This is why Interval Training/Crossfit works

End6ame

The problem with Crossfit is that there is absolutely zero training specificity; they use the “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” method rather than providing a program with a specific goal in mind. Don’t get me wrong, that is fine for a while, but you can’t continue to get better at everything at the same time forever; at some point you will need to use a program that focuses on one or two areas of importance for you to keep progressing.

Some elements of Crossfit are great. It is all free weight and body weight which I would prefer to see anyone do over machine work and they perform olympic lifts which is fantastic. There are bad elements as well; kipping pull-ups for example, the bad coaches and resulting bad technique that is rampant through the community, and it is a programming atrocity.

There lack of training specificity is the primary reason why professional athletes with strength and conditioning coaches don’t do Crossfit. It is way to general to offer any benefits past a certain point. A marathon runner will have more endurance than a Crossdfitter and a powerlifter will have more strength; likewise someone who trains intelligently for both strength and endurance will also be superior in those areas.

Crossfit will work well in the short term, and if it is working for you then that is great. But it is not the holy grail of fitness that everyone makes it out to be.

thkelly

There are bad elements as well; kipping pull-ups for example, the bad coaches and resulting bad technique that is rampant through the community, and it is a programming atrocity.

watched a youtube video last night of a woman doing the holy grail of all workouts "The Fran" and her kipping pullups were basically her flailing around on the pullup bar. i don't think her collar bone even came close to touching the bar once. she was obviously in shape, but it was just another example of a CFer not caring at all about form in pursuit of a new PR time. i just don't get it. what's the point?!!?!

End6ame

There are bad elements as well; kipping pull-ups for example, the bad coaches and resulting bad technique that is rampant through the community, and it is a programming atrocity.

watched a youtube video last night of a woman doing the holy grail of all workouts "The Fran" and her kipping pullups were basically her flailing around on the pullup bar. i don't think her collar bone even came close to touching the bar once. she was obviously in shape, but it was just another example of a CFer not caring at all about form in pursuit of a new PR time. i just don't get it. what's the point?!!?!

Exactly!

snkeller24

Depending on what's RX'ed for Fran it may just be chin over the bar ... to make it harder it's chest to bar. To say that CF's don't have a goal in mind ... is bizarre. Like any work out program you follow you have a goal ... in order to reach your goal you must put in the hard work and dedication.

CrossFit alone isn't for everyone ... some are dedicated for everyday WOD's ... others use it as supplemental to their own workouts ... It's not easy to master every aspect of CF, much like it's not easy to master anything else ... but you scale it back and grow stronger and advance yourself to the harder moves.

Annie Thorisdottir. Christy Phillips. Kristin Clever. Annie Sakamoto .... there is no denying that these ladies don't kick *kitten*.

crisanderson27

There are bad elements as well; kipping pull-ups for example, the bad coaches and resulting bad technique that is rampant through the community, and it is a programming atrocity.

watched a youtube video last night of a woman doing the holy grail of all workouts "The Fran" and her kipping pullups were basically her flailing around on the pullup bar. i don't think her collar bone even came close to touching the bar once. she was obviously in shape, but it was just another example of a CFer not caring at all about form in pursuit of a new PR time. i just don't get it. what's the point?!!?!

If she was in shape...that's the point. Who cares if a pullup is perfect? So...you're telling me allll those negative pullups I did to get to the point that I could do enough regular pullups to make a worthwhile set...were useless? I mean, there wasn't any form there either tight?

As a matter of fact, who cares if any of the exercises performed on YouTube for PR's are? She clearly got to be in the shape she is somehow.

thkelly

There are bad elements as well; kipping pull-ups for example, the bad coaches and resulting bad technique that is rampant through the community, and it is a programming atrocity.

watched a youtube video last night of a woman doing the holy grail of all workouts "The Fran" and her kipping pullups were basically her flailing around on the pullup bar. i don't think her collar bone even came close to touching the bar once. she was obviously in shape, but it was just another example of a CFer not caring at all about form in pursuit of a new PR time. i just don't get it. what's the point?!!?!

If she was in shape...that's the point. Who cares if a pullup is perfect? So...you're telling me allll those negative pullups I did to get to the point that I could do enough regular pullups to make a worthwhile set...were useless? I mean, there wasn't any form there either tight?

