CrossFit splits opinion.
Some people love it and fully buy in. Others avoid it altogether. Plenty still aren’t sure what it actually involves beyond hard workouts and people lying on the floor afterwards.
I did CrossFit myself for around 1.5 to 2 years when it started taking off.
There were parts of it I loved. The atmosphere was class, the sessions were tough and I was probably the fittest I’ve ever been.
I also saw the downside of poor programming, too much intensity and movements that carried more risk than reward.
What Is CrossFit?
CrossFit describes itself as “constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity.”
In normal language, it’s group training built around a workout of the day, usually led by a coach. That workout could include running, rowing, bodyweight exercises, barbells, Olympic lifts, kettlebells or gymnastics movements.
The variety is a big part of the appeal. The workout changes regularly, which keeps people engaged and gives sessions more life than wandering around a normal gym doing whatever machine happens to be free.
CrossFit also leans heavily on the idea of functional training. That word gets thrown around far too much, but the basic point is simple enough. Squatting, lifting, carrying, pulling and running.
My Experience With CrossFit
CrossFit boxes were popping up everywhere around 2009 and 2010. A bit like the coffee huts during the pandemic, there seemed to be one on every corner.
A good friend and I gave it a go and got hooked.
We were training four or five times a week, even hitting 6:30am sessions before college.
We loved it.
The atmosphere, the competition and the intensity all made it easy to buy in. You’d walk through the door buzzing to see what was written on the whiteboard.
At that time, I was probably the fittest I’ve ever been.
As we learned more about training, though, we started questioning some of what we were doing.
Niggles started building up. Then injuries.
Eventually, I badly damaged my shoulder and needed surgery. The surgeon put it down to overuse, high reps and heavy loading. When I described some of the workouts we had been doing, he said he wasn’t surprised.
Looking back, it was probably a mix of things. I trained hard nearly every session, didn’t pay enough attention to recovery and pushed through fatigue more than I should have.
Some of the workouts and movements definitely didn’t help either.
I wouldn’t put the whole injury on CrossFit. I also wouldn’t ignore how some of it was programmed.
What CrossFit Does Well
The community is probably CrossFit’s biggest strength.
A good CrossFit gym gives people more than a workout. It gives them structure, accountability, support and a reason to keep showing up.
It also gets people moving. CrossFit can look completely full-on from the outside, but the sessions can be scaled when they’re coached properly. Loads, reps, movements and pace can all be adjusted to suit the person.
That means beginners can get involved without needing to be advanced from day one.
There’s also the buzz that comes with it. A hard session, a countdown clock, people around you and something to chase.
For someone who gets bored following a standard gym programme alone, that challenge can be a massive draw.
At its best, CrossFit makes training feel like something you’re involved in rather than another job to tick off.
Where CrossFit Can Go Wrong
Some of the movements are very technical for the setting they’re used in.
Olympic lifts, kipping pull-ups and similar movements take time to learn properly. Asking someone to perform them quickly, for high reps and under heavy fatigue can turn a decent movement into a mess.
The programming matters as well.
Varied doesn’t have to mean random. A good CrossFit gym should still have some structure behind what it’s doing.
If every workout is just a pile of exercises thrown together to make people tired, that’s not clever programming. It’s organised suffering.
Fatigue, speed and poor technique are a bad mix in any type of training. CrossFit isn’t automatically dangerous, but those problems can show up quickly when the coach doesn’t scale the session or step in when movement starts falling apart.
Then there are movements that I think are simply a poor choice when they’re done for high reps.
Burpees are the obvious one. What’s the actual goal half the time? Just to exhaust yourself?
The same goes for high-rep box jumps, kipping pull-ups and GHD sit-ups when they’re rushed and uncontrolled. Technique drops off quickly and the risk-reward balance starts looking fairly poor.
I once saw a Tabata GHD workout. Twenty seconds of sit-ups as fast as possible, ten seconds of rest, repeated for four minutes.
Completely over the top.
One woman could barely walk back to her car afterwards.
Ending up on the floor or being sick after a workout got treated like a badge of honour for a while. It’s poor training, not something to aim for.
Even the founder, Greg Glassman, defended a lot of this over the years as if it was all perfectly reasonable.
I think we can all agree he is a bit of a twat.
What to Look for Before You Join
Try a class before signing up and pay attention to how the place is run.
Watch the coach. Are they actually coaching, correcting technique and adjusting movements, or are they just shouting vague motivation across the room?
Look at the members too. Do they move well, or does everything become rushed and messy once the clock starts?
Ask how beginners are introduced to the more technical movements. A decent gym should be happy to scale things down and teach them properly.
If you join, take it slowly at the start. Don’t walk in and try to keep up with somebody who has been there for five years.
That’s how people end up hurt.
Not every CrossFit gym is the same. Some are very well run. Others are chaos.
A lot comes down to the coaching, the programming and whether the gym is interested in training people properly or just flogging them for an hour.
I understand exactly why people love it.
A good CrossFit gym can be a very effective place to train.
A bad one is just organised chaos with a timer.
