What's crossfit ?

I've seen some good results from a few people I know who do Crossfit - it seems to work for them but one gal got injured with her wrist, then followed up later by shin splints (although that's probably just poor shoe support from their cardio). The methods of going the extreme makes sense, doing more in less time, but if you're sacrificing your form for time then your risks of injury raises. I'd like to know I can take my time if I'm going to be squatting say, 150lbs, and not feel the pressure or judgement of not performing fast enough.

Long story short, the elitist mentality that I've witnessed across a few different Crossfit places is really a turn off. I don't want to be better than anyone else, I want to be better than myself. If you're coming off as a **** by puffing your chest out and claiming you do CF, as if it's anymore of a step up in the world, and it puts your workout to shame, then as Sweet Brown says, "Ain't nobody got time for that." and I'll venture elsewhere to change myself.

Second point - Sorry, but I don't have $140/mo (at least where I live) to throw down on basically buying my body. I pay $49/mo, 24 hour gym, and at least there's some incentives (got a free month already from a friend signing up). That $49 is my play money that I have leftover after rent, bills, food, insurance, etc.

I understand that generalizing CF as a whole is crappy, just as well as generalizing anything else. I also know there are most likely some great trainers out there who really aim for safety and efficiency to get you that body you're working your *kitten* off for, it's just unfortunate when it only takes a few swollen egos to damper the image of changing yourself.

As for people talking about lifting "heavy" as if I must not be doing that if I'm doing HIIT: when I'm expected to deadlift 20+ times in a row multiple times in a workout...

To clarify, this means by definition that you aren't "lifting heavy" in the sense that most people mean it. Specifically, it means that you are training in a weight/rep range that is not designed to build strength. If you can lift something 20 times for multiple sets, it's not heavy. I'm not saying it's not challenging to do such a workout, but it's not "strength training." It's more cardio with resistance than anything.


My $.02 on Xfit: it has the potential to be exceptionally good fitness training if done properly, but it usually isn't. Also, I find that people allow the competitive nature of the environment overtake the importance of properly performing the exercises. The fact that they have mascots called Pukie the Clown and Dr. Rhabdo don't exactly endear me to the institution, either.