CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret

[OakLeaf]

Yeah, I was thinking on my run yesterday, there's nothing in that friend-of-a-friend's rant that doesn't apply to group fitness generally, and it's really why I have no interest in going back to that world even if I do eventually get my shoulders back healthy. Any time something gets big enough for certification to be profitable, they're not going to adequately skills-test the instructors. It takes a TON of skill to watch even a small group and notice and correct subtle form deficiencies. It takes even more skill, never mind the time, to be an evaluator and see whether the instructor candidate is getting all of that. And even if you've got a stellar instructor, you have to have participants who WANT to do the move correctly, which IME is the minority. It all adds up to pretty much a guarantee of people not getting stronger, at best, and getting overuse injuries WAY more often than they should with the supervision they claim to be paying for.

As far as the OSU report, try this link.

[Catrin]

...And even if you've got a stellar instructor, you have to have participants who WANT to do the move correctly, which IME is the minority. It all adds up to pretty much a guarantee of people not getting stronger, at best, and getting overuse injuries WAY more often than they should with the supervision they claim to be paying for.

As far as the OSU report, try this link.

Oak nailed it. It is always interesting to me how some appear to think that all Crossfit instructors/coaches are equally bad and unqualified when that is FAR from the case. There are a range of skills among them just as among any other fitness activity. In my area we have quite a few Crossfit gyms and the coaches range from recently qualified to highly educated/experienced strength and conditioning coaches who teach Crossfit because that is what their people want - the latter strongly insists on proper form and scaling to the individuals skill level and if one in particular feels someone just will not use proper form, especially due to ego, that individual leaves the workout. Just as in other types of fitness, research should be done before joining any fitness facility - they all differ.

While my own strength and conditioning coach uses a lot of the CF methodology, we do not "Crossfit". We do a good number of the Crossfit workouts (a couple of which he changes), but we do so much more than that.

There is a local CF gym that I would love to try out someday but unless my shoulder improves that isn't going to happen. That's ok, and I like my coach and his style of training so much I don't know what I would really move if I could. An indication of his skill is indicated by the fact I've been with him for over a year now and I've no over-use injuries and I am SO good at those...and none can say our workouts aren't intense!

[Crankin]

The classes I go to at my gym are sort of like Catrin's, in that we do a lot of the same things as Crossfit, but it's not the same. However, the one instructor I refer to as evil, well, she is of the more is better variety. The only way I can maintain good form is to use lighter weights, which I do. She questioned me last week on this, and I just gave her a look. She mostly stays away from me, as she knows I have a fitness background.
I find that I need more rest now that I am doing these types of classes, as opposed to when I am just cycling, running, or nordic skiing. There's a good reason for this, I guess!

[Sky King]

My "gym" is quasi crossfit as well and I have no qualms telling the trainer "no". I do worry about people who aren't assertive enough to trust their own bodies.
To give the owner credit he will have us take an entire week and have us use very light weights to focus on form, usually once every 3 months.
The people I worry about are 1. my friends who use CD's and work out at home - no one is watching their form and 2. just heard of new gym in town where they make their own kettle bells using duct tape and sand bags and finally 3. the non trainer who shares their exercises with their friends - again one of my bike buddies is telling me about a kettle bell exercise where you swing the ball up and over your head - yikes.

[luvmyguys]

I do worry about people who aren't assertive enough to trust their own bodies.

Ultimately, that's what it comes down to - with both diet and exercise. Either that, or someone has been conditioned to think that their bodies are always lying to them.

[OakLeaf]

conditioned to think that their bodies are always lying to them.

considering that's like 99% of everyone in the developed world ... between Big Medicine and Big Food, we're told from infancy that our bodies are lying to us. It's a difficult process learning to listen to your body in adulthood, and it has to start with choosing a different way of eating and living BEFORE a person is able to sense how their body is reacting to it. They have to really, really, really, really want to.

[Jolt]

I don't have any stats, but the cases of rhabdo I have seen in the hospital have generally been older people who have fallen, been unable to get up and have been on the floor for a long period (sometimes a few days) without moving. Basically, the muscles in areas they have been lying on have not been getting blood flow and so there is muscle tissue damage from the ischemia. I have also seen milder cases in patients who have had multiple seizures. I'm not sure how the incidence of these kinds of cases compares to that of exertional rhabdo as described in the above articles, but in any case it sounds like there's a problem with the way some people are doing Crossfit.