Any CrossFitters?

[Tulsa]

Just curious if anyone here's done it. I start on ramp Thursday and am looking forward to it. I miss martial arts like crazy but can't make the schedule work anymore and am hoping this will be a suitably punishing alternative. (If I don't feel like I'm gonna die at the end I feel like I wasted my time!)

[angela9823]

Me! I've been at it for three years. I did take almost six months off last year for no other reason that hectic stressful life. I love it - something different every day. I travel a lot for my job so I have to play catch up a lot of weeks with the weightlifting portion (we have two lifts every day before the WOD), but I can do most of the WODs/Metcon portion on the road. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of hotels that only have treadmills and no dumbbells etc that I could do the weight lifting so I do find that part challenging.

[emmalou]

My sister and BIL own a Cross Fit gym. They bugged me for years and I finally gave in a year ago. I LOVE IT. So much fun and I am so much stronger and confident. Our gym is really like a family too.

The first few weeks were really hard but it gets easier. I still feel like I'm going to die sometimes though.

[Amado]

I did it two different times, maybe a year one place and 4 or so months at the other place. I did like it, but you have to be really careful - especially when they do the timed speed stuff - it's really easy to get fired up in the moment and to not have good form and hurt yourself if you are in your 50's like me - I torqued my back pretty badly a couple of times.

[Tarlo Farm]

Yeah, my massage therapist works out of a Crossfit building. She's not a fan. Other than the extra customers she gets.

[Tulsa]

Glad to hear some first hand positive reviews. I had no idea how polarizing it was until I decided to do it - seems like for everyone who loves it there's someone who vehemently hates it. I'm looking for something to whip my butt back into shape and frankly, the low weight/high rep machine routine the traditional gym put together for me just isn't cutting it.

[LeoApp]

I would like to try it, but I think it is too expensive and I already belong to a gym I really like. Yes, you can hurt yourself pretty badly, but I think that goes for anyone doing anything - even yoga. If you do it incorrectly you can do a lot of damage to yourself.
It's a little bit too cultish for me too - at least with some people who do it.

[Amado]

I would like to try it, but I think it is too expensive and I already belong to a gym I really like. Yes, you can hurt yourself pretty badly, but I think that goes for anyone doing anything - even yoga. If you do it incorrectly you can do a lot of damage to yourself.
It's a little bit too cultish for me too - at least with some people who do it.

Yes, it was expensive. But I really did enjoy it - my problem with is was the timed stuff, because for me, at least, Speed + Competitiveness = Injury!

[chantal]

On the "not a fan" side of things. I think it works if you are a) young or b) older and haven't really been injured. I think it pushes people too hard and the injuries seen from it are pretty ugly. (And yes, injuries from other sport that push hard are also ugly, like moutain biking which I do. Which is why I don't push as hard as I used to in that sport.)

DH started a functional fitness program that morphed into a cross fit program and wound up activating a horrible pre-existing back problem. Unless an instructor is watching your form and is stopping you when you have bad form, you can get injured. DH is much happier now that he's been away from it for 1 1/2 year. Yes he was in the best shape appearance-wise of his life, but his knees constantly hurt and his back was constantly iffy. Many of the exercises caused his vertebrae to be too mobile, and he has 3 disintegrating discs. Not a good combo.

His boss and wife were the ones who set up the program for his old company and they poo-pooed the idea that crossfit injured him until she blew an eye vessel in a workout and he got so injured he also couldn't walk (similar to my husband).

YMMV.

Again, seems to be good for many people. Not so good for others. He kept wanting me to come up and workout with him. I would look at their workouts and wouldn't be able to do half the stuff they were doing. After a year of working up slowing in the weight room I am now doing things I never thought possible, but slowly and correctly and if anything hurts (I don't mean effort-wise, I raced bikes, I was a triathlete and open-water swimmer-I know pain), I back off and do something different. Not going to injure myself anymore. I don't feel like you can do that in cross-fit.

Our friends my age who are cross-fit cultists have been at it for 5 years or more. They've both had injuries from it, cut down number of workouts and get back on the horse. They look great but won't talk to any of us (our cycling group) about their injuries.

Just pay attention to your body. Wishing you the best!

[StraightForward]

I look through the WODs that are posted online and use some of them for my workout. I don't do any of the AMRAP stuff for the reasons posted above, but like the idea of getting in a short, intense workout with strength and cardio, and the WODs are challenging and break up the monotony of regular lifting and running.

