Anyone here done CrossFit?
- Thread starter Mr. Hyde
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ApolloBalboa
Was King of the Board for a Day
From a viewpoint of someone who works in the fitness industry, I wouldn't recommend it if you're at all unconditioned or don't have much experience when it comes to plyometric workouts, body weight workouts, or Olympic lifting. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone regardless, but that's another story.
I'm not in top condition but I'm not a fat slob either. I just did a 5k mud run a few weeks ago and didn't have much trouble with it (I did walk at parts of it).
Why wouldn't you recommend? Is it a bad workout? Bad for the joints, or something else?
No, it's just demanding, That's why if you're unconditioned, it'll tear you apart...and then some. If you've done weights in gym on a regular basis for at least year...and are up to handling 'marathon sessions of high intensity interval training' (weights/cardio). I've done weighs for 8 years, and ran multiple 5/10K's, a handful of triathlons and half-marathons, to a certain degree CrossFit still gives me a freakishly good challenging workout.
Petra
Cult Mother and Simpering Cunt
I've seen some pretty horrible videos where there's several people in the group with bad kettlebell or clean press form and the instructor isn't correcting it. I work with kettlebells and know for a fact bad form can fuck you up pretty bad. I don't do olympic lifts myself, but I'd seek tutoring for form before I did them.
Ace Boobtoucher
Founder and Captain of the Douchepatrol
No. No cross fit for me, thank you. I'm straight.
Petra
Cult Mother and Simpering Cunt
ApolloBalboa
Was King of the Board for a Day
Lemme guess...only benching and curls to prove your masculinity?
I bet he also does them in the squat rack, the bastard.
To the OP, Petra was fairly right on the money. I've seen and heard of cases where people end up with joint or ligament damage because the instructors didn't correct their form on one exercise or another, and the fact that while they may have varying WODs (workout of the day, stupid Crossfit term), they're not tailored to each person specifically, it's pretty much "one size fits all", which is a horrible way of training. If you have a client with limited range of motion when it comes to hip or knee flexion or can't stabilize their lats for holding something over their head, you take the time to address that and help them work through it. Crossfit has no general screening process to look for any irregularities or impediments when you start, so somebody who can't and shouldn't be doing a squat or a clean and jerk can be thrown right in and end up doing those, further hurting themselves and making it harder for them to recover.
Maggie Green
Official Checked Star Member
I can't do Cross Fit because of a bad foot, bad knees and tendinitis in both elbows. But I would try it if I could. But yeah, it's intense and not for beginners.
Petra
Cult Mother and Simpering Cunt
Man, I fucking hate people that have to do their presses or curls in the squat rack. Mind, the pre-loaded bars we have at my gym only goes to 40kg so if someone is doing over 40kg barbell presses, I can see it.But there's no reason to stand there and do fucking curls in the squat rack.
Remind me to tell the tale of Sweaty Hoody Guy one of these days.
ApolloBalboa
Was King of the Board for a Day
There is never a good reason for doing curls in the squat rack. What follow are many of the excuses I've heard, along with what I've said in turn.
"The pre-loaded bars aren't heavy enough" "Then do more reps or take longer during the eccentric part of the motion"
"It's best to use an Olympic bar when you do curls" "There's no proof, scientific or otherwise, that a thicker bar does more to directly target the biceps brachii than a skinny bar"
"All the other bars are taken and this is the only one that's available" "You see this area here? It's called the squat rack, key word being SQUAT, not the fucking 'stand here for 15 minutes doing curls, talking to your friends, and bullshitting rack'. You want to do fucking curls, go over and wait, don't take up someplace that people like me plan on using for what it's actually for"
People should stop doing superficial exercises like curls in general and start doing more compound ones. My arms are fairly large and I don't even devote a fucking day to doing dumbbell curls, barbell curls, hammer curls, concentration curls, resistance band curls, machine curls, ad infinitum. The biceps don't do anywhere near as much for your overall strength as any other muscle group, and should just be eliminated as a workout overall, unless you're training for some type of show.
Seems like a tough boot camp type of workout,but it also seems to have a lot of very sloppy movements that could get someone that doesn't know what the hell they are doing hurt.
I had a CrossFit gym about three miles from my house,but it closed down a few months ago,probably because there are about six other regular gyms in the vicinity.
I had a CrossFit gym about three miles from my house,but it closed down a few months ago,probably because there are about six other regular gyms in the vicinity.
Petra
Cult Mother and Simpering Cunt
I did a program that had curls for awhile. Think I built up to 25kg at some point. Some guys around 17 years old came in and started curling next to me. Think they had the 15kg bar.
Kid looked over, saw my weight and went and grabbed the 30kg bar. He couldn't do one curl, turned redand went back to the 15 with his friends.
Damn near peed myself laughing.
Really though, curls are so overrated. I like me deads, squats and rows. I do like the bench because I'm one of the few girls in my gym that can do more than the bar (max is 50kg right now).
I also love kettlebells. As long as I don't have to do the snatch.
Kid looked over, saw my weight and went and grabbed the 30kg bar. He couldn't do one curl, turned redand went back to the 15 with his friends.
Damn near peed myself laughing.
Really though, curls are so overrated. I like me deads, squats and rows. I do like the bench because I'm one of the few girls in my gym that can do more than the bar (max is 50kg right now).
I also love kettlebells. As long as I don't have to do the snatch.
Maggie Green
Official Checked Star Member
You don't exercise your snatch?
ApolloBalboa
Was King of the Board for a Day
I see kids like that all the time at the gym I go to. Teenagers grabbing a 30, 35, 40kg barbell and just doing curls with reckless abandon, hyperextending their spines, going through the motions, all that good stuff. Bunch of fuckin' morons, because I know if at any point I would try to be helpful and correct them, they'll be the prissy little teenagers they are, saying "Nah dude, I know what I'm doing".
I like doing deadlifts, squats, and rows as well, but I have to be careful because if I use too much weight in a given plane of motion or in a certain position, I get pain from spine compression (due to uneven hips and mild scoliosis). I haven't done bench press in a while, I'm much more in favor of pushups, alternating between dynamic, unstable (using a suspension trainer), and just going for how many I can do in a minute. I find it just a matter of practicality, there will be few to no occasions where I'll have to worry about how much I can bench, but more occasions where I might have to worry about how fast I can push myself up from the ground.
:nono:
While I wouldn't use a rack for curls, there is a benefit in that a the larger in circumference the bar's handle is the more it builds hand strength and helps build grip....and the thinking goes that if you are already lifting that weight for something else and you have the grip strength to hold on to it there isn't much of a reason to not use a thicker bar to keep building that strength.
Of course most people that do it are probably not thinking about that or care about grip strength and are just doing it to do it.
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