So, I saw a thread in here related to the Paleo Diet, but I didn't see one in here related to CrossFit.
So, what is CrossFit?
CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.
Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.
The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We’ve used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs.
~Quoted from the CrossFit Website.
This is what I have been able garner from my years of CrossFit. It is most easily summed up in two words, and I feel these words describe the results of CrossFit to a T: Functional Fitness
It works like this. The people behind the eyes of CrossFit prescribe a WoD [Workout of the Day]. It's a series of movements, lifts, and exercise to be completed within a number of designated perimeters. Simply put, they tell what to do, and how long to do it for.
These workouts vary. They are all very cardio intensive, but at the same time, they work out many different parts of your body. Olympic Lifts are still performed, without sacrificing form, as well as a number of other custom tailored workouts that help boost heart rate, and cause pain [see: pleasure ].
Why am I a CrossFit'r? Before I started going back to school, I worked as a Corrections Officer. A big part of my job was physical work. In my Academy class, there was a guy named Fred. Fred was a bodybuilder - huge guy. I had been doing CrossFit for almost six months at that point. Fred had been lifting for 20 years.
Fred and I would train together during the Physical Defense class. I noticed two things. First, Fred was getting winded alot faster than I was. I rarely ran for distance (unless a WoD called for it) because my Cardio was built into the workouts from the intensity I had to perform. Second, I noticed that, while he may have been stronger in being able to bench press a bar with weights, that I had certain aspects of strength he didn't have, and all of that strength wasn't only physical.
You may be able to Dumbbell Row 120 pounds. I love working my back - I go to the gym sometimes just to do Lat Pulldown's and Rows. But does the ability to Row 120 pounds help you in opening a door that a suspect on the other side doesn't want to let you into? Or does it help you rip open a locked door when your house is on fire to get your child out? Maybe.
The idea of Functional Fitness appeals to me on many levels, so that's why I do it, and I can say that I have felt the returns of my investment. Even if you aren't the most physically fit int he world, the workouts can be scaled down. Just remember to beat your total time the next time you do that workout.
no offense, but please try putting just a bit more effort into OPs. you might want to make the title more descriptive and put more information/links on what crossfit is.
I too would like to see a more informative post about Crossfit.
Crossfit gets a lot of harsh criticism for being cult-like, promoting bad form, and making a mockery out of Olympic weightlifting. Some of this criticism may have some truth to it, but a lot is unjustified. Making a good original post about Crossfit could potentially change some people's perceptions of Crossfit, so I'd like to see one.
It was more just asking who else in TL.Net worked to the XFit method, but I will edit it and try to place more information.
Edit: If anyone feels like they would like to add more, simply post it and I will edit the OP. I am not a scientist on the matter, so people with the Cert's might be better capable than I. Also, as for the title - The point of this thread was just to see other people that did CrossFit. I thought it was a unique way title the thread, because if you do CrossFit, you know what 3-2-1-GO means. =P
Even XFitters UNITE would have been a better title =/
We try to self(???)-moderate this sub-forum such that the OP in each thread offers information to the readers. We don't have an Xfit thread, so if you put more effort into this one, we can keep it.
Few serious people do crossfit, those are quite impressive, we got one dude on the forum i think. I agree with eshlow, whatever you wanna do there is a better method for you. With crossfit you get better at crossfit, thats it.
edit: no hate though, if you have fun doing it everythings fine i guess.
I tried crossfit last wednesday. Was a hell of workout and made me realize that I still need to get some running done. Was a lot of fun even though the instructor didn't like my deadlift. Form fails pretty hard when faced with fatique apparently.
It seems a little insane @ my wod was 21, 18, 15, 12, 8 or something. so many reps in such a short timeframe seems like its asking for injuries.
I train CF and also work as an instructor at my local CF gym. I tried to write out a long post about CF, but I'm really tired from todays competition. If you guys have any questions about CF I will be happy to answer them though.
Man CF is so dumb, CF was invented so that girls could lift weights, cus if they just lift regular weights they will become jacked and hyuuge, therefore they invented cf where you still lift weights, but you wont gain sh.t on it cus the workout regime is retarded.
Also brb spine injures in your 20s cus of all the stupid f.cking kipping pull ups and squats and pulls with sh.t form.
Crossfit is a great concept, it has made oly lifting a lot more popular hahaha. Also there are crossfitters than come train at my gym and they are very good at the oly lifts.
I don't know why there is this perception that CrossFitters don't perform Olympic Lifts well, form wise. One of the things preached by XFit is form and technique. Intensity shouldn't skew that.
