I did both for a while and in the end I gave up crossfit. I found that it just wasn't compatible because I was unable to do my swim, bike or run sessions any justice because my body was ruined already from the 3 crossfit sessions.

I remember a number of occasions where I would attempt to a SBR session but couldn't do it because the DOMs would stop me actually doing it.

If you're not planning to SBR until the spring then maybe it'd be ok if that's what you want to do.

I think ultimately I just need to lose weight. However, I am a member of a good masters club and enjoy competing. I'm worried that this will impact on that. It sounds like it might and I too would be concerned that I would just end up too broken to do anything else - I've not lifted weights since my days playing rugby 20 years ago.

Why not just do traditional weight lifting or circuit training? You can always just do bodyweight strength trainjng. CrossFit always seems like a young man's game. Triathlon is hard enough on the body. Crossfit seems even harder on the body. I'm 45. No way I'm doing crossfit. Some of the workouts interest me since I like circuit training style stuff but that kipping crap and some of the lifts where they're really thowing around the weights. For me, that is an injury waiting to happen.

I second this, I tried to do both in the past 12 weeks during my training and found that I skipped crossfit a lot towards the end because of the DOMs, sore quads and tight hamstrings make cycling and running harder than they need to be.

Crossfit for the off season is a great idea, and is what I am going to stay with as well as cycling on other days.

I would tend to disagree, with caveats. I would say that beginning CrossFit while in a training cycle is likely not a good idea. If you take up CrossFit during the off season and train to a level where DOMS isn't as likely then I believe it is a great form of cross training for Triathlon. Age is irrelivant, I am 43 and have been doing it for a couple of years. During the season I modify the exercises and/or lighten the weight to reduce fatigue, but honestly doing functional compound movements like squats, deadlifts, wallballs, burpees, pullups have all contributed to power and injury resistance during training. Like anything else what works and doesn't work is often person dependent. I am just giving a counterpoint.

^^ This.

I think it's a great cross training activity. But, with the caveat to be sure you're working within your means, not overdoing it, stretching A LOT and listening to your body when it needs a break.

Makes me think of the joke, How do you know if someone does crossfit? don't worry they will tell you, seems the same applies to triathletes.
So which would you say you are first? Crossfitter or triathlete ? lol,,

On a serious note, I know a bunch of people who do it and almost all have had some type of back injury from it, I was thinking of trying it but don't want to risk not being able to do anything for while because of it.

Unfortunately that does happen. However I have found that is a combination of bad trainers and inflated egos. Too many CF coaches, once established don't go back to CrossFit 101, they just throw new members in the mix and when they see everyone else using Rx weights they think they can as well. Its a recipe for disaster. Even pull ups should be a gentle progression, if someone jumps up and starts kipping without gaining base strength, they are setting themselves up for injury.

Now, if a triathlete begins training for the first time, or after a long period of inactivity, and starts off with high volume training, hill repeats, and speed sessions, what do you think will happen? You can get hurt in any discipline if you don't start the right way and progress properly.

CrossFitter or Triathlete? I identify as an old man trying to cheat age to the best of his ability. And I use many activities to do it.

I second that first line. CrossFit typically encourages and reinforces bad form which is critical to getting the most out of weight training, unless you are very confident your CF instructor is both attentive to your form and ensures all people have great form all the time (which isn't very likely in a group class format). On that same note, if you lift on your own, ensure you get a personal trainer for 3 sessions just to ensure you are practicing perfect form and know when to stop. I don't think age matters when you have good form and stay within your limits. Many people try to lift to failure which again, reinforces bad form, just know your limits and lift heavy in the off-season. Once you begin the training cycle, keep lifting lighter and really just switch to more functional movements. 3x a week hitting hard is great for the off-season but 2x max in the build.

---

808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

^^^^This. I did Crossfit for about 2 years. I have a runner's skinny legs and wanted to get better cycling muscles. I did get bigger but those workouts killed me for doing SBR work. I was always exhausted and I don't think I always got good recovery time. I will also say that, unless you have a weightlifting background, there are a LOT of technical movements in Crossfit. I had good coaches who knew my goals and background and helped me focus on form. But bad form in Crossfit = injury. I think if Crossfit had been all deadlifts, squats, rope climbs, rowing, wall ball and flexibility work I would still be doing it. But the crazy shit like clean and jerks, power cleans and jump rope double-unders made it miserable for me.

I know there is a lot of criticism of Crossfit on these boards. I have to believe most of it is from people who have never done it. The community atmosphere inside the gyms is strong. And those people are killer fit too. Long distance tri fit? No. But still very fit. My experience with Crossfit was overall very positive, but I do not believe it is compatible with serious triathlon training.

---

It is the mind itself which builds the body.
-Joseph Pilates

I've done it and look, I think CrossFit can be a wonderful place if you have a great instructor or several good ones who can always keep a watchful eye on EVERYONE, regardless of lifting ability, to see bad form when it appears and stop or correct it, because it always ends up in bad form the more one pushes. The sad truth is a large majority of gyms do not have enough instructors or even good single instructors so the odds are against it being a good idea for most people. If you are someone who has good form and knows when your form is deteriorating without needing a mirror (the 3 CF gyms i've been at lack mirrors), fine, great for you, have fun at CF but very few people can do that.

p.s. can we all at least agree that those kicking pull-ups are stupid?

