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Thread: Serious Question About CrossFit

  1. #1
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    Default Serious Question About CrossFit

    First things first. No, I do not want to Google this and have to sort through that. No, I am not thinking about joining a CrossFit gym and am worried about any risks. No, I will not use any information gathered here to deter anyone in any way from doing CrossFit(I could care less). Yes I could benefit from CrossFit and all that goes with it, but I'm not doing that right now so save all that talk too. No, any information gathered here will not sway me one way or the other from doing or not doing CrossFit anytime in the future. Now on to my question.

    You guys that have been around CrossFit for a while, I really want to know how many injuries you have seen that are directly related to it. Also, what those injuries usually are. Include if you want, age, body type, fitness level(ie:if said injury was caused because someone was doing something they werent ready for) or anything else you feel may be pertinent. At the same time, if you have seen few to no injuries, I want to know why you think that is. I'm sincerely just curious. Discuss.
    "Never Trust a Skinny Chef."

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    When you combine a clean box, with a nice rack, and use proper technique- it's a lot of fun and you won't get hurt.
    “The America Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”

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    Run on along now, I asked a question that I wanted to glean some real insight from. There's plenty of threads to make jokes on and so forth without having to do it here.
    "Never Trust a Skinny Chef."

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    Holy crap! I have only posted once in the Grok'in Out Forum and I'm sounding all high and mighty too.....
    "Never Trust a Skinny Chef."

  5. #5
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    Ive hurt my back a couple of times early on due to poor lifting technique. The first time we were doing low weight high rep back squats and I was trying to go too fast and rounded over too much and popped my lower back. The second time I was leaning over to clean a bar up to the rack and just sort of bent over and picked it up and pop again. High weight dead lifts will get my lower back sore, as well as running up or down a steep hill. Im still carrying way to much weight up front making my core weak, which I assume leading to my weak lower back. Im still fat because my eating habbits suck, but I enjoy doing crossfit.

    Ive seen two people get folded in half doing back squats. One was the guy I was working with and I just couldnt get the bar off of his neck fast enough, he wasnt injured though. Toes to bar scare the shit out of me especialy in the summer when my hands are sweaty as hell. I carry a pair of gloves in bag for when we do them. Oh yeah and the ocasional skint shin on 30" box jumps.
    Last edited by scmoose; 10-13-2014 at 07:05 PM.

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    I have been at it for two years. I had a long history of lifting and working out from athletics and such before starting CF. I was familiar with 90% of the movements, but have since learned quite a bit more about technique. I love crossfit. However, My biggest critique of crossfit is two fold. One is the inconsistency between gyms. You can have a "box" that has stellar coaches with great insight, training, and knowledge about properly structuring these types of workouts. Or you can go one zip code over and find some cheese dick that took a couple weekend classes and saw an opportunity to make money.

    I found a gym with knowledgable well trained coaches and owners. They pay particular attention to form and movement vs whiteboard times and weight. They structure workouts based off of certain programming and recent workouts. They don't choose WOD's by surfing the Internet and finding the next badass WOD with a chicks name.

    I have hurt myself a few times. But I define hurt as doing something that requires you to rest your body for a day or two. Pulling a hamstring, tweaking your wrist, etc. I have never injured myself. I think it's a combination of good coaching and me being considerate of my limitations and not letting my balls get in the way of my thinking. Your truly responsible for yourself. No one can make you lift a certain weight or do another rep if your body tells you otherwise. I also don't eat bread and read "death in the long grass" before bed every night, so that helps too.
    Last edited by marsh chicken; 10-13-2014 at 07:31 PM.

  7. #7
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    I've seen one injury in the almost one year (two more weeks), I've been Crossfittin'. Guy was dismounting the GHD and his shoe popped off, and he landed on a Kettle Bell bell hard. Busted a rib.

    I've seen a few, and received the missed box jump red badge of courage. torn my hands up, overdid it a few times and had to rest a couple extra days.

    Watched a girl bust her butt on the pullup bar during the Open WODs, but nothing was hurt but her pride. She jumped back in the last heat and killed it.

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    I've seen less than a half dozen folks smiley face their shins because they took their eyes off the box and missed a jump.

