Crossfit Koolaid

[Adam Skillin]

What are you talking about? A 500lbs raw squat is pretty damn competitive in a 165/181lbs weight classes.

Yeah, but it's sort of hard to posit a 165-lb. guy in good enough shape to squat 500 (raw or otherwise) who's unable to run a mile without stopping.

[xagent]

So then question. Take aside coaching and any CF politics. Take out kipping and some other stupid exercises. Main problem with Crossfit is it's lack of programming. It's all about the silly randomness or muscle confusion. No rest periods planned. There is no thought given to weight being used, progression on the weights, and the simple fact they aren't done often enough. There shouldn't be a workout of the day you find out upon arriving on the chalkboard. it shoudl've been planned for with exact weights down to the 2.5lb level known in advance.

So why then, or how, can any Crossfit box be good? Rip, why were you at one point a CF-affiliated gym and coach? Were your WODs in reality your regular coaching, and you just got the CF-affiliation for the name recognition?

I'm asking becuase yes, you were at one point CF affiliated, and I've seen people on here saying it varies from gym to gym and that some gyms are better and have good coaches. But as I said, lets say you have the best coaches to teach form correctly. The entire randomness and WOD format itself isn't smart.

[Mark Rippetoe]

My split with CrossFit was, among several other things, motivated by the growing unworkability of their programming. When I got involved in 2006, they at least seemed open to suggestion. But Glassman publicly disagreed with 80% of the material his SMEs presented, for no particularly informed reason, and I declined to continue functioning in such a situation.

[bjbrookz]

My split with CrossFit was, among several other things, motivated by the growing unworkability of their programming. When I got involved in 2006, they at least seemed open to suggestion. But Glassman publicly disagreed with 80% of the material his SMEs presented, for no particularly informed reason, and I declined to continue functioning in such a situation.

Thanks for sharing the background on the split. Was curious about what was behind it, but wasn't never really thought it was appropriate to ask. I realize there are some SS cert'ed coaches working at CF affiliates and you have held SSS at CF affiliates. That said would you ever consider endorsing a CF affiliate as an SS gym also?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Thanks for sharing the background on the split. Was curious about what was behind it, but wasn't never really thought it was appropriate to ask. I realize there are some SS cert'ed coaches working at CF affiliates and you have held SSS at CF affiliates. That said would you ever consider endorsing a CF affiliate as an SS gym also?

We already have.

[xagent]

My split with CrossFit was, among several other things, motivated by the growing unworkability of their programming. When I got involved in 2006, they at least seemed open to suggestion. But Glassman publicly disagreed with 80% of the material his SMEs presented, for no particularly informed reason, and I declined to continue functioning in such a situation.

So out of curiosity when you were SS-affiliated, what kind of WODs or Crossfit stuff did you even offer? What would you have liked to see it offer for programming? The entire Crossfit philosophy and WOD-format seems antithetical to your training methodology.

Can't imagine it having been more than a basic conditioning class to complement people already training in your gym. I just don't see the point of people who do Crossfit. By that I mean only use Crossfit. Use it couple of times or once a week to keep up basic conditioning levels, sure. And get rid of half their exercise choices and high-rep Oly lifts. But then you might as well buy a Prowler/sled for the cost of 1 month of a membership, or even better replace it with something free: sprinting hills, moving furniture, playing sports.

who was it that said Crossfit can be replace by 1 piece of equipment, the Prowler? I think it was either you or Wendler or someone....

[Mark Rippetoe]

I said that. We didn't have a prowler at the time, so we did modified versions of the WODs. Anything I say about CrossFit is from experience with CrossFit. We tried it, modifying what we could and making the strength workouts try to make sense from a training standpoint. What ended up happening was that everybody who started out strong got weaker, including me.

[Kyle Schuant]

I think what needs to be emphasised is that sometimes something new comes along, and you just have to try it to see how it goes. That applies to experienced coaches, too. And sometimes it's only when you look back you say, "well of course that didn't work..."

I emphasise this because in this day of the internet when what you say gets recycled for years, people often expect that an experienced coach will have the same experience and ideas today as they did in 2002, or whenever. Dan John mentions this in an interview somewhere, "people ask me, but in this article you said... That was ten years ago! Where were you ten years ago? I changed my mind! Have you changed your mind on anything from ten years ago? I hope so!"

[Mark Rippetoe]

Dan and I had this same conversation. We try everything, so we'll know.

[Rob Waskis]

the material his SMEs presented

More curiosity - who were his other SMEs at the time?