CrossFit?

thefuzz1290

I wouldn't have touched Crossfit 5 years ago and many of the negatives you hear about Crossfit is from how it was run 5 years ago.

1. When Crossfit started becoming popular, Greg Glassman (founder) said that someone who did Crossfit could both win marathons and powerlifting meets without changing their training. This was quickly proven false, but now Crossfit markets itself for what it is...Crossfit.

2. To become a Crossfit coach, you used to have to pay $2,000 and go to a weekend class where there was no pass/fail test...essentially, if you paid your money, you could be a "certified" coach and open your own gym. A good write-up of the Crossfit certification course was done on T-Nation and it was downright scary. However, they've remedied that since then and they're stricter on who becomes certified. Incidents of Rhabdo and other stupid injuries have actually gone down.

3. Programming was:

Coach - "Hmmm, I think we'll do snatches for reps, then deadlifts for reps, and cleans for reps."
Crossfitter - "We did that yesterday...."
Coach - "No, we did deadlifts for reps, cleans for reps, and snatches for reps...different order today."

However, most gyms have legit programming, especially after it came out that the several winners of the Crossfit games didn't even do Crossfit style programming.

4. Form is stressed over speed, where the previously it didn't matter how bad your form was as long as the movement was completed. Other than the competitions, most coaches are stressing form (even if it sacrifices time). I credit Crossfit with bringing in strength coaches (like Mark Rippetoe, Dave Tate, and other high end coaches) to instruct their trainers and athletes.

5. My one knock about Crossfit is that most gyms are well over $100 a month (upwards of $150-$175 a month in my area). My buddy explained its like getting a personal training session whenever you go, but at some point you no longer need a trainer (unless you're planning on competing).

I'll probably never try Crossfit, mainly because of the price. I also don't like group classes and working out is my escape where I don't have to deal with people. However, I'm not going to knock anyone who does it, but I do caution that you do your homework on the gym. Quality control has gotten better, but its not where it should be quite yet and you have some unknowledgable people opening gyms.

Mummyadams

Check out the Crossfit Love group on here - we're all pretty friendly.