Bodybuilders don't really train for strength, but for size. In their sport, functional is big. I always laugh when someone brings up that video of the bodybuilder or powerlifter getting beaten in a muscle up competition by a Crossfit girl..obviously the person who trains muscle ups will do more than the person who trains specifically to get bigger/increase powerlift numbers.
Also, doing something like 50 reps of an Olympic Lift, like from some WODs I've seen, is fucking retarded. Sure, Crossfitters tend to have better Oly form than most people, but doing anything as complex as an Olympic Lift for that many reps is dumb.
On November 06 2011 10:41 Jitsu wrote: Hey DimSum. Welcome to the thread.
I don't know why there is this perception that CrossFitters don't perform Olympic Lifts well, form wise. One of the things preached by XFit is form and technique. Intensity shouldn't skew that.
Glad to see you here, man!
~Jitsu
If you say, ‘I will not take my intensity past where the form goes bad,’ the intensity will never develop!” - Greg Glassman
Your coach seems to have a different idea :p
Not to knock it too hard though. I don't mind the bodyweight/metcon WODs. I'd just rather train weights Oly/Power style. Those guys who are Deadlifting 400lbs in their WODs probably got to that level through strength training first.
On November 10 2011 17:18 ShaLLoW[baY] wrote: One thing though. Kipping pull-ups irk the fuck out of me. I have yet to understand the point.
Someone at my gym told me it was to add cardio to pull-ups. I almost pissed my pants laughing.
I used to think like that, then I found out Konstantin Konstantinovs only do kipping pull-ups so now I don't . He's the world's best deadlifter without belt if you don't know who he is.
On November 10 2011 17:18 ShaLLoW[baY] wrote: One thing though. Kipping pull-ups irk the fuck out of me. I have yet to understand the point.
Someone at my gym told me it was to add cardio to pull-ups. I almost pissed my pants laughing.
I used to think like that, then I found out Konstantin Konstantinovs only do kipping pull-ups so now I don't . He's the world's best deadlifter without belt if you don't know who he is.
Yeah, they're a great metabolic workout.
However, if your shoulders are weak they can also give you injuries like SLAP lesions.... so.... stay away if you're weak
On November 06 2011 05:41 Therick wrote: Man CF is so dumb, CF was invented so that girls could lift weights, cus if they just lift regular weights they will become jacked and hyuuge, therefore they invented cf where you still lift weights, but you wont gain sh.t on it cus the workout regime is retarded.
Also brb spine injures in your 20s cus of all the stupid f.cking kipping pull ups and squats and pulls with sh.t form.
It seems that xfit gyms vary one from the next. I've seen some vids where the oly lifts are done with very bad form and the instructors still let the participants continue.
I hope that these are the fewer ones and that quality control is improved.
Anyway xfit is a way to get into lifting, but if you focus on strength or plyometrics one at a time it would yield better results rather than trying to achieve both by doing circuit routines. A lot of fatigue but not very effective.
I switched from my regular workouts to Crossfit about a month ago. For me it was a motivational reason, I have been training either split or 5x5 for a couple of years now and I no longer get enjoyment out of it, I needed something different and I needed the social and motivational aspect of crossfit. They made me do a 4 session fundamental class initially teaching all the movements.
It was great because I have always wanted to know how to do the clean and jerk correctly. I still can't do a proper overhead squat without falling over, need more practise!
I did my first session yesterday which involved a series of warm ups and a bit of cardio followed by the workout which was 3-3-3-3-3-3-3 Deadlifts with the last 4 sets being work sets. Followed by 6-6-6-6-6 Push Press with last 3 sets being work sets. I thought it was a great workout
Form wise I did 1 bad deadlift and the instructor made me de-load and do 2 light sets until she was happy I had corrected my form. I did however notice during the lighter weight high intensity exercises they don't seem to target incorrect form as often.
I went again today and the same thing, a warm up session followed by the workout which was 500mtr row 50 x front squat and press I only used about 30kg And it still took me sets of 10-7-7-5-3-3-2-2-3-3-2-3 to finish the 50, I was struggling boy! 50 x Burpees 500mtr row
Now, while I did really well on the deadlifts and press the day before and probably top 10% in terms of strength due to 5x5. I think I finished 2rd or 3rd last in today's workout while there we guys who finished it 5-6minutes before me with 3x more weight on their front squat and presses..
