Crossfit is a gym, a lifestyle, a cult, or a training style, depending on your point of view. While Crossfitters swear by it, most strength & conditioning coaches disparage it. In my limited experience with Crossfit, I believe the owner/founder is a marketing genius. Greg Glassman has made it cool to belong to a gym with none of the standard gym equipment. He used basic psychology to create a cult-like following by tapping into people’s need for relatedness and desire for competition and hard work. He created a program that minimizes the time in the gym, important for busy people, and maximizes people’s affiliation with the gym.
Despite the insistence of many Crossfitters, Crossfit did not invent Olympic weightlifting, pull-ups, rope climbs, and other exercises that are ignored in more traditional gyms. However, by changing terminology (a gym is a box) and creating the WOD (workout of the day), Crossfitters speak their own language; they are different from the general public, and that differentiation makes them feel special. Teams create mantras, wear special clothes (ties on game days), etc. to create this same sense of togetherness and coolness for being part of the team. When I rowed, I had a shirt that read, “Athletes row; everyone else just plays games.” Shirts like that are meant for rowers to bond together and feel a sense of togetherness and superiority toward other sports, important in retaining rowers, just like Crossfitters creating terminology.
In that sense, I think Glassman is a marketing genius. If he writes a business or marketing book, I will read it.
I also appreciate Crossfit’s efforts to make real weightlifting and training cool. Most gyms and personal trainers sit clients on machines, bust out too many repetitions with too little resistance, and walk through a workout. The primary motivation is safety, not results, strength, or movement. When a gym like Curves pays its “trainers” minimum wage, you know the quality of training is absent.
The problem with Crossfit, and the reason that many S&C coaches disparage it, is that there appears to be very little training theory. Much like the basketball development system and its hodge-podge of programs without any overriding philosophy, workouts appear from day to day with little apparent planning. Further, like the current youth sports environment, hard or intense trumps everything else.
I spoke to a basketball coach yesterday who is using a Crossfit enthusiast to do some of his off-season workouts for him. His rationale for its success is that the players put their heads down when the Crossfitter comes in the gym because they know that it will be hard. It is mid-April. Games do not start until next November. Are six months of continuous hard workouts the best way to develop basketball players?
I watched part of an on-court workout designed by the Crossfitter. There was nothing inherently novel or wrong with the workout. However, the technique was terrible. As players got tired, the quality of the work worsened. The workout was beyond the work capacity of the players. This is where injuries occur because the body is not prepared for the work. This is a major critique of Crossfit.
The workouts essentially combined running, repeat jumps, and push-ups in a ladder. The explanation was that it would help improve maximal jumping ability. However, they started with 50 repeat jumps. That is not a maximal workout. The players barely got off the ground for their last jumps. Furthermore, they were not jumping and landing properly. There was no mention of ground contact time (GCT). There was no instruction period.
I shared a weight room with a Crossfit class this spring. I saw the same lack of technique and understanding of training principles. I watched a class attempt to find their max in the back squat after their WOD. I don’t remember their WOD on the day, but let’s assume that it achieved its purpose and the Crossfitters were suitably gassed at the end of it. How do you find your max in the back squat if you are gassed? Furthermore, is it safe? I thought a girl blew out her knee because she ended in such a compromised position and could not raise out of the squat. Other times, I watched split-squat jumps, pull-ups, and push-ups and wondered what the Crossfitters were doing. They almost always used too much weight, and their technique was incorrect to awful.
In the basketball workout, the players could not do proper push-ups. However, rather than instructing them, they were asked to do 120+ push-ups during the workout. That is reinforcing poor technique and failing to develop the strength that one believes is being developed. Similarly, even the running was developing bad habits as players were tired and not concentrating on their changes of direction.
Was the workout hard? Yes. Were the players tired at the end of the workout? Yes. Will this improve conditioning? Maybe. Is that the point of the off-season? Not to me.
