Here are the top 3 reasons that I dislike Crossfit workouts, and why I think fitness enthusiasts, martial artists, sports coaches and athletes should find a better workout regimen.
Before I get into the meat of this post, I want to mention that I am not against working out hard, but I am against a philosophy that is doing more damage than good, that can leave you in a world off pain, sometimes unrecoverable, for the rest of your life.
...and here we go!
Philosophy... The REAL One
According to the CrossFit's website, "CrossFit is constantly varied functional movements performed at relatively high intensity. All CrossFit workouts are based on functional movements, and these movements reflect the best aspects of gymnastics, weightlifting, running, rowing and more."
Sounds great right? I am sure the creator CrossFit, Greg Glassman, created the workout regimen because he knew it would change the world. It has, but somewhere in the booming, growing stages of CrossFit, something went wrong.
People began to solely focus on getting the best time, and the most reps, and much less on a safe, sustainable workout that pays dividends to your health now and in the future.
Back when I was a younger martial artists and trainer, I thought doing thousands of kicks a day was "the" way to to train, the way to get better. I though the pain in my hip was hard work, and never realized it was just the grinding of my hip on kicks 200 to 1,000, because kick 199 was the last kick I did with proper form.
There is a way to train hard, but safely and CrossFit has lost this aspect. When, I hear someone talk about their CrossFit workouts in passing, I glance over and the first thing I think to myself is, "I hope they don't get hurt." Not because I am a hater, but because I actually care! I care about the fitness and martial arts journey, over a life a time, not a few lifts to get their name on the board of a CrossFit Box.
If this was a few years ago, I would have said that CrossFit needs an overhaul of its current training philosophy, but in 2016, I would say that HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) has rightfully replaced CrossFit.
I would encourage you to do some research for yourself, to see how HIIT protocols have proven to provide the most gains, the most bang for the buck of any type of workout, and when that is coupled with a safe, knowledgeable instructor or coach, people can't help but improve their health, safely and over time... did I mention safely?
Purpose
"Functional Fitness" is what CrossFit calls their workouts. Fitness, yes - functional, are you sure? I choose the Burn With Kearns MMA Fitness HIIT protocol as my regimen to help students melt fat and have a ton of fun doing it, and guess what, we perform some of the same "CrossFit" typical exercises (gasp).
The difference is WHY we do it, and I am speaking directly to purpose. Every exercise I give to a client or student has a functional purpose, i.e. I can communicate to them exactly what this movement or that movement translates to in "real" life, or in the MMA ring or when they are fighting a war in Afghanistan. It is a rule of those I have graduated to the level of instructor, that at every moment, they must be able to provide the WHY to any exercise. That is true functional fitness, and that communication, which I have never seen or or heard of being provided in a CrossFit workout, is the bridge between connecting the body to the mind. Once the mind is actively thinking its way through routines, people are able to give more to the workout, which equals better results... faster.
To be fair though, I have to knock the majority of pure HIIT trainers as well. I see them follow in suite with CrossFit mined instructors, never providing the purpose of training, they why or "what does it all mean" to participants.
Injuries
Come on now, you know I could not talk about CrossFit in this manner, without talking about injuries. You see, both the philosophy and lack of purposed functional fitness in CrossFit lend itself to injuries. I mentioned earlier that when I hear of someone who just started CrossFit, I think to myself, or say to them if they ask me what I think, "Be safe and don't get hurt."
With a philosophy so bent on getting the best time, doing the more reps, or just pushing your body too far causing massive shoulder, back, hip and knee injuries, no wonder smart gyms, sports teams and fitness facilities are quickly moving to HIIT style workouts. Business owners and coaches saw the rise in injuries, i.e. lost clients and athletes, i.e. lost revenue, and had to make a change.
Even the US military, who used to be super gung-ho for CrossFit style routines, shrunk away from the force destabilizing workout regimens. Military members were becoming combat ineffective, unable to perform their duties in the war zone, because they were stuck back home completing physical therapy. All because they wanted to do more reps, or get a better time than their battle buddy. Once the military began to notice an alarming trend, they began to look for a better, safer solution, and found that in HIIT protocols.
HIIT protocols should be safer, theoretically. However, CrossFit coaches within the military system, who suddenly had to ditch Crossfit for HIIT, found themselves trying to instruct their same target audiences, but with a different philosophy and similar but different rules. This has been disastrous, seeing that the HIIT (or the Army's self named Extreme Condition Program, ECP) continues to have high rates of injury.
CrossFit trainers need re-training so that they can enter into the HIIT world fully prepared to provide a much different experience; a much safer experience. They need to learn how to develop basic techniques, to modify techniques due to existing injuries, to teach people to focus on being healthy for the long term. Coaches and others need to realize that although Muhammad Ali said he didn't start counting his sit-ups until they started hurting, is not saying that he conceded to do sloppy sit-ups just so that he could meet his number for the day. Coaches also need to be able to relay the true, functional purpose of an exercise or routine, and relate it to practical movements.
Now, I know there are tons of people reading this blog that may completely disagree with what I am saying, and there are some who completely agree, but nevertheless, here is what I hope. I hope that if you do continue CrossFit, that you don't get hurt. That you find the purpose in every workout and every movement, and that you can train for the rest of your life. Here is reality though. I don't know many people who did not eventually get a major injury due to CrossFit. It may not have been when they started out, and it may not have been after a few years, but it eventually caught up to them one day.
In upcoming posts, we will talk about how you can meet the transition that is already occurring, the leap from CrossFit to HIIT protocols. There are some things that every one needs to know, both as a participant, and as a coach. STAY TUNED.
Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think about CrossFit and HITT.
BENJAMIN MORINIERE "Sensei"
Owner / Head Instructor / Performer / Fighter / Master Fitness Trainer (BwK Level 3)
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