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Love it or hate it, no other 'movement' has quite revolutionized the fitness industry and world like crossfit. I just recently read an article about how crossfit gyms have been overtaking conventional gyms in terms of growth and numbers.
Before crossfit and WOD's, most Americans probably never heard of snatches and clean and jerks. Nowadays, Oly lifts and the like are everywhere.
I do like the concept of working very hard for short periods of time.
But I don't like the way some of these workouts involve using complex lifting moves, as it leads to form breakdown and injuries.
BUT--now here is the part where I lapse into my XFit snobbery: I must say that the overall fitness level of the guys--and a few chicks--at my box is far higher than it was at any traditional gym I went to. Mind you: maybe not for pure strength, i.e. one-time max bench presses or dead lifts, but for....yes here it comes: functional fitness level. You would be amazed at how badly some newcomers, fresh from Planet Fitness or wherever, who claimed to be in already great shape, suck wind and look like they're gonna pass out after their first few WOD's. I have just seen it too many times to dispute it. In fact, I was one of them, some 3 mos. ago.
I don't think it's surprising at all. It's a matter of muscle memory more than a lack of fitness. If you don't play football, ever, and suddenly you and your pals get together and have a pickup game where you sell out and play, you are going to be sucking wind and sore afterward. If you do that every Saturday afternoon, after a while you won't be as sore. A person who is fit but exposing himself/herself to a new sort of physical challenge is likely not going to come out looking as good as less fit people who have been doing it for a while. Again, it's a matter of muscle memory more so than a lack of fitness.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Der Vogel
It is no coincidence, nor merely a fashionable trend that XFit has been adopted now by countless law enforcement agencies, as well as the Armed Forces. These people care nothing about "flavor of the month" trends and only are interested in what has proven to be effective. Right?
Crossfit is pretty popular amongst the troops, mainly because it can be modified and done in forward locations where there is no gym equipment. All you needed was a few straps, clips and a filled hesco barrier and you're set. As soon as the weights arrived most guys abandoned the crossfit and went with the weights. Still you will find HIIT and crossfit facilities on military bases just the same as conventional gyms. We have all body types in the military so it makes sense to provide a wide range of fitness equipment so we are accommodating everyone.
So, you never exercised your whole life (we will get to your 20 years method in a second), yet after 11 weeks of crossfit, you all of a sudden are some expert to evaluate crossfit versus every other form of exercise methods?
You state "It personally believe it is superior to regular standard gym training, which I previously did for 20 years", you must have had a s**t routine if after a whole whopping 11 weeks you are in the best shape of your life. I cannot even imagine any exercise routine that would make someone stay in such bad shape, that 11 weeks of crossfit would make them in even better shape.
What do you think about it? Like about it? Hate about it.
I do not hate nor like anything about it, it is just yet another routine people do. Of course I can point out numerous things I see done wrong, but that in itself is not a critique of crossfit, just the dopey coaches running it, and these issues are not unique to crossfit either. What ever gets someone off the sofa, all the power to it.
The only thing I do find annoying are some of the people that go there, how do I know they go there? Oh yes, they tell you, then they seem to mention it again, and again, and along with that, the idiotic, pretentious attitude they have as well (such as demonstrated by the OP).
Also, its success is from marketing, the concept of crossfit is nothing new at all, has been around for decades, at least as far back as I can remember, but we use to call it "cross training".
Read my post a bit more closely.
....and you will see what I said was that I have been going to gyms for 20 years. Actually longer; I have been athlete since high school.
If you knew a bit more about CrossFit you would understand how someone--even like me who was already in good shape for his age--could indeed attain optimum fitness levels--best ever--from even only three months.
Lastly--in this post you have attacked me, questioned my fitness and training, used the word s*** insofar as my past training, and also called me idiotic and pretentious.
Who is really being those things here? I asked for opinions on X-Fit, and acknowledged its drawbacks. And yet you attack. Another tough guy with Internet Muscles! LOL. (I would give $10 to get you into my box with me for a WOD or two! LOL again at that thought!)
....and you will see what I said was that I have been going to gyms for 20 years. Actually longer; I have been athlete since high school.
If you knew a bit more about CrossFit you would understand how someone--even like me who was already in good shape for his age--could indeed attain optimum fitness levels--best ever--from even only three months.
I know plenty about crossfit, guarantee more than you being you have been involved for all of 11 weeks, but thanks for the advice.
If after 11 weeks of crossfit you are now in the best shape of your life, then that means your previous 20 years of exercise has been s**t, plain and simple. I do not know how to relay that to you in any simpler language than that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Der Vogel
Lastly--in this post you have attacked me, questioned my fitness and training, used the word s*** insofar as my past training, and also called me idiotic and pretentious.
