So I'm back from my first official crossfit and I loved it though honestly showed me that I'm not as fit as I thought! I'm training for tough mudder at end August so this is going to be great training or it.
Thanks to you all who supported me & gave me the confidence to turn up for it

Since you have decided to do Crossfit, I hope you ALWAYS listen to your body, and not the team or the screaming coach or the ticking clock. Because listening to any one of those over your own body is a sure way to get injured.

And after a few workouts. if you find that Crossfit is too extreme for your needs, or you find you really don't enjoy being so sore you can barely move for days after a workout, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG with leaving the Crossfit box and checking out other fitness programs in your area. Trying a few classes of any activity is NOT a lifetime commitment!

If you had posted on the main forum instead of in a Crossfit group, you would have received messages from many other people, some experienced coaches and trainers, who are very much against the Crossfit training system because of the unnecessary dangers involved in doing their style of workouts. By posting in this group, you have limited your responses to mostly people who are already biased towards Crossfit.

Haven't read through all of the responses...just OP, but wanted to jump in here...

Yes! Absolutely I felt like that...I'm I'm a relatively fit (albeit admittedly older) guy. These workouts absolutely kick my *kitten*, and I love it!

The trick...and based on the scaled weights you're using, it would seem that you're on the right path here...is to choose the right starting weights. I absolutely *suck* at this. In my 8ish workouts so far (as I've only been doing this for less than a month), I've gotten the weights mostly right exactly ONCE...and it isn't that I'm using my ego to decide the weights...(I'm not thinking, "I'm a stud...I'll use X pounds for this movement")...I mean, if I thought some 3 pound pink barbie weights were appropriate, I'd use them...I have no shame...but I actually think to myself, "four rounds of a minute each station? Surely I can use 75 pounds for push press...I mean, that's the rx for women"...and I *can* use that weight...for the first round...but when piled onto all of the other exercises in the WOD, my shoulders are toast by round two and I can't do more than a few reps. Very less than ideal.

So the secret...and the TL;DR to that ramblingness...is to start with a light weight...and then go even lighter. You can always move up as you progress, but if you start too heavy, you at best won't get as good a workout, and at worst you'll work yourself into an injury. Don't do that as it's the single biggest barrier to getting better at this (or really any fitness endeavor).

And yes, I'm still trying to figure out if crossfit makes people incredibly fit or if incredibly fit people are drawn to and stick with crossfit. Honestly, I suspect it's a lot of the latter, but I'm will to see if they can do some of the former.

(Assuming you aren't going to give up...and I really hope you don't)...welcome to the "cult". Enjoy the koolaid. It's awesome and unlike any other fitness thing I've ever done. :drinker:

ETA: I just read that you're 40. Awesome. So yeah, you and I are probably dealing with some of the "trying to keep up with/comparing ourselves to the kids" issues. Don't do that (I say both to you and to myself). Do your own thing, and realize that this will make you a better you.

Okay, back to read more and add to this rambling novella.

ETAM: Sounds like you're getting lots of great advice. Awesome. And yes, I believe that janebshaw hates crossfit and everything for which it stands. Honestly, I don't know what happened in her past to cause this intense level of hatred for it...perhaps she lost a loved one to it...but her comments on it are unique. I suggest you simply demonstrate how wrong she is by letting it make you into a more awesome you.

So I'm back from my first official crossfit and I loved it though honestly showed me that I'm not as fit as I thought! I'm training for tough mudder at end August so this is going to be great training or it.
Thanks to you all who supported me & gave me the confidence to turn up for it

Since you have decided to do Crossfit, I hope you ALWAYS listen to your body, and not the team or the screaming coach or the ticking clock. Because listening to any one of those over your own body is a sure way to get injured.

And after a few workouts. if you find that Crossfit is too extreme for your needs, or you find you really don't enjoy being so sore you can barely move for days after a workout, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG with leaving the Crossfit box and checking out other fitness programs in your area. Trying a few classes of any activity is NOT a lifetime commitment!

If you had posted on the main forum instead of in a Crossfit group, you would have received messages from many other people, some experienced coaches and trainers, who are very much against the Crossfit training system because of the unnecessary dangers involved in doing their style of workouts. By posting in this group, you have limited your responses to mostly people who are already biased towards Crossfit.

