So I have a friend who has been trying to convince me to get into Crossfit. I don’t really have any major issues with Crossfit besides getting annoyed with how much Crossfit people talk about Crossfit. But what are the negatives (if any) about Crossfit from a health and fitness side. Or is it legitimate?
It is thought that the cross fit method damages muscle fibre in a bad way.
Otherwise it is only circuit training that my grade school gym teacher used to have us do.
This has been gone over so many times.
99% of people who don’t like or disagree with crossfit have never steppep foot in a Crossfit box.
I personally think its great for anaerobic endurance.
It has its place just like tri training has its place.
A lot of people on here really dislike it but have never tried it. Is it a good workout, yes, is it good for your tri training that is debatable. I really like it especially in the off season. I stick to the more dynamic stuff that will really push your anaerobic system. I don’t do much of the heavy lifting stuff because I don’t want to gain much bulk. If you are tri training it is very hard to work it in and still get very good tri work out.
Its very beneficial and legit. Not very beneficial for triathlon but it is for general health as long as you don’t take it to extremes.I’ve done both and love them both.
So I have a friend who has been trying to convince me to get into Crossfit. I don’t really have any major issues with Crossfit besides getting annoyed with how much Crossfit people talk about Crossfit. But what are the negatives (if any) about Crossfit from a health and fitness side. Or is it legitimate?
Seriously, you think Crossfit people are bad - get two or more racing triathletes together, and they’ll make the conversation of Crossfitters look pleasant.
I’m no x-fitter, but I actually think the fitness goals of Crossfit are more applicable to quality of life than competitive triathlon. The lack of strength training as a rewarded component of triathlon is a big minus, as having good strength is really important for a lot of acts of daily living as well as success in playing and competing in a wide range of sports.
I’m also well aware you can obviously lift plenty of weights while being a competitive triathlete, but let’s be real here - all that weightlifting will give you essentially zero race time benefits in triathlon, whereas it’s a core component of x-fit and many other sports (basketball, football, soccer, etc.) Having lifted a lot of weights in my younger days, I’m well aware of how different the fitness is between strength and endurance, and the potential issues with not doing strength training regularly. As a basketball player when I did a LOT of upper and lower body strength training, I could play near any field sport all-out without risk of strain/sprain, or tear injury. Now as an endurance athlete, although I run/bike/swim faster than I did when I was 18, I have to be extremely careful playing basketball or soccer - the risk of a tendon or muscle tear is really high, despite being in good endurance form. I wouldn’t say the same if I were lifting regulary hi-intensity or doing a lot more 100m type sprint workouts that build that resistance to that type of injury.
So I have a friend who has been trying to convince me to get into Crossfit* triathlon*. I don’t really have any major issues with Crossfit* triathlon* besides getting annoyed with how much Crossfit* triathlon* people talk about Crossfit* triathlon*. But what are the negatives (if any) about Crossfit* triathlon* from a health and fitness side. Or is it legitimate?
FTFY 
So I have a friend who has been trying to convince me to get into Crossfit. I don’t really have any major issues with Crossfit besides getting annoyed with how much Crossfit people talk about Crossfit. But what are the negatives (if any) about Crossfit from a health and fitness side. Or is it legitimate?
Speaking as a crossfitter…
Rhabdo is in my opinion a non-issue, I’d make a wild-assed guess and say more triathletes drop dead each year from heart attacks than crossfitters get rhabdo each year, and its entirely possible that there are more people crossfitting than triathloning.
“CrossFit” is a brand, so don’t think that the experience at any individual “box” or gym is going to be the same as at any other. There are some gyms that are better or worse than others in a number of different ways for many different reasons. Programming, size, equipment, coaching in any number of disciplines (olympic lifting, gymnastics, endurance, powerlifting, strongman, etc, etc, etc), competition focus, friendliness, etc, etc.
That said, my experience with CrossFit has been mixed, I have been a member of several gyms, I have competed in the CrossFit Open for the past 3 years, and I have been injured in the process, generally from my own stupid mistakes. I also have been the leanest of my entire life while regularly crossfitting, the strongest I have ever been, and can do all kinds of stupid human tricks like muscle ups, handstand pushups, climbing ropes, etc.
When I started CrossFit, it was a couple weeks after finishing my first triathlon and I thought I’d walk in there like a badass and crush the “simple” workouts they were doing. Well no, that didn’t happen, I got my ass handed to me over, and over, and over. When I did my next triathlon, 4 months later, I had cut 3min/mi off of my run time, and during those 4 months, I had run only 1 5k, the rest of my running had all been 1 mi or less.
CrossFit has made me more aware of what I’m eating, quality of food, not just macronutrients, and more aware of the need to maintain myself via proper form/mobility/recovery which has kept me less prone to injury than I previously had been.
CrossFit will probably not ever produce a Kona champion, nor will it produce the world heavyweight powerlifter, but it tends to make for generally fitter individuals who excel at many different sports or who are just able to be more effective at daily tasks in life.
It’s all dependent on what you want out of your training.
Crossfit will not make you an amazing triathlete. If you are new to triathlons in general, yes you may see some benefits from triathlon, but at the point where you pass all of the “newbie” gains, crossfit may be a significant hinder to your triathlete abilities.
If you want to be fit, as in have decent strength, decent aerobic capacity and race triathlons, Crossfit isn’t bad.
But don’t drink into the kool-aid that crossfit will make you amazing at everything you do… Crossfit is there to make you better at one thing: crossfit. While this does translate well into the standardized western lifestyle and improves individuals fitness, you are not doing anything direct with sport specificity. If you wanna be a faster triathlete, you need to swim, bike and run. If you want to deadlift 400+, squat 400+ and still run a sprint triathlon in less than 1:15, crossfit will be right up your alley.
Side note: if anyone ever tells you that you can sacrifice form for time because you’re “adapted” to it, leave… immediately…
Probably the best GPP workout. Research the box you decide to go to thoroughly prior, as CFHQ had ZERO quality control beyond letting the market punish bad coaches.
Don’t get caught up in competing for PR’s and wind up lifting heavy overhead in a fatigued (compromised form) state. Also, avoid doing high-rep box jumps if you like your Achilles intact…just step down rather than jump down.
Enjoy the abzzz!
My bike bud does cross fit and if you’d see her legs, you’d never question cross fit again.
So I have a friend who has been trying to convince me to get into Crossfit. I don’t really have any major issues with Crossfit besides getting annoyed with how much Crossfit people talk about Crossfit. But what are the negatives (if any) about Crossfit from a health and fitness side. Or is it legitimate?
I think crossfit can be very beneficial towards building strength as well as anaerobic endurance. I’m not sure how those effects will translate into triathlon performance however.
One thing that is extremely important to note is that the olympic-style lifts which crossfit workouts utilize require proper form to avoid injury. If/when you partake, make sure to keep this in mind.
My bike bud does cross fit and if you’d see her legs, you’d never question cross fit again.
They look like Froome’s or Contodor’s?
I’ve been heavy into strength & conditioning for well over a decade, have voraciously read on nearly all aspects of training, have worked out in Crossfit boxes, have judged Crossfit competitions, and have a TON of a good friends whom I respect and that are fitness beasts that do Crossfit. I think it’s one of the better cookie cutter programs out there for generalized fitness. Personally I think somebody will make more gains from a guided program with specific goals, but not everybody has the access to a coach or knowledge to create a program like that nor the motivation to follow through with it. Crossfit is great for the social aspect because that comes with motivation to hit it hard every workout. You don’t need to worry about programming either. You just walk in, do the workout, hang with like-minded folks, and go home.
I’m not sure I’d recommend it for tri training especially if you’re a long course athlete. I absolutely love lifting heavy things and doing a lot of conditioning workouts. I’ve power lifted, olympic weightlifted, and done Crossfit and Crossfit-style conditioning workouts for over a decade prior to getting into the sport. Even when I was just ultra running, I’d hit the gym a minimum of 3x/week. Now that I’m training for an IM, I get to the gym for basic strength training of compound lifts (squat, dl, bench, overhead press) and gymnastics 1x/week. There is just no way I could handle the volume of my tri training load with a regular Crossfit routine. I would not recover and would get horrible results with both. Short coursers could probably get away with it as long as it’s eased into and you monitor your progress closely.
One thing I don’t like that I see in a lot of boxes is the pressure to push more weight a lot sooner than necessary. You’re already playing with fire doing compound/complex lifts through exhaustion. If you do decide to try it, make sure you only increase when you’re ready and when you can complete all reps with good form. Some people can get away with bad form. If you’re not one of those people, you’ll be riding the injury train. It’s not worth finding out.
In short, I suppose I could just say that yes, it is legitimate, but maybe not the “optimal” choice for triathletes. Just be careful. If you have fun doing it, then by all means keep doing it. You’ll get more results from a program you do consistently and are passionate about. I’d be happy to answer any specific questions if you have any.
My bike bud does cross fit and if you’d see her legs, you’d never question cross fit again.
They look like Froome’s or Contodor’s?
I don’t tend to look at guy’s legs, but from your post, it forced me to and I’d say better…Probably helps knowing there are feet at one end and not a foot on the other.
My bike bud does cross fit and if you’d see her legs, you’d never question cross fit again.
They look like Froome’s or Contodor’s?
I don’t tend to look at guy’s legs, but from your post, it forced me to and I’d say better…Probably helps knowing there are feet at one end and not a foot on the other.
…and yet they’d spank him on the bike, which was exactly my point.
My bike bud does cross fit and if you’d see her legs, you’d never question cross fit again.
They look like Froome’s or Contodor’s?
I don’t tend to look at guy’s legs, but from your post, it forced me to and I’d say better…Probably helps knowing there are feet at one end and not a foot on the other.
…and yet they’d spank him on the bike, which was exactly my point.
and I’m quite positive you missed my point as well.
My bike bud does cross fit and if you’d see her legs, you’d never question cross fit again.
They look like Froome’s or Contodor’s?
I don’t tend to look at guy’s legs, but from your post, it forced me to and I’d say better…Probably helps knowing there are feet at one end and not a foot on the other.
…and yet they’d spank him on the bike, which was exactly my point.
and I’m quite positive you missed my point as well.
And this thread is now worthless without pics.
There was a pic 1/2 way up the page. 