---

808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

Crossfit is brilliant for getting good at doing Crossfit workouts. As specific training for competition it's not that great. Even some of the top competitors at the Crossfit games aren't doing Crossfit in training.

" can we all at least agree that those kicking pull-ups are stupid? "

The worst.

The absolute worst.

Think Crossfit makes sense from where you are timing wise right now. Use it to kickstart your training for a few months, then probably transition to full triathlon training? Have a lot of buddies who are part of great Crossfit gyms that they love from both a focus on form / injury prevention perspective as well as the whole community / motivational bit.

There's a crossfit gym right along a paved trail where we run. We see them shuffling for 1 mile at 10 min/mile every evening. One of the guys "runs" with a ballistic west on. Doesn't look like a Chinese paintball knockoff either. Looks like the real deal plate carrier with MOLLE webbing.

I completely agree with this and had success doing it. I had taken a year off from any triathlons due to a cross-country move, new job, first child, etc. But my new office had a CrossFit gym across the street and it was convenient so I tried it...and loved it. I suffered initially, as would any person starting such a radical new program, but stuck with it. By the time I started back to IM race training, the break-in period was over. I did the same as Najo recommended and modified my CF training to reduce weights and increase endurance. My experience was the same as Najo described: more power, much lower rate of injury during training, and much quicker recovery times. And, a significant reduction in my race time and race recovery time as well.

Out of race season, I do the regular workouts...which is actually nice to have the shift in exercises and focus.

You know what crossfit is good for? ... Crossfit.

If you want to do it because you find it fun awesome, but it is sub optimal ironman training.

..

So it seems to have polarised opinion quite significantly. I agree that come next year when the miles ramp up I am going to have to ditch anything that isn't swim / bike / run. I think I am looking at it currently purely from a weight loss point of view however. I think for me, this side of xmas I need to shift at least 20kgs as ideally I need to race next summer around 75. From that point of view it might be worth a go.

However, it does cost a small fortune. I have been looking into rejoining the gym I used to train at as they have some good circuit type classes in the early mornings. That is a lot cheaper, and may be more beneficial in terms of doing more gym type exercises as opposed to the crossfit training regime which sounds from some like it may lead my body up the path of ruin.

Already dropped 2kgs in 2.5 weeks, so hopefully some sort of gym based exercise will accelerate that.

If you're looking for inexpensive and needing to shed weight there's nothing cheaper than free. Checkout fitnessblender.com and darebee.com. Both have a variety of workouts to follow. Fitnessblender has videos to follow. Both have lots of HIIT workouts.

That's not a bad rate IMO. When I competed in bodybuilding I tried not to lose more than a pound a week in order to keep the training intensity up. Each has their own rate and in the first few weeks a lot of it is water weight especially if one is reducing carbohydrates and sodium levels. I learned early on that losing too fast can lead to an early burn out or have a negative impact on training day to day. Recovery becomes more difficult and while it is encouraging and motivating for the initial weight loss I found that holding back the reigns a little on the weight loss can help most endure the weeks to come in terms of fueling training. In fact my last competition I set my precontest training out at 20 weeks and set a goal for a meager 0.22 kgs per week. I kept on track with this slower rate and training strength remained pretty good while adding in more cardio sessions. I won my class and qualified for NPC Nationals in that event. This was better for me (N=1) than previous years where I won my class, but felt like death warmed over and day to day training was hard because I set the goal too aggressively.

Think it over. Pick your desired poison (form of training for weight loss), but think about how quickly you may want to accelerate and if doing this will impact training intensity and recovery in a negative way. I have met and trained quite a few people that can lose weight quickly and are not effected as much in terms of quick weight loss, but a larger percentage that I have trained began to struggle trying to keep up the training load after a number of weeks.

Best wishes

Interesting, you have given me a lot to think about. All the gains in strength, power and injury resistance I have achieved through CrossFit must have been a strange coincidence.

There will always be proponents and naysayers on this topic, but like I said before it has a lot to do with the coaching, and a lot to do with the individual.

In the end I would say try everything twice, you never know what will work for you.

I've done Crossfit a few times and there is a huge difference between good and bad coaches. A bad coach had me doing high rep snatches as one of my first workouts... I didn't know any better and tore my rib cartilage, which is one of the most painful things I've ever gone through. After that I learned that you can be a certified coach with what was basically a few hour class over the course of a weekend.

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but can anyone tell me if a USAT certification is basically the same thing? By that I mean, is it you simply have to show up and take a class on a Saturday and then an exam that pretty much everyone with a brain passes?

For USAT Level 1 you have to go to a clinic and pass an examination. Its not extremely difficult, and you will find a variance in the quality of coaching at that level. The Ironman Certified coach is online, but it is a challenging test.