Crossfit - anyone had a go?
Discussion
I'm tempted by having a go at Crossfit, but am pretty feeble having never really done weights. In my day I've had periods of being pretty fit but now in middle age with 2 kids I'm now totally unfit and the belly is getting bigger and bigger. My fitness has always been aerobic and I like the idea of building some upper body strength.
I'm just interested in other people's views on it really.
Cheers
I'm just interested in other people's views on it really.
Cheers
Having dabbled with some of the circuit type patterns on a Crossfit website in 2009 - and reading loads about it - I don't think it'd be a good place to start. I think you'd soon find it so hard you'd give in or burn out or get ill if you haven't a history of weight training. It is well known for making people ill if they overdo it and there seems to be fine line between benefit and excess.
Also I don't think it would build much upper body size and strength compared to a more traditional approach as the weights used (eg as a % of max), number of sets/reps and lack of/short rest periods tilt it more to a fitness (assuming overtraining avoided) and strength endurance style - something possibly for later down the road?
Also I don't think it would build much upper body size and strength compared to a more traditional approach as the weights used (eg as a % of max), number of sets/reps and lack of/short rest periods tilt it more to a fitness (assuming overtraining avoided) and strength endurance style - something possibly for later down the road?
I did CF for a while and pretty much permanently had some minor niggling injury or another. Instruction re form was scary, they didn't give a s
t about it. Read Starting Strength before you go and you will know more than their trainers about lifting weights.
There is an infamous thread on the IGX forum called The Couch Thread which goes into excruciating detail about everything wrong with CF.
t about it. Read Starting Strength before you go and you will know more than their trainers about lifting weights.There is an infamous thread on the IGX forum called The Couch Thread which goes into excruciating detail about everything wrong with CF.
Have a look on this crossfit website and check out the video on the homepage about 40 seconds in...
http://crossfitleeds.com/
you'd think form was imprtant for a promo vid!
Saying that I know the guy that owns this, and he's a throughly great guy and really does know his training well. I think crossfit is very niche, and a bit geeky personally.
http://crossfitleeds.com/
you'd think form was imprtant for a promo vid!
Saying that I know the guy that owns this, and he's a throughly great guy and really does know his training well. I think crossfit is very niche, and a bit geeky personally.
Cheers for the feedback. I've done the gym before and struggle with motivation as I find it pretty boring having always kept fit with competitive sports, which is why I liked the idea of Crossfit and I'm not really wanting bulk up, just keep fit at a time that's convenient. Maybe I'll do a bit more reading round the subject.
If you find standard gym stuff boring then to shift the belly you could just start your competitive sports again (if that worked before?), or just pop out for a quick run regularly (which is the easiest form of exercise for busy people because it starts and finishes at your house and is high intensity). For building upper body strength though, you'll obviously need to do weights, which I appreciate you find boring. However, if you've got kids and are short on time you can go a fair way at home with a chin up bar (I've fitted one in a cupboard doorway), press ups, sit ups etc. You can then make it less boring by putting the TV on or listening to your favourite music. You can actually get a fair bit done whilst your wife washes her hair, puts her make-up on or reads magazines in the bath 
Just fit it in around your lifestyle. If you try all that for a few months and it's not working, then at least you'll have a reasonable fitness baseline to start on the intense gym work that you mentioned initially, or something similar. Regarding the gym, you may also find that having a personal trainer guide you through workouts will remove most of the boredom.
