I’ve been thinking about checking out CrossFit for awhile now. I know some people love it, others hate it… and there’s a lot of controversy surrounding it. Before I make my own judgements I wanted to see for myself what it’s all about. Over the summer I purchased a group for 1 month of unlimited class at CrossFit Hell’s Kitchen and finally redeemed my groupon and took the required basics course this morning
I’ve “dabbled” in CrossFit a tiny bit, first taking a CrossFit inspired class at Pink Iron in Los Angeles where we did a timed WOD (spoiler alert: I kicked major butt because I wanted to prove I wasn’t some newbie…) and I took a class at CrossFit One when I visited the Reebok HQ in October. While I’ve enjoyed those classes it’s only been a small taste of what CF is all about.
So, what is cross fit?
CrossFit is “Constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movement.”
CONSTANTLY VARIED: Always changing the workouts, never letting your body adapt
HIGH INTENSITY: How much weight you can move over the longest distance in the shortest amount of time while maintaining proper form and technique.
FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENTS: Movments humans were built for that are natural and safe. Movements we use in every day life such as squating, deadlifting, pulling yourself up, etc.
Why I’m intrigued by CrossFit:
– I love the focus on functional movement and lack of machines. While I generally prefer dumbbells to barbells I dislike most strength machines and avoid them in my own work outs and with clients. Looking around the box today I was so excited about all the different “toys” aka the gymnastics rings and pull up bars. I WANNA PLAY WITH THEM!
– the gains in CrossFit will translate to gains in flying trapeze since they incorporate a lot of the same muscles (and my arch nemesis, the pull-up). I’m all for anything that will make me a stronger flyer
– different WOD every day means it will never be boring… and therefore always challenging. As my favorite cycling instructor says “if it doesn’t challenge you it doesn’t change you”.
– you have the ability to scale back on exercises.
– community aspect. When my friend Sarah ran the Diva Half Marathon with me in October she had a gazillion text messages from the coaches at her box in Westchester and they posted about her on their Facebook page. How supportive and awesome is that?
– and honestly, because it looks kind of badass.
But here’s why I’m kind of terrified of cross fit:
– most importantly: I have a bad shoulder. Yeah, it was injured a year and a half ago thanks to flying trapeze, but my rotator cuff is still a bit tweaked and I’ve lost some flexibility and mobility on my right side.
– possibility for other injuries. I think we’ve all heard horror stories about CrossFit gone wrong. But then again many of my trapeze friends have had their fair share of flying injuries, so it’s may just be a part of our chosen sports.
– focus on speed. I’m a believer that slow and steady wins the fitness race because it means I will have good form. I’m a bit worried about racing for time (and bragging rights) because it means form gets sloppy… which brings us back to injury
– and to be be blunt- it’s something I’m not going to be good at right away which became apparent today at barbell basics.
Barbell Basics
Today’s class was a required basics class for anyone who purchased the groupon. The class started off with an overview of what CrossFit is (word for word the definition from above) and some essentials we needed to know. I was most intrigued by this holistic approach to training and creating well rounded athletes. It got me excited to start WOD-ing it up.
After talking for a bit we all grabbed a barbell so we could learn the basic olympic lifting moves. I’ve done my fair share of squats and deadlifts but don’t have much experience with olympic lifting… or really barbells beyond Body Pump since I usually use dumbbells.
(at Reebok’s CrossFit One)
The hardest part for me was the weight of the female bar- I believe he said it was 35 pounds. I’m not used to holding 35 pounds above my head, heck it’s a good day if I grab a pair of 10 pound weights at Uplift for chest presses. I also felt a few limitations from my lack of shoulder mobility (as is shown in the picture of me at CrossFit One above). It was seriously a [painful] struggle for me to get my shoulders up. I ended up swapping to the 10 pound training barbell so I could just work on my form and not worry about lifting the weight.
Today was proof that it will definitely be an interesting month of swallowing my pride and realizing that I am back at square one since this is a totally different way of working out than I’m used to.
Any CrossFit addicts out there? How about CrossFit phobics?
I’d love to hear about people’s experience with CrossFit whether they love it or hate it
I am totally Crossfit-phobic for one of the reasons you stated: the focus on speed terrifies me! Seems like you’re just asking for injuries if you’re doing difficult exercises for speed – I just don’t see how you CAN’T sacrifice form if you’re that focused on speed.
But either way – interested to hear about your experience with it! 🙂
good thing I’m not very competitive and will proudly take the exercises nice and slow… It should definitely be an interesting month learning more about it.
I’ve been going to Brick CrossFit for a few months and love it… but still have to swallow my pride most days since it always a challenge! The community and coaches really are amazing & supportive … more so anyone group I’ve ever met. Have fun this month!!
I think swallowing my pride is going to be the theme of this month.
I’ve heard amazing things about Brick and the coaches there. Definitely got to check them out
I just started crossfit this past summer (took a 2 month break in the fall and started back 2 weeks ago). I don’t like CF for the reasons you’ve mentioned – too many people pushing way beyond in bad form leading to injuries.
However – just as in running, I’ve learnt to scale it to what I can do. It has been as much about educating myself about CF and what my body can do rather than blindly following what the WOD says. And if that means I only do 2 rounds compared to the 4+ everyone else does, so be it.
Amen, I think that’s the best approach and how it stays safe but still is an effective workout.