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Competetive olympic weightlifter here. Crossfit still gets a lot of hate, as comments below show. That's undeserved. They create a lot of attention for barbell
by timonv 11y ago
Competetive olympic weightlifter here. Crossfit still gets a lot of hate, as comments below show. That's undeserved. They create a lot of attention for barbell training where there previously was none. That's fantastic. More places for me to train, suddenly people understand you why its fun and there's a whole market opening up of quality and affordable gear (iron too) that previously wasn't even an option. There's crossfit boxes organizing WL competitions with actual WL rules because they think its cooler. There's even crossfit boxes with strongman and powerlifting equipment. Crossfit pulled strength training out of its niche and is starting to overule the rediculous, overcommercial rotten fitness industry as it is now. It's a new fitness concept _with actual results_.
The main problem, as I see it, is that it's near trivial to get a Coach Level 1 certificate (my mom could do it). This results in a lot of bad coaching, resulting in bad form, resulting in unneeded injuries. You could argue that an easy certificate makes it easier to open up a box. Interesting trade off.
There are plenty of crossfit boxes, although I do not know if this is a majority, that hire real weightlifting coaches.
I can't help but think that much of the hate crossfit gets is just some form of resentment. Barbell training used to be unique, now it's getting more popular, and people feel attacked on a personal level.
All that said, good coaching, especially with big weights, is very important. It's a shame not every crossfit box owner thinks that way. Some of the injuries are bad. https://medium.com/@ericrobertson/crossfits-dirty-little-secret-97bcce70356d https://medium.com/@ericrobertson/crossfits-dirty-little-sec...
- dylanjermiah 11y agoOff topic, curious, what's your CJ and Snatch?
- timonv 11y agoHaha, low :-) I got into WL after years of powerlifting and strongman.
- ericcholis 11y agoI think you nailed the biggest actual issue with Crossfit. Bad coaching teaching bad form. My physical therapist wife cringes whenever she sees Crossfit in action. Also, the misdirected resentment likely comes from some Crossfit people preaching it like a cult. Just like anything, there's people that take it too far. With that being said, if the movements are done correctly, I don't see how Crossfit is all that bad
- Thriptic 11y ago> They create a lot of attention for barbell training where there previously was none. This. As a powerlifter I used to hate everything about crossfit, but now I realize it's a great way to get people away from pseudo body building and into the rack / onto the platform. I think a lot of people find technical lifts like the squat or clean to be very intimidating, but crossfit helps people get over this fear in a group environment. Once this has been accomplished and someone gets comfortable, it's fairly easy to steer them towards olympic lifting or powerlifting. > More places for me to train, suddenly people understand you why its fun It's so nice to now be able to travel and not have to worry about being stuck in some crappy commercial gym where people yell at you for using chalk and making noise while deadlifting.
- xeromal 11y agoThat is exactly what happened to me. I was an avid runner who joined a friend in Crossfit. Ended up loving squats and got into powerlifting. I now workout at an old 1000 year old powerlifting gym, but I never would be here without crossfit.
- diamondback 11y agoThe main issue I take with crossfit is the programming. Bad coaching and a prevalence of speed and reps over form is one set of problems but perhaps greater is the intrinsic lack of good solid progression in the workouts. A lot of these people are more or less wasting their time grinding out workouts that have no real rhyme or reason to them when they could be putting all that perspiration into good linear progression and actually increasing their strength and performance. There's also a pervasive smugness in a lot of these boxes. It almost seems to be part of the workout; thinking you're some kind of superhuman and better than everyone else.
- timonv 11y agoI disagree. There are plenty of coaches that get programming wrong in any sport. If they do programming themselves without any knowledge on the topic, ofcourse it's going to be problematic. And that happens in WL and other strength sports just as much. That said, many newbies will make _a lot_ of gains when they start out doing crossfit or any form of barbell training.