I really admire the athleticism of everyone attending, and I am not ashamed to say I am horribly unfit in comparison to some of those guys. I think I will try this for a year and report on the results.
While I don't have any issue with CrossFit itself, even if I don't think it's really the best approach for most peoples goals, it seems to attract many fanatical followers.
I'll never forget being at a race and having some lady go off about running alot was going to make me unhealthy and age faster and destroy my body and crap. Suggest to some of these diehards that CF isn't the holy grail and they go crazy on you.
It's funny. Thrusters are actually one of my favorite movements. If you really engage your core, I feel it through my entire body. My favorite workout is Fran, by far. :D
Believe me when I say that I also hate die-hard CF fanboys who think CF is the answer to EVERYTHING. I just think it's fucking fun to do. I love the competition - EVERY day in a CF setting is a competition on who finishes first/gets the most reps/etc. With that said, I do a lot of pure strength training with the goal of getting better at CF.
@Shallow, Obstikal: As far as I'm concerned, the strict pullup and the kipping pullup are not the same exercises and thus should not be treated as such. So it's not a question of which is best - you do weighted strict pullups for strength while you do kipping pullups for cardio.
On November 15 2011 00:48 Nazarene wrote: Believe me when I say that I also hate die-hard CF fanboys who think CF is the answer to EVERYTHING. I just think it's fucking fun to do. I love the competition - EVERY day in a CF setting is a competition on who finishes first/gets the most reps/etc. With that said, I do a lot of pure strength training with the goal of getting better at CF.
@Shallow, Obstikal: As far as I'm concerned, the strict pullup and the kipping pullup are not the same exercises and thus should not be treated as such. So it's not a question of which is best - you do weighted strict pullups for strength while you do kipping pullups for cardio.
The confusing part of that argument to me is why you wouldn't just do conventional cardio instead...maybe just to stave away boredom, which is a perfectly good excuse for a cardio-hater like me :p
On November 15 2011 00:48 Nazarene wrote: Believe me when I say that I also hate die-hard CF fanboys who think CF is the answer to EVERYTHING. I just think it's fucking fun to do. I love the competition - EVERY day in a CF setting is a competition on who finishes first/gets the most reps/etc. With that said, I do a lot of pure strength training with the goal of getting better at CF.
@Shallow, Obstikal: As far as I'm concerned, the strict pullup and the kipping pullup are not the same exercises and thus should not be treated as such. So it's not a question of which is best - you do weighted strict pullups for strength while you do kipping pullups for cardio.
The confusing part of that argument to me is why you wouldn't just do conventional cardio instead...maybe just to stave away boredom, which is a perfectly good excuse for a cardio-hater like me :p
This is the kind of training most MMA fighters utilize. Seeing as their objective in life is to pulverize another highly jacked and trained individual into oblivion, it's a safe bet CF is very effective at developing functional strength and overall athleticism.
On the other hand, if you want to look like a tanned sausage who can hardly wipe it's own ass steroids and heavy weights are still the way to go XD
do you have any references to show that fighters use crossfit? I'd assume they would do work outs related to their art(s) rather than some hybrid of cardio/weight lifting. That's how it worked for wrestling. Hell, I went to a D2(I think? I forget I want to say it was a D1 school but I can't find any good info on it but I'm lazy http://www.norwichathletics.com/sports/wrest/index) wrestling camp senior year of highschool and we were either in the weight room doing compound lifts or on the mat.
Also the heavy lifting stereotype is very ignorant.
On November 15 2011 00:48 Nazarene wrote: Believe me when I say that I also hate die-hard CF fanboys who think CF is the answer to EVERYTHING. I just think it's fucking fun to do. I love the competition - EVERY day in a CF setting is a competition on who finishes first/gets the most reps/etc. With that said, I do a lot of pure strength training with the goal of getting better at CF.
@Shallow, Obstikal: As far as I'm concerned, the strict pullup and the kipping pullup are not the same exercises and thus should not be treated as such. So it's not a question of which is best - you do weighted strict pullups for strength while you do kipping pullups for cardio.
The confusing part of that argument to me is why you wouldn't just do conventional cardio instead...maybe just to stave away boredom, which is a perfectly good excuse for a cardio-hater like me :p
What is conventional cardio?
He says he enjoys the competition and such. If you want to be truly competitive at something like running you have to do a tremendous amount of it, which certainly isn't for everyone, and you have to be willing to have a pretty small body frame. If he still wants a fairly muscular body their just isn't any way he is going to get particularly competitive at running.
