CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
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CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
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Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#2When I first started doing weights, my father and his brother both drilled one piece of advice into my head: training too much is worse than not training at all. After reading this article, I'm grateful for it!
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#3It should be mentioned that it normally only occurs when well trained people stop working out for a couple of weeks and then get into it again at full speed.
If you are used to working out hard, you won't get rhabdomyolysis.
So if you're pretty fit but stopped working out for a while, get into it with moderation!
To everyone else: don't be scared of rhabdomyolysis and work out!
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#4When I first started doing weights, my father and his brother both drilled one piece of advice into my head: training too much is worse than not training at all. After reading this article, I'm grateful for it!
So very true.
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#5It should be mentioned that it normally only occurs when well trained people stop working out for a couple of weeks and then get into it again at full speed. If you are used to working out hard, you won't get rhabdomyolysis. So if you're pretty fit but stopped working out for a while, get into it with moderation! To everyone else: don't be scared of rhabdomyolysis and work out!
Well, that's nice and all. But how fit people and everyone else are supposed to remember that?
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#6It should be mentioned that it normally only occurs when well trained people stop working out for a couple of weeks and then get into it again at full speed. If you are used to working out hard, you won't get rhabdomyolysis. So if you're pretty fit but stopped working out for a while, get into it with moderation! To everyone else: don't be scared of rhabdomyolysis and work out!
Well, there you have it folks - the story in the article is obviously the fault of the very fit physical therapist having no idea and just carelessly blowing up her own arms. Can't possibly happen to you!
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#7It should be mentioned that it normally only occurs when well trained people stop working out for a couple of weeks and then get into it again at full speed. If you are used to working out hard, you won't get rhabdomyolysis. So if you're pretty fit but stopped working out for a while, get into it with moderation! To everyone else: don't be scared of rhabdomyolysis and work out!
To everyone else: Work out, but listen to your body rather than some guy on the internet.
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#8I hate reading articles like this because it's trying to tell you that CrossFit culture is all about pushing yourself until you've practically killed yourself doing all sorts of crazy and whacky weight lifting. 99% of the time, the problem isn't CrossFit, it's the coaches. If you're at a good gym (or box as it's called), the coaches know how to scale workouts for the athletes so they won't get hurt, and they're programming workouts so that people aren't killing themselves constantly.
Where CrossFit is to blame is its low barrier to entry to becoming a coach/affiliate owner. All you need is a weekend of your time, $1000, a passing score on a super simple test, and you get to call yourself an "L1 CrossFit Trainer." They don't advise you to immediately go start training people, but there are plenty of boxes that will let you jump in and start coaching classes. It's gotten so popular now that there are bad affiliates popping up out there that have horrible programming that hurt people, and then articles like this get written, and then everyone thinks that's all CrossFit is.
When you take the L1 CrossFit Trainer course, they have a whole section about "Uncle Rhabdo." It's a very rare thing that occurs when you do a whole lot of isometric exercises (like strict pull ups where you come down real slow) when you're not used to them. It's not a rabid thing that is 100% going to happen if you do CrossFit.
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#9This article seems a little sensationalist. Just because a journal had an article about it with a cartoon attached doesn't mean they've adopted as a "mascot" or make light of the condition.
My wife has been doing crossfit full-force for almost a year (including some competitions [1]). Along with previous standard workouts and diet changes, she's lost 60+ lbs over the past 2 years. And she's getting pretty buff.
She's never heard of rhabdomyolysis.
Every exercise/activity has some risks. If anything, I'd say crossfit puts you at risk for other injuries (back, joints, heat exhaustion at competitions, etc.).
[1] My wife at a recent competition. A male competitor here fainted and had to go to the ER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnQ8ZDSmg70
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#10It should be mentioned that it normally only occurs when well trained people stop working out for a couple of weeks and then get into it again at full speed. If you are used to working out hard, you won't get rhabdomyolysis. So if you're pretty fit but stopped working out for a while, get into it with moderation! To everyone else: don't be scared of rhabdomyolysis and work out!
Since the article is not about working out in general but CrossFit specifically, and not about restarting exercise after a break, and particularly since the takeaway of the article is that it is hard to recognise this syndrome, I'll take that with a pinch of salt - best not to be complacent.
I agree re. working out in general - but this is about something more specific.