Another critique of Crossfit is the lack of periodization. Periodization is an organized approach to training. Its purpose is to prevent plateaus and to work toward a peak as the season begins. Essentially, it is the planning of training so players are not doing the same exercises and the same routines throughout the year. Therefore, during the off-season, a S&C coach might cycle through a strength phase, a reactive strength phase, and a strength-endurance phase. Each of these would have different goals and purposes.
At the beginning of the off-season, while players recover from the competitive season, my first cycle would be technique. This is a time to return to the basics, teach new movements or lifts, and unload from the stress of the season. Focusing on technique would work the body through the full range of motion and help identify weakness and tightness that would need to be addressed before loading the players. This time would set the tone for the rest of the off-season by teaching the proper way to change directions, land, jump, clean, do a push-up, etc. The teaching is done in a period where I am unconcerned with the intensity of the exercise because the players are recovering. During more intense training cycles, I continue to emphasize the movement technique, but I can rely on cue words because the players have a basic understanding of the technique, even if they have not mastered the movements completely.
Crossfit, in my experience, is not the evil organization that some make it out to be. There are concerns with injuries and overtraining with the normal population as well as athletes. However, some of that is self-inflicted. Just because there is a time and the goal is to finish in as short a time as possible does not mean that a person has to push him or herself beyond his or her capacities. The exercises are largely self-directed, so the responsibility is primarily on the individual to maintain his or her technique and manage his or her fatigue.
From a sports-preparation perspective, I do not believe in the efficacy of Crossfit for high-school or college athletes because these athletes need instruction and preparation to maximize their training. Basketball is a game of movement; training poor movement intensely is not going to make a player better. Quality of training is more important than quantity.
Too often, in training, we put the cart (intensity) before the horse (technique). Crossfit certainly encourages this. Young athletes need appropriate, progressive training to maximize the benefits.
Edit: An example of why so many people take issue with Crossfit:
(Via @ChrisShugart)
Brian: Another great post. My son did Crossfit for two months and it dramatically changed his strength and power. Now he is taking a break. I had some concerns about poor technique, injuries and overwork. A couple of times I think my son went a little far. Each Crossfit has their own coach (owner) and some focus on proper technique over completion. Your newsletter assisted me in understanding this important difference. The reason we went to Crossfit is it is almost impossible to have a well managed and progressive training program managed at the high school he attends and I think with most high school programs. Most coaches lack your experience or discernment between a “program” and the benefit of making exercise intense and tiring. When in doubt they focus on “core” and make an athlete exhausted, which doesn’t make them better at what you are training for. You cover this so effectively in so many of your posts….I feel like I should be given a Masters in Exercise and Performance from your school. Great work!
Like any gym, the quality comes from the trainer leading a specific session. I worked inside of a Velocity Sports Performance facility and even though all trainers work from the same library of 120 pre-planned workouts, sessions varied greatly by trainer. Crossfit, I imagine, is the same. The workouts on paper are the same, but the execution varies based on the skill of the trainer. The problem is that it seems that Crossfit attracts or promotes trainers with poor training methodology and no progression because of its culture of intensity and competition.
This is a great post on some major problems Crossfit has. I am Mark’s daughter and I began crossfitting as a supplement to rowing my last year in high school. After a long period of time off, I got back into it and now train with a friend in my college weightroom. You are so correct about CF boxes focusing on intensity before technique. I definitely fell prey to that when I started at the first box I tried. I think Crossfitting on my own has helped change the focus from aiming to be flat on my back by the end of a WOD to actually emphasizing the functionality of the movements I’m doing.
I appreciate your post on this; I think the cult life of being part of a box blinds people to the importance of periodization and technique because they assume their trainer is God.
I couldn’t agree more with your findings in this article. Having said that I, like MacKenzie have found great satisfaction and gains following Crossfit style workouts on my own. Glassman truly is a marketing genius. If the requirements were I suppose better regulated or overseen, it would probably make for a better program. I am not a “crossfitter” per se but I do enjoy the explosive component and sometimes the wrecked feeling at the end. After reading your posting I came across some other great information also that you may have seen but I figured I would make available to whoever hasn’t.
http://www.acefitness.org/certifiednewsarticle/962/crossfit-is-the-gain-worth-the-pain-ace-experts
This article does a pretty good unbiased job of dissecting CrossFit.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge it’s greatly appreciated.
