
CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret - gms
https://medium.com/p/97bcce70356d
======
fingerprinter
To be honest, Crossfit has quite a few dark secrets. This one, though, can
kill you.

What are crossfit's dark secrets?

First and foremost, well, it's terrible. The programming coming from HQ is
just plain awful. There are many programs out there now (Outlaw, Competitors
WOD, CF Football etc) that fill the gap and actually give decent programming,
but the programming from crossfit.com is really, really bad.

Did you know that ALL the athletes that competed at the Crossfit games do not
use crossfit.com WODs as the base of their programming? It's true. Go and
check it out. What does this tell you? That crossfit, the programming, is all
bullshit. The elite athletes use strength training as the basis of their
programming and complement that with met cons as they get closer to the games.

There is also a culture that promotes things like rips (ripping your hands,
say during a deadlift), or rope burns or other types of stupid things as
badges of honor. You can't go a few days on /r/crossfit without seeing someone
mention their ripped hands with pride. This is dumb and promotes the wrong
things.

And beyond that, frankly, high-rep olympic lifts, high-rep box jumps (DON'T
JUMP DOWN! Seriously, trust me on this), and general bad form is ok in the
name of better times. These are begging for injuries.

TL;DR - Crossfit is dumb.

~~~
kylered
I've been CrossFitting for over 6 years, owned an affiliate for 4 years, and
founded the largest independent CrossFit-style competition series in the
country (as far as I know).

This author hasn't been to a well-managed gym or worked with more experienced
coaches. The same is likely true of those who get rhabdo. They have exposed
themselves to more than their body can handle physically, as a result of poor
coaching, and/or poor decision making.

I've seen high rep pullups and high rep weighted squats cause Rhabdo in people
(not at my gym). I've also seen thousands of people do those same movements
(in a safe way) and not get injured. Any good coach shouldn't be exposing
clients to those things that expose clients to injury or death.

A responsibility of any gym owner/trainer is to protect clients from injury.
If you go to a gym (CrossFit or not) that programs things that expose you to
to any kind of injury, then you should absolutely leave. Coaches should be
aware of the risks.

If you attempt to lift too much weight, do too many reps, do things with bad
form, of course you exposure yourself to injury. I hope rational people would
consider that CrossFit is a very effective fitness program, and, despite its
criticism, is something that produces amazing results in people if done
properly.

Interestingly, my biggest injury was from a heavy single clean and jerk. I've
never had Rhabdo and done tons of high rep stuff, but stay away from high rep
box jumps, deads, pullups and other silly things. I do enjoy high rep oly
lifting in CrossFit and I total 180kg as a 69kg oly lifter. They are
completely different movements; to think otherwise is just dumb.

TL;DR - people who are irrational are dumb.

~~~
jacques_chester
> _I 've been CrossFitting for over 6 years, owned an affiliate for 4 years,
> and founded the largest independent CrossFit-style competition series in the
> country (as far as I know)._

Ah, the No True Crossfit Gym argument.

Everyone always seems to come from the one _good_ Crossfit gym where correct
form is emphasised. Where the coaches are wonderful. And so on.

The point is: trainees very rarely have the knowledge, qualification or
experience to know if they are being taught properly.

It's like martial arts schools, everyone's Sensei or Sifu is an international
badass.

The central problem is that CFHQ don't do quality control. Ostensibly because
of a libertarian outlook, but I can't help but notice that it allows them to
1. milk the fad while it's booming and 2. better insulate themselves from
lawsuits.

~~~
kylered
Our gym is not perfect, but we set standards and have a mission to serve
clients in the most effective way possible.

What if HQ has good goals and it's not about "milking," but exposing people to
a more effective fitness methodology?

Personally, I believe that quality is going to drive the success or failure of
CrossFit, and that's why we (and many other successful gyms) have been very
devoted to making sure quality is a driver in our service.

~~~
jacques_chester
> _What if HQ has good goals and it 's not about "milking," but exposing
> people to a more effective fitness methodology?_

Their behaviour can too easily be constructed into a very negative picture.