As a matter of fact, who cares if any of the exercises performed on YouTube for PR's are? She clearly got to be in the shape she is somehow.

yes this girl is in shape, but tell me how this even remotely resembles a pullup. even a kipping one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTEJ-Ec9XOE

_Sally_

The problem with Crossfit is that there is absolutely zero training specificity; they use the “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” method rather than providing a program with a specific goal in mind. Don’t get me wrong, that is fine for a while, but you can’t continue to get better at everything at the same time forever; at some point you will need to use a program that focuses on one or two areas of importance for you to keep progressing.

Some elements of Crossfit are great. It is all free weight and body weight which I would prefer to see anyone do over machine work and they perform olympic lifts which is fantastic. There are bad elements as well; kipping pull-ups for example, the bad coaches and resulting bad technique that is rampant through the community, and it is a programming atrocity.

There lack of training specificity is the primary reason why professional athletes with strength and conditioning coaches don’t do Crossfit. It is way to general to offer any benefits past a certain point. A marathon runner will have more endurance than a Crossdfitter and a powerlifter will have more strength; likewise someone who trains intelligently for both strength and endurance will also be superior in those areas.

Crossfit will work well in the short term, and if it is working for you then that is great. But it is not the holy grail of fitness that everyone makes it out to be.

I agree with this!

I did Crossfit a couple of years ago, 2 - 4x/week for about 8 months. I really enjoyed the variety, fun and camaraderie of the group classes. I did get stronger and more toned. I did overcome some deep fears (handstands). Strength training and high intensity internal work outs are a good thing to have in your repetoire. I think it might be a nice way to mix things up for folks who already have a decent level of fitness and who are injury free and not injury prone. I would say it could be fun for a period of time, but I would not recommend it as a long term way to adress your physical fitness needs for many of the above reasons.

HOWEVER, I happen to be a natural stickler for form and I paced myself and put a higher focus on doing as many reps as I can, with as heavy a weight as I can WHILE MAINTAINING PROPER FORM. The instructors/owners were always kind of annoyed at me that I didn't seem motivated to "push myself harder" to get a certain time or # reps etc. You need to be aware that the overwhelming culture and group pressure in Crossfit is that they sacrifice form and a healthy focus on injury prevention to feed a weird competitive frenzy, which goes way beyond what is needed for physical fitness and optimizing your body.

Also, puke buckets... really? It is not normal or healthy to push yourself to puking. That's just silly.

snkeller24

It's no different then puking in a sports practice ... which has happened to myself.

End6ame

Depending on what's RX'ed for Fran it may just be chin over the bar ... to make it harder it's chest to bar. To say that CF's don't have a goal in mind ... is bizarre. Like any work out program you follow you have a goal ... in order to reach your goal you must put in the hard work and dedication.

CrossFit alone isn't for everyone ... some are dedicated for everyday WOD's ... others use it as supplemental to their own workouts ... It's not easy to master every aspect of CF, much like it's not easy to master anything else ... but you scale it back and grow stronger and advance yourself to the harder moves.

Annie Thorisdottir. Christy Phillips. Kristin Clever. Annie Sakamoto .... there is no denying that these ladies don't kick *kitten*.

You missed the point.

No there actually is no specific fitness goal, Crossfit even admits to this, so you can’t argue it. Go ask you Crossfit coach what the goal of Crossfit is and you will be provided with an earful of wonderful sounding BS about “our specialty it not specializing” and that “Crossfit delivers fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive.” And if you read back on what I wrote, this is exactly what I said; it lacks training specificity.

If you read and study strength and conditioning programming, as I have, you would see that training specificity is a must for long term results, this is not something I am making up. Crossfit will work great to a point, but you can’t continue to get better at everything forever, you will need more focused goals if you want to keep progressing. You can’t keep training for both endurance and strength simultaneously because they are conflicting goals, so to achieve both results you need to intelligently cycle your training.

“Depending on what's RX'ed for Fran it may just be chin over the bar ... to make it harder it's chest to bar”

This is my point on poor coaching. The exercises need to be taught properly using proper form. It doesn’t matter how many incorrect pull-ups she can achieve it matter how many correct ones she can achieve. This is the only “sport” that I know of that will settle for mediocrity, in this way. These types of pull-ups would not pass for a military fitness test, nor would improper lifting form pass in olympic of powerlifing competitions; only in Crossfit is this acceptable.