[Ike]

I've been doing crossfit for 3 years and I love it. Finding a good coach and learning the movements correctly will go a very long way to preventing injuries. And, check your ego at the door. You'll get beat by people older than you, people who may look less fit, etc. it's you against yourself. Know your body, listen to your body, and form always comes first. Form first. Then add intensity and volume only when form is correct.

I'm stronger and more confident now. It's fun to always be working toward new goals. And the community is awesome.

[Tulsa]

For on ramp it was just me and another girl who's at a similar fitness level as, so that was nice. I have no illusions about how out of shape I right now, so ego isn't a problem! Plus, free weights after a whole new world... We went over class structure, movements and form. Pretty low key and very non-judgemental - no elitist meathead vibes at all. I stayed to watch part the group wod after and it seems like a positive, supportive atmosphere- which REALLY made me miss fighting! I don't know how to be gym friends with people I don't punch!!

[angela9823]

I also found it interesting how many people can be so against Crossfit until I saw a really bad gym where it seemed everyone was constantly hurt! I think CF has evolved some over the years. It changes as something called "The Open" changes. When they went to having a heavier concentration on weight lifting, I think form took more of a front seat. In our gym, we now do two lifts a day (slow lifts) and then our Metcon has something that usually involves the lifts.

I don't think it is only up to the coaches to keep you safe. People need to have a reality check sometimes. You can get into CF and do it to try to beat others and end up getting hurt.

I've had two injuries since being there - the dreaded box jump injury (bound to happen - I wear shin guards now) and squeezing my skin between two weights while putting the weight on the bar. LOL! I'm a hoof trimmer part time. I've had MANY more injuries from horses than I've ever had from CF. I also played softball in highschool and had many more injuries there. I've got a friend that is a weight lifter competitively and even he (who is big on form) has had several injuries moving weight slow. If you want to build up, you have to be conscience doing it and know that injuries you've had in the past may show up again. You also have to not let others make up your mind what weight you put on the bar (unless they are telling you to lower the weight). If it doesn't feel right, don't do it.

For the person that didn't feel that he she could build slowly with CF, I disagree. Every single movement being done in a CF gym can be modified. Even times are modified if need be. Even The Open now has modified categories so people didn't feel pressured to complete something as prescribed. Unfortunately, the good gyms (as with everything) get thrown in with the bad.

The main reasons I love CF is that it keeps me motivated to wake up every day and wonder what is the workout today. I enjoy knowing that over 16 weeks, those weights I'm moving every day will probably result in a personal best at the end even if that is just five more pounds on the bar or me moving the weight a little faster and feeling more confident. I love that the people motivate each other and it is a little community. I get emails/calls etc if I'm not posting my workouts. I get congrats when I have a personal best. We go to each others' houses to have dinners and get togethers. That is what makes it worth the extra money to me. But then I need that kind of motivation. Others can go to a gym by themselves everyday and have their own internal motivation. To each their own.

[Tulsa]

I have no need to prove anything with big weights (even to myself) so I'm not expecting to push myself towards injury in that respect. Falling over a box, on the other hand, is a distinct possibility!! My goal is mostly to get a good, consistent workout and maybe plan for a few obstacle races once it gets nice out. I don't care about getting ripped and while I will obviously pay attention to what I eat because I do have 8-10 pound to lose, I have no intention of going full paleo (nor was I told it was a requirement, but from what I've read, many gyms do push this.) I like yogurt and yes, bread, entirely too much for that!!

I know there are people who take the WODs they find online and do it at regular gyms, but I don't feel like I have enough experience to do that. Even when I was doing martial arts, the vast majority of conditioning was bodyweight and medicine balls, not free weights, so this is foreign territory. Besides, the regular gym I go to makes me want to stab someone - I've only been going for about two months now but am constantly infuriated by people who are just sitting around chatting IN THE WAY, like there's no one there who just wants to get in, get sweaty, and get gone. It's just not an atmosphere I enjoy at all, hence trying CF. The atmosphere at CF is very similar to the fighting gym - supportive, but serious about getting things done. In other words, the polar opposite of the regular gym I was at!! While CF may turn into the love affair that martial arts was, I'm looking at it as more of a holdover until I'm able to get back to that, which I know realistically won't be any time soon, unfortunately. But I know that when I do, I should be back in good shape!