edited to add: If you don't want to bulk up and you just want to increase your strength a bit, then you could always do a version of what I do, which is mainly CV to keep me lean and then once or twice weekly PHA circuit training (12 reps of weights at 6 stations then 4 minutes of high effort cycling x 3), which is a lot more fun than traditional gym work that people use to bulk up. Although I have very different goals to you (Triathlon), where I want to be lean but retain as much strength as I can at a light weight, i.e. avoid bulk, this is effectively what you're trying to do, so this approach may work for you too? I started the circuits in the gym a year ago. As a measure of my success, before I started, due to back problems I could only just lift my kayak onto the roof of my car, needing a trolley to wheel it to the water. Now I have the core and upper body muscle to not only lift the kayak onto and off my car easily, I can actually hold it above my head and walk it to the beach without a problem. Ergo I've had some real strength benefits from the circuits, and I haven't bulked up at all - I'm still a 31" waist, 38" chest and 14½" collar, which is pretty much what I was before, and I've kept my weight under 70kg. The added strength is helping my sport a lot and reducing my chances of injury. All I'm saying is that you can gain strength without bulk, and the best bit is that it can be fun doing so. Another example is my boss a few years ago. He was an international level competitor in some form of Kung-Fu (and very successful). He did a much more extreme and intense version of what I do when he competed, and was immensely strong, but not much bigger than me really. Again, sufficient strength for what he wanted but without bulk.
Just fit it in around your lifestyle. If you try all that for a few months and it's not working, then at least you'll have a reasonable fitness baseline to start on the intense gym work that you mentioned initially, or something similar. Regarding the gym, you may also find that having a personal trainer guide you through workouts will remove most of the boredom.edited to add: If you don't want to bulk up and you just want to increase your strength a bit, then you could always do a version of what I do, which is mainly CV to keep me lean and then once or twice weekly PHA circuit training (12 reps of weights at 6 stations then 4 minutes of high effort cycling x 3), which is a lot more fun than traditional gym work that people use to bulk up. Although I have very different goals to you (Triathlon), where I want to be lean but retain as much strength as I can at a light weight, i.e. avoid bulk, this is effectively what you're trying to do, so this approach may work for you too? I started the circuits in the gym a year ago. As a measure of my success, before I started, due to back problems I could only just lift my kayak onto the roof of my car, needing a trolley to wheel it to the water. Now I have the core and upper body muscle to not only lift the kayak onto and off my car easily, I can actually hold it above my head and walk it to the beach without a problem. Ergo I've had some real strength benefits from the circuits, and I haven't bulked up at all - I'm still a 31" waist, 38" chest and 14½" collar, which is pretty much what I was before, and I've kept my weight under 70kg. The added strength is helping my sport a lot and reducing my chances of injury. All I'm saying is that you can gain strength without bulk, and the best bit is that it can be fun doing so. Another example is my boss a few years ago. He was an international level competitor in some form of Kung-Fu (and very successful). He did a much more extreme and intense version of what I do when he competed, and was immensely strong, but not much bigger than me really. Again, sufficient strength for what he wanted but without bulk.
Edited by RobM77 on Monday 24th October 16:10
Unfortunately competitive sports is definitely off the agenda, 4hrs every Saturday just isn't possible anymore as there's always something going on with the kids and family. I've done running and completed a half marathon a couple of weeks ago, but just find running very boring and quite time consuming - if I go for a run I want it to be a proper one (8-10 miles). It's also a bit more unpleasant in the dark winter evenings or mornings.
Crossfit appealed as it seems to offer cardio / weight training in a competitive environment, I really do struggle if there's not some element of competition to my sport, which is why I find gym's so boring.
In all honesty I probably will give it a go and see what it's like. I'd rather have a go and discover it's crap than not have a go at all. I would imagine alot of the technique issues would be relative to the particular trainers at the specific gyms.
Crossfit appealed as it seems to offer cardio / weight training in a competitive environment, I really do struggle if there's not some element of competition to my sport, which is why I find gym's so boring.
In all honesty I probably will give it a go and see what it's like. I'd rather have a go and discover it's crap than not have a go at all. I would imagine alot of the technique issues would be relative to the particular trainers at the specific gyms.
Cross fit has really took off the last couple of years, I used to take part in the Ultra Fit comps in 1998 till around 2001. Great method for getting fit quick and if you look at HIIT and tabata training its very similar to cross training.
A good web site which I've put on here a few times is the worldgymchallenge I've done it 3 times and there is a beginners and intermediates circuit/comp.
It's a good event to do you see the runners struggle with the weights and the guys who do a lot of weights struggle with the cardio. So its a good leveler.
I pretty much train with cross fit methodology all the time and touch wood don't really notice any decreases in strength.