Great post Brian. However, I think the bigger issue is a lack of quality trainers/coaches in the fitness industry period. Over the course of my own training and coaching I’ve seen great coaches in both the crossfit and collegiate ranks – as well as some real terrible ones. A good coach will always put technique before “intensity” no matter what background they have.
Periodization can certainly be applied to crossfit if the coach is skilled enough in his/her programming. If anything, the bigger critique of crossfit is that it doesn’t address lateral agility, stop & go, or reactive movement. At the same time, it is very easy for athletes to coast and plateau in a traditional strength program without any variance to stimulate the body through different energy systems.
Crossfit didn’t reinvent the wheel, they just took bits and pieces from preexisting training methods and repackaged it. Everybody should utilize the its strengths and avoid/correct its weaknesses.
DJ – I agree. If you read through the site, I’ve criticized traditional strength & conditioning coaches too:
http://developyourbballiq.com/basketball-strength-conditioning-and-movement-skills/ & http://developyourbballiq.com/girls-should-not-play-basketball/ comment about a D1 S&C coach’s workouts.
I agree that Crossfit didn’t invent anything new – I think one of the reasons why Crossfitters rub many the wrong way is that they act like they invented something new, as if cleans, get-ups, pull-ups, etc. didn’t exist before Crossfit. I do appreciate the fact that Crossfit has made it cool to get off the stupid machines and lift real weights. Of course, then there is the bastardization of the movements and the Crossfitters that believe they are experts in cleans after a three-minute instruction, but I agree that stupid people are not isolated to Crossfit.
My issue, I suppose, is that the marketing machine behind Crossfit and the cult-like devotion of Crossfitters has obfuscated training theory for athletes, and the general public – which includes many high-school coaches who are not S&C coaches but who run their program’s S&C – doesn’t differentiate the effectiveness of a Crossfit-like program for athletes.
“Being hard” is easy. I’m tired of coaches – sport coaches & S&C coaches – who measure the effectiveness of a workout and of an off-season by its level of “hardness”, and Crossfit – right or wrong – is somewhat synonymous with this ethos.
Most definitely Brian! Thank you for providing great content and a forum for healthy discussion like this.
Disagree with the majority of what you discussed and the comparison made are very vague with what appears to be little research. Unless you have other crossfit experiences that weren’t mentioned, working next to a crossfit class one time does not provide enough exposure to make these statements (was this in a box or some run off bootcamp class offered by a fitness center). I have experienced multiple boxes and that is not how Crossfit is done nor are crossfit coaches instructed to do it that way. Crossfit targets muscle groups with work outs, works constantly varied, intense, functional exercises and coordinates days off to prevent injury and promote recovery. Crossfit also works on strength training but not without strict form for lifting. Properly coached crossfitters know that form and quality of work comes first. If that is not the focus of the WOD then the Crossfit instructor is no better than a “personal trainer” who sends you around to a few machines in a gym/fitness center with little instruction (do they exist, no doubt! Do crappy basketball officials exist, no doubt!).
I do crossfit, play basketball, coach D3 college basketball, and ref high school basketball. I will agree that any S&C program should be targeted to specific times of the year but that’s on the basketball coach to implement and has nothing to do with doing crossfit. Although I agree Crossfit has taken off immensely, keep in mind that the crossfit affiliate program is NOT A FRANCHISE.
