An interesting article on CrossFit

[Oramac]

This article was sent to me by a friend who is a dedicated CrossFit coach.   One of the good ones, AFAIK.  

 

https://www.t-nation.com/training/doctors-view-of-crossfit

 

Just for discussion. I may not actually post here again, but I'm interested to see everyone's thoughts.  Especially coming from a highly regarded physician like Dr. McGill.  

[Oramac]

Nobody has any thoughts?  At all?  I find that hard to believe.  

[lctrc]

I think vi is better than emacs.

[jfreaksho]

lctrc has it right- this could be the start of a flame war, if anyone was particularly invested in crossfit.

 

None of this is new.  The short of it is that everyone knows the article is right- technical lifts to fatigue are not a good idea.  Even powerlifters admit that they get hurt by pushing beyond the "maybe my form isn't good now" feeling, and the lifts there are far less technical than oly lifting.

 

I think crossfit has done a lot for fitness, particularly by introducing more people to oly lifting, but its insistence on reps over form gets people hurt, and no one is really able to deny it.  Even stuff like kipping pullups can screw up your shoulders and arms without appropriate joint conditioning and preparation, but they teach that at a very early stage.  There are perhaps places where the instructors do it right, but it's hard to overcome the cultish enthusiasm of everyone cheering "One more rep!" and people compromise form for it.

[Oramac]

Thanks guys.  And for the record, I had/have no intention of starting a flame war or anything.  Just got the article from a CrossFit friend of mine and wanted to get other people's opinions on it.  

[hwrdfrnd]

I found the last half pretty interesting where the firemen who were pushing themselves too hard in the gym were having more injuries at work even though they were stronger than the ones who were keeping their form tight.

[Sam Ashen]

I thought the article was interesting.  I could even understand it!

[Rurik Harrgath]

I've seen that article floating around a lot lately.  Even though it has a supposedly education and fairly impartial doctor's credentials attached to it, I tend to take anything posted by T Nation with a grain of salt.  There tends to be a lot of bro science floating around their corner of the school yard.

 

That said, jfreaksho has the right of it.  There's nothing new in the article.  It harkens to the leagues and leagues of videos of "Crossfitters" performing lifts horribly and falling off pullup bars when attempting butterfly pullups they have no business attempting.  Everyone loves to jump on the anti-Crossfit bandwagon because it's the "cool" thing to do these days.  But people get hurt doing squats alone in a regular gym.  They get hurt playing hockey or football.  Others get hurt from inactivity and sitting on the couch.  In my eyes, it all comes down to coaching and self-awareness.

 

If you're more concerned about throwing 200# over your head regardless of form than you are about looking after your body, you deserve to get hurt.  The same goes for your coach.  Mine would never dream of letting me go heavier than I can safely and surely move.  I've been told to back off 10 or 20# to work on form over weight, just like I wasn't allowed to start working on kipping pullups until I had a solid three strict pullups in me first.  The strength will come but the foundation needs to be built first. 

 

A lot of people like to throw accountability out of the window.

[IslandGirl_Becks]

Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes Permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect. 

 

As someone who struggles with form and quickly gets sloppy, I'm prone to hurting myself. I never work high load or even high rep (light load) without a coach. That's what they're for.

imho, Gill's basketball analogy is bogus... all of my basketball friends have ankle issues

 

Related conversation on Tim Ferriss's blog, worth the listen if you've got time. Conversation with Kelley Starrett (PT and CF coach)

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/03/04/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-crossfit/

[SjardisDead]

I don't get all this fuzz about CF. It's new and trendy and it can improve your live or put you in a wheelchair as well as anything inbetween (just like skateboarding, rugby, icehockey, going to a punk rock show, having sex or just breathing). I mean some people are acting like they fight a new drug that gets sold to toddlers. Honestly why do you care if some strangers are killing their backs and shoulders because of bad form and coaches. We live in a world where everyone who puts some energy into it can find out pretty fast if the gym/ coach sucks if you don't want to do this little extra work and just do the new shit, in this case CF (shit does not mean any negativity in this context) then do it but don't cry later. The only reason why people are talking so much about it right now is not because they are concerned about your health or physicle progress but because they get a lot of clicks from it, and on the internet clicks are money. CrossFit is not good or bad but to get something out of this kind of discussion we should talk about single coaches and gyms (or boxes?) where a "warning" would actualy make sence. And not lable the whole god damned thing as the biggest live ruiner/ saver ever since the invention of heroin.

[johnpeltier]

 

If you're more concerned about throwing 200# over your head regardless of form than you are about looking after your body, you deserve to get hurt.  The same goes for your coach.  Mine would never dream of letting me go heavier than I can safely and surely move.  I've been told to back off 10 or 20# to work on form over weight, just like I wasn't allowed to start working on kipping pullups until I had a solid three strict pullups in me first.  The strength will come but the foundation needs to be built first. 

 

A lot of people like to throw accountability out of the window.

 

This is more or less why I went to bodyweight. I found myself adding plates at the gym, but I'm not one to get a trainer so my form wasn't great. Bodyweight training forces me to work on form in order to progress to a more difficult exercise, so I have to discipline myself. And I'm not throwing heavy plates around so it feels like I'm less likely to do something stupid and injure myself.