I did not attack you, I made a statement of fact, in that if by doing crossfit twice a week for 11 weeks you are now in the best shape of your life, that simply means your previous routine over the last 20 years was garbage. That is not an insult, that is a fact.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Der Vogel
Who is really being those things here? I asked for opinions on X-Fit, and acknowledged its drawbacks. And yet you attack. Another tough guy with Internet Muscles! LOL. (I would give $10 to get you into my box with me for a WOD or two! LOL again at that thought!)
You asked for opinions, with the overtone (coupled with your posts on another thread) that crossfit is superior to everything else.
Why are people so dependent on others to get into shape? Would you agree that many of the people primarily go to socialize when they might not have friends otherwise? Why is the cost so high when the equipment costs 1/50th of a real gym with machines and cardio equipment? Why do people have a cult mentality?
CrossFit is expensive, I admit. Ah, but if you look at it as a form of both entertainment and self-improvement, and a hobby, and a life-changing regimen all in one, that I ask: what price can you put on that? It comes out for me to the equivalent of a large Starbucks coffee a day. To me that is well worth the price.
I am not sure that I could say people go there to socialize. In fact, we seem to attract more of the loner type who thinks standard gyms are full of posers and smiley-faced young know-nothing little trainers and cardboard cut-out cheesecake front desk girls whose idea of working out is pressing the buttons on their ipods.
Our members also see very quickly that those gyms are over-hyped and geared to allow people to work at a comfort level, no more; especially on the cardio equipment, with the laughable taarget heartrate graphs and "fat-burning zone" LED's. Many people go to gyms for years and never see any improvement in their overall functional fitness; they just maintain it and maybe some of the guys get their beach muscles.
Then they come to a box and a little 128 lb. girl whips their butts doin' a Fran or a Murph. LOL. (or my personal favorite: a Filthy 50)
I do notice a sort of cult mentality at my box, and I think it is due to the fact that the members looks at Crossfit as a sort of elite club in which maybe 5% of the population could hang with.
My daughter is very much into Crossfit. She almost talked me into trying it when I visited her. I have never done it and I have a few minor reservations about it. I always to pullups in my upper body workouts and I don't care for the kipping pullups. I'm pushing 60 with a torn meniscus and extreme low back tightness and I'm just not able to do some of the things they do in a workout.
My daughter has found a gym that seems very good. They do a lot of technique training and flexibility work. They have teams that compete on the state level. It seems that competition is a big part of Crossfit. It seems to appeal to people who have done or do triathalons and adventure races, and want to expand into strength competition.
It seems to me that Crossfit would attract more serious type fitness people as opposed to the average people you see at a YMCA or LA Fitness. I wonder how Crossfit gyms survive financially since they seem to focus on and attract what seems to me to be a narrow clientele.
The main difference I see is the traditional gym people seem to want maximum size and dislike crossfit because that isn't the intent of it. Depends on what results you are looking for.
Good point. It's all about your goals.
I've never done the CrossFit program per se, but have incorporated the principle into my workouts at times. Based on what I've read about the XFit program, it seems like an effective way to attain a kind of all-around fitness. All-around fitness is good. But again, it's about your goals. If general fitness is your goal, XFit can be a good way to accomplish this.
XFit is not necessarily the only way. I recall being in pretty damn good "all-around" shape in the days when the staples of my exercise regimen were simply running and lifting. But XFit can provide this as well. Still, if your goal is to gain maximum mass, run a marathon, or get as strong as possible, a workout skewed toward whichever of these goals you're pursuing will probably get you there better than XFit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Der Vogel
It is no coincidence, nor merely a fashionable trend that XFit has been adopted now by countless law enforcement agencies, as well as the Armed Forces. These people care nothing about "flavor of the month" trends and only are interested in what has proven to be effective.
I wouldn't be surprised. These occupations require fitness for a variety of functions. A program aimed at "functional" or "all-around" fitness is likely to be useful for this purpose. Again, it all depends on your goals.
Why are people so dependent on others to get into shape? Would you agree that many of the people primarily go to socialize when they might not have friends otherwise? Why is the cost so high when the equipment costs 1/50th of a real gym with machines and cardio equipment? Why do people have a cult mentality?
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "dependent on others," but the first sentence in your post does point up one objection I have to XFit. I said in a post above that I have sometimes incorporated the general idea of XFit into my workouts, so I do see value in the principle behind XFit. I'd rather work this out for myself, though, and find the variety that works best for me, not be locked into a prescribed Workout of the Day that's offered as a one-size-fits-all daily sequence of exercises for all participants.
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