Yes, I would agree with you that lately it is trending more toward strength and less about endurance. Just watching the games this year was enough to make that determination. They had a ton of events and some were very much endurance oriented and some were much more strength oriented. The people who win the overall are the people who can finish top 8 in the endurance but can win or come top 3 in the strength. I think the reason is there is just so much more potential to lose time on a heavy lifting workout than on an endurance workout. Yes it would be easy for any endurance athlete to blow most of these guys out of the water on the endurance workouts, but that guy is going to be DFL in anything involving heavy weights or lots of body weight lifting like rope climbs, muscle ups, etc.

The games were extremely varied. They had bike crit racing. Swimming combined with paddle boarding and running. Assault bikes, ski ergs, and box jumps, etc. Those workouts tended to be pretty close, there may have been 1-3 people who were far ahead of the rest of the pack, but those people were way down the list when it came to speed power clean ladders, or the one event that was strictly heavy weight lifting. Matt Frasier has won the last 3 games and he is a pretty built guy who does not win the endurance workouts, but he stays in the top 10 in those workouts. He also doesn't always win the heavier stuff, but he stays top 3-5 in those. That is enough to win the overall so he has trended toward a bit bigger than the athletes used to be. Better to be able to run with the top 10-15 guys than to get on a heavy barbell and totally collapse and take last place in that event.

All that said, I wouldn't say that is the case in a typical CF gym for the average athlete. The big guys move some serious weight, but being fast is still important. I took 2nd in the scaled division of my first CF competition a few weeks ago. A workout buddy of mine took 4th, he can outsquat and outlift me on just about everything, sometimes by a large margin. But I am faster than him on other things and kept him close enough on the lifts so that he took 4th and I took 2nd. The last workout of the day involved a lot of assault bike and the guy who had been sitting in 5-6th place all day suddenly came out of nowhere and won that event, come to find out he is a serious MTB rider, he ended up in 3rd overall even though the guy in 4th could easily outlift him on any lift.

As with anything, ymmv and buyer beware.

Plus, minus, weigh the pros and cons, etc...

I feel like it appears to an outsider like it would be more difficult to "get in, get out, do your own thing".

Don't listen to me about balance. I've gone full retard on the cycling specific training and pretty much only do gym stuff that supports that.

But, I feel CF for the average joe would benefit from a bit more balanced than constantly ruining yourself.

FWIW: To me the weight vest thing is so freaking stupid. Just run faster. Give the joints a break.

Also, there's lots of free range of motion cable exercises you can do without using a weight vest also.

And box jumps. If you're a runner's knee issue person, forget box jumps. Wife messed herself up pretty good even under a trainer's care. Not doing CF, he just had her using one.

My niece owns a cross-fit gym. I don't cross-fit, nor will I but I'll never tell her. If you have any shoulder problems, stay away, they will get worse. I know very few people who do the whole x-fit thing that don't have shoulder problems. With that being said, I do agree with bradword, if you have good instructors it can be great, however, there are not a lot of good instructors and the intense effect from most of the exercises will put a hurt on your body in a bad way.

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TEAM HD
Each day is what you make of it so make it the best day possible.

I will lift a bit heavier during the "strength" portions of workouts but that is more like traditional weight lifting so it isn't "ruining oneself". I make sure to stay within my abilities during the fast paced "metcon" portion of the workout. That is where form tends to go out the window if you are tired and the weight is too high and that is when injuries happen. That is where the keeping the ego in check part comes in and not trying to match the metcon weight of the next guy.

I have never used a weighted vest, it typically only comes out once or twice per year in my experience. The big one is the Memorial Day "Murph" workout that most gyms do. It is 2 miles of running total, but the meat of the workout is 100 pullups, 200 pushups, and 300 squats so the vest is more oriented toward that. Also it is a memorial workout for a soldier and their training often involves running with a load on so it seeks to mimic that. But the vest is not typical, Memorial Day is the only day I have ever seen them used.

