Crossfit- Your thoughts/opinions

I find the concept interesting, but many of the workouts seem to run to the extreme, and I am one who doesn't feel the need to kill myself every time I work out. I also don't like the elitist attitude many crossfitters/gyms (not all, just some) seem to have, as well as the fact that the gyms are so ridiculously overpriced. I also think anytime you do something as a "competition", even against yourself, for reps in time, form is likely to suffer and injury to occur. But, when it's done safely, I can see why people like it. It's probably great for people who have "exercise ADD" or get bored easily. I have done some workouts that could be labelled as a cross fit style, and I've done reps for time, but I had to really be concious of form and not let my desire to beat my last number win over keeping proper form!

Can't afford it. *End thought*

My military friend has been working with me in the gym the last month, and his workouts are all cross fit ones, and i feel like its amazing.

I dont know about the cross fit gyms. We work out in Planet fitness and just do a lot of fast paced weight traning.

I don't do it, but have a friend who does and have been with him a few times, so here's what I've seen

Pros:
-Super enthusiastic crowd
-supportive community
-workouts tailored to your fitness level
-everything is tracked well, so he can clearly see how his max lifts are improving

Cons:
-expensive
-I think lifting heavy for time or as a race is f#cking dumb
-the WODs don't seem to have any clear progression, you may work the same muscles many days in a row
-my friend has had many injuries (see 'lifting heavy for time')
-coaches pushing the paleo diet (some of the worst biochemistry I've ever seen in my life was from an xfit blogpost)

Its not for me, but I can see how some people enjoy it.

You have to realize that you are paying for the coaching too. If you were to hire a personal trainer the costs would well exceed that of a great crossfit gym. You can modify the workouts to your own personal capabilities and strengths and the efficiency of the workouts far exceeds anything I can do on my own. The push that you get from going there as well as the support is tremendous. But do expect to see muscle come from it! Which, by the way, ladies, is a great thing. Don't knock it til you try it. You get what you pay for and in my opinion it is well worth it! And as long as you are honest with yourself and the coach about your capabilities, you won't get hurt. They will never encourage you to sacrifice safety or form for extra weight or reps. That is again, what you're paying for....the excellent coaching. But make sure you find a gym with good coaches. Do your research. There are some crappy CF gyms out there as well as some great ones.

My Marine friend & I did some of the WOD at a Planet Fitness I went to - he had found a site that listed a bunch of different ones so we picked one that I was able to physically do (ie not the one that involved being upside down) and we had equipment for.

Since you can get the WOD on their site or on an app, you can do it at any gym really.

I've never gone to a real crossfit gym - the cost is scaring me away (plus I spent my money on Krav Maga for the year)

Another pro of crossfit that wasn't mentioned: easily scalable. They give the WOD but you can make it harder or easier than what was prescribed.

There are risks of hurting yourself doing any exercise - like I tanked it half a mile in on a five mile run due to a strom drain I didn't see, almost dropped the oly bar on my head this morning doing OHP, and I bruised a kid in soccer growing up when I kicked her.(oops).

ETA: 1. Thank you for your service =] A lot of my friends used the free gyms when they deployed & came back jacked. 2. When you return and look for a CF gym, do a lot of research since there are crappy trainers out there.

I did a free intro class...it's an intense workout, and very similar to the way we trained when I was in the military. Just depends on what you're trying to accomplish I guess. I already did my military thing and don't need to do it again...I don't need to achieve that level of fitness at this point in my life so it's overkill for me. I like lifting heavy, running a couple miles 3x weekly, and going for nice long walks or bike rides a few times per week. I find that gives me a generally good level of fitness and strength and that's all I'm looking for at this point. I really didn't have too much fun when I tried the cross fit class, just too much for me and my goals.

Interesting thoughts from both sides of the fence. I didn't even think about the coaching aspect of it ljcazan. Good point.

Since it's been gaining so much popularity, gyms are popping up everywhere. And not every gym has trainers with enough knowledge & experience. So I would research your closest gyms carefully to find one with the right trainers for you.