Comments on: What about CrossFit? Tuesday Q+A with John Sifferman

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 02:49:43 +0000

Just to add to what I said in my other post…….Crossfit is without a doubt a great workout. I’ve read a few posts talking about the fundamentals class that you take before doing the WODs. My opinion is that while the intent is there to show correct form, you’re not going to fix someone (in a few classes) who has been doing (i.e. a squat or dead lift) something wrong for months, or years previous, it’s only going to make something that is already weak, weaker…..I guess the same can be said about any workout routine though.

My advise to people considering Crossfit….work on form and technique for a while (6 months) after getting some kind of professional advise. After that, work on your own for a while at a regular gym. Then by all means knock yourself out at Crossfit. Monitor yourself the whole way and be self aware.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 02:33:11 +0000

Late reply but here goes…

I belonged to a CrossFit gym for about 1.5 years. I really liked the intensity of the workouts and it opened my eyes to another side of fitness (it was different from a typical weight routine).

My .$02 is…I have had several personal trainers in my life (covering about 5 years) but by no means do I consider myself a trainer or an expert on exercise or workouts…however, I have learned quite a lot while working with the trainers especially on form and technique. Fast-forward to CrossFit. I think it’s great in moderation and with good form. Too many people got there who don’t practice good form or technique (usually racing the stopwatch of the guy/gal next to them). I saw a lot of people hammering away putting themselves at risk (I was not perfect either). One of CrossFit’s claim is that “where else can you have a personal trainer at every workout!?”…while this is partially true, usually the “trainer” had 15 other people to watch and sometimes the trainer wasn’t even watching anyone…..lots of gray area there.

I have recently thought of going back to Crossfit after a year away. This time I will take a different approach to it and use it as one of many tools to achieve fitness, not just one.

By: tezza g

tezza g — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:21:40 +0000

love the site mate!! i just lookin to know there’s a cert 1 coming up close to me and im wondering have i to be affiliated with crossfit teach because im goin to be opening my own gym soon i want to bring it into my classes!!

By: David

David — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:29:20 +0000

A non-crossfitter will probably not win the crossfit games because everything is catered to what they do on a daily basis. Sort of like asking a crossfitter to beat a basketball or football player at their “sport”.

Having said that, I have placed in the top percentile of workout productivity the four or five times I’ve switched it up and worked out at my local crossfit gym. Each time I noticed I almost got the best total reps/nearly the best time every time I did their “super workouts”. Yes, they were extremely hard workouts but I’ll keep my $150 and still look more physically fit than 99% of the guys in that gym and know I’m nearly as productive with their silly programs.

Are all Crossfit gyms so cult-like or just the one I went to?

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:40:23 +0000

Excellent article, John. I am an Olympic weightlifter (WL) and one thing I (mildly) “like” about CF is the fact that they popularized WL lifts such as Clean & Jerk and Snatch. But I also cringe whenever I see CFers on youtube do multiple reps of their version of power clean aka “jumping-reverse-power-curls-as-you-hold-the-bar-with-your-bent-wrists-and-hips-forward-while-you-lean-on-an-imaginary-incline-bench-30-reps-in-ten-seconds.” CF certainly did an excellent job bastardizing the sport of Olympic WL.

Oh, the other thing I like about CF is that it turns women HOT. (But the men look like they just got out of a POW camp.)

To Stephanie – sorry to hear about your husband.