• Track_ShovelEnglish
      14•1 month ago

      Yes, really. It’s been going for a long time. The games workouts are batty.

      I picked CrossFit back up again in the last year or so. I did it for 3ish years back in 2012, and went way, way harder than I do now. Back then, there was an injury culture: everyone gets hurt at some point haha, you did something dumb etc. That’s a terrible attitude for anything. I quit because I finished my M.Sc. and went back to work which ate all my time (225-300 hrs a month), and because I was getting too beat up from the gym.

      Now, I am at a gym where the average age is probably 45. We all gotta work tomorrow and here just here so we don’t get fat(ter). It’s a good group.

      I like CrossFit because it’s something different every day, and I have no motivation or discipline to work out on my own. Signing up for a class holds me accountable and gets me doing something. I also like the Olympic lifting side of things.

      • @[email protected]English
        8•1 month ago

        everyone gets hurt at some point haha, you did something dumb

        Which isn’t technically wrong, but generally you want to work to avoid injuries, not accept them.

        I’m not intimately familiar with crossfit, but it seems like it values moving quickly over maintaining proper form, and that’s a recipe for injury. I’ve already had one injury that seems like it’s not the kind that heals, so I have to be careful to not make it any worse. I wouldn’t dare do crossfit.

        • @madeinthebackseat
          2•1 month ago

          I was lucky to learn Olympic Weightlifting in the 90s from a world class coach, but that was just because I was in the right place at the right time.

          I’m thankful for the exposure CrossFit brought to the sport, because there’s lifting platforms everywhere now. However, most CrossFit coaches are horrible in regard to providing necessary technique instruction to avoid injury.

          One small example that frequently results in injury: you do not “catch” the bar when performing a clean on the palms of your hands. You catch the bar across your deltoids and clavicle.

          At a CrossFit gym where I weightlifted for 3 years, I knew of five people needing surgery to repair damage to their wrists from catching a clean improperly on the palms of their hands. They could have just been taught proper technique from the start, but most CrossFit gyms are more concerned with pushing you to your limit immediately, not with finding your long-term potential and avoiding injury.

          Hopefully it’s improved, but based on the rapid downward popularity trend, I’d assume they have killed off participants through attrition.

          • Track_ShovelEnglish
            1•30 days ago

            One of the lifting coaches is a girl that was on the national team. Hilariously enough, I grew up with her, but lost touch for years, only to bump into her at the CrossFit gym

            • @madeinthebackseat
              3•30 days ago

              One data point doesn’t make a standard.

              In general, most CrossFit coaches were well intentioned, but cared more about a rapid pace through reps, rather than the safety of the members.

              Weightlifting in CrossFit is better understood as a subtly different exercise. Traditional Weightlifting is a maximum effort exercise, and purely by human physiological limits it has to be modified for CrossFit. If sub-max effort shortcuts were taught, and technical qualification requirements were mandated, the injury rate would be greatly reduced.

              • Track_ShovelEnglish
                1•30 days ago

                I don’t disagree that safety should be paramount, or that one point doesn’t make a standard; I was just telling you my experience. YMMV

        • Track_ShovelEnglish
          1•1 month ago

          The trick is to not be too proud to scale your workout down. A lot of the workouts are made for guys who are a lot stronger than me; like 250ish lb deadlifts for reps. I top out at 275, so there’s no way I’m doing that. I also don’t get caught up in the scores like I did when I was younger.

          Because I’m not competing and just doing it for me, it’s really helped me with some chronic hip and back pain.

      • Flying Squid
        5•1 month ago

        CrossFit seems fine to me as a form of exercise, but it’s kind of like hearing about the International Zumba Games.

        • Track_ShovelEnglish
          2•1 month ago

          I get it. They take the games pretty seriously. It’s the Superbowl for CF. Anyone who is serious about it is there, and the top athletes as well.