I know I have a lot of friends here who are into CrossFit, so I more than welcome conversation and debate. I wrote a version of the below post some time ago. Someone asked about CrossFit today online, considering whether they should give it a shot, and this led me to revisit what I’d written. Since this is a question that pops up consistently, I want a post that I can quickly link to in response. Since I wrote the post originally on a lunch break last year in a hurry, I’ve revised it because I want to fill in some gaps and change my tone on a few pieces of it. Let me say upfront that I did CrossFit myself for a couple of years, so what I say here comes from a place of both personal experience and consistent study and observation over a long period of time. I also absolutely love actually doing the CrossFit style workouts! They’re just not very conducive to the goals I have. My tone here is meant to be transparent and honest, not snarky. Here is the revised version:
CrossFit. Hearing the word (if you know what it is) probably brings up one of three emotions: excitement, concern, or annoyance. For me, which emotion I experience depends on who's talking to me about it.
When I hear it sometimes, it's excitement, because I've seen the person's progress and am confident that they know what they are doing. When others say it, it's more concern, because they are passionate but not careful. For others still, it's, dare I say, a bit of annoyance, because they see their way as right and everyone else's as wrong, even if their way is about as accurate as a Storm Trooper’s shot.
I'd like to throw out my quick pros and cons lists. These are not exhaustive and could each have their own post. I just want to share and generate discussion.
PROS:
-It's a fitness movement: Being able to type those two words back-to-back makes me happy because we need a lot of fitness movements, and CrossFit is probably leading the pack in this. It's amazing what they've accomplished.
-It's got an incredible community: for many people, working out in a group can be motivating in a way that nothing can when they attempt it alone, and CrossFit arguably does community better than anyone else in the fitness world.
-Inclusion of the best lifts: CrossFit implements squats, deadlifts, bench presses, overhead presses, and pull-ups, which are all key exercises that many fitness programs foolishly neglect.
CONS (I type these with the caveat that I know that there are many gyms, boxes, and individuals for which these are not the case):
-Emphasis on timed workouts: I did CrossFit for almost two years, and felt awesome when I beat my previous time, so I get it. But honestly, when you power through workouts with the primary goal of beating a previous time, you leave a lot on the table in terms of strength and all sorts of other things. If general fitness is what you’re going for, this is fine, but you’re going to become a bit of a generalist in everything and specialist in nothing. If you’re wanting to get stronger or build a good bit of muscle, you’ll hit a limit pretty quickly only doing this style of training, because after a certain number of reps, you’re building endurance, not strength or muscle. In my opinion, time should be used as a measurement for cardio and sometimes bodyweight movements, not lifting weights. The best CrossFit gyms I’ve seen have their people do “Skills” training before the circuits, which is typically form and strength work on a certain lift that day. I like that a lot.
-Improper form or sub-par exercise variations: this is the primary reason for my first con. Many people are so focused on beating their time (or someone else's) that form on lifts takes a back seat, even for those who know how to properly execute it. Other times, they have simply not been coached properly in the first place. I have seen overhead presses with a tsunami going through the person's body because they are executing it so quickly. No stability at all. This is dangerous, please stop. The other part is sub-par variations of exercises. I understand that not everyone can do a pull-up. I'd much rather start them on floor drags or lat pulldowns, move them to negative pull-ups, then see them do their first strict pull-up than throw them into kipping where they are using momentum far more than the actual muscles they are trying to strengthen. What reason is there to kip other than to improve your time? I’m seriously asking this, so if anyone has an answer, please share it.
-Sometimes there is a lack of consistency of certain exercises: I won’t harp on this too much here. Suffice it to say that if you go weeks between bench press sessions or anything else, as is common with CrossFit, you aren’t going to make a ton of progress on those exercises. This was one of my biggest personal issues and one of the main reasons I stopped doing CrossFit. When I stuck with the WODs (Workout of the day), it could be weeks before I’d repeat some exercises. Again, this doesn’t matter much if you just want to be generally healthy. But if you want to get strong, build muscle, or other specific goals, this isn’t helping you.
-Superiority complex: everyone does this to a degree regardless of what workout style they engage in, but I think that because of how massive CrossFit is and the dedication of its followers, it sometimes comes with a feeling of superiority that sees everyone else in the fitness world as un-enlightened and sub-par. It's just not cool. Especially if it's one of the overhead press body-wavers saying it.
I know there are things I didn't bring up, and I'd love to talk about them in the comments. This is just a quick lunch break write-up of what's top of mind for me on the topic.
Hit me with comments and questions!
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