She had the same to say when I posted in the general forums about my upcoming crossfit experience. Here's what's happened to me in my first month with it:

1) I have yet to have a trainer yell at me for anything. They've given me plenty of helpful advice, and helped me scale plenty of exercises, but no yelling...well, unless you count talking loudly over the music they like to turn up for the WODs. And I have even told each of the trainers that I welcome...nay, I thrive on their criticism, so don't hold back. Usually, they're "yelling" things like, "Way to go! Keep it up! Awesome! You guys are doing great work!"...oh, and then "J, core tight, back flat...good. Check your feet! Yeah, you got it...narrow those feet a little. Two more rounds! Over half way there!"

2) The on-ramp trainer did more for my technique than anyone else has in decades prior. Although I've only been working on it for about a month, these tips have already helped me break through some plateaus and I find myself using the movement tips in everyday life.

3) I did hurt myself...in my very first WOD. I tweaked a nerve in my armpit that made my arm dead/numb for a couple of days. Problem was that I was trying to use too much weight...it was a weight that I chose for myself...and instead of admitting it mid-WOD and adjusting, I pushed through. That was my mistake. Lesson learned (although not really because I have a habit of making these kinds of decisions...and this is for many decades before I ever stepped into a crossfit gym).

4) Indeed, crossfit is not a lifetime commitment. My dues are month-to-month, no contract, and I can cancel any time. This is awesome in my opinion.

5) Absolutely, post a similar question in the general forums. Then you can witness firsthand the number of people who have done it in support of it vs. the number of people vehemently opposed to it who *consistently* have not done a single actual crossfit workout.

Just one simple question:

If they lead me into an injury, I stop paying my dues.

Why would they want to lead me into an injury?

Sounds like a very bad business model to me.


And for what it's worth, I've heard all of these stories about bad Crossfit trainers who don't know what they're doing...it actually kept me away from Crossfit for several years...and yet in my lifetime, I have yet to meet a single one of them. I have, however, met many globo gym trainers in this time who are remarkably clueless and have led many of my friends into an injury caused by poor judgment. (Heavy overhead rotational lifts? Hello torn rotator cuff.)

Based on this logic, I guess I should make it my crusade on MFP to warn everyone about the dangers of globo gyms and instead lead them to Crossfit gyms.

Wait...actually, that's kind of what I think I'm going to do now...except I will phrase it as making sure their trainers are competent...

...(but I'll make sure everyone knows what I mean is that Crossfit it superior).



ETA: And you honestly think Crossfit is "extreme"? Compared to triathlons, marathons, ultra running, mountain climbing, base jumping, X games events, skateboarding, etc. etc. etc.? Interesting. On a spectrum of "extreme", it's nowhere near the top of the list.

Totally agree with you jofjltncb6- for what it's worth I've run 5 marathons in my quest to qualify and run the Boston marathon, which I did in 2011. The cost was two stress fractures to accomplish this. I've had way more serious and even just little nagging injuries trying to put in 50 miles a week than I have in a year and a half of crossfitting 5 times a week. Also for what it's worth I still run 3-5 miles 3 times a week to compliment crossfit and my half marathon time is just as fast as when I was putting in over 3 times the miles all thanks to crossfit. Crossfit rocks!

And you honestly think Crossfit is "extreme"? Compared to triathlons, marathons, ultra running, mountain climbing, base jumping, X games events, skateboarding, etc. etc. etc.? Interesting. On a spectrum of "extreme", it's nowhere near the top of the list.

Parkour is far and away more dangerous than CrossFit will ever be. I'd like to see some statistics on Parkour injuries and FATALITIES. ;-)

And you honestly think Crossfit is "extreme"? Compared to triathlons, marathons, ultra running, mountain climbing, base jumping, X games events, skateboarding, etc. etc. etc.? Interesting. On a spectrum of "extreme", it's nowhere near the top of the list.

Parkour is far and away more dangerous than CrossFit will ever be. I'd like to see some statistics on Parkour injuries and FATALITIES. ;-)

Dagnabbit! How could I forget parkour???

Especially since I've had my now 8yo son enrolled in a parkour class (albeit in a safer gym environment) for a couple of years now. But still, it's obviously a gateway to wildly dangerous activity that will almost certainly maim and/or kill him as he gets older...I mean, assuming he doesn't also fall into *gasp* crossfit too.

Don't let Jane know. She'll call DFS on me.

Jane needs to go.

That is all.

Jane needs to go.

That is all.

She's gone. For now.

YES! Sweet! Just saw that in another thread. :happydance: