Off Topic Thoughts on Crossfit?

[GymSurvivor]

Alright, I am simply looking for anyone and everyone's thoughts on crossfit. This is just out of pure curiosity.
Have you heard things about it, tried it yourself, had a friend try it?

Particularly what do coaches think about it? Though anyone is welcome to share their input!

 

[Somekiwichic]

I know a few people who do it and it sounds pretty full on. I think it's good as long as good form is kept though, otherwise I think the risk for injury is quite high.

Looks interesting though, I know here in NZ there's competitions and stuff which I think is cool.

 

[txgymfan]

One of the Dads that sometimes posts on CB does Crossfit and sometimes his gymnast daughter joins him.

 

[raenndrops]

As long as you have a great coach, CrossFit can be awesome. I graduated high school with a guy who went on to college and then got involved with the US olympic Bobsled and skeleton Program (trainer). When he got tired of that, he discovered CrossFit. He loves it. He is a trainer. His trainees all sing his praises - and he is ALL ABOUT FORM!!! He has moved a couple times for his wife's job (started in SoCal to Colorado to NorCal) and has found a "home" quickly with both moves.

 

[kecks]

if you have a great coach who has experience with competitve olympic weightlifting, sprinting, gymnastics and the like crossfit can be really, really awesome both as a competitive sport and a fitness program. it can also be very, very dangerous when done wrong. always remember you only need their weekend cert (1000 dollars...) to open a "box" and be a "coach"...

 

[GymSurvivor]

Interesting replies. I wasn't aware of the limited requirements to become a trainer.

 

[purpleleomom]

I did it for a few weeks. I was very much out of shape, and I hated it. I know it's supposed to be for all fitness levels, but I'm just not a fan of the exercise till you drop style. It also could've been the box I went to though. I would consider it again once I'm in better shape, but I would shop around.

 

[Invisible Duck]

I do crossfit. I really enjoy it and am going to regionals to compete next week.
I go to a very well respected gym with great coaches. They are very form and technique conscious. Form comes before weight. If you can't lift something with proper form you're told to reduce the weight. We have several "expert coaches" from weight lifting and gymnastics backgrounds too. I can definitely see how easy it would be to get hurt if the coaches did not have safety and form as a priority, however I think it also comes down to the individual and knowing when to stop or cut back and to not do anything stupid.
I occasionally do CF inspired strength programs for the kids I coach.

 

[purpleleomom]

I think that was my problem - iffy coaching. I remember being told to do a barbell back squat with no rack or spot, and the weight they gave me was too heavy. I almost fell over and hurt something trying to steady myself. I've been afraid to squat with a barbell since.

 

[BlairBob]

^^^ You don't need a squat cage or a spotter to do a Back Squat. Hopefully you at least had a standing rack or that would be hecka sketchy. Really all you need besides a bar (and weights) and a rack or cage is a knowledgeable coach who knows how to teach the movement and what is the proper weight to put on the bar for the client (which takes experience).

Fun fact: There are a score of ex L10 collegiate gymnasts who have placed very well in the CrossFitGames in past years. Annie Thorrisdottir was a gymnast (not high level, compulsory-ish) and polevaulter before CF and has won twice now. And now we are seeing a lot of CrossFitters cross into Weightlifting and doing very well at Nationals or the American Open.

Most Personal Training certifications are done through a written test or a weekend workshop. There are some others that take a lot more time but the general PT certs don't take a lot of time.

Ok, back to my thoughts on CF. Back in 2005 this happened at my gym.
http://journal.crossfit.com/2005/09/everymans-gymnastics-the-semin.tpl

Obviously, I was training with Roger at the time and so I actually ended up coaching at this one and we also did one more for CFHQ. Many of the big names at the time were there such as the Founder and the coaches that were frequently on the website everyday. 2007 starts and Roger creates his affiliate, the first in Marin and runs it out of the gym (they are there no longer). So I started playing around there or visiting or going to this or that CF gym or my buddies gyms (free drop-in often in trade for gymnastics/WL help).

I've got scores of friends on FB that I know through CF. It can be very hit and miss. I cringe sometimes at the poor Weightlifting technique when it gets sloppy because of the exertion factor or just crappy technique in the Olympic Lifts. Sometimes the weights aren't scaled right. Sometimes this is because clients don't listen or the coaches don't have the experience to know what is the appropriate weight on the bar or scaling progression or just push too hard or don't know how to rein back clients when they should.

If you do any research, you'll hear a lot of heated debate on the kipping pullup and headstand pushup or the use of the olympic lifts for high volume. Sometimes the crossfitters just don't have a good enough handle of the Olympic lifts so they just turn into a real pile of junk when you add exertion from throwing them together under metabolic stress or fatigue. Sometimes they push on and sometimes they don't have any sense themselves (especially if they train on their own).

Some of you may have heard of Justin Howell. He's the coach of the girls at Cal. He was coaching at Airborne down in San Jose and they happened to start a CF gym in their gym. So he got involved with it, having his girls do the conditioning.

Right as he got hired on at Cal, I asked him where he stood on it and he said he enjoyed learning about some of the elements but there was a lot of stuff he wasn't as interested in anymore. Developing strength, yes. Using a stop watch or circuits for conditioning, yes.

There are some other gyms that often have CF gyms share space in their gym or their gymnastics coaches train CF on the side (a lot of CF trainers are former gymnasts or current/former coaches). They also tend to walk into CF with way more experience and a coaching eye than many CF coaches who tend to learn as they go (unless they have a training background). I know Byer's sends their kids to a local coach and some do WL in the off-season.

It's fun ( some, most or none of the time depending ) and there are people to bond and train with. And sometimes they have hot fit bodies. Personally, it brought me back to Weightlifting though I don't really do CF anymore unless I let myself get suckered into a WOD at a friend's gym or a buddy asks me to. I do need to get around to doing more conditioning as I had been focusing on pure WL with maybe one conditioning day a week. I do have some plans to possibly compete in CF again because volunteer judging is giving me the bug to want to compete...and hot babes.

I've yet to ever go for a L1 though I've thought about it a few times when I was thinking of starting an affiliate or starting a WL club at an affiliate and to make some more money on the side. I won't do it unless I stand to profit from it and a lot of time it just hasn't fit in with my budget or time constraints with coaching.

From a gymnastics coach perspective, I don't really want to be seeing my competitive kids doing it without modification. Some of it can be used for their benefit but TBH, many kids do need to be focusing on good S&C programming vs random programming for what I call ADD Fitness.

I don't see the point of risking a gymnast toward missing a clean and spraining or mangling their wrist or tearing something in their elbow or shoulder with a snatch but I do see the possible benefits of havin them do snatch or clean pulls. Nothing wrong with using the squat, press (or bench or push press/jerk) or deadlift for developing strength and power. I'm not a huge fan of of the kipping anything for a gymnast.

Oh, so I guess I've done plenty of CF though I tend to suck at it these days as I need to cut weight and haven't focused on my conditioning level in 2+ years so I just muddle along and hack and wheeze after. I have friends who are in CF that do CF but most of my friends who were not in CF have pretty much hated trying it, lol. Then again, many of them are soft and fat.

 

[purpleleomom]

No, but it sure would've felt safer at that point in time.

 

[wallinbl]

I did it for a month on a trial/deal. It was actually a lot of fun, and I would have continued if not for the cost. I'm sure it varies from place to place, but there was high emphasis on form, and on learning the lifts using PVC or just the barbell before moving on to weights. Every workout was scalable up and down for different levels of strength/fitness. I also found out that I wasn't working very hard when going to the gym on my own - CrossFit kicked my ***!

 

[Aero]

I hate kipped pull ups. Soooooooooooo dumb.

 

[tuckfull]

I do Crossfit! I joined when an affiliate opened up locally a few years ago and found I loved it. And now that I've learned more about Crossfit in general, I feel really lucky that the trainers I work with are so knowledgable. They always emphasize proper form, before weight or speed (during the timed WODs). They are also excellent at modifying and scaling anything for any level. There are people of all ages and fitness levels at my gym and its inspiring to see people make progress. Although, I still can't do a pull-up without a band, kipping or otherwise! LOL.

My kids also take the Crossfit Kids classes sometimes and DD breezes through them since she does much of the same stuff for gymnastics conditioning (box jumps, burpees, air squats, push ups, V-ups, hollow rocks, sprints...). The teens start to do more with weights but for the younger kids, no.

Anyway, I think Crossfit is great but just know that not all Crossfit gyms are created equal!

 

[GymSurvivor]

So I'm also doing a month trial of it just to see how I like it. I will be stopping gymnastics at the end of May and want something else to keep me in shape and busy.

I do think the crossfit gym I go to is a pretty good gym. It has a wonderful reputation and the coaches all seem very knowledgeable. (Though I'm more fond of some than others, as with most things)
In gymnastics my coaches are very lazy with condition. Form is not emphasized and it's just a number thrown out usually and you better hurry if you want to keep up for the next thing so often form is very much overlooked.
So I've found that 1. Crossfit is kicking my butt, I'm often very sore! 2. Form IS important

I did however find a few things interesting, first the kipping pull-ups. I can whip those out because I can do the swing and if you do the swing it almost launches you up. The trainers were very surprised that I could do kipping pull ups but not the pushups. (Though the pull-ups I could only do that many due to the swing) Which brings me to my second surprise. The way they ONLY allow push-ups with elbows in. I can whip out 'regular' push-ups but the elbows in kills me.

Anyway, I think I'll continue the month at least for now and maybe longer as they have a really good student rate and I think I could really gain some strength from this!
Thanks for all the input so far!

 

[kecks]

if you are interested in keeping your shoulders healthy and are at the moment not able to do at least (!) five nice and controlled strict pullups - do no kipping ones. all the passive structures in your shoulders say thank you .

 

[GymSurvivor]

Thanks for the heads up!! I'll make sure I can do those before I start the kipping ones again!

 

[BlairBob]

Elbows in requires stronger triceps.

Ehh, I'm not a hater on the kipping pullups but that's because I love doing Butterfly kipping pullups. I find it fun. But it's not like I don't have the basic pullup strength. Even fat and I can do legless rope climbs though they hurt my hands.

 

[MMG2006]

So funny, I had signed dd up to take a CF sample class for tomorrow,( she really wants to try it as we have family members who do it) not realizing it was the day before her state meet....she really wants to go but the jury is still out lol.... The trainers there said that if she is a gymnast she will not be sore from the general CF workout, but idk :/ and I didn't get a chance to ask her gymnastics coach ( she probably would've said skip it if I had to guess lol ) she is only a level two training three days a week for what that's worth....I have done it myself and been extremely sore after but I am a lot older and less fit than dd !!!

 

[MMG2006]

More info, it is a general class for 6-12 year olds to get a feel for "working out" which dd is no stranger to, given the conditioning she does at gymnastics is probably much more than what they would push an average kid to do... My concern is that they/ her will want to push it a little...( she loves being challenged) so I think we will hold off.... Would hate for her to have sore hamstrings from too many dead lifts on the day of states lol ! WWYD?