Have we talked about CrossFit?

[diablita]

yeah, those videos are pretty ridiculous.

All I will say about CrossFit is this:
One year ago today I had cancer.
Now I can deadlift 105#, benchpress 85# with the arm I couldn't bare any weight on for 6 months.
And the last 2 races I ran (first two since starting CrossFit) I got AG awards without much training and I've never come close to that before.

I'm not much of a Kool-Aid drinker (nor a Paleo eater) but I'm seeing real results.

[OakDawg]

yeah, those videos are pretty ridiculous.

All I will say about CrossFit is this:
One year ago today I had cancer.
Now I can deadlift 105#, benchpress 85# with the arm I couldn't bare any weight on for 6 months.
And the last 2 races I ran (first two since starting CrossFit) I got AG awards without much training and I've never come close to that before.

I'm not much of a Kool-Aid drinker (nor a Paleo eater) but I'm seeing real results.

Everyone knows that cancer makes you a better athlete, just ask Lance.   

Kidding aside, I know a few people that have had great results with CrossFit.  It can be very effective.  However, if my own experience is a representative sample, 67% of all those who have success with it are complete douchebags when talking about exercise.   

[diablita]

Everyone knows that cancer makes you a better athlete, just ask Lance.   

Kidding aside, I know a few people that have had great results with CrossFit.  It can be very effective. However, if my own experience is a representative sample, 67% of all those who have success with it are complete douchebags when talking about exercise.  

  I've seen this, though not at our box.  And there were plenty of these types at the Bally's gym I worked at/worked out at years ago too.  I think some boxes are magnets for the type.

[RandMart]

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/25/the-workout-a-woman-in-nascar/

[diablita]

she's pretty awesome!

[radial]

she's pretty awesome!

!

[RandMart]

she's pretty awesome!

yep, she'll straighten out yer pistol



But ... she's kinda taken



NTTAWWT

[wherestheportojohn]

She is totally swoon worthy.

[BobM59]

That's a good looking couple right there.  I bet they are freaking obnoxious about their snatches, though.

[diablita]

can you blame them?

[Ribs]

That's a good looking couple right there.  I bet they are freaking obnoxious about their snatches, though.

 


but..um...wow.

[RandMart]

http://thesassysage.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-crossfitter-in-non-crossfitters-body.html

[merigayle]

http://thesassysage.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-crossfitter-in-non-crossfitters-body.html

she has nothing to complain about about her body, but i like her point overall.

[RandMart]

http://games.crossfit.com/article/whats-new-2014

Really? Doping in CrossFit???

New Drug Testing Program

In 2014, CrossFit will expand out-of-competition (unannounced) drug testing. This means that any registered CrossFit competitor can be tested at any time during the year for any reason. 

http://media.crossfit.com/games/pdf/2014CrossFitGames_DrugTestingProgram_140104.pdf

Wow

[iwuzwilson]

A little late to this discussion here, and to tell the truth I haven't given crossfit much thought (didn't even know what it was until last spring or so). I've done a modification of that once or twice a week with the xc skier/runner kids. Usually in the spring, but it's not nearly so intense. We do sets of pull ups, sit ups, dips, crunches, etc mixed in with a little bit of running. We've done this on the indoor track so it's 30 sec arm/30 sec torso, then you jog 100 meters and do another double. So this is more aerobic and we'll go 30 or 35 minutes. Do these early in the track season, maybe 3-4 times a year.

My opinion on cross fit is that it's probably well and good for getting in shape, and quickly but is it sustainable? And over time, you take a pool of people and have some build to an hour or so running a day (with a mix of training as they get more fit), and the other just does cross fit. In 6 weeks, the crossfitters might outperform the runners (maybe not), but in a year the runners (while probably not as buff) will likely be faster/better at running. Training is specific. So do you want to train to be a crossfitter or a runner (or a cyclist, swimmer, xc skier...). 

Here's a good blog piece on Crossfit by Steve Magnus, University of Houston cross country coach/physiologist, and one of the top all time US high school milers (4:01 back about 10 or 12 years ago). http://www.scienceofrunning.com/2012/01/crossfit-endurance-tabata-sprints-and.html

It's really long so here's his conclusion:
 
If we simply put crossfit endurance through the same kind of review we have:
Research- short term studies on high intensity training shows improved VO2max and in some cases performance, but we have looked at why those don’t apply neatly already.  No research on crossfit endurance in particular
Theory- It goes against all known scientific theory for how endurance performance should be improved and how it actually happens.
Practice- No good runners do it.  We know from history what happens and what kind of performance you get even if you do a lot of high intensity work with very little volume.
And lastly, it doesn’t help that they subscribe to every fad from diet to pose method of running that there is.

[Cool Foot Luke]

There's a lot of good stuff in there. This line struck me early on:

Additionally, they really go after this hard work/pain = improvement and results idea.  This is also known as the Rocky effect.  But if you’ve been in the coaching business long enough you know that hard stupid work doesn’t get you anywhere.  You can’t just do work that is painful just because it hurts and expect to get better.

I see this mentality again and again, and it drives me nuts. To expand a bit, I am skeptical of the training value of trail running as a workout, simply because in most parts of the country, trails only exist where the terrain is too steep to allow other forms of human development. Slogging up some 25% grade hill just seems to have no relevance for races that people might actually do. Similarly, many of my buddies are always looking to add some enormous hill to their cycling route (for example over 1000, or even 2000 feet of climbing, with some stretches at 10% grade). Other than building leg strength (which many people may not lack anyway), what exactly is the training benefit, unless you are going to race on similarly-sized hills? Hitting yourself on the head with a hammer is also not fun; that doesn't mean it's good training.

On a similar note, and this applies to Tough Mudder events as well, what makes optimizing for a marathon, or 800, or 5K so difficult is precisely that the event itelf is so predictable. Your training is designed to figure out exactly at which point each system is about to break down, and push it further, so you're always at the edge of your athletic ability. The randomness - not knowing what workout is next or having a different set of obstacles for each race - means that you can't possible push yourself to that point. Writing as a relatively good marathon runner, the fact that I have such a disproportionately fast marathon compared with other distances means that marathon pace itself is extremely difficult for me, much more difficult than it would be for someone with a relatively weak marathon.

Last, I've always taken issue with how crossfit defines generalization and specialization. In most of the pro-crossfit comments after the article, the commenter cites deadlift and clean jerk. Well, that's two things. For most of life's activities, running is actually excellent training. If I can't move a piece of furniture on my own, it's not because I don't do crossfit. Running fitness is the reason that I'm always the strongest backpacker on any trip I've taken, why I can manage to be useful in soccer and frisbee games despite having very little coordination, and why on my first ride with some dedicated recreational cyclists a couple of months ago, I had zero trouble keeping up.

[RandMart]

http://deadliftdungeon.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/the-conversation-that-has-to-be-had-about-crossfit/

[merigayle]

that is so sad. I thought about that in the brief time i was at the Crossfit place. They are always like, throw it down, but what if down had you under it? I am actually surprised that it is not more common.

[RandMart]

From another forum

Actually he bailed correctly, what happened (and you can see it in the video) is that the bar landed on those stacks of plates behind him and bounced back to hit him in the back as he fell. A tragedy for sure, but completely avoidable if his platform had been clean. Whe you lift you must always be aware of what is around you on all sides. 

Now, there are Zapruder-like frame-by-frame analyses going back & forth as to whether or not the bar fell straight onto his back or bounced into it

Crossfit Athlete Kevin Ogar severs Spine.

To my eyes, if you follow the weights on the bar, they go straight down, there's no bounce back up that I could see; nor any deflection in their path, other than what was caused by hitting him in the back. It also looks like the bar is rolling away as he lays down after being struck

Either way, I feel badly for the guy, and hope that he can have some semblance of an active life again someday

[caito]

http://deadliftdungeon.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/the-conversation-that-has-to-be-had-about-crossfit/

This article makes an excellent point about programming in weight lifting -- how proper programming increases performance as well as safety.