    I have seen one meniscus tear while doing pistols with really bad technique. FYI, I don't do pistols because I don't see the purpose in them. I can't validate their existence and certainly cannot classify them as "functional". I guess if I ever get my leg blowed off and have to one legged squat to the hospital and then can't I'll regret that decision. For now though I'll keep my ACL and meniscus intact.

    I had shoulder surgery shortly after starting. That wasn't a result of crossfit but of years of abuse before hand. CrossFit finally pushed me to get it fixed.

    So other than the occasional torn hands/blisters, scraped shins from box jumps or deadlifts, butt cherries from abmat sit ups, whelps from double unders and sore muscles/strains I haven't seen all the injuries people like to talk about and I've been at it 5 years.

    Running, yes running, aka walking fast, has a higher rate of injury than just about any other fitness method or sport.
    Last edited by Glenn; 10-14-2014 at 07:44 AM.

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    I got shin scars.... but my wife don't notice 'cuz everything else is so much sexier.....
    Quote Originally Posted by Tater View Post
    Your heart ain't like your balls, ya only got one...
    All you need is a body built for discipline and a mind that can justify so much apparent self-abuse.

  10. #10
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    I've seen 3 people get their shins busted up over the last 1.5 years and I have seen one honest to goodness case of Rhabdomyolosis. LET ME STRESS THAT THE RHABDO WAS NOT CROSSFIT PROGRAMMING'S FAULT. The guy this happened to is in his mid forties and has been lifting weights for 25 + years. He made the conscious decision to use lifting straps to strap himself to a pull up bar to aid in completing 100 pull ups faster. His arms never came out of tension for the duration of the 100 pull ups and the incomplete extension are definitely the contributing factors to his Rhabdo.

    Does the competitive box environment lend itself to people making poor decisions like the one above? Yes, if and only if you're so hypercompetitive that you allow that to happen. The guy this happened to is a good friend of mine and has since put his working out into a different perspective. Thankfully he's made a full recovery and is back to where he was health and strength wise. This will probably give Crossfit haters more fuel for their fire, but it is the truth. Care needs to be taken when attempting any form of physical fitness or exercise. That's just the truth of it. Use good form and exercise good judgment...it really is that simple.

    Other than that I've seen no other injuries. There is no higher incidence of injury in Crossfit than in any other sport or fitness regimen. Well accept may be Zumba.....we may have a few more injuries than Zumba.

    Editted to add: We had a new guy start this week. He's a big guy, in pretty decent shape from the look of it. It also appears as though he's been doing the Gold's Gym body building style of workouts for a while. I have no problem with that. Hell it's where I came from. Yesterday was back squats. The coach asked him what weight he was used to. The guy said I can do at least 225 for reps. He stacks on 4 plates and immediately starts to do shitty squats. Chest down, well above parallel...just crap. After 3 reps he is stopped and told to remove the weight and drop down to something he can do with correct form. In his mind he had correct form and ego was dictating the weight. Ego will get you hurt.
    Last edited by SCcdp; 10-14-2014 at 08:20 AM.

  11. #11
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    I've been in the crossfit scene for a little over a year and a half. I don't WOD every day like most people, I enjoy oly lifting some days or heavy squats.

    Most of the injuries I see are self inflicted due to poor form. Glenn and others are spot on in that the xfit community has gotten way too obsessed with the white board times over proper movement. Still even with that said, Most of the injuries are simple strains that probably could be cured with a few days rest and stretching. Most of them are too bull headed to take that into consideration though, which leads to more injury and down time. Injury rates are reduced by leaders taking the time to remind the type A's that the score isn't worth poor form.

    I messed up my wrist a few months back, not from my crossfit though, just missed an oly lift and I paid for it.
    Last edited by MolliesMaster; 10-14-2014 at 08:19 AM.
    "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12

    "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by MolliesMaster View Post
    Most of the injuries I see are self inflicted due to poor form. Glenn and others are spot on in that the xfit community has gotten way too obsessed with the white board times over proper movement. Still even with that said, Most of the injuries are simple strains that probably could be cured with a few days rest and stretching. Most of them are too bull headed to take that into consideration though, which leads to more injury and down time. Injury rates are reduced by leaders taking the time to remind the type A's that the score isn't worth poor form.
    I made a girl cry yesterday by having this conversation with her. She wanted to beat her sister and was flying through the wod with terrible form. The conversation started with you need to slow down and tighten up your form. "But I want a good score." To which I replied, "if you want to act like a dumbass and hurt yourself just to post a good score then you need to take that down the road to somebody else's gym. I've shown you how to do these movements correctly and I won't have you ruin our reputation because you want a good score."

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Glenn View Post
    I made a girl cry yesterday by having this conversation with her. She wanted to beat her sister and was flying through the wod with terrible form. The conversation started with you need to slow down and tighten up your form. "But I want a good score." To which I replied, "if you want to act like a dumbass and hurt yourself just to post a good score then you need to take that down the road to somebody else's gym. I've shown you how to do these movements correctly and I won't have you ruin our reputation because you want a good score."
    Meanie

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    Yeah I know.

    It was Randy. 75 snatches for time and she looked like one of them wacky waving arm inflatable balloon guys. It was re-donkulous.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Glenn View Post
    Running, yes running, aka walking fast, has a higher rate of injury than just about any other fitness method or sport.
    Yeah no shit.....

    I can't stand a fleet feeter telling me about how healthy they are.

  16. #16
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    Glenn was a meanie haha, but she will thank him when she doesn't slip or herniate a disk, tear a shoulder, or blow out a knee.

    It ain't worth it.
    "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12

    "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14

  17. #17
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    I've been at it since the end of April. In that time, I've pulled both calves and a hamstring - neither of them so bad that it cost me any time away - and I've ripped calluses off my left hand doing pullups. That's it. And I relate all of that to getting active when I'd been sedentary for way too long.

    Beyond that, I can't think of any real injuries to anybody in our gym that involved any real rehab time.

    Great care is taken by our coaches to teach form first, then intensity - as the CF model dictates. Most people want to point at the injuries without understanding WHY intensity is such a critical component of the CF model. When people are injured, often times it goes back to poor technique, which should be solid before intensifying the work. And how do you say a particular injury is caused by CrossFit? That one, I don't get. The injury is caused by the person doing the work.
    I don't need my name in the marquee lights....

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by MolliesMaster View Post
    Glenn was a meanie haha, but she will thank him when she doesn't slip or herniate a disk, tear a shoulder, or blow out a knee.

    It ain't worth it.
    They call me "The Stripper"

    I'll cue you one time to tighten up. The second time you get a lighter ball, lighter KB or I'm stripping your bumpers off your bar.


  19. #19
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    Foie Gras...I touched on it earlier, but make sure you visit several gyms before deciding where to join. Not all gyms are the same. Bad form can obviously lead to injuries, but so can bad leadership. These gyms that are constantly doing multiple benchmark wods in a week are suspect IMO. So is making up random crazy shit. Doing 100 dead lifts, then 100 snatches, followed by 100 ghd back extensions with a 10000 meter row at the end is just asking for injury. Olympic lifts in general should not be something that has a high rep count if you have a normal load on the bar. They are specific movements that demand very precise and exact form. There is a reason they don't award gold medals to the guy in the Olympics with the fastest clean and jerk.

    Look for programming that has a good mix of movement and strength. Then talk with the coaches about that WOD, ask questions about why they choose those movements, how they expect their members to perform the WOD. Watch how they brief the class before the WOD. See how much they interact during the WOD. Are they truly coaching? Or just running around cheerleading? You can pretty easily start to pick out what gym is right for you. If you are in Glenn's neighborhood...go pay his gym a visit. He seems to run a great place...even if he looks like a barefoot hillbilly doing it.
    Last edited by marsh chicken; 10-14-2014 at 08:56 AM.

  20. #20
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    I'm 47 and have lifted for years but when I started just last week I checked all I knew and my ego at the door and made sure I listen to my trainer. I lift much lighter weights and try to work on my form a lot.

    I'm just glad I don't do to Glenn's box. It would kill me to cry in front of everyone.
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