Any experience with CrossFit?

[GMackey32]

This is what's kept me away from the CrossFit world. I don't need to be doing compound moves with heavy weight at my age.

It's a recipe for injury. Boredom and injury are the biggest reasons I take pauses in working out. (Although fighting like hell through this plantar plate tear at the moment)

I didn't know it at the time, because I thought it was just normal post ACL injury, but it did help me identify that I had a Cyclops Lesion inside my knee since I couldn't squat right or bend my knee past a certain degree. It also helped me identify that my old shoulder injury from college caused an impingement that was starting to "saw" on my rotator cuff. Had surgery on both

But because of my injury history, I did end up tearing the meniscus in that same knee due to instability and caused another Cyclops Lesion and another surgery. And years of compensating for my left shoulder eventually wore down my right shoulder and now I'm having the same issues in that shoulder.

If I had no prior joint injuries, I'd probably still be doing it. I just got tired of rehabbing back to 100% and then something else going wrong.

 

[cyclonedave25]

There’s 3 reasons I don’t like crossfit.
1) Very few people in there should be Olympic Weightlifting to failure on reps. Those lifts are meant for explosive power training, not necessarily endurance failure. I always cringe when I see people snatching their 10th rep, with awful form, moderate-heavy weight, knee valgus, and they just keep attempting reps.
2) Kipping pull ups. (If they still do those)
3) Their culture kind of annoys me.

 

[Cydkar]

Hey all, looking to whip myself back into shape. Over the last year I’ve let my health slide with a lack of exercise and was wondering what experience people had with CrossFit? I’ve done farrells and kosama before and they were good. Used to Play basketball regularly but it doesn’t look like that’s coming back anytime soon. I’ve lifted on my own before on and off but do better from an accountability standpoint when I have a group with me. Never really been trained how to lift before so was hoping the oversized with CrossFit would help teach along the way. What’s your experience with it?

You will get in shape and get injured at some point.

 

[Cdiedrick]

I didn't know it at the time, because I thought it was just normal post ACL injury, but it did help me identify that I had a Cyclops Lesion inside my knee since I couldn't squat right or bend my knee past a certain degree. It also helped me identify that my old shoulder injury from college caused an impingement that was starting to "saw" on my rotator cuff. Had surgery on both

But because of my injury history, I did end up tearing the meniscus in that same knee due to instability and caused another Cyclops Lesion and another surgery. And years of compensating for my left shoulder eventually wore down my right shoulder and now I'm having the same issues in that shoulder.

If I had no prior joint injuries, I'd probably still be doing it. I just got tired of rehabbing back to 100% and then something else going wrong.

You will get hurt again. I did Cross for two years and loved it but I was injuring my shoulder or back a couple of times a year. Mind you I was 36-38 years old. It is a great workout and a lot of fun but it’s common to get injured. Not so much if you are in your 20’s.

 

[GMackey32]

You will get hurt again. I did Cross for two years and loved it but I was injuring my shoulder or back a couple of times a year. Mind you I was 36-38 years old. It is a great workout and a lot of fun but it’s common to get injured. Not so much if you are in your 20’s.

Yep. At some point the body breaks down. I'm in my mid 30's now and got out before injuries really started racking up. I honestly wish it'd had been around when I was in high school or more accessible in my early 20's before my body started breaking down.

 

[BryceC]

that’s actually the one I’d potentially go to as it’s closest to me.

My kids do some Acceleration Iowa stuff there in the winter and they really like it. I think the staff is really good.

 

[clone4life82]

My kids do some Acceleration Iowa stuff there in the winter and they really like it. I think the staff is really good.

actually I saw that while poking around the website and will likely sign our kids up for that too (regardless of if I do CrossFit or not).

 

[BryceC]

actually I saw that while poking around the website and will likely sign our kids up for that too (regardless of if I do CrossFit or not).

It's not cheap by one of my kids just loves running around and doing that kind of thing more than sports, so it kind of replaces that.

 

[Drew0311]

I work out at Krave gym and they have a couple locations in Waukee and West Des Moines. Crossfit does to many injury prone lifts and I know a lot of crossfit people that get hurt way to often working out. The gym I go to is more of a High intensity workout with cardio and weights. Very few injuries and I have been going for 4 years now. Crossfit is just way to hard on the body in my opinion.

 

[Cydwinder]

Seeing a lot of people talking shout going to failure on Olympic lifts and the number of injuries from CrossFit. While I can’t say my experience is universal to all gyms, but I’ve never once seen our gym push to failure in any exercise, especially Olympic lifting. I’ve had coaches step in during workouts to switch to different exercises to prevent you from building bad habits. For me, it sounds like the coaches at all places are the biggest difference. You need to have coaches who build the range of motion and proper technique before adding weight. Otherwise you are going to set yourself up for injuries at some point.

 

[tec71]

I just turned 49. I've been doing CrossFit for over 8 years in two different gyms and about a year in my garage. I've been in nearly fifty CrossFit gyms when I travelled for work. They are all different. I'm not the fittest guy. I'm a busy dad. I've had one injury during that time. That came from playing basketball at Iowa State Basketball camp when I ruptured my Achilles tendon. If you can't control yourself you can get hurt doing CrossFit just like I did playing basketball. You warm up. You tone down your ego for the first month or so. You use weights you can control. You don't go too fast ever. You get faster as you become more attuned to the movements. You ask questions. You get used to not being the fastest. Occasionally your kid asks you why so many people finish before you. If you jump in and max hard the first week you won't be able to go back even if you didn't hurt yourself because you won't be able to walk. In my experience, the better gyms and the ones with the least likelihood of injury have very organized classes with coaches who actually instruct (not just say "ok were starting in 5 minutes), where they warm up as a group and also demonstrate the movements before the workout, and where they warm up with the movements in the workout that day. But some people love a CrossFit gym where it's much less structured. If the first day you walk in they hand you a barbell and turn you loose, put the barbell down and leave. Find a different gym. If you've never Olympic lifted before that's how you get hurt. I did Farrells and Kosama before that, and liked both of them. I ran marathons and road races before that. CrossFit isn't better or worse than a lot of other programs. It is simply different. It has a different philosophy. Like someone said if you've been taught to make the movements strict then lots of people have a hard time with CrossFit's willingness to use momentum. If you like to grind out 45 minutes every time you work out you'll struggle with a day where it's 15 minutes of max squatting, or a 7 minute sprint style workout. The only way to know if you like it is to go into a gym and try it. If you like what you see at that gym. Give it a month. It might not be for you. It might be. If you kind of like it but the gym doesn't fit you try another one nearby.

 

[CloneGuy8]

The first rule of crossfit is talk about crossfit as much as possible.

Seriously though, if you're just looking to lose some weight and be healthier, I'd start with diet and cardio. I'll give a recommendation for weight watches; I've lost over 40 pounds over the past couple years from it.