Crossfit

[bassballer]

Anyone here do crossfit. Been crossfitting for about 5 months, and changed my entire outlook on health and excersize, nutrition. Its been awesome. Wondering if anyone else has in the crossfit cult..

[fishbones]

I don't do it myself, but my wife's been doing it for a few months now and loves it. She has always worked out, but has never been as into it as she is now.

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by fishbones

I don't do it myself, but my wife's been doing it for a few months now and loves it. She has always worked out, but has never been as into it as she is now.

Lucky guy.

[american spirit]

don't know much about it, but it's spreading like wildfire in my work. seems like a highly intense workout over a short period of time. seems like a good recipe to get ripped and see results quickly.

i drive by a crossfit place by fenway and see some people doing pullups with really bad form. looks like they're going to throw their backs out. a really weird dude i went to high school with does it competetively too, so that's another strike against crossfit for me.

[bassballer]

AS, those are kipping pullups. Actually takes a little while to get them down. They look weird but are really good. You try getting 5 rounds of 30 pullups deadhang without kipping.

[Saltheart]

There was a time when I could do 30 pull ups but never 5 sets in a say, 2 hour workout! That's pretty awesome.

[FishermanTim]

Not to be a nay-sayer, but has there been any study done on the impact and long term effect of short power workouts?

Remember that there is NO QUICK FIX when it comes to workouts.
There is no "magic pill" to get the perfect body.

Sure there are "supliments" to increase this or enhance that, but they all come with a price!


I wonder if the people that used to walk with weights (myself included) realized the damage they were doing to their joints by carrying EXTRA weight?

Or anyone that wears those walk-fit, funky walking sneakers wonders why their knees, hip and back are all screwed up from wearing the shoes ALL the time?

(Hopefully it won't be another trendy workout program that ends up crippling more people that it helps.)

[bassballer]

Alot of crossfit is olympic powerlifting. Powerlifting has been around god knows how long. The rest of the excersizes for the most part are all bodyweight such as pushups, pullups, situps, box jumps, burpees ect, and also gymnastics moves. All excersizes that are as old as dirt. And most are natural movements.

[Clogston29]

there are some decent aspects to cross fit, but I think their overall low standards for training and teaching the lifts incorporated, combined with heavy use of complicated olympic style lifting at high repetitions in a fatigued state are a recipe for injury for many people. the real devotes seam to take pride in that fact. there are definately exceptions, and some affiliates seam much better than others when it comes to instruction.

i prefer a powerlifting type program personly, with planned workouts and progression, to the randomness of crossfit. But I can see the merits of the crossfit style for many though. All depends on your goals and personality. The real thing is just to find what you enjoy and what works for you, and move. Anything beats sitting on your ass bitching about how this or that is unhealthy. Sitting on your ass is unhealthy.

you know the saying, "cross fit makes guys skinny and girls hot"

[Swimmer]

Of all the exercising I ever did it was powerlifting I enjoyed, and excelled at, the most. Heavy day, light day, heavy day, light day.

[Bazza]

I have never tried cross fit, but know a people who do it. It can be somewhat expensive. If you want to see a tough work out , look at the crossfit challanges or games

[bart]

I will transition to cross-fit or something of that nature in about 4 months when I need to change it up. I have a good friend who is a strength coach and he swears by power lifting. Right now I'm doing this: PUSH/PULL. It's hardcore and controversial, but i lost 70 lbs the last time I did it and was in the best shape of my life. Obviously I stuck to a strict diet tho. Only supplement I took was whey protein.

If you want to get cut up and not bulk up, join a Y and swim laps. Do the crawl and breast stroke. Tones your whole body; your back, chest, and abs will be ripped.

[bassballer]

Rob, theres an affiliate in walpole. Crossfitcut.com. That pushpull is pretty beast. How long are you at the gym for? 2 hours?

[bart]

When I get to where I want to be( a good month away), yeah with cardio I'm there close to 2 hrs. He doesn't include the cardio in the workout anymore, but he used to suggest 300 killed calories after lifting. A lot of people will say it's overtraining but I can't argue with the results.

[Clogston29]

seams pretty standard for a body building split routine, set up more for looks than strength, which there's nothing wrong with. i wouldn't worry too much about overtraining there as long as you deload occasionally and don't stay on it too long. most of the time people just point to overtraining because they don't want to work.

it you ever want to try some more strength based programing (with a good amount of added mobility work), check out Eric Cressey's stuff (Maximum Strength or Show and Go) or . it'll be lower volume than your used to (although it may have more volume for the lower body) at a much higher percent of 1RM, and without much isolation work. might be a fun change of pace.

if your looking to lean out, crossfit is probably a very good way to go if you do it right and know when to quit.

[bart]

Thanks, Clogston. I also agree that overtraining is basically over-hyped for the most part.

Another part of the workout that is controversial is the pyramid system of lifting. Some people don't understand the benefits of it, but as Avedon explains it enables you to increase weight/ strength while still doing a high number of reps. My set is usually something like 12-10-8-12. I can say that I've never felt more ripped during and after a workout until I started doing pyramid sets. Essentially your gaining strength, burning fat, and increasing lean muscle. You basically end up with a V shape if you do it right ( you need to incorporate an ab workout as well). I am sold after doing it 4 years ago. Can't believe I let myself get back to where I am after putting in all that work

[bart]

And to your point Clogston, it is more about looks than strength. But once I get to the weight I want to be at I will switch to more strength based training like you mentioned.