End6ame

There are bad elements as well; kipping pull-ups for example, the bad coaches and resulting bad technique that is rampant through the community, and it is a programming atrocity.

watched a youtube video last night of a woman doing the holy grail of all workouts "The Fran" and her kipping pullups were basically her flailing around on the pullup bar. i don't think her collar bone even came close to touching the bar once. she was obviously in shape, but it was just another example of a CFer not caring at all about form in pursuit of a new PR time. i just don't get it. what's the point?!!?!

If she was in shape...that's the point. Who cares if a pullup is perfect? So...you're telling me allll those negative pullups I did to get to the point that I could do enough regular pullups to make a worthwhile set...were useless? I mean, there wasn't any form there either tight?

As a matter of fact, who cares if any of the exercises performed on YouTube for PR's are? She clearly got to be in the shape she is somehow.

If you are going to say I can do x number of pull-ups, then yes they should be perfect. I did negatives too when I first started doing pull-ups, but I didn’t film myself and run around saying that I just did 10 pull-ups. Because they were not pull-ups, neither are kippings. Range of motion is important in completing a lift. I am willing to bet that I could unrack 300lbs move it an inch then re-rack it, but when I am done, I am not going to say I just benched 300lbs.

Azdak

There are bad elements as well; kipping pull-ups for example, the bad coaches and resulting bad technique that is rampant through the community, and it is a programming atrocity.

watched a youtube video last night of a woman doing the holy grail of all workouts "The Fran" and her kipping pullups were basically her flailing around on the pullup bar. i don't think her collar bone even came close to touching the bar once. she was obviously in shape, but it was just another example of a CFer not caring at all about form in pursuit of a new PR time. i just don't get it. what's the point?!!?!

If she was in shape...that's the point. Who cares if a pullup is perfect? So...you're telling me allll those negative pullups I did to get to the point that I could do enough regular pullups to make a worthwhile set...were useless? I mean, there wasn't any form there either tight?

As a matter of fact, who cares if any of the exercises performed on YouTube for PR's are? She clearly got to be in the shape she is somehow.

If you are going to say I can do x number of pull-ups, then yes they should be perfect. I did negatives too when I first started doing pull-ups, but I didn’t film myself and run around saying that I just did 10 pull-ups. Because they were not pull-ups, neither are kippings. Range of motion is important in completing a lift. I am willing to bet that I could unrack 300lbs move it an inch then re-rack it, but when I am done, I am not going to say I just benched 300lbs.

You'd have to follow that by hopping backwards for 100 meters holding your hands behind your back and a 40lb kettlebell with your teeth.

But then you'd be like SO rippin' it, dude.

kdiamond

You missed the point.

No there actually is no specific fitness goal, Crossfit even admits to this, so you can’t argue it. Go ask you Crossfit coach what the goal of Crossfit is and you will be provided with an earful of wonderful sounding BS about “our specialty it not specializing” and that “Crossfit delivers fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive.” And if you read back on what I wrote, this is exactly what I said; it lacks training specificity.

If you read and study strength and conditioning programming, as I have, you would see that training specificity is a must for long term results, this is not something I am making up. Crossfit will work great to a point, but you can’t continue to get better at everything forever, you will need more focused goals if you want to keep progressing. You can’t keep training for both endurance and strength simultaneously because they are conflicting goals, so to achieve both results you need to intelligently cycle your training.

“Depending on what's RX'ed for Fran it may just be chin over the bar ... to make it harder it's chest to bar”

This is my point on poor coaching. The exercises need to be taught properly using proper form. It doesn’t matter how many incorrect pull-ups she can achieve it matter how many correct ones she can achieve. This is the only “sport” that I know of that will settle for mediocrity, in this way. These types of pull-ups would not pass for a military fitness test, nor would improper lifting form pass in olympic of powerlifing competitions; only in Crossfit is this acceptable.

I agree with this to a point. You're right, there are no "end" goals to Crossfit, they teach "functional fitness" which is PERFECT for my class of mostly moms just trying to stay in shape, be strong, get a quick workout, have fun.

Will I be an Olympic lifter one day? No, but I'm not trying to. I also tried 2 other Crossfit gyms before finding an instructor who really helped with form and knew their stuff. My instructor also teaches Olmypic lifting.

I also do a couple of days of my own heavy lifting in the weight room to supplement it for muscle building.

Take it for what its worth. I know I'm in better shape (overall body appearance and strength) after a year of doing it than ever in my 34 years, so I'll take it.