I can see Crossfit going one of two ways:

Either it will reach a high water mark and settle down to a steady-state
condition. More people are coming into Crossfit, but in many markets there's a
saturation of affiliates. Gyms with overheads like full-time, well-trained
coaches will be partly driven out by cheaper operations with a CF1
certificate.

Alternatively, someone will construct a successful legal argument that
Crossfit is a franchise operation. A subsequent class action lawsuit will turn
them into a smoking hole in the ground.

On the upside, millions of people will have learnt that exercising is fun.
That is definitely a positive outcome.

------
dkarl
Rehash from five years ago? Doesn't this guy know that the new scandal is
high-rep box jumps?

The "dirty secret" of Crossfit is that they don't do much to actively ensure
the quality of local affiliates, and therefore the brand doesn't always mean
much. My personal experiences have all been great, and my coaches have always
been extremely safety-conscious, but in light of the nasty things I read on
the internet, I wouldn't encourage anyone to blindly trust whatever local
Crossfit affiliate happens to pop up down the block. Rather than thinking of
Crossfit as a guarantee of a certain standard of quality, think of it as an
approach to fitness that is interpreted in various ways by coaches of varying
competence.

Also keep in mind that the coach can't always see when you need to ease up or
stop. Sometimes they can, but they can only see what is apparent on the
outside; they can't feel what you feel.

~~~
adamnemecek
Re: Quality assurance, this was on reddit couple days ago

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8up6A4QesU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8up6A4QesU)

~~~
kareemm
Interestingly enough this video was posted to the FB group of the CrossFit gym
I go to... a gym I chose because of the quality of programming and emphasis on
technique and mobility. There's no bravado there.

Here was one coach's response:

"Haha, this video is infamous! It's the "proof" that critics of CrossFit use
to try and show that the entire sport is dangerous and that we don't know what
we're doing. There are definitely examples in the video of athletes losing
their midline, and going heavier than they safely should, but the point that
is completely overlooked is that these athletes are trying classic strongman
lifts for probably the very first time. The lift they're practicing is called
the continental clean and, believe it or not, they're doing it more right than
wrong. It's an awkward lift that's used for cleaning axle bars that are too
fat to grip and clean conventionally. Anyone trying that for the first time
will look similarly awkward. It's part of learning something new. Whoever
originally shot and posted this video never meant for it to be taken as a
typical crossfit class full of elite athletes. It's just a video of a group of
people who aren't afraid to try something new, regardless of where are on the
learning curve they had to start."

~~~
Jayschwa
The coach's response is not reassuring. Anyone trying it for the first time
should start with a weight light enough that they can hold the correct form
and not lose control.

~~~
gknoy
Absolutely. I'm grateful that our coaches always tell us (and other new
people) to do bar sets, and even do the workout lifts with either PVC or the
light bar only when we are still mastering form. Safety > all.

------
pcorsaro
I hate reading articles like this because it's trying to tell you that
CrossFit culture is all about pushing yourself until you've practically killed
yourself doing all sorts of crazy and whacky weight lifting. 99% of the time,
the problem isn't CrossFit, it's the coaches. If you're at a good gym (or box
as it's called), the coaches know how to scale workouts for the athletes so
they won't get hurt, and they're programming workouts so that people aren't
killing themselves constantly.

Where CrossFit is to blame is its low barrier to entry to becoming a
coach/affiliate owner. All you need is a weekend of your time, $1000, a
passing score on a super simple test, and you get to call yourself an "L1
CrossFit Trainer." They don't advise you to immediately go start training
people, but there are plenty of boxes that will let you jump in and start
coaching classes. It's gotten so popular now that there are bad affiliates
popping up out there that have horrible programming that hurt people, and then
articles like this get written, and then everyone thinks that's all CrossFit
is.

When you take the L1 CrossFit Trainer course, they have a whole section about
"Uncle Rhabdo." It's a very rare thing that occurs when you do a whole lot of
isometric exercises (like strict pull ups where you come down real slow) when
you're not used to them. It's not a rabid thing that is 100% going to happen
if you do CrossFit.

~~~
abuehrle
Well put. Evaluating "CrossFit" is difficult by design---HQ wants boxes to be
almost completely autonomous. The best statement of CrossFit's philosophy is
Greg Glassman's "World-Class Fitness in 100 Words"[1]. There's nothing there
about doing lots of poor quality reps as quickly as possible.

I began my CrossFit career at San Francisco CrossFit and thought it was the
best thing ever. Part of each session focused on mobility. Bad reps were not
tolerated. It was like a daily seminar on how to maintain, tune, and fix the
human machine. The skills I learned will benefit me greatly as I age.

Then I had to move, and I saw the dark side of CrossFit. Inept trainers with
poor attitudes, encouraging speed and weight with no concern for proper body
mechanics. I work out on my own now, practicing skills I learned at SFCF.

Bottom line: it's the box that matters.

[1] "Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no
sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.
Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and
snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope
climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and
holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix
these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow.
Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and
play new sports. " \-- [http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/start-
how.html](http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/start-how.html)

~~~
sangu1s
> Part of each session focused on mobility.

I'd hope so at SFCF. You ever get to work with KStar? Jealous.

~~~
abuehrle
Every Tuesday morning! It was awesome.

Kelly's sessions in particular always had a theme. For example: we might
practice Turkish Getups for 10 minutes, focusing on shoulder stability. Then
the "WOD" might be alternating dumbbell push press and 400m sprints. The idea
was to pay attention to shoulder position and stability even as the sprints
exhausted us.

All of the coaches were (are) great teachers. It was about so much more than
simply getting a workout in. It felt like we did everything for a reason.
Combine that with awesome, supportive people (everyone shakes hands with
anyone they don't already know before every session) and a killer location (a
parking lot under the Golden Gate Bridge)---it was magical.

This is why it's silly to make judgements about "CrossFit". CrossFit is a fine
system/philosophy/whatever. Find a box with a good atmosphere where you can
learn things from people who know more than you do. It's like anything else.

------
wdewind
Ignoring the fact that there is no true definition of what crossfit is (which
is a problem in and of itself), this isn't even the biggest issue with
crossfit.

The biggest issue is that the training philosophy is not ground in any kind of
science whatsoever (ie: that mixing conditioning and strength training in one
workout somehow combines for an increased effect on both).

CrossfitHQ also promotes a concept of "all around fitness" which is, quite
frankly, bullshit. A marathon runner and a powerlifter are both very fit, but
for different things. Having a training program that does not start with
explicit goals and work towards those goals is idiotic. And for most people,
who want to be somewhat cardiovascularly conditioned and aesthetically toned,
crossfit is far from the quickest or safest way to get to those goals. Even
the "good gyms" that emphasize form still seem to have completely nonsensical
programming.

Finally, you can be sure that crossfitHQ in particular is bullshit because
they have a motto of "forging elite athletes" and yet not a single elite
athlete from a single sport follows crossfitHQ's WODs. The only acceptable
reason to do it is because it can be fun, and if that's what you're into more
power to you. But it's not an effective or safe form of training no matter how
you cut it.

~~~
pbreit
I don't see that as a big problem. Just getting folks to actually workout is
99% of the battle. CrossFit seems very good at that.

~~~
wdewind
You're getting downvoted but I think that's a fair point. I think I addressed
it though: that fits into the fun aspect.

Unfortunately if you get folks to workout and then they injure themselves, as
frequently happens in crossfit, you have other problems too.

------
rangibaby
When I first started doing weights, my father and his brother both drilled one
piece of advice into my head: training too much is worse than not training at
all. After reading this article, I'm grateful for it!

~~~
dkarl
Overtraining is a phenomenon that is universally recognized from from football
to marathon running to bodybuilding to gymnastics. Crossfit's stated
philosophy is about developing fitness to support one's enjoyment of life, but
like competitive sports, they fetishize results. Everything is measured and
counted, and they encourage people to record and track their progress. Some
people miss the point and end up fetishizing pain and effort instead, but to
do that they have to overlook both the stated philosophy and the day-to-day
focus on improvement.

------
tlrobinson
Wow, I thought they were kidding about the clown cartoