Crossfit???

As a competitive powerlifter who's shared the platform with many CFers, I'm totally cool with CF and all the criticisms of injury and qualified coaches are irrelevant insofar as CF as an exercise methodology. And I'm stating this even though I think Glassman is a total arrogant dick.

Regarding kipped pull-ups... For those that Olympic Lift, the kipped pull-up has tremendous crossover to those lifts where the body must get into triple extension.

I love it! Our gym (box) has a variety of programs from cross fit to barbell club to power programs.
A good box will get you sorted.

Maybe it's me, but a lot of CF just seems like stuff I did in the military in the field to keep in shape. By in shape I mean back in those days I had 15% body fat and could lift like a beast.

In the early days, as I understand it, small pockets of the military, and law enforcement and fire service, really got behind CrossFit. At the time, Glassman was posting workouts on his website that people could do for free, then post their results. Because of the dramatic performance improvements seen in all these sectors, CrossFit spread through them. At the same time, the same thing was happening with the public, and as people heard about this new thing, they wanted to get involved.

kdiamond wrote: »

I did it for almost 2 years and it was my first experience with anything to do with lifting. I learned a lot, and I'm glad I did it, but ultimately it was too much upper body for me...I didn't feel like it was a good fit for the body type I was/am going for.

Now I do Orange Theory which also incorporates lifting but more lower body female stuff, and also rowing and cardio. I like a well balanced workout and I didn't think I was getting that with CF. I feel like CF is better suited for a dude who wants to be ripped and lean. Also there are a lot of cult like factors involved that I didn't care for, but I suppose that can happen in any group setting.

If you didn't get enough lower body work and rowing/cardio, you had a terrible box. Not really a reason to blanket all of CF that it's not geared towards women. The reality shows CF providing women with a huge benefit and interest for a women to embrace being strong and powerful and getting rid of the ridiculous cardio bunny & pink dumbell idea.

I've been doing Crossfit for nearly 6 months and I completely love it. The box I train at is great at teaching form. I recommending just trying it out- not everyone likes Crossfit- but I've found the competitive nature to be super fun. Give it a try!

Upstate_Dunadan wrote: »

Here's another great article, that I think was pretty fair, from t-Nation on one bodybuilder's experience with CrossFit -

https://t-nation.com/training/bodybuilder-goes-crossfit

Funny thing, just read that.

I choose WODs -- or retool an existing one -- that has the greatest crossover to my sport. The conditioning is invaluable. I run a WOD once a week.

alyssarenea1996 wrote: »

Luckily, I live in a very small town so there aren't a ton of people there when I go for CrossFit. I get a lot of one on one training with the instructor. Just signed my membership today going to work on getting to comp level in CrossFit

That's cool. If you make it to that level, CF games level training is different.

My sister started doing crossfit last week. I was pleasantly surprised that they started her out on the very basics, like lightweight goblet squats, wall pushups..etc. I've read how some establishments tend to push newbies too hard to the point of injury. I'd say give it a go and ask for modifications if necessary (and if they don't allow you any, change gyms). Most of all, enjoy the workout but keep your head screwed on right and don't buy into any of the cultlike beliefs.

nakedraygun wrote: »

alyssarenea1996 wrote: »

Luckily, I live in a very small town so there aren't a ton of people there when I go for CrossFit. I get a lot of one on one training with the instructor. Just signed my membership today going to work on getting to comp level in CrossFit

That's cool. If you make it to that level, CF games level training is different.

I'm so glad your CF experience has been a positive one so far O.P.! Nothing has gotten me as fit and healthy as Crossfit has so I love seeing someone else get excited about it.

Much of what both the supporters and opponents of CF have said in this thread are true in regards to some places either not knowing enough or not caring enough to scale appropriately. Having done CF for quite a while now my one word of advice is even if you think you are a great gym with great trainers who give personalized attention and scale appropriately I would still recommend checking some other CF places out before you sign any type of commitment/contract. Looking back I realize that I fully believed movements and weights were scaled appropriately to my level of fitness at the time, however, I honestly didn't know what appropriate scaling should be. I probably could have avoided picking up some bad habits and minor injuries had I really understood what scaling appropriately actually was. Strict strength and good form should always be at the forefront of your training and will serve you much better in the long run.

Also while training to a comp level (regionals/games) is an awesome goal to have, as stated above be aware that there is a world of difference between training "traditional crossfit" and "competitive crossfit." Much of what keeps people coming back to Crossfit everyday is the community aspect of the classes and honestly you lose most of that when you begin to train for competitive fitness. It can be a hard transition to go from that fun hour long class with your friends to at least six days a week of three hours of training a day frequently done alone or just with your coach. It's also made up of a TON of endurance training/strength training/body building with only a handful of the traditional type Crossfit workouts people have come to know and love thrown in. I absolutely love training this way but it's not for the faint of heart. Best of luck!