Just like teaching or doing crossfit, the needs of an college basketball team and the needs of a junior high basketball team differ in degree not by kind. Our teams still need to finish layups, make free throws, play defense, and set screens to win basketball games and the same principle goes into doing cross fit. Otherwise the multitude of efficiency trainings for doing functional exercises like box jumps and pull ups wouldn’t exist. I understand the idea of what you have written about, I do not disagree that crappy crossfit instructors may exist but so do crappy basketball coaches. However the principle of what crossfit is founded is not money like Golds, Bally’s, and 24 hr fitness. It’s teaching and training athletes for success no matter age or ability which is why it is so successful. I challenge you to commit yourself to 3 months at a reputable crossfit box and then write a new article and I guarantee you will change your outlook on crossifit.
Frank:
Feel free to disagree. It’s all good. I had a college S&C coach email and say that a couple of his players went home for the summer and did Crossfit to stay in shape and returned with a torn labrum from kipping pull-ups.
As much as Crossfit charges for memberships and the amount Crossfit charges to certify trainers, it’s hard for me to take “the principle of what crossfit is founded is not money like” seriously.
Crossfit is marketing. I’m sure there are some great Crossfit trainers and bad trainers but at the end of the day, Crossfit is a brand. It’s marketing. Calling a gym a box and a workout a WOD, etc., it’s basic psychology. Honestly, that’s the brilliance of Crossfit: it’s not the exercise science, physiology, technique, etc., it’s the use of basic psychology to create a cult-like devotion. Crossfit has created a brand where Crossfitters think they are better than others and they display that on their t-shirts (“Your workout is my warm-up”) and their us vs. the world kind of mentality. It’s a great use of psychology, marketing, terminology, etc. to build the brand. It’s one of the best examples of grassroots marketing that I can think of: business schools could teach a class based on Crossfit – How to build a brand where you can offer less (less desirable locations, less amenities, etc.) and charge more by creating a sense of culture.
I’m not anti-Crossfit by any means. However, it’s not sport-specific training. Crossfit is training to be good at Crossfit. My area had a burpee mile this week. What’s the point of doing a burpee mile other than to say that you did and think yourself superior to others because you did it? It has nothing to do with training to be a basketball player.
FWIW, I follow K-Star on youtube and twitter and like his stuff. I appreciate that Crossfit has made Olympic lifts and pull-ups and barebones gyms cool. I think Crossfit does deserve some credit for getting away from stupid machines and crunches.
“Crossfit is training to be good at Crossfit.”
And is powerlifting training just to be good at powerlifting? Is Oly lifting training just to be good at Oly lifts? Or do those things translate into better strength and performance on the field/court?
I don’t think citing examples of what a few others around you experienced is valid when trying to make your points about CF. Those kids probably shouldn’t have been kipping. That’s the coaches mistake. Just like with other forms of S&C, it will vary greatly by coach/trainer.
I don’t want to get into a huge debate over this, but my bottom line is this, show me another system that has gotten as many people to stay engaged in fitness and regularly push themselves to their limits as CF does. Perhaps it is not the perfect system (I can agree with some of the argument regarding periodization), but it is an effective system. The jargon or named “WODs” are there for benchmarking purposes and so people can re-evaluate themselves over time. The community part of it is to keep people excited about working out, something that can be very difficult unless you are a high school or college athlete.
As for the mile of burpees or other “Hero WODs” you may see… why do them? You do them to prove to yourself that if you are determined to get something done, you can. It’s the same reason people run marathons or ultramarathons. It’s taking yourself to your limit, hitting the wall, and then pushing through it. For many of these workouts, they are named for fallen soldiers. The actual workout pales in comparison to the what the soldier went through themselves, but for an hour you struggle through the burn and the pain knowing they would give everything they had to be right there with you. How would that benefit bball players? There will be times during the game when they are spent They will think they hit the wall. However, if they do something that is much harder than they ever done and can get through that, it makes that “wall” seem like nothing. Workouts like that do more good mentally than they do physically.
BT:
I have acknowledged over and over that Crossfit has some merit and pointed out some benefits. Compared to many S&C coaches, I am pro-Crossfit. When I wrote this originally, I got emails from friends who discliked the article because it was too conciliatory toward Crossfit.
