This makes me cringe to watch

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BDDyxXyf6UU

This crossfit gym needs to send their people to get re-certified or something. This hurts to watch and there are so many things wrong here that I'm not even going to go into it (I'll let you do that).

This is all assuming this technique is wrong. If this IS the technique they certify people to teach, then the ones who certify people to do this need bats to the knees.

edit: From the comments I saw on the website I found it linked on, crossfit people were appalled as well. There wasn't a single positive post, so it seems these guys are definitely the exception.

[Loren Wade]

This looks familiar...

I think a few of us were laughing about it on Twitter. Agreed... it's pretty bad.

[scotticus]

I wonder what portion of the xfit community this represents? Not the participants - it's not their fault. I mean how many franchises are there where some folks took a crash xfit certification, hung a shingle, and are now making money teaching people to injure themselves...

Not being an expert on C&J, I hit up youtube (

). After watching the first lift in this video, I'm not even sure that those poor xfit students are even doing C&J...

[bigm141414]

What the hell...? Why are they switch gripping a clean and jerk? Seriously? And where did they get that bar? From some abandoned water pipe project?

Edit: No wonder comments were disabled on this video.

Edit edit: MY mistake. Not hook grip, but a switch grip.

[Novius]

That hurts to watch and I don't even lift yet...

[MMyers]

It says the axle weight is 10-15 pounds in the video description, which means those are definitely bumper plates. So, 75 pounds at most? Does that look right? I don't know what weight the bigger bumper plates are.

---------------------------------

Not that it legitimizes it, but Derek Poundstone uses a hook grip for the Clean And Press. I think he does it so he has to rest the bar on himself during the hand switch to mimic the Atlas Stone.

EDIT: Fixed for confusion

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

It says 400 lbs in the title Army.

Doing it to train for Atlas Stone is one thing, but this is Crossfit. The motto I hear a lot from the few I know who do it is to complete the lift in the easiest way possible. This is why they do butterfly pullups and all that. The mixed grip is not the easiest way for this lift. They should be at minimum be using a normal grip the whole time, squatting further to get under the weight, and then squatting deeper to get more of a push on the push press.

[MMyers]

I meant 10-15 pounds for the Crossfit one. My bad broseph.

[jdanger]

Obvious negligence aside I'd just like to point out that the technique is legit and it isn't a hook grip. This is a continental clean that makes use of an alternating (or switch or whatever) grip to deal with the axle. A hook grip is what Olympic lifters use for the regular Olympic lifts and simply involves wrapping the fingers around the thumbs instead of vise versa.

But yeah, if you aren't already a strong man (or lady), maybe you don't need to be doing this. And if I'm a trainer or gym owner who doesn't want to kill people maybe I don't want you doing it in my gym.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Yeah, evidence suggests it is a legit lift, but I think it's a legit ADVANCED lift like jdanger says. Beginners shouldn't be doing it until they have mastered the basics, look at how that bar is tumbling.

[bigm141414]

Yeah, evidence suggests it is a legit lift, but I think it's a legit ADVANCED lift like jdanger says. Beginners shouldn't be doing it until they have mastered the basics, look at how that bar is tumbling.

Huh ya learn something new every day.

[cosmia]

I only started lifting two weeks ago and watching that video hurt my soul. And also terrified me (I kept waiting for someone to drop the bar on their neck instead of on the ground). Damn.

[Guest guest4729]

I originally saw this thread while on my iPod but couldn't watch the video. Now that I'm on my laptop watching this video I'm horrified. I don't lift AT ALL (yet) and I can see SO many issues with this.

"Yeah! Yeah! C'mon! You got it!" AKA "Go ahead and throw that bar up so you can injure yourself! You got it!"

Edit: I keep watching it and it keeps getting worse. This is just terrible...

[spezzy]

that video is old news and giving crossfit a bad name.

they're attempting a continental clean.

they supposedly had strongman specific trainers come in for this event, but i don't know the details.

either way, i'm not happy with the video.

[Knightwatch]

Obvious negligence aside I'd just like to point out that the technique is legit and it isn't a hook grip. This is a continental clean that makes use of an alternating (or switch or whatever) grip to deal with the axle. A hook grip is what Olympic lifters use for the regular Olympic lifts and simply involves wrapping the fingers around the thumbs instead of vise versa.

But yeah, if you aren't already a strong man (or lady), maybe you don't need to be doing this. And if I'm a trainer or gym owner who doesn't want to kill people maybe I don't want you doing it in my gym.

All of this.

I actually got a kick out of the storm this caused. I was all ready to join in, and then I realized that people were laughing about entirely the wrong things.

Oh well.

Yeah, get strong, and then incorporate strongman stuff. But alternating grips, low transitions, all that stuff...perfectly legit. They just weren't at a place where they should have been doing them, thus the whole thing they were going here was on shaky ground making it look ridiculous, and absolutely being dangerous and stupid.

[SuperVitali]

that video is old news and giving crossfit a bad name.

they're attempting a continental clean.

they supposedly had strongman specific trainers come in for this event, but i don't know the details.

either way, i'm not happy with the video.

Yea, sucks. While people did misinterpret the video quite a bit, there's obviously a lot wrong here.

This is the one thing that frustrates me the most about crossfit the most - no quality control. The experience from gym to gym is so different.

There are affiliates around here don't even lift with barbells - how is that crossfit?

[sumdawgtwigg]

That made me hurt. I was just waiting for someone to drop it on their head. The gym that I just got out of didn't have anyone that knew anything about fitness. The manager always greeted me at the door smoking her cigs. Nice lady and everything but that doesn't do much for the gyms image.