Haven't done the World Gym Challenge for a few years but my time is still 20th quickest Nationally which was 15 min 44secs, you could set up the equipment or alternative exercises and give it a go.
Edited to add you ll pick no more injuries up then any other type of phys just lighten the load and watch your form. There are refs on the day who watch your technique.
A good web site which I've put on here a few times is the worldgymchallenge I've done it 3 times and there is a beginners and intermediates circuit/comp.
It's a good event to do you see the runners struggle with the weights and the guys who do a lot of weights struggle with the cardio. So its a good leveler.
I pretty much train with cross fit methodology all the time and touch wood don't really notice any decreases in strength.
Haven't done the World Gym Challenge for a few years but my time is still 20th quickest Nationally which was 15 min 44secs, you could set up the equipment or alternative exercises and give it a go.
Edited to add you ll pick no more injuries up then any other type of phys just lighten the load and watch your form. There are refs on the day who watch your technique.
Edited by 996 sps on Tuesday 25th October 16:36
996 sps said:
Cross fit has really took off the last couple of years, I used to take part in the Ultra Fit comps in 1998 till around 2001. Great method for getting fit quick and if you look at HIIT and tabata training its very similar to cross training.
Edited to add you ll pick no more injuries up then any other type of phys just lighten the load and watch your form. There are refs on the day who watch your technique.
A couple of questions - as a big fan of HIIT and Tabata type work is it untrue that Crossfit (or at least some posted/authored routines) over do it by using too much load/time compared to the former?Edited to add you ll pick no more injuries up then any other type of phys just lighten the load and watch your form. There are refs on the day who watch your technique.
Edited by 996 sps on Tuesday 25th October 16:36
Injury wise I can see that with proper form and lighter weights typically used it shouldn't cause injuries to muscles/tendons/joints but there are lots of reports of effects on the nervous system and 'over training' (if/ whatever that is) and people getting sick from over stressing their adrenal systems, recovery ability etc. Is this BS? When I did a similar/ Crossfit inspired routine in 2009 I semmed to get a lot of colds etc. and wondered if that was more than a coincidence?
A couple of questions - as a big fan of HIIT and Tabata type work is it untrue that Crossfit (or at least some posted/authored routines) over do it by using too much load/time compared to the former?
Hi Ya Lost,
I can only comment from my training and guys I train with, cross fit for me is very similar to Tabata and HIIT as in max effort or a high number of reps, the comps take a max of 20 minutes and normally the training does as well, I and many others top training up with normal phys activites, i.e. strength training, CV.
Injury wise I can see that with proper form and lighter weights typically used it shouldn't cause injuries to muscles/tendons/joints but there are lots of reports of effects on the nervous system and 'over training' (if/ whatever that is) and people getting sick from over stressing their adrenal systems, recovery ability etc. Is this BS? When I did a similar/ Crossfit inspired routine in 2009 I semmed to get a lot of colds etc. and wondered if that was more than a coincidence?
Must be coincidence as not personally had this, obviously you would train for a comp (or to increase fitness)then maintain/taper as normal. Some day i'll do a cross fit session others i'll go for a run/weights etc, hope that answers your questions.
Hi Ya Lost,
I can only comment from my training and guys I train with, cross fit for me is very similar to Tabata and HIIT as in max effort or a high number of reps, the comps take a max of 20 minutes and normally the training does as well, I and many others top training up with normal phys activites, i.e. strength training, CV.
Injury wise I can see that with proper form and lighter weights typically used it shouldn't cause injuries to muscles/tendons/joints but there are lots of reports of effects on the nervous system and 'over training' (if/ whatever that is) and people getting sick from over stressing their adrenal systems, recovery ability etc. Is this BS? When I did a similar/ Crossfit inspired routine in 2009 I semmed to get a lot of colds etc. and wondered if that was more than a coincidence?
Must be coincidence as not personally had this, obviously you would train for a comp (or to increase fitness)then maintain/taper as normal. Some day i'll do a cross fit session others i'll go for a run/weights etc, hope that answers your questions.
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