Anyways, this guy was not too impressed with CrossFit! He thought that we had all forgotten to strengthen and condition ourselves for the WoD's we do, before we dwelve into the insanity of high reps and high intensity! The consequence being that we had to compensate for our shortcomings by developing areas that were already strong, while increasing the gap to the muscles that were weak from the beginning? The result being a never ending line of injuries that would just continue to resurface?
What do you think? Is this guy just another hater, or is he actually on to something?
I know that I have had my fair share of injuries, and I bet I still have a lot more to come! However I happen to think that the problems I have had to deal with were more or less my own fault, and caused by pure breed stupidity- how convenient it would have been to be able to blame it on something else:-)
I would like to think that the weaker parts automatically catch up with the rest of the body when you spend a fair amount of time on doing functional movements, and I think that I have seen a couple of briliant examples of that were phenomenon, or have I just been dreaming?
Much love
5 comments:
Since I happen to know this guy I must say that he's absolutely on to something! I am sure he doesn't hate CrossFit, he's just upset with the complete ignorance of weeknesses. This is basically the same thing that you've written about in the last week... Listening to Robb Wolf you will hear the exact same arguments regarding periodization, injuries, overtraining, attention to your weaknesses etc. The full out, maximum effort intensity at every single workout is just not very good for us, especially when programming hasn't taken the individuals need, oughts and musts in to consideration... Living in a pretty stressful society ther's also the cortisolproblem. We basically overload our bodies with cortisol from regular stress, bad eating habits, caffein, too little sleep and alcohol. And then, on top of that, we work out - really hard - and even further increase our cortisol levels. Are you still wondering why you can't sleep... and why your body doesn't heal?
I bet he never has any people coming in with shoulder problems from bench pressing 75% of the gym sessions they do?
I say that crossfit, even with bad programming, tends to strenghten more weaknesses than "normal" strength training or cardio training.
That said: trying to keep a good ratio with skill training, hard metcons and weight lifting and to vary intesity is of course the way to do it.
Also: why not just take a month or two when you do not start the clock and go by feel? I really like this "third way" of not getting too anal and competative.
...and let's not mix together crossfit as sport and the foundational general physical preparedness most of us are, or should, be searching and training for.
Like this post, it shows an open mind and healthy self-criticism. Abilities which are not very often stumbled upon in the almost militant cf-movement that has grown in sweden. Crossfit definitely has boosted the fitness-world in the right direction, but the community has yet to show more of healthy programming and periodization, or the brand of cf will break apart when undermined by poorly educated boxes and trainers.
@Martin:
You seem to suggest that there is nothing on the scale between cf and "normal"s-training? Does this mean that functional strength-training and gymnastics were invented by cf? And would a poorly programmed cf-template be better than lets say a classic Wendler 5-3-1 mixed with some interval-training and gymnatic-drills? If gpp is the goal, why stress the body with grueling "for time"-metcons on a 3-1 template, constantly shooting for max efforts?
paleo: No, I think most people that comes into a CF box - and I speak generalized here - do not have wendler with adequate conditioning as the other option. :-)
Also I think that that would probably not be the best option for most, since those grueling metcons are pure magic when it comes to get strength AND weightloss AND fix misbalances in organic and/or neurofunctional capacity. I think wendler/powerlifting/OL/SS etc is fine, but not varied enough for the "average joe", 30-35+ non-athlete, training at a normal CF box in Sweden. And I think most of those do not think it's fun enough with endless slow overloading of the classic lifts, and that's also an important aspect.
Sure I see that it can be the by far best option for alot of people. And sure programming should be well-balanced, or at least aim to be, between all areas of fitness and movements. BUT - I do not think even a pretty bad programming will damage the person coming into a box 2-3 times a week - and I promise you most people do not do it on a 3-1 schedule either.
I agree that foundations should be laid before pushing the limits, but I do not think this is as much of a problem for the average box-member. At least by my experience.
Hey bro,
as always your posts inspire me to think about certain thinks, the same with this one because it reminds me of acertain situation I had before.
Do you remember what Mr Starrett said in one of his awesome vdeos? It was about injuries and that the part that got injured will always be weaker than the rest of the muscle and therefore the likelyness for reinjury, when you keep trainig at the level of the other muscles. In my opinion this means, if you have been injured, you will most likely hurt yourself again, if you train intensively at the former level and not scaling it to the weak muscle first.
I believe that was the reason why I had my shoulder fucked up several times.
What do you think?
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