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CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret

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Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret

#21

Post by adamnemecek »

kareemm wrote: post #19
adamnemecek wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re: Quality assurance, this was on reddit couple days ago http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8up6A4QesU

Interestingly enough this video was posted to the FB group of the CrossFit gym I go to... a gym I chose because of the quality of programming and emphasis on technique and mobility. There's no bravado there. Here was one coach's response: "Haha, this video is infamous! It's the "proof" that critics of CrossFit use to try and show that the entire sport is dangerous and that we don't know what we're doing. There are de…

Yeah, having a healthy back is so overrated anyway.

Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret

#22

Post by dkarl »

callmeed wrote: post #9

This 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…

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.

Unfortunately, that part is real. There were two unofficial mascots, Pukey the Clown and Rhabdo the Clown. If you puked during class, you "met one of the clowns." The clowns were celebrated on t-shirts, murals, etc. That was dumb, but it was eventually recognized as dumb, and it was stopped. Of course it provided grist for the first round of "Crossfit exposé" coverage, which has consistently attempted to portray Crossfit as a cult in which people uncritically worship ideas that are obviously problematic to anyone who hasn't been brainwashed.

There's a little bit of truth to that, in that many of the coaches are enthusiastic, rah-rah cheerleader types who don't take a critical approach to much of anything. However -- and this is a BIG however -- that is true of every approach to physical fitness I've ever been exposed to. Like other types of training, Crossfit has its share of smart and critical people as well, and they do their best to improve the practice of Crossfit and identify and fix problems.

Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret

#23

Post by Jayschwa »

kareemm wrote: post #19
adamnemecek wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re: Quality assurance, this was on reddit couple days ago http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8up6A4QesU

Interestingly enough this video was posted to the FB group of the CrossFit gym I go to... a gym I chose because of the quality of programming and emphasis on technique and mobility. There's no bravado there. Here was one coach's response: "Haha, this video is infamous! It's the "proof" that critics of CrossFit use to try and show that the entire sport is dangerous and that we don't know what we're doing. There are de…

The coach's response is not reassuring. Anyone trying it for the first time should start with a weight light enough that they can hold the correct form and not lose control.

Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret

#24

Post by Jayschwa »

adamnemecek wrote: post #21
kareemm wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly enough this video was posted to the FB group of the CrossFit gym I go to... a gym I chose because of the quality of programming and emphasis on technique and mobility. There's no bravado there. Here was one coach's response: "Haha, this video is infamous! It's the "proof" that critics of CrossFit use to try and show that the entire sport is dangerous and that we don't know what we're doing. There are de…

Yeah, having a healthy back is so overrated anyway.

If your back is healthy, you're not confusing the muscles hard enough.

Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret

#25

Post by mightybyte »

The title of this article is one of the most misleading I've ever seen. It implies that rhabdomyolysis is little known and covered up. But later the author admits that it's not little known. "How, I wondered, is it possible that the layperson exercise instructor is on a first-name basis with a serious, yet rare medical condition?" Why does he do this? Because being sensationalist draws clicks.

This article is a microcosm of everything that is wrong with mainstream media. It takes something quite rare and spins a narrative designed to incite fear, making you think that these horrible things are happening much more frequently than they actually are.

I'm no stranger to intense exercise. As a competitive swimmer at a young age, I knew what it meant to push myself to the limit. It wasn't until 2007 when I started CrossFit that I was ever educated about rhabdomyolysis. But I'd much rather be educated than ignorant. Everything in life has risk. And strangely enough, things that are more worthwhile seem to typically involve more risk. Is exercise risky? Of course. But not exercising carries its own set of risks.

As for me, I'll stick with exercise. And for that, CrossFit makes more sense than anything else I've ever seen.

Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret

#26

Post by oostevo »

dkarl wrote: post #11

Rehash from five years ago? Doesn't this guy know that the new scandal is high-rep box jumps? The "dirty secret" of Crossfit is that they don't do much to actively ensure the quality of local affiliates, and therefore the brand doesn't always mean much. My personal experiences have all been great, and my coaches have always been extremely safety-conscious, but in light of the nasty things I read on the internet, I wo…

Not ensuring affiliate quality isn't really a dirty secret. They're pretty open about it.

From conversations I've had with higher-ups at Crossfit Headquarters, they're _terrified_ of a court finding them to have a franchise model, because that would open them up to all sorts of liability each time one of their affiliates does something dumb.

Per their legal interpretation, they become a franchisor if they do things like ensure quality or consistency.

I'm not a lawyer, so I can't comment on the soundness of their legal reasoning, but the negative effects for the clients are pretty obvious.

Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret

#27

Post by domrdy »

Whitespace wrote: post #20

TL;DR: I got rhabdo from crossfit last year. My CPK was 100,000 and I spent 5 days in the hospital. I wasn't overweight but I wasn't fit when I got it, and I got it during the first day of a beginner course. Ask me anything. ============================== I did crossfit for a couple of months in 2010 and loved it, but I had to stop since I moved to a new apartment and the gym times wouldn't work with the longer commu…

I completed the beginners course at two different "boxes" in the last month and this is the first time I hear or read about this condition, so thanks for the write down.

Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret

#29

Post by enraged_camel »

Whitespace wrote: post #20

TL;DR: I got rhabdo from crossfit last year. My CPK was 100,000 and I spent 5 days in the hospital. I wasn't overweight but I wasn't fit when I got it, and I got it during the first day of a beginner course. Ask me anything. ============================== I did crossfit for a couple of months in 2010 and loved it, but I had to stop since I moved to a new apartment and the gym times wouldn't work with the longer commu…

That's scary. Thanks for sharing.

I'm an amateur bodybuilder and I workout alone. Over the years I have contemplated joining Crossfit (mostly for the comradery aspect), but the insane level of cult mentality has made me shy away from it every time. Articles like this just drive home the point.

My friend Jane, who is a physical therapist, specializes in exercise injuries. She once confided in me that local Crossfitters form by far the largest percentage of her repeat customer-base. She said she finds the level of irrationality unbelievable, in that the same people will come to her in a lot of pain and brag about their injury on the one hand, and beg her to fix them up quickly so they can go back to Crossfit ASAP. Then they will come back in a few months with a different injury but the exact same mindset.

Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret

#30

Post by dkarl »

adamnemecek wrote: post #17
dkarl wrote: post #11

Rehash from five years ago? Doesn't this guy know that the new scandal is high-rep box jumps? The "dirty secret" of Crossfit is that they don't do much to actively ensure the quality of local affiliates, and therefore the brand doesn't always mean much. My personal experiences have all been great, and my coaches have always been extremely safety-conscious, but in light of the nasty things I read on the internet, I wo…

Re: Quality assurance, this was on reddit couple days ago http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8up6A4QesU

Yep, that's a pretty nasty example. I guess I got lucky; I originally joined Crossfit for the sole reason of learning the Olympic lifts, because they were the only local gym that had bumper plates. Not only did I get good instruction on the Olympic lifts, but I improved my deadlift and squat PRs considerably in the very first month because of corrections my coach made in my form.

The coaches I've had have often been gung ho, yelling "GO GO GO" and "DON'T STOP WORKING" at us, but they also made me take plates off the bar when my form slipped. I can see how the first thing without the second could be dangerous.

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