On November 16 2011 09:08 Hurricane wrote: do you have any references to show that fighters use crossfit? I'd assume they would do work outs related to their art(s) rather than some hybrid of cardio/weight lifting. That's how it worked for wrestling. Hell, I went to a D2(I think? I forget I want to say it was a D1 school but I can't find any good info on it but I'm lazy http://www.norwichathletics.com/sports/wrest/index) wrestling camp senior year of highschool and we were either in the weight room doing compound lifts or on the mat.
Also the heavy lifting stereotype is very ignorant.
BJ Penn apparently used to use it. I think I recall an interview saying he chose to abandon it as he felt it was insufficiently sport specific.
Sean Sherk's workouts (from those UFC promotional things before fights) also seem very crossfit-esque, though he incorporated many exercises which are not seen in crossfit.
CrossFit is some hybrid of cardio/weight lifting. It just so happens that they do a lot of cardio with weightlifting. I don't really know much about how universally applied this method is - I do recall Rhadi Fergoson (former olympic Judoka and D1 wrestler) referring to something of that nature in his training in one of his posts on JudoForum. I'm quite sure, though, that the notion of doing weightlifting (or bodyweight) circuit-type cardio is not new or unique to crossfit at all. (Incidentally, though, if you look through the daily workouts on the crossfit page, they do quite a bit of heavy lifting).
As for the guy who questioned the purpose of kipping pullups - I am no expert on these things (I suspect I am in good company), but it seems to me that kipping pullups require quite a bit of coordination with extensive development of power through hip-explosion (in addition to the metabolic demands incurred by high repetitions). It is easy for me to imagine that such an exercise would be useful.
Edit: The bottom of page 5 and 6 of the T-nation article someone posted (http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_investigative/the_truth_about_crossfit if you missed it) offer a defense of the kipping pullup)
I've been doing CF for about a year and a half it's a tonnn of fun. It's incredible how much more in shape I am, and how much more powerful, and my overall endurance as well. Done correctly, you will see alot of improvement in your overall fitness.
However, I am at a good CF gym, with Coaches that are extremely concerned with proper technique and that keep themselves informed, and who plan their workouts based on what they want the members to develop. We also have Canadian Olympic coach that comes once a week to help us with our Weightlifting techniques.
For those that are interested in the sport, I recommend shopping around for one with a good atmosphere and community, because that will make your CF experience more fun.
On November 14 2011 07:40 decafchicken wrote: Yeah I don't have a problem with CF, just listening the people who do it that talk like they ate the enlightened ones.
Yeah that's my biggest problem with it as well. A guy I know who is a huge douche does it and it irritates the hell out of me.
IMO it's a cool idea, but I think you should be at least beyond a beginner before doing it? If that makes sense. The workouts vary everyday so it's one of those things where you maybe shown an exercise, do it a few times with poor form and then not see the exercise for another few months. In my experience, that's not an effective way to learn an exercise.
Put it this way, I've been learning how to squat on-and-off (consistency will always be the devil of me I swear!) for the past 9 months and I'm still learning the intricacies of the squat (who would have thought it gets more challenging when the weight gets heavier right?). Imagine having never done squats, then doing them for one of your crossfit workouts and then never even seeing them until it's thrown into a CF workout 3 months later. Just not a great way to learn the exercise I think.
That said if the program gets you out of the house and working out at least, then you know what? It's better then nothing. I'm probably providing a very generalized idea of what the program is about but oh well.
On November 16 2011 08:46 Kickboxer wrote: This is the kind of training most MMA fighters utilize. Seeing as their objective in life is to pulverize another highly jacked and trained individual into oblivion, it's a safe bet CF is very effective at developing functional strength and overall athleticism.
On the other hand, if you want to look like a tanned sausage who can hardly wipe it's own ass steroids and heavy weights are still the way to go XD
Sorry but I don't buy that at all. Most MMA fighters probably do training specific to their sport and CF is not specific to any sport.
On November 06 2011 05:41 Therick wrote: Man CF is so dumb, CF was invented so that girls could lift weights, cus if they just lift regular weights they will become jacked and hyuuge, therefore they invented cf where you still lift weights, but you wont gain sh.t on it cus the workout regime is retarded.
Also brb spine injures in your 20s cus of all the stupid f.cking kipping pull ups and squats and pulls with sh.t form.
How was he not banned for this...
I really wanna try CF, but it's hard to find a gym around me that supports it.
EPT
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. He's the world's best deadlifter without belt if you don't know who he is.