I sound like a CF apologist, ugh, I really don't talk about it much in day to day life, but there are a lot of misconceptions. Last point, box jumps do suck, I have 45 burpee box jumps to do tonight along with running and other frivolities. However as with everything in CF there is a scaled movement option for people who have issues or lack of ability. Box step ups are much easier, and if those are too much, walking or in place lunges are an option. All comes back to the ego and competition, if you don't create an issue for yourself by not doing scaled movements when you should, it really is pretty safe.

Thanks for the correction. At least I made clear I was not anywhere near on expert on the subject. My CrossFit owner/instructor probably used "anyone" as a euphemism and I took it literally.

Could be he was talking about generic "boxes". Not every CF style box is CF certified. But if they want to use the word CrossFit anywhere, they have to be certified. I worked out for a bit years ago at a place called "The Militia Box" it was definitely CF style workouts but I don't think they were certified in any way, and they did not use the word CrossFit. I'm sure there are plenty of places like that, probably best to stick with the places that go through the CF qualifications.

I go to a SGX gym (Spartan training). We do some of the same oly lifts and exercises, but with higher reps and a bit less weight. We also do much more endurance/cardio training.

As a recovering triathlete, I was never much into weights. With SGX, I get a great balance of strength training, speed, agility, and endurance in a group setting. I look forward to going to workouts now. I never know if we will be doing a set of intervals on the incline trainer combined with burpees one day or pull-ups and tire flips the next. It is always changing.

I call it Adult Recess because we get to do cool things like tug of war, spear throwing, and wall climbing.

And with SGX, we are not required to 1) have tattoos 2) tell everyone about it 3) wear anything made by Under Armour.

x2. Know your limits and keep your ego in check, and I think injury risk is pretty darn low.

I carefully pick my moments to go all-in beast-mode, e.g. when it's all movements that I know I have down super solid.

Uhhh, its Reebok bruh! :)

Go for it. One tip: DO NOT allow your ego to egg you into weights that are too heavy. Your ego will sneak up on you so be wary. Doing the Olympic lifts with poor form and too heavy weights are a sure recipe for permanent injury, such as blowing out a disc in your low back. Shoot, bodyweight movements only and a 45 lb. barbell would be sufficient for most middle-aged people.

Oh, and modify, modify, modify to accommodate your fitness and strength levels.

Oh, and don't go paleo. Just don't.

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War is god

//Go for it. One tip: DO NOT allow your ego to egg you into weights that are too heavy. Your ego will sneak up on you so be wary. Doing the Olympic lifts with poor form and too heavy weights are a sure recipe for permanent injury, such as blowing out a disc in your low back. Shoot, bodyweight movements only and a 45 lb. barbell would be sufficient for most middle-aged people.

Oh, and modify, modify, modify to accommodate your fitness and strength levels.

Oh, and don't go paleo. Just don't. //

I completely agree with this. I've tried 4 different Xfit boxes (gyms) and finally found one that focuses on form over weight. Many of the members are triathletes or ultra-distance runners mixed with cops, firefighters, professionals. About half of the members are female and they kill it. As long as you scale your workouts and focus on the long term and don't get caught up in the competition in the moment you enjoy it. It is really fun, just don't go on a triathlon forum and tell anyone about it. (don't worry, I won't tell anyone).

So here is the plan, or it should be. Do CrossFit for a year, then do a triathlon. Then brag on the other forum about how you hit a PB with nothing but CrossFit. Profit!

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

So in your CrossFit plan, how does it work? Do you do a certain number of reps with your left, then your right? Is kipping allowed?

I really don't want to know what "hitting a PB" means.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

"And with SGX, we are not required to 1) have tattoos 2) tell everyone about it 3) wear anything made by Under Armour."


First rule of crossfit: talk about crossfit.
Second rule of crossfit: Talk about crossfit!

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-----------------------------Baron Von Speedypants
-----------------------------RunTraining articles here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...runtraining;#1612485

Distance

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)