I honestly don’t care that much. If you’re an average Joe and want to become a Crossfitter, great. Go be a Crossfit world champion and get on a Reebok commercial (okay, on that note, I read an article prior to the Corrsfit games this summer by a pro-Crossfit writer. The writer attributed the fitness of the Crossfit competitors to their Crossfit training. However, in the bio of each and every one of them, the writer pointed out markers of elite athleticism before they ever started Crossfit, either superior performance on lifeguarding tests, fireman tests, Olympic lifts, etc. How do you attribute elite fitness only or primarily to Crossfit when they were elite before they started?).
But, for an athlete, I wouldn’t say it’s the worst training that you could possibly do, but I wouldn’t say that it’s training for sports performance either.
As a mother of 2 small children and an ex-Division 1 athlete I could not disagree with you more about CF. I was in “Mommy Shape” as I would call it because of raising my children and starting a family. Back in “MY HAYDAY”, I was a Division 1 athlete and had my fair share of workouts with personal trainers as well as trainers who worked with professional athletes and by far “THE BOX” mentality is what brings me back to those ranks of athletics. At this point I am 5 months in to my CF experience and I could not be happier with the results. If that makes me a cult member then so be it! I am healthy, happy, and getting my body to where it was when I was in college!! The constant affirmations of completions of WOD’s is just a bonus of what my ultimate goal is and that is to be healthy. I am now not in “Mommy Shape” anymore, I am physically fit and accomplishing things I once did as a 20 yr old in college. I wish I had this back then!! You need intensity and drive to accomplish things. That is part of life! However, you also need to focus on technique as well. Like all things in life it is a culmination of things to be successful and this the recipe!! Technique is always stressed at our BOX so to lump all CFer’s into that group is wrong. That is like saying all athletes are dumb jocks!! I write this with the best of intentions and want people to know it is not a cult or a business ploy! It is what works for me and I will continue to CF!!! I encourage all to give it 6 months and to see your results. You will not regret it!! I haven’t!!
Robyn:
Round of applause for you. Great! I haven’t said anything about average joe’s or mommy Robyn’d doing Xfit. In fact, I pretty much implied that the best of those who did xfit are ex-athletes).
I also have acknowledged repeatedly that the WODs, Boxs, etc are a great piece of marketing and use of psychology that has created a cult-like devotion. I don’t think you’ve said anything that contradicts that, and it’s not meant to disparage xfit. I’ve said that the dude should write a book and that you could teach a marketing class on xfit. that’s praising it.
I didn’t write my reponse to get a condiscending response in turn. I wrote it because it seems to me that you are putting an unncessary stamp on CF! You can put all your degrees in a hat and throw them in the air! It doesn’t mean you are an expert at everything. I am simply trying to let people know the positive not the negative and it seems to me Mr. Mccormick that you are just as much of a “marketer” as you claim CF is……
What specifically are you objecting to?
Paragraph 1: Crossfit uses basic psychology to create affiliation. Main point: Crossfit minimizes gym time and maximizes affiliation.
Paragraph 2: Crossfit uses basics of culture building like teams.
Paragraph 3: Glassman is a marketing genius.
Paragraph 4: Crossfit makes real weight lifting cool.
So far, 4 pro-Crossfit paragraphs.
Paragraph 5: Crossfit appears to have little training theory.
Paragraph 6: One coach uses Crossift because it is hard. Is that the best way to develop players? The question pertains specifically to hard training, not just Crossfit.
Paragraph 7: This example of Crossfit was terrible.
Paragraph 8: The workout. The coach suggested that 50 repeat jumps would improve maximal vertical jump. In my opinion, that’s a misunderstanding of training theory, not to mention age and skill appropriate training.
Paragraph 9: Another example of a different Crossfit coach and poor technique.
Paragraph 10: Back to workout one and poor technique.
Paragraph 11: Did the workout meet its stated objectives (i.e. to be hard)? Yes. Is that what’s important? Not to me.
