“Don’t like something?  Change it”

16 Comments:

• Could suck it up enough to get through this one, even at 55#. The good news is that I got into a good rhythm with the snatches and really improve my form/ROM.

  2 Rounds + 46 Reps at 20 minutes

  – Lerronious on December 19th, 2011 at 5:15 pm

• I am a runner, and I know some runners that decided to try Crossfit as a way of cross training.  These were not weekend joggers, but people that run half marathons and marathons.  Most quickly decided the Crossfit program’s workouts were too extreme for them.  The WODs were making them too sore to do their best running.  So they decided to go back to working with a personal trainer.

  A few other runners decided to stick with Crossfit and see if they could get used to the workouts to the point they were not feeling so sore.  Unfortunately, both got injured doing Crossfit WOD, and as a result, were not able to compete in some races they really wanted to run.  After that, they also decided that doing Crossfit was counterproductive to their running goals.

  – Rachel on December 19th, 2011 at 8:04 pm

• Rachel,
  The mistake that most endurance athletes, aka LSD (long, slow, distance) addicts, make when they start CrossFit is that they don’t reduce their training volume.  Of course you’re going to get injured and beat up if you insist on putting in, say 20+ miles a week AND add 3 high intensity CrossFit workouts in to the mix.  Additionally, their workouts should have been heavily scaled.  But anytime you are introducing a new protocol such as CrossFit, you are likely to get sore. 

  There’s only so much that a person can do.  Check out CrossFit Endurance, learn from the experts, implement their program, and THEN complain about CrossFit being too hard and counter productive to your goals.  We have numerous athletes who have changed their training to include CrossFit, and have set running PRs, including a sub 3 marathon.  If you refuse to alter your training regimen, then there’s no room for complaint.

  – amy on December 19th, 2011 at 9:52 pm

• Well, Crossfit will NEVER be part of my training! 

  I decided that when I saw what I did to my friends that tried it.  They were cutting back on their running time to accomodate the Crossfit classes.  But those workouts made them extremely sore for days after they did them, and then when the did run, they were too sore to do anything close to their normal speed or leangth of run. 

  BTW, have you read this article about Crossfit that was in the NY Times—“Getting Fit, Even If It Kills You”?  It has a lot of good information about why Crossfit is so dangerous.

  http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/fashion/thursdaystyles/22Fitness.html?pagewanted=all

   

  – Rachel on December 19th, 2011 at 10:26 pm

• Troll Rachel, until you come to CrossFit Blacksburg to experience a workout and our coaching, you’re ignorant to our training and coaching.  A great coach once said, “Those convinced against their will are of the same opinion still.”  You can spout venom as much as you want, yet quoting an article that’s six years old certainly shows your intellectual prowess.  Troll on.

  – amy on December 19th, 2011 at 10:41 pm

• Are you also calling the New York Times a troll?

  This is quoted directly from their article:

  Mr. Glassman, CrossFit’s founder, does not discount his regimen’s risks, even to those who are in shape and take the time to warm up their bodies before a session.

  “It can kill you,” he said. “I’ve always been completely honest about that.”

  But CrossFitters revel in the challenge. A common axiom among practitioners is “I met Pukey,” meaning they worked out so hard they vomited. Some even own T-shirts emblazoned with a clown, Pukey. CrossFit’s other mascot is Uncle Rhabdo, another clown, whose kidneys have spilled onto the floor presumably due to rhabdomyolysis.

  – Rachel on December 19th, 2011 at 10:44 pm

• Come to CrossFit Blacksburg Rachel.  You have no evidence on which to base your comments.  Otherwise, keep them to yourself.

  – amy on December 19th, 2011 at 10:46 pm

• Sorry, I live too far away.  And even if I liked the coaches at your gym, that would not make me like the brutal Crossfit workouts that put friends of mine in the emergency room or the Glassman character that runs the organization it and makes statements like “It can kill you, I’ve always been completely honest about that.”

  It’s too bad that Crossfit is so extreme.  If Glassman had not chosen to make it such an extreme program, it would have been a much better organization and helped a lot more people that it’s doing now.

  – Rachel on December 19th, 2011 at 11:01 pm

• Wow…fun convo here!

  Rachel, I’m a former sub-17:00 5k runner. I also played soccer for 15 years. I’ll confirm that Crossfit training is tougher than anything I ever faced in either sport, because it’s constantly (and intentionally) varied. As Amy said, if you have multiple friends who have injured themselves doing CF, then they were likely either A) doing something wrong as far as overtraining, or B) were training under the supervision of coaches who weren’t keeping them properly scaled.
  There is a great responsibility placed upon both coach and athlete when you are undertaking such an intense fitness regimen. I can’t speak for any CF boxes besides CF Blacksburg and the one other box I’ve visited, but I can say that the coaches in BBurg have successfully led me on the path to good (not yet elite, but I’m working on it!) fitness, and in 1.5 years it has not once caused me any injury.
  You’re painting with a broad brush and making some fairly strong statements you’re not yet qualified to make. If you can give Crossfit a couple of months of PROPER supervised training and still make the same claims, then so be it. But don’t say it’s bad based on incomplete evidence. Yeah, it could perhaps kill ya - but so can marathons. Do it right and you won’t have to worry about it. 

  – Daron on December 19th, 2011 at 11:07 pm

• While the coaches at your gym might be better than some of th jerks that run other Crossfit facilities, I’ve notices that a dangerous, military style “do it or die trying” attitude” is prevelant throughout much of the program. 

  If Crossfit workouts were created so the person with a reasonable fitenss level could do them safely, most of the scaling and modifications would not be necessary. 

  A lot of people get injured in Crossfit because they don’t have the proper skills or training to perform all the Olympic lifts and other crazy exercises that most people that are not involved with Crossfit never even heard of.  I understand the idea of having lots of variety in an exercise program, but they don’t have to put so much variety in it that people are only guessing at how they should do the various exercise moves. 

  Tough training is not always good training.

  – Rachel on December 19th, 2011 at 11:24 pm

• BTW, like the poster says, I am trying to change something I don’t like.

  And one of the things I don’t like is brutal exercise routines that claim to promote fitness, but instead put people in the hospital!

  – Rachel on December 19th, 2011 at 11:34 pm

• …then you picked the wrong arena for a fight. If you have a problem with CF as a concept, you’d be better served voicing your concerns directly to Coach Glassman on the main site rather than trolling (yes, it’s an accurate description) the site of a particular CF box.
  I don’t know of a single person who has attended a workout here who has had an emergency room experience. Your logic is flawed in assuming that the intensity of this workout is to blame for your friends’ unfortunate experiences. That’s like blaming the bus for hitting them if they walk across the street outside of a crosswalk and without looking.
  I’d advise you not to begrudge others’ workouts when they might (and in this case DO) work damn well. Keep on running if that’s what you want to do, and best of luck to you. I’ll keep crossfitting, while thoroughly (and safely) enjoying the benefits it has given and continues to give me.
  I’m done taking the bait. You can’t win an argument against an ignorant opponent because they won’t recognize when they’ve lost. Good luck to you down the road, Rachel. I hope you find both the answer to your fitness needs as well as the right place to register your complaint.

  – Daron on December 19th, 2011 at 11:54 pm

• Hi Rachel,

  It is true CrossFit can be dangerous. Unfortunately, there are CrossFit affiliates that put their clients at risk through a lack of understanding, lack of professionalism, or a lack of virtuosity. There are many issues pervasive in the CrossFit community to include some of the things your endurance athlete-peers have experienced.

  However, I will gladly tell you that CrossFit Blacksburg is NOT one of those facilities. They serve their clientele with the utmost level of professionalism and have a keen understanding of exercise physiology and strength & conditioning.

  If CrossFit is not for you, then please continue to do what works best for you and helps you achieve better health and longevity. That, at the end of the day, is what matters most.

  And please let me restate what was included in the image above: “This is your LIFE. Do what you love and do it often.” I am sure in doing so, you will accomplish many things that are far more fruitful. As will those who do and will continue to love CrossFit, despite its shortcomings.

  I wish you the best.

  – McB on December 20th, 2011 at 2:12 am

• I think it’s funny that Crossfit gets such a bad rap - after all does anyone really know what the average gym/running/gymnastic/fight/boxing/zumba/jazzercise/cpr instructor qualification consists of? I do, and it doesn’t make for good reading.

  Coaching, no matter what the f?@% the coach calls themselves, is down to the coach - pure and simple.

  – Hey Moroonathon on December 21st, 2011 at 5:12 pm

• A few reasons Crossfit gets such a bad rap is the fact that

  1.  Many Crossfit coaches have a “do it or die trying” attitude, which encourages participants to push too hard and risk injury

  2.  Because Crossfit has so many different lifts, squats, pull ups, etc, many people that are participating don’t really know the correct form to do all those activities safely.  And when speed is a factor in some WOD, that contributes to participants pushing for speed over good form.

  3. While this might not happen in all Crossfit facilities, the super competativeness between Crossfit class partipants and even cultish attitude about Crossfit being some ultimate approach to fitness turns a lot of people off.

  – Rachel on December 22nd, 2011 at 2:52 pm

• Could it be alright that will put thing about this in my small personal weblog if I post a reference to crossfitblacksburg.com ?

  – web promotion on January 23rd, 2012 at 10:19 pm