Not a crossfitter but if they actively warn about the risk of rhabdo and have a cartoon (however poor taste some people may find it) then how is that a 'dirty little secret'?
It isn't, but it makes for great link-bait.
CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
121–130 of 216 posts
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#122This 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, a…
> 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.
The problem is that none of these people work at Crossfit HQ and CFHQ goes out its way to excommunicate them.
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#123Reading about CrossFit makes me a little queasy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CrossFit#Body_weight_exercises. A lot of these things don't seem very good for you. I feel like this stuff is going to come back to bite you in the ass in 20-30 years...
I personally would stick to basic weightlifting. You can get an intense 30-45 minute workout, don't put tons of pressure on your knees, and most importantly the long-term effects are very well-studied.
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#124I have a lot of coworkers that injured themselves doing CrossFit. I don't understand why CrossFit is such a trend in the tech industry. It seems like an easy way to hurt yourself. Simply go to the gym and do your own workout...
Crossfit excels at providing an inviting on-ramp for people who were never into sports. Crossfit gyms tend to have a supportive social environment. There is, or was, a sense of being in on a Big Secret -- secrets are like catnip to brains.
It has also, and this deserves credit, been much better at achieving a healthy gender ratio than most other sports.
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#125TL;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've been training at Crossfit Virtuousity for 5 months, 4 days a week. I think that they have an amazing program that reduces risk of injury as compared to many other non crossfit workouts I have done in the past.
First off they stress mobility, which many workout regimens don't do. I never really realized how important this was until I started crossfit. Most workouts consist of 15-20 minutes solely concentrating on mobility.
Second, no one has mentioned the concept of scaling, which is core to crossfit. Every workout has a scaling option so that you don't push yourself too hard. If you can't do a pullup you do it with a band, can't do that, do a box jump pullup, etc. Yet another way crossfit keeps one from getting injured.
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#126TL;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've been training at Crossfit Virtuousity for 5 months, 4 days a week. I think that they have an amazing program that reduces risk of injury as compared to many other non crossfit workouts I have done in the past. First off they stress mobility, which many workout regimens don't do. I never really realized how important this was until I started crossfit. Most workouts consist of 15-20 minutes solely concentrating on…
> Second, no one has mentioned the concept of scaling, which is core to crossfit.
Good point. I too remember the shock and amazement that washed over the entire training universe when Crossfit invented progressive resistance and skill progressions.
The only thing I can remember that was more impressive was that time Greg Glassman invented gravity. That was incredible.
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
Regarding the reps and high weight. Westside Barbell changes program structure from 3 sets of 5 repetitions into 5 sets of 3 repetitions (or even 8 sets of 2 repetitions) precisely because it allows athlete to control form of exercise. The volume is the same, the breakdown is different. As Westside Barbell is trying to keep traumas low, it is a good example why you should not perform complex lifts in long series.
Can you expand on that? I've been doing 3 * 5. I prefer injury minimization to strength gains. What kind of rest period do these use between sets? And do you have data on rep form decomposition at 5 vs. 3?
Okay, here's the link: http://www.westside-barbell.com/index.php/the-westside-barbe...
The relevant part:
In the squat, what is too heavy to train with and too light to train with? In Russia , much research revealed that 65-82.5% of a 1 rep max is best to build strength in the squat. They suggest 2-6 reps per set.
At Westside Barbell we do sets of 2 for 2 important reasons. One, more than 2 reps tends Cause bicipital tendonitis and shoulder discomfort. This pain is commonly felt while benching but, in fact, comes from squatting. The bar shifts to some degree, causing damage. Having your hands spaced too close on the bar may also be the culprit. Two, in a power meet, we don't do reps so if we do 12 sets of 2 reps we are getting 12 first reps per workout. If you do 4 sets of six reps, then you get only 4 first reps.
This is closest thing I was able to find. The site was reorganized after I visited it last time and many PDF articles are in HTML format.
I highly recommend Westside Barbell, because it operates using principles, not the hardwired percentages and prescribed exercises. You can build your own conjugate system, for your goals or abilities. I did.
I also recommend another system, also seen here in HN, Hypertrophy-Specific Training: http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html
HST also incorporates strategic deconditioning and high-rep phase to lower trauma rate.
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think there's much evidence to demonstrate that high-rep olympic lifts done by a trained person are any more dangerous then low-rep lifts at high weight. Yes, if you don't have good technique you're asking for trouble, but that's not what we're talking about here. I don't think form breaks down after a few reps nearly as much as you say. There's probably a point at which it will, but there's a lot of room for…
> Hogwash. Each person is responsible for their own actions. I have observed that hazing exists, including among adults. People die in hazing events, or are subjected to physical harm, coerced sexual activity, and emotionally abusive behaviors. As you say, "Each person is responsible for their own actions." Using only that logic as a guide, then everyone who dies in a hazing event - in those cases where it's voluntar…
When did we jump from encouraging someone to improve themselves to hazing? This had got to be one of the biggest straw men I've ever seen.
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are people that would encourage others to do street racing, take dangerous drugs and light their farts for youtube video. And there always will be idiots who do it. That can happen in a gym setting too. So what? There are dumb people. Try not to be one of them. I think this message is universal and doesn't have anything to do with CF. What is the message that has something to do with it?
I wholly agree with you that dumb people exist in every sport/field/hobby/interest, but I think the comparison is unfair. Obtaining fitness is generally a universal goal, whereas obtaining skill/popularity/fame in street racing fringe to begin with. To me, the issue that many people seem to have with CF is that it's "unsafe" for most people despite it being marketed as such. And this being due to the irregular qualit…
It is no more unsafe than any other strenuous exercise program or any other activity that involves exerting oneself seriously. As for quality, of course quality varies - no HQ can ever ensure every coach is good and of course following one specific methodology by itself does not make the coach good. In fact, I was always told (not in CF but in other training context) many times that choosing good teacher is more important than choosing style/methodology - styles have their merits and demerits, but you can only appreciate them if your teacher is good.
So if the point is that you need to approach CF carefully with an eye for a good teacher - this is absolutely true.
>>> Personally, I think if you're lifting some multiple of your BW in any capacity
Hopefully, one day :) So far I don't think I have reached 2x of my BW in any exercise. But I'm working on it, let's see what comes of it in a couple of years :)
Re: CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think there's much evidence to demonstrate that high-rep olympic lifts done by a trained person are any more dangerous then low-rep lifts at high weight. Yes, if you don't have good technique you're asking for trouble, but that's not what we're talking about here. I don't think form breaks down after a few reps nearly as much as you say. There's probably a point at which it will, but there's a lot of room for…
>I don't think form breaks down after a few reps nearly as much as you say. Then you don't know much about training the Olympic lifts or power movements in general. Take a look at this graph -- http://i.imgur.com/vFP0D58.png -- from Practical Programming for Strength Training (Rippetoe, Kilgore, & Pendlay, pg. 131). "Figure 5-3. Electromyogram (EMG) and force production tracings from a high-rep set. Note that the mus…
I actually own that book and have read the whole thing...most of it more than once. I'm not saying that motor control doesn't go down. I'm saying that it doesn't go down enough to make it dangerous at the lighter weights. I have been doing high and low rep Olympic lifts since 2007. The only injury I ever got was on a 1RM clean and jerk. That might have been technique related, but it's probably more related to me having a history of previous injury which happened before I ever heard about CrossFit.