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Tell me about crossfit...

buildyourown

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
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South Seattle
One just opened up by my house. I live in a neighborhood that is otherwise devoid of gyms so it really is the only option for winter workouts other than sitting on my trainer in the basement.
Half of it looks cool. Good variety, good core and explosive power excercises that would transfer well to the bike.
The other half looks like a bunch of meatheads powerlifting and talking about how much canned tuna and chicken breast they eat for breakfast.
The crossfit.com page looks like it's run by a office of douchebags, but I'm sure it varies from gym to gym.
 
Sandwich

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
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borcester rhymes
you can read what i've already posted via the search, but to summarize:

crossfit combines full body/range of motion exercises with endurance based challenges.

It sounds so simple, but it's so very complex. An arm curl becomes the devil after you do it for a while. I haven't worked as hard or sweat as much in years. I've been off it for a while and got fat again.

Crossfit is the opposite of meatheads...or it should be.
 
Sandwich

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
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oh also, an actual crossfit facility will give you everything you need for exercises and other people to do them with you. The website pretty much gives you supporting documents, including the workout of the day, which you could follow every day and still get a great workout. There are workout demos which are absolute lifesavers too.

I thought about getting certified but the gym nearest me kind of blows.
 
stevew

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
40,575
9,586
there is also crossfit endurance...a whole different ring of hell...
 
TheTruth

TheTruth

Turbo Monkey
Jun 15, 2009
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I think crossfit endurance is way more useful than burst and sprint training. Maybe it will help with coming out of the start but you won't be able to pedal the rest of the course. That is the story of the horrendous american dh riders.
 
buildyourown

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
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South Seattle
TheTruth said:
I think crossfit endurance is way more useful than burst and sprint training. Maybe it will help with coming out of the start but you won't be able to pedal the rest of the course. That is the story of the horrendous american dh riders.
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Dude, read up on anaerobic vs aerobic training. They are very different things. Pushing your anaerobic threshold and training your body to perform after you've crossed the line is what's it all about. Hardcore aerobic training is counterproductive and actually makes you slower. If your workouts aren't anaerobic, then you are going backwards.
 
TheTruth

TheTruth

Turbo Monkey
Jun 15, 2009
3,893
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I'm waving. Can you see me now?
buildyourown said:
Dude, read up on anaerobic vs aerobic training. They are very different things. Pushing your anaerobic threshold and training your body to perform after you've crossed the line is what's it all about. Hardcore aerobic training is counterproductive and actually makes you slower. If your workouts aren't anaerobic, then you are going backwards.
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So your saying cross country is bad training for dh???
 
Arkayne

Arkayne

I come bearing GIFs
May 10, 2005
3,738
15
SoCal
I did a crossfit class during my vaca in Vancouver, this is how it went:

15 box jumps (5 diff sizes)
15 lunges per leg
400m run

repeat 5 times and choose a different sized box each time. Get your baseline time for that day and beat it the next time around.

I couldn't walk straight for 4 days.
 
Sandwich

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
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borcester rhymes
Arkayne said:
I couldn't walk straight for 4 days.
Click to expand...
I bet your legs felt tired too....wah wah wah


But seriously...the hero workouts in particular will melt your face off, and the dirty girl workouts are no joke. Some of my favorites have been
5 rounds for time of
25 box jumps,
25 over head squats
25 deadlifts
25 KB swings
25 push presses.

Not sure that was actually one of them, but zomg it worked every part of me. The "fight gone bad" workouts are cool too because it's max effort in 1 minute...so max KB swings or pullups, rather than X number of them.
 
Leppah

Leppah

Turbo Monkey
Mar 12, 2008
2,294
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Utar
I've heard that crossfit is awesome. There's one not too far from where i live. Seems like a lot of MMA guys do that for training. I guess it focuses on being in overall good shape as opposed to having strong arms and wide shoulders like the meat heads at other gyms. I read a bit about it. Sounds like you are put in teams, and it's supposed to be somewhat like a bootcamp. I haven't been able to shell out the money for it or come up with the time to do it. but i'd like to do it sometime just to check it out. I heard it's awesome.
 
D

dbozman

Monkey
May 11, 2008
118
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Scottsdale, AZ
IMO, Crossfit is the premier overall fitness program of our time. I'm 41 years old, been doing CF for about 8 months or so. I'm physically stronger with more strength endurance than I've ever been/had.

The mental and physical toughness it's instilled has helped my biking as well.

I'm antisocial, so I spent a few hundred bucks on craigslist and bought all the gear I need to do the WODs (workout of the day) in my backyard. I follow the main site workouts, which are free.

My only real knock is that the workouts are hardcore. It's very easy to injure yourself if you're careless or have bad form. Off to do clean/jerks ...
 
buildyourown

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
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South Seattle
I went yesterday. Here are my impressions:

Very expensive. $165/month is kind of insane considering they don't even have expensive machines to pay for.

Very rigid. There is a workout. You do it. You can't tailor it to your injuries or weaknesses. I have no interest in doing crunches or push-ups. Running is just stupid.

Sloppy form prevails. The whole idea is to push you way past anaerobic and to keep going. Doing this while lifting is dangerous. I saw lots of too much weight and very poor form near the end. If I'm paying a trainer, I expect to get scolded when I fall out of form.
 
Sandwich

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
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May 23, 2002
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That sucks. If you're paying for it, they should A tailor it to you, and B make sure you're doing it right. Otherwise why not just buy a set of KBs and do it in your backyard?

Don't know why you frown on pushups and running, both are great exercises unless you have specific injuries...crunches...well meh.
 
joelsman

joelsman

Turbo Monkey
Feb 1, 2002
1,369
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B'ham
I have heard of quite a few injuries from bad form while doing crossfit. the idea is good but proper form would prevent the injuries.

my co-worker saw a video of a guy doing squats, he would go down fast till he sat on a box to stop him then go back up. his spine got compressed hard every rep.
 
J

JRogers

talks too much
Mar 19, 2002
3,785
1
Claremont, CA
joelsman said:
I have heard of quite a few injuries from bad form while doing crossfit. the idea is good but proper form would prevent the injuries.

my co-worker saw a video of a guy doing squats, he would go down fast till he sat on a box to stop him then go back up. his spine got compressed hard every rep.
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I used to ahve to do those for football workouts- "box squats". You could do an immense amount of weight, but no way could it be good for you.

The idea of doing cleans and other exercises when totally winded and fatigued sounds dangerous. I can go to my living room and pick up my TV 30 times if I want to hurt my back.
 
D

dbozman

Monkey
May 11, 2008
118
0
Scottsdale, AZ
buildyourown said:
I went yesterday. Here are my impressions:

Very expensive. $165/month is kind of insane considering they don't even have expensive machines to pay for.

Very rigid. There is a workout. You do it. You can't tailor it to your injuries or weaknesses. I have no interest in doing crunches or push-ups. Running is just stupid.

Sloppy form prevails. The whole idea is to push you way past anaerobic and to keep going. Doing this while lifting is dangerous. I saw lots of too much weight and very poor form near the end. If I'm paying a trainer, I expect to get scolded when I fall out of form.
Click to expand...
Can't comment on the price as I spent a few hundred to buy my own gear. The basis of CF is pushups, pullups and Oly lifts combined with running. I have never seen a crunch in any CF workout. Ever.

Yes, CF is rigid. That's the point. The WOD is the WOD. Period. If you can't move the weight, then you have to scale.

You are correct that too much weight and poor form leads to injury. It behooves the individual to understand his limits and to safely work past them. That's why I like doing it at home; takes away the competition aspects of CF
 
Sandwich

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
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borcester rhymes
JRogers said:
I used to ahve to do those for football workouts- "box squats". You could do an immense amount of weight, but no way could it be good for you.

The idea of doing cleans and other exercises when totally winded and fatigued sounds dangerous. I can go to my living room and pick up my TV 30 times if I want to hurt my back.
Click to expand...
the idea is not to rest on the box, but to use it as a guide for when you've come down enough. actually sitting on it or using it as a stop is terrible, but bumping your butt of it to tell you when you're down far enough is the idea. Yikes to anybody slamming down on it then trying to come back up.
 
manimal

manimal

Ociffer Tackleberry
Feb 27, 2002
7,212
17
Blindly running into cactus
we've been doing xfit on our Tact/swat team for a few years now and i love it. i don't do it religiously with their 3-on-1-off training cycle but i can get a better workout in 20 minutes of xfit than i could when i would lift for 3 hours at the gym. if you're just looking to get buff then xfit isn't for you but if you want the stamina and explosive power of a MMA fighter then go for it. i/we use it because our job takes us from 0% exertion to 100% exertion in a matter of seconds and we need to have the endurance and strength to win the fight.

xfit is coming out with a movie pretty soon about the xfit games. pretty intense stuff and, if you look closely at the competitors, there are not a lot of "meatheads."

i found a good xfit vid of 'normal' people demonstrating the exercises.

my most hated workout is the deck of cards:

Aces = run 400m
Hearts = push-ups
Diamonds = squats
Clubs = sit ups
Spade = pull-ups
Joker = 15 Burpees

Leader has shuffled deck of cards. face cards = 10 count, every other = number on card for reps. do the math; 52 cards, 4 suites, ........
no rest between cards, next one is drawn as soon as slowest person finishes. it's a great team building workout :thumb:

edit:
good explanation of the how/why of xfit mentality
http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_FGBSCDemoExplanation.wmv
 
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Prettym1k3

Prettym1k3

Turbo Monkey
Aug 21, 2006
2,864
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In your pants
My friend's boyfriend/fiance'/future baby's daddy is a crossfit owner. The crossfit people swear by it. But then again, my brother lost like 25 pounds doing P90X, and my friend who is a personal trainer swears by P90X. What works for some people doesn't for others.
 
manimal

manimal

Ociffer Tackleberry
Feb 27, 2002
7,212
17
Blindly running into cactus
Prettym1k3 said:
My friend's boyfriend/fiance'/future baby's daddy is a crossfit owner. The crossfit people swear by it. But then again, my brother lost like 25 pounds doing P90X, and my friend who is a personal trainer swears by P90X. What works for some people doesn't for others.
Click to expand...
it also depends on what you want out of a fitness program. i have several friends/coworkers who do p90x and love it. if you want to get sculpted fast and have the discipline to stick with it religiously then it's great. if you want to outlast someone in a fight...go for crossfit, hence the large military/law enforcement following.
 
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