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Disclaimer: I've done crossfit for over 2 years at this point. This is actually one of the best written anti-crossfit posts I've come across. Most are anecdota

Disclaimer: I've done crossfit for over 2 years at this point. This is actually one of the best written anti-crossfit posts I've come across. Most are anecdotal "I went to one gym that didn't focus on form so all gyms must be bad" posts, which are tiring. This post goes over some great details which as a crossfitter I would say are true. That being said, after doing CrossFit for 2 years I have a few tidbits of advice: * Find a gym that focuses on form over workout. They exist, and crossfit is popular enough at this point that you should be able to find it. * If you don't plan on being SUPER into CrossFit, ask for substitute workouts for the gymnastic moves: handstand pushups, most things with rings, parallel bars, etc. It just isn't worth the time learning how to do these, and you can hurt yourself. Just do something simple, they always have substitutes. * I personally, like the author of this post, don't do deadlifts and rarely do kettlebell swings. I am not a professional athlete or trainer, but I really primarily only heard of people getting hurt with these workouts, so I chose to avoid them. Sounds like this was a good decision. There are substitute workouts for each. My goal with CrossFit isn't to be ripped and exploded. My goal with CrossFit is to remain in good physical health based on the fact that I sit (or remain still standing) for 10+ hours per day. To that end, its been a HUGE success. The team environment of CrossFit is a great motivator both to workout hard but also to show up (social pressures). The diversified workouts of crossfit keep my strength up pretty high. All this being said, listen to the linked post of this entry. It has really good info.

Spooky23 12y ago
The problem with cross fit is they treat pasty cube dwellers like athletes, and they get injured often and badly as a result. The average person is pretty clueless about this stuff and doesn't necessarily get that dead lifts and kettleball swings can screw up their backs. That's what a coach/trainer is supposed to do.
yulaow 12y ago
Kettlebell swings are generally bad but Deadlifts are considered fundamentals also in the BB area. Explosive Deadlifts are bad, that's for sure specially with high weights, but well slow executed deadlifts are one of the best exercise to strengthen all your body and improve his hormonal response. That's why in a good gym the trainers focus very very very hard on teaching the correct execution ROM before allow you to even start to increase the weights.
- Huggernaut 12y ago
  I'm not really clear on the authors stance on Kettlebell swings or Deadlifts and a cursory search of her blog didn't provide me with a link to either of the articles she mentioned. Why do you think they are "generally bad"? The author mentions regarding swings, "I don’t do those either because it is not a beneficial movement for the body and typically puts the back in bad positions". I'm not sure what angle she's coming from here (aesthetics?) but explosive hip extension is extremely important for many sports involving sprinting and jumping and kettlebell swings are a nice exercise that's easier to learn than varieties of clean. Like any other lift it has its own risks but there is no reason that with good form one can't perform swings without risking the back any more than other exercises. Her comment about deadlifts is pretty questionable and I wonder what the author is replacing them with for hip dominant movements. I wonder if in this instance she is specifically talking about heavy barbell deadlifts where the back is often the limiting factor rather than the deadlift movement (single leg, staggered, etc) as a whole. The excerpt, "I had never done and to this day I still don’t do them" is pretty suspicious given that the knowledge she would need to have to make an informed decision about whether deadlifts are worthwhile is unlikely to be something she would have had when she started lifting. Seems the author has a predisposition to worrying about her back.
- Thriptic 12y ago
  You actually want your deadlifts to be reasonably fast. What you don't want to do is attempt to explode off the ground. This leads to back rounding (I think this is what you mean, just clarifying).
papa_bear 12y ago
Solid advice, though I would suggest that learning how to properly deadlift is totally worth it. It's easier than other olympic lifts to do at your local chain gym, and there's no better way to make all of the muscles in the posterior of your entire body to feel worn out in 15 minutes. Definitely mind the rep range in any olympic lift though. I've read it's common for form to break down after the 5-10 rep range, and only the lightest warm up sets should be beyond that range while your working sets are 1-5 reps.
commandar 12y ago
> * I personally, like the author of this post, don't do deadlifts and rarely do kettlebell swings. I am not a professional athlete or trainer, but I really primarily only heard of people getting hurt with these workouts, so I chose to avoid them. Sounds like this was a good decision. There are substitute workouts for each. I absolutely would not do deadlifts within the context of Crossfit. It's an exercise best suited for very low reps at high weights, and proper form cannot be ignored. Sane novice programs will often only hit deadlifts once a week for a single set of five. Either way, it has to be approached systematically and intentionally trained - it's not well suited to being randomly thrown into a workout, especially if it's done under time pressure or at high reps. That said, done properly and with proper attention given to form, it's not only a completely safe exercise, it's also one of the single most effective exercises out there. It engages a huge range of muscle groups and is very easy to increase load over time. While form is critical, it's also one of the easier compound lifts to do correctly. I'm not trying to say that everyone absolutely must to do deadlifts or anything. I'm just saying there's no reason to be afraid of them. It's a great exercise, and I'm saying that as somebody that found deadlifts to be the single most effective exercise when recovering from a lower back injury, which is the part that seems to scare most people.
- vinceguidry 12y ago
  I injured myself doing deadlifts. I was following Starting Strength with a trainer that went through Rippletoe's program. I was at 315 when I pulled a hamstring. It wasn't the first time I'd done 315, but that time was when I got injured. Form was perfect, everything was right. When you're lifting heavy, not even good form will keep you from getting injured. It's a fact of life.
  - commandar 12y ago
    People complaining that deadlifts are dangerous generlaly think it's going to irreversibly destroy your back, not result in a pulled muscle that will heal in a week or two. That's what I was addressing.
    - 12y ago
jacques_chester 12y ago
> Find a gym that focuses on form over workout. How is a total beginner qualified to make this judgement? I've never seen a Crossfit coach say "fuck form, we're all about the snap city here". They all say they teach good form. Yet some of them don't. And because CFHQ deliberately exercise no quality control, it's a nontrivial subset of the total Crossfit coaching population. I've seen people at weightlifting competitions with horrible bruising on their quads. Their focusing-on-form coach taught them the wrong form.
- song 12y ago
  That's exactly my issue with starting training. I'm very worried about back injuries and want to find a coach to teach me proper form but I've got no idea how to evaluate him. It's a bit the same conundrum as a non technical founder trying to find a technical founder :-)
  - commandar 12y ago
    Pick up Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe that's mentioned elsewhere in this thread. Form goes a lot farther when you understand the why rather than just trying to replicate it. The book does an extremely good job of explaining the biomechanics behind the movements and what makes proper form proper. Having a trainer to make sure what you're actually doing matches what you think you're doing is definitely a good thing, but going in informed may make you less nervous.
    - song 12y ago
      I did read Starting Strength, that's what convinced me to make sure that I find a good trainer and I don't trust myself enough to evaluate based on the book...
  - omegant 12y ago
    If you are open to other options than weightlifting you shoul look at www.gymnasticbodies.com it's a gymanstics streght training (no backflips and that just bodyweight strenght), that takes care of mobility, joins preparation, etc from raw raw beginers (I'm talking inclined pushups kind of raw) to iron cross. It has lots of videos and a nice forum with plenty of helpful people.

Spooky23 12y ago

The problem with cross fit is they treat pasty cube dwellers like athletes, and they get injured often and badly as a result. The average person is pretty clueless about this stuff and doesn't necessarily get that dead lifts and kettleball swings can screw up their backs. That's what a coach/trainer is supposed to do.

yulaow 12y ago

Kettlebell swings are generally bad but Deadlifts are considered fundamentals also in the BB area. Explosive Deadlifts are bad, that's for sure specially with high weights, but well slow executed deadlifts are one of the best exercise to strengthen all your body and improve his hormonal response. That's why in a good gym the trainers focus very very very hard on teaching the correct execution ROM before allow you to even start to increase the weights.

Huggernaut 12y ago
I'm not really clear on the authors stance on Kettlebell swings or Deadlifts and a cursory search of her blog didn't provide me with a link to either of the articles she mentioned. Why do you think they are "generally bad"? The author mentions regarding swings, "I don’t do those either because it is not a beneficial movement for the body and typically puts the back in bad positions". I'm not sure what angle she's coming from here (aesthetics?) but explosive hip extension is extremely important for many sports involving sprinting and jumping and kettlebell swings are a nice exercise that's easier to learn than varieties of clean. Like any other lift it has its own risks but there is no reason that with good form one can't perform swings without risking the back any more than other exercises. Her comment about deadlifts is pretty questionable and I wonder what the author is replacing them with for hip dominant movements. I wonder if in this instance she is specifically talking about heavy barbell deadlifts where the back is often the limiting factor rather than the deadlift movement (single leg, staggered, etc) as a whole. The excerpt, "I had never done and to this day I still don’t do them" is pretty suspicious given that the knowledge she would need to have to make an informed decision about whether deadlifts are worthwhile is unlikely to be something she would have had when she started lifting. Seems the author has a predisposition to worrying about her back.
Thriptic 12y ago
You actually want your deadlifts to be reasonably fast. What you don't want to do is attempt to explode off the ground. This leads to back rounding (I think this is what you mean, just clarifying).

papa_bear 12y ago

Solid advice, though I would suggest that learning how to properly deadlift is totally worth it. It's easier than other olympic lifts to do at your local chain gym, and there's no better way to make all of the muscles in the posterior of your entire body to feel worn out in 15 minutes. Definitely mind the rep range in any olympic lift though. I've read it's common for form to break down after the 5-10 rep range, and only the lightest warm up sets should be beyond that range while your working sets are 1-5 reps.

commandar 12y ago

> * I personally, like the author of this post, don't do deadlifts and rarely do kettlebell swings. I am not a professional athlete or trainer, but I really primarily only heard of people getting hurt with these workouts, so I chose to avoid them. Sounds like this was a good decision. There are substitute workouts for each. I absolutely would not do deadlifts within the context of Crossfit. It's an exercise best suited for very low reps at high weights, and proper form cannot be ignored. Sane novice programs will often only hit deadlifts once a week for a single set of five. Either way, it has to be approached systematically and intentionally trained - it's not well suited to being randomly thrown into a workout, especially if it's done under time pressure or at high reps. That said, done properly and with proper attention given to form, it's not only a completely safe exercise, it's also one of the single most effective exercises out there. It engages a huge range of muscle groups and is very easy to increase load over time. While form is critical, it's also one of the easier compound lifts to do correctly. I'm not trying to say that everyone absolutely must to do deadlifts or anything. I'm just saying there's no reason to be afraid of them. It's a great exercise, and I'm saying that as somebody that found deadlifts to be the single most effective exercise when recovering from a lower back injury, which is the part that seems to scare most people.

vinceguidry 12y ago
I injured myself doing deadlifts. I was following Starting Strength with a trainer that went through Rippletoe's program. I was at 315 when I pulled a hamstring. It wasn't the first time I'd done 315, but that time was when I got injured. Form was perfect, everything was right. When you're lifting heavy, not even good form will keep you from getting injured. It's a fact of life.
- commandar 12y ago
  People complaining that deadlifts are dangerous generlaly think it's going to irreversibly destroy your back, not result in a pulled muscle that will heal in a week or two. That's what I was addressing.
  - 12y ago

jacques_chester 12y ago

> Find a gym that focuses on form over workout. How is a total beginner qualified to make this judgement? I've never seen a Crossfit coach say "fuck form, we're all about the snap city here". They all say they teach good form. Yet some of them don't. And because CFHQ deliberately exercise no quality control, it's a nontrivial subset of the total Crossfit coaching population. I've seen people at weightlifting competitions with horrible bruising on their quads. Their focusing-on-form coach taught them the wrong form.

song 12y ago
That's exactly my issue with starting training. I'm very worried about back injuries and want to find a coach to teach me proper form but I've got no idea how to evaluate him. It's a bit the same conundrum as a non technical founder trying to find a technical founder :-)
- commandar 12y ago
  Pick up Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe that's mentioned elsewhere in this thread. Form goes a lot farther when you understand the why rather than just trying to replicate it. The book does an extremely good job of explaining the biomechanics behind the movements and what makes proper form proper. Having a trainer to make sure what you're actually doing matches what you think you're doing is definitely a good thing, but going in informed may make you less nervous.
  - song 12y ago
    I did read Starting Strength, that's what convinced me to make sure that I find a good trainer and I don't trust myself enough to evaluate based on the book...
- omegant 12y ago
  If you are open to other options than weightlifting you shoul look at www.gymnasticbodies.com it's a gymanstics streght training (no backflips and that just bodyweight strenght), that takes care of mobility, joins preparation, etc from raw raw beginers (I'm talking inclined pushups kind of raw) to iron cross. It has lots of videos and a nice forum with plenty of helpful people.