Crossfit Koolaid

[Mark E. Hurling]

Not sure if this really applies, but Eric Hoffer's book the True Believer is probably the best book on mass movements and the folks attracted to them I am aware of. Hoffer was talking about Nazis and I find it particularly applicable to the current round of militant knuckleheads. It is a short read, but explains a lot about the sometimes delusional behavior stemming from groups.

Thank you for reminding me of Hoffer and perhaps introducing a lot of others to this really profound thinker. I read that book in high school in 1965. Even then it was considered somewhat iconoclastic as the bare beginnings of the crumbling of the culturally and politically monolithic post WWII era were underway. It is well worth a read because in so many ways it was sadly predictive of the place the US has arrived at today.

[AriSuper]

My perspective is that crossshit is feeding the public what they want and desire, abs a defined good looking body a sense of - I'm an athlete because
I sweat a lot, have expensive gear and compete in kipping pullupps - and more importantly they are telling them that all their top dogs did it using nothing but crosshit and they did it fast.

[Denny347]

Well, this is my first post here, first time I can contribute I guess. I am an instructor at my PD's affiliate. Been so for about 3 years, have been CrossFitting for about 4. I starting "CrossFitting" because my gym routine was deathly boring...running and bench. Quite frankly, for 10 years prior I was "working out" and had little I idea what I was doing. I love many of the Mainsite WODs and like doing them with my coworkers, wife, mom, in-laws. However, I have found that I NEED something more than just WODs. I really like barbell work. Before CrossFit the only time I picked up a bar was for bench. I NEVER deadlifted, squated, pressed, snatched, cleaned, in my life. I really love them and decided they will be my focus. After reading SS I have decided that getting stronger will be my focus. I still lift in my CF gym since it is free and they have all I need but I have evolved PAST CrossFit. For my fellow LEO's, fire, EMS, and family, sticking with CF for their workouts is more than enough for "general" fitness. However, CF has their share of idiot instructors that come up with the dumbest WODs. I have even questioned some Mainsite WODs. At first, I thought it was the ONLY good way to exercise, but with time and knowledge I realized that there are many ways to the same end. However, CrossFit has introduced me to barbell lifts and without it I doubt I would ever have tried them.

[barbellbrad]

Does anyone want to attempt to play devils advocate with CrossFit?

First, a note: My personal view towards CrossFit is a neutral one. I'm not advocating CrossFit here, just submitting the opposite point of view. The Koolaid factor is creepy.


A CrossFit coach would want you to view your training under the model of the 10 general physical skills: Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, Stamina, Strength, Flexibility, Power, Speed, Coordination, Agility, Balance, and Accuracy.

CrossFit defines fitness by seeking a balance in these 10 areas instead of an excess in some areas and a deficit in others. In comparing two athletes, both who have a 500 lb squat, but one has a lack of capacity in running a mile. The athlete who can run and squat is the 'fitter' athlete. The goal of CrossFit is GPP or having work capacity across a broad range of loads, times, and exercises.

[Kyle Schuant]

The problems, barbellbrad, are that the categories are mostly bullshit, and in any case most people are only interested in 1-2 of those areas.

Has there ever been a person who had great speed but terrible strength? Great agility but terrible balance? Who was co-ordinated but not agile? Who had good cardiovascular endurance but poor stamina? And so on. The qualities are related to each-other, so much so that really it's more sensible to think of simply strength, mobility and endurance.

Not everyone needs to work on all of the qualities. Most of us need enough flexibility to get into our sports or training postures. Can I touch my toes? Nope. Do I need to? Can the marathon runner from squat their bodyweight? Nope. Do they need to? Can the judo player run 5km without stopping? Does he need to? And so on. Most people are interested in just 1-2 of those 10 areas, or just 1 of the 3 I suggested.

If you have real goals then you'll focus on those 1-2 areas. If you have no goals, you'll be happy to try everything at once. Crossfit suits people with no real goals. Thus, "exercise, not training." Exercise with no goals can be had at the local gym for $40-$100 a month, there's no need to pay $300 a month it.

[somedude]

Does anyone want to attempt to play devils advocate with CrossFit?

The two things I like about CrossFit is that it has re-popularized several methods of exercise that were long dead and that it has made it socially acceptable for women to train strength with barbells.

Beyond that I'm pretty indifferent towards it.

[ecj]

For what it's worth, I used to work for a charity marathon program that I will not name. There was a core group of runners who had been participating in the program every year for 5-10 years. They were a really insular group, super motivated to run and really dedicated to the training. They were all about the big challenge of running marathons, and most of them were trying to do 1-2 a year or more. They were all extremely welcoming, nice people, and would all go to breakfast after the weekend training runs, get together throughout the week, support each other at every race, etc.

The funny thing is, very few of them were actually at all fast at marathoning, despite their efforts. They lived and breathed the whole high-carb/high-volume Runner's World philosophy, but, as I realized as I watched them, that philosophy doesn't really work for people that aren't of a very particular genetic type. Most of them struggled with repetitive injuries, but kept running because it gave them a sense of purpose and community.

I'm still friends with a number of them on Facebook, and the younger members of the crew are all now taking up Crossfit and posting pictures of themselves WODing at their boxes. The language about the hardcore challenge is pretty much exactly the same as it was when they were marathoning, and will probably be the same in whatever they get into next.

I'm not sure if these folks are primarily motivated by the comradery, the masochistic need to feel beaten down, the promise of the program to transform them, or the perception of achievement, or some mixture of all of it, but it did answer a lot of questions for me about why everyone was digging Crossfit when I started to see the cultures cross-pollenate.

[George Cook]

From the reference to Jim Jones' cult in Guyana, to a reference to Scientology, and finally to Nazi's I am only left to wonder to what or to whom will it be compared next- progressives?

I started CF nearly 9 months ago and I have benefited from it and I think it is a very good exercise program. Like others have posted, it was through CF that I discovered Starting Strength and started barbell training. And like others posted, I noticed it helps you get stronger but it is not a strength program. It helps you develop better endurance, but it's not really a cardio program, etc.

One thing I did notice is the top athletes in my box, and the ones who compete at the games, follow some sort of defined strength and conditioning program outside of the WODs.

Since I started SSBT in January, I noticed the exercises in the WODs are easier to perform. I think a good strength program and CF are great complements. If I had daily access to a pool, I would not bother with CF and just swim and do strength training.

Below are a few links from the founder talking about CF:

[afatgoat]

I'm fortunate to be employed in a job that includes paid physical fitness. We have a physical fitness standard that isn't particularly difficult to meet by someone who is half assed active or even someone who can dig deep for a duration, but may be more challenging to people with bad knees/backs or unused to hiking hills with gear. On a crew of 20 we have a pretty diverse athletic range including national rugby players, collegiate athletes and students, a few powerlifters pulling/pushing 500-650 and even the odd fresh out of highschool boyman. Crossfit style activities offer our group a similar representative of the mindless high energy required by the job in a time friendly format, at weights less likely to cause a debilitating workplace injury. We don't have personal trainers and no one gets paid to come up with a 20 person fitness plan. It's convenient to grab a wotd once in a while and it provides conditioning more relavent to the job. But lets all call it what it is, conditioning, not strength training. It's not the koolaid, but it's a helpful tool.

[tertius]

It's really not that complicated, and Rip has mostly pointed out the roots of the issue.

The things about it that I think is really interesting and terrible is what things like Xfit and Scientology say about our society. It's fucked up that people feel so disconnected from their own bodies, from each other, from the world generally, that they will glom onto something that makes them feel connected to those things. No matter how irrational it might be, no matter if it ends up hurting them.

People who aren't so desperate to connect (or who just aren't "joiners") figure out that CrossFit is pointless relatively quickly, and move on. Some folks it takes a little longer to wake up, maybe not until they're meth-head skinny and getting hurt. There's a small percentage of real athletes who like the challenges and the camaraderie... and kicking the asses of the true believers, because the real athletes don't actually do CrossFit as training.

But Glassman realized at some point that his clientele was a huge pool of lonely, sedentary people, and he could exploit them something awful if he played his cards right. Same as L. Ron Hubbard did, but with thrusters and mythical 700lb deadlifts instead of Thetans and Space DC10s.

Crossfit isn't as predatory as Scientology, and hasn't ruined nearly as many lives, but they're definitely cousins.

I mean, I'm not the happiest guy by any stretch of the imagination, but I marvel at the terrible internal condition of the people who end up joining cults, and the popularity of Xfit points at deep flaws in our society, if you ask me.