My CrossFit Thoughts...

I can’t stand giving attention to people who are clearly only looking for attention. Nor am I in the habit of giving free publicity to a competitor. However, I’ve been asked this question so often recently, I must address it:

I’m asked quite frequently about my thoughts on “CrossFit” a very popular method of training that has many ardent followers and supporters. (For those of you not familiar with CrossFit, you can do a Google search on it and you’ll get more detailed information that I can provide here. It’s been in the news often recently for several reasons.) It’s essentially a circuit training group workout focused on body weight exercises and untraditional training equipment like truck tires and ropes. It also is known for espousing a macho attitude, not adverse to mocking participants that have injury concerns or questions.

For the record, here is my take on CrossFit:

If you’re telling me that people need to get off machines, use their own body weight and exercise in an intense manner for a short duration, you’re preaching to the converted here my friend. I’ve been saying that for years.

However, if you think flipping tires, ropes, and sand bags around a parking lot with no regard for postural considerations or correct movement mechanics is a good idea, you’re uneducated and/or misinformed at the least. Furthermore, if you mock people who do have a regard for such, or worse, if you encourage this behavior to beginners that don’t know any better because they think your workout looks cool, then you’re a negligent moron.

As an example, a few years back an article appeared in the New York Times discussing CrossFit, and one of its members who exercised so far beyond his capabilities, he began to suffer from rhabdomyolosis. Rhabdomyolosis is a condition where the muscle fiber breaks down to the extent it begins leaking into the bloodstream, causing potentially life threatening situations for the kidneys and liver.

Most of us would consider this a sign to change the manner in which we exercise. Not this guy, he was back in the gym 6 months later performing the same routine. His quote was: “I see pushing my body to the point where the muscles destroy themselves as a huge benefit of CrossFit.''

Now, just in case this isn’t dumb enough for you, many members embrace this behavior by making claims such as “I met pukey” meaning I worked out so hard I puked. There are even t-shirts with “Pukey the Clown” which some members wear. “Uncle Rhabdo”, another clown/mascot, is shown with his kidneys on the floor, presumably due to rhabdomyolosis.
Of course, you and I aren’t the only ones to find this sort of behavior nonsensical, and CrossFit’s founder, Greg Glassman has heard the criticisms before.

To me, this is where the real fun begins.

When asked about this type of behavior in general, and specifically performing pull ups on hanging rings so quickly that you may be endangering yourself, Mr. Glassman’s response was this:

''If you find the notion of falling off the rings and breaking your neck so foreign to you, then we don't want you in our ranks,'' he said.

Now, as you can imagine, someone has recently filed a lawsuit against a gym in Virginia that conducts CrossFit’s workouts. The exerciser and his attorney claim that he sustained injuries as a result of an overly intense routine that not only displayed little regard for safety, but whose instructor and participants encouraged the unsafe training situations.

In the process of discussing this topic, and in reading many other discussions online, a fair counterpoint is commonly made: That is, we should not throw out the baby with the bathwater – these types of workouts do have benefits and shouldn’t be cast aside because of a few morons.

So again, I’ll be clear:

Exercising using limited equipment in a quick and intense manner – good.

Putting yourself in harms’ way in the name of toughness or machismo – not good.

Encouraging a non-expert, which frankly, is the overwhelming majority of CrossFit practitioners, to do the same – stupid and negligent.