Thoughts on crossfit?

PetiteHabanero

ninerbuff wrote: »

My personal opinion is that a beginner lifter shouldn't start with crossfit. There's a lot of BASIC exercise that needs to be learned and experienced first before attempting to do exercises that are a bit more advanced and require good balance and strength.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I should preface that by "barely beginning" I mean about a year and a half. And no max lifts, but strength and variations are an integral part of my overall fitness routine. I'm no expert but I've got form and all that down pretty well.

Azdak

Like any generalization, this is not entirely true, but I still like it:

You train in order to perform crossfit; you don’t perform crossfit to train.

HoneyBadger302

IMO, CrossFit isn't great for a total beginner - not that they can't get through it with careful instruction, but I feel like the risk of injury is just too great with underdeveloped muscles, form, and a lack of muscle memory for basic activities.

For the OP, if the gym has good coaches that will work with you closely and the classes aren't huge and you can get help as you need it, and the coaches are checking on people regularly, then I say go for it. It can be a great workout, and really hit a wide variety of muscles and you can get a full workout in a relatively short time.

Even with CF strength and cardio should be rotated, but I feel like it's great for developing all of the supporting muscle groups a lot of "normal" routines tend to miss.

I'm having my trainer incorporate CF style training into my next workout plan as I know it will help kick my butt into shape.

The biggest issue I see with CF is people pushing too hard too fast in attempts to "keep up" with everyone else. If you can control that competitive nature, and listen to your body, give it a try and see what you think of it!

rybo

I'm struggling to see why so many argue against it being for beginners. There's at least a good chance the beginner is going to get decent instruction and coaching, compared to stepping foot into a gym with no guidance whatsoever.

cwolfman13

rybo wrote: »

I'm struggling to see why so many argue against it being for beginners. There's at least a good chance the beginner is going to get decent instruction and coaching, compared to stepping foot into a gym with no guidance whatsoever.

The second box I tried had a good ramp on and the classes were of a size that the coach's could give beginners the attention they needed and monitor/scale their workouts. The first box I tried felt like a free for all and was utterly insane...

I think a lot of people maybe had experiences like that of my first box which was not beginner friendly. There were quite a few beginners at my second box and they did fine...

This was back in 2012...not sure how much has changed.

natruallycurious

rybo wrote: »

I'm struggling to see why so many argue against it being for beginners. There's at least a good chance the beginner is going to get decent instruction and coaching, compared to stepping foot into a gym with no guidance whatsoever.

I agree with this. A personal trainer, if you were to use them for even one hour per week, is likely more expensive than most boxes. But I do understand what @cwolfman13 said - I do think it truly depends on the box and the coaches on if it is friendly to beginners or not. Obviously most beginners aren't going to come in cranking out handstand pushups, but at my box there are people there doing scaled normal pushups, even scaled back further than being on your knees. They will find something that works for everyone. And if you have an injury, or even a history of injuring a certain body part, they are always happy to suggest alternative exercises

canadianlbs

PetiteHabanero wrote: »

Thanks! I'm definitely not looking to compete like she does, but I am definitely wanting to improve my overall fitness. After working out at home for so many years, I am in a bit of a rut. And where I used to enjoy the solitude, it would be kinda nice now to share insight and gains now that I'm not a total pleb weakling.

it sounds like you know what you're looking to get from this 'change it up' move then. that should make it much easier for you to decide for yourself whether your friend's crossfit location will provide what you want.

i don't have a stake in the crossfit question, just wanted to say that IF you decide against crossfit specifically, not to give up on finding some other medium that will work for you. i'm too introvert and too ornery to tolerate the relentlessly social factor that some people find so energizing about cf, but i joined a barbell club two or three years ago after a year+ of lifting alone. for me and my own temperament/preferences, it's just about right.

JAYxMSxPES

rybo wrote: »

I'm struggling to see why so many argue against it being for beginners. There's at least a good chance the beginner is going to get decent instruction and coaching, compared to stepping foot into a gym with no guidance whatsoever.

From my perspective and probably the same for @ninerbuff , we've seen enough people that have various imbalances such as knee valgus, underactive lats, underactive glutes, etc., that some development to help improve those deficiencies is needed for getting into something like CrossFit or even basic compound lifts.

loveisapineapple

I tried Crossfit for about 6 months, it wasn't for me but a lot of people there had been going for years so it obviously works well for some people.
What I didn't like:
Not enough focus on form, for the initial 'on ramp' portion they did this really well but in the general classes people were using very poor form and not being corrected. It could have been because the class was too big for the number of coaches.
I don't like the 'woohoo' culture. I don't want to high five and ring bells for PBs. I just want to work hard with good form and go. But I realise some people thrive on this.
Some of the exercises for the metcon portions were too technical to really be able to get the same benefit if you scaled them down. Gymnastics moves especially don't scale down very well.
Working in small groups. Reminds me of school where no-one wanted my uncoordinated body in their group - obviously this is a personal thing but I hate hearing 'in groups of three' at any gym.
What I did like:
They made a good attempt at periodization, with weeks that would be considered deload weeks in standard program. I thought that was good, it didn't seem as random as some programs I've seen.
The emphasis on lifting heavy, with olympic bars and free weights. This is a training style I like.

Overall, not for me.

rybo

JAYxMSxPES wrote: »

rybo wrote: »

I'm struggling to see why so many argue against it being for beginners. There's at least a good chance the beginner is going to get decent instruction and coaching, compared to stepping foot into a gym with no guidance whatsoever.

From my perspective and probably the same for @ninerbuff , we've seen enough people that have various imbalances such as knee valgus, underactive lats, underactive glutes, etc., that some development to help improve those deficiencies is needed for getting into something like CrossFit or even basic compound lifts.

But if that's the case,the trainer/coach should catch that and work with the person. Unless a newbie shelled out for a personal trainer at a conventional gym, they would have these issues and no one to correct them. At least at CrossFit, there is a coach that should address these.

JAYxMSxPES

rybo wrote: »

JAYxMSxPES wrote: »

rybo wrote: »

I'm struggling to see why so many argue against it being for beginners. There's at least a good chance the beginner is going to get decent instruction and coaching, compared to stepping foot into a gym with no guidance whatsoever.

From my perspective and probably the same for @ninerbuff , we've seen enough people that have various imbalances such as knee valgus, underactive lats, underactive glutes, etc., that some development to help improve those deficiencies is needed for getting into something like CrossFit or even basic compound lifts.

But if that's the case,the trainer/coach should catch that and work with the person. Unless a newbie shelled out for a personal trainer at a conventional gym, they would have these issues and no one to correct them. At least at CrossFit, there is a coach that should address these.

Sure, it's possible. I've had a few friends in CrossFit and similar to Trainers; some of the CF coaches are good and some are bad. It just depends.

PetiteHabanero

Thank you all again for your thoughts and opinions! Once I check it out I will update you as to my thoughts and feelings. She says it's a good gym, or "box," I guess, for beginners up to the competitive kool-aid CF people, and she's checked out all of them in the area.

I may not fall in love with it, but learning new workouts is alwas fun. So if anything I am hoping to add some spice to my overall fitness routine.

Motorsheen

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..... because I’m not really a zealot ]

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@MistressSara







edited to add:

Motorsheen

MistressSara wrote: »

Motorsheen wrote: »

..... because I’m not really a zealot ]

@MistressSara







edited to add: [/quote]

You went old school on that gif. (That's what those things are called, right?)[/quote]



Yeah.... gotta go Old Skool.

on gifs and most everything else in life.