbashing 7y ago
      Yup, I definitely agree the issue with crossfit is trying to put together heavy weights and quick execution and that usually won't end well. > I have this take is because I'm an average athlete working out with some above average guys who placed in the regionals. I'm sure that didn't help things. The people who avoid injury are usually just athletic animals with high recovery ability I feel you. But it's not only genetics at play and let's leave it at that ;)

Alex3917 7y ago

The workouts are designed to be hard, not to increase your fitness. It’s basically fake exercise.

zarkov99 7y ago
Bullshit. There isn't anything fake about it. You will get stronger, faster, and have far better cardio. But yes, you will likely also get injured.
- Alex3917 7y ago
  > There isn't anything fake about it. It's nowhere near the efficient frontier curve, in terms of maximizing the amount of strength / cardio / flexibility gains you make per unit work. Instead it's maximizing the amount of work you do, and any increase in fitness you experience is merely an incidental side effect.
  - zarkov99 7y ago
    OK, that is a much more defensible thing to say. What do you think is a more efficient form of exercise then?
    - Alex3917 7y ago
      Well there are three components of fitness (strength, endurance, and cardio), so there isn't going to be a single answer. But in general, the more boring something is the more effective it is. Just sitting on the rowing machine at 75% of your max HR for 90 min is always going to be more effective than taking a class where you are constantly going at different paces but are doing it more for entertainment rather than because you're trying to do intervals.