Paragraph 12: Periodization
Paragraph 13: My example of periodization.
Paragraph 14: Crossfit is not evil.
Paragraph 15: I don’t believe Crossfit is pre-season training for a sport.
Paragraph 16: General statement about putting intensity before technique.
Essentially, I suppose, you’re arguing that these two Crossfit instructors are an aberration and everywhere else uses perfect form. Also, I suppose you could be arguing that Crossfit is based on sound training theory and periodization of training. However, in all the posts from pro-Crossfitters, I haven’t seen anyone attack those points. So far, the points are that not all Boxs are the same (I will concede that that is correct and mentioned that I follow one prominent Crossfitter, K-Star). However, am I wrong about training theory and periodization? How are WODs organized? Is there a theory behind them? Planning? Is the planning daily, monthly, annually? Is training individualized? If so, how does the individualization work within the WODs? These are legitimate questions that could refute my points. Any good S&C coach has an annual plan that divides training into different periods with different objectives. Does Crossfit? A good S&C coach attempts to individualize training for each player? Does Crossfit?
As for me being a marketer, whatever. You can believe that if you want, though it’s laughable.
You seem to have your panties in a bunch over a small blog that essentially said that Crossfit uses basic psychology, builds a culture that creates affiliation, is genius marketing, but fails to periodize its workouts.
Your angst has me more worried about the cultishness of Crossfit more than anything else.
Feel free to provide responses that are different than my trainer isn’t like the trainer that you wrote about. Otherwise, maybe you should get off the Paleo diet and eat some carbs so you’re not so angry.
Brian,
Kudos to the pursuit of your Doctorate and the success of your published books, I see where you opinion on the marketing concept of CF considering your education in sports science and your own level of marketing experience. That being said and similar to what BT mentioned about the ability of athletes to “hit the wall and keep going”, I would think that you can agree that at any sport this is a crucial part of the success of any team. Honestly I’m intrigued to read your theories on the game of basketball, despite that our opinions on S&C differ. I am fortunate to have played multiple levels under numerous coaching styles and now coached at all those same levels; I will forever be a student of the hardwood. As far as CF and my feelings of crossing over bball and CF. My 13 year old daughter does crossfit along with cheerleading, basketball, and softball. Outside of gymnasts, who essentially train like CFers their entire youth into their young adulthood, CF is a sport within athletics that requires the mastery of certain elements before moving onto a more difficult progression. My daughter does not do kipping pull-ups because she isn’t strong enough to do more than 2 or 3 dead hang pull-ups as it is. Heck I don’t even do full kipping pull ups and I work primarily on not kipping, its not like I have intentions on competing in the 2013 CF Open. Should CF be your primary strength and conditioning for an entire bball season, absolutely not! Is CF a worthy S&C concept to be applied within a high school or college program to target overall fitness of athletes to help prevent injuries and promote muscle endurance and mental toughness, absolutely! Again I do not doubt your basketball knowledge but I seriously encourage you to seek out an actual crossfit box where ever it is you reside. Enter the doors and advise them you want to do research on how their program could potentially help an high school or college basketball team. Then re-write your findings because based on your background and education its obvious you are an intelligent individual discussing athletics but I do not think you have educated yourself enough on CF to make the claims stated above. I see that you have some followers on this thread and obviously people have bought your books. I think it will seriously increase you credibility to get “inside the BOX” and write about.
Another take:
http://www.tonygentilcore.com/blog/all-the-hype-behind-kipping-pull-ups/
Favorite line from the comments: “That is why the preferred form of clothing at most crossfit events is kinesio-tape.”
I love basketball more than anything else, and your article reminds me of my high school basketball summer training. Our coach would just give us a high intensity workout but no proper coaching and technique to develop our basketball skills. There is no coaching on how to shoot properly, dribbling drills, how to defend 1 on 1, team defense, how to grab a rebound, passing, etc..
Yes I gain strength, speed, agility, and endurance during the summer training but we never really did improve our skills as a young athletes of basketball.