Posted on March 31, 2016 by Jenny Cromack
Crossfit is becoming an increasingly popular method of training with more and more people joining specific Crossfit gyms and adopting the training methods into their exercise routines. The following article is only my opinion as both a therapist and a personal trainer on Crossfit and it’s benefits and risks of injury. It is not a factual article but an insight into my views which may (or may not) provide areas for consideration if you are currently, or are considering, taking up Crossfit.
Benefits of Crossfit
The nature of Crossfit is very much based on high intensity power training; working compound and explosive movements at a high intensity. This way of training will encourage intensity and effort from those engaging in it. As a result of regular high intensity exercise stimuli the body will adapt accordingly. Studies have shown increases in VO2 max and body composition in the general population and, even more impressively, trained athletes. This goes to show that as a method of training, Crossfit may be very beneficial.
It also creates a very social community which I feel is a good thing for peoples motivation; creating a sense of belonging and camaraderie will only help boosts peoples drive to work hard and persists with training.
Crossfit and Injury
You may see in the media or some forums that Crossfit causes injuries and is bad for our bodies. Some studies have suggested high injury drop out rates but many of these did not formally assess drop outs making it hard to make the assumption that Crossfit causes higher injury rates. What I do believe is that the nature of the complex compound movements such as Olympic lifts can be an area of concern. These lifts require a great deal of technique, control, and mobility. Elite Olympic lifters will spend years ironing out technique before even attempting to max out or work at high loads which is my concern. For your average individual to download a workout or walk into a Crossfit gym and attempt these lifts with a great deal of load and volume may put their joints and body under stresses it has not adapted well enough to. These movements need to be perfected and the body needs to adapt to the patterns and stresses. This may be a reason for concerns about injury.
My Opinion
I am all for encouraging people to get involved in physical activity of all kinds and Crossfit is no different. My only advice would be to make sure you seek plenty of advice on technique, your functional movement patterns, and ultimately your body’s own abilities before hitting the ground running. This should be a must for everyone looking to do Crossfit and you should work on getting your lifting technique spot on before adding load, intensity, and fatigue to these movements. You would not get straight in car and take your driving test, so why would you walk straight into a gym and start clean and pressing bars about your head with high weights without learning the basics.
Crossfit is now also both a tool for general fitness and health, but also a competitive sporting arena. If you are someone looking for the general health and fitness goals maybe think about certain movements and exercises and if you are not confident and competent do you really need to include these? I get that if you are competing there is little scope for these choices but make you decision wisely.
This is by no means a negative dig at Crossfit, in fact far from it, it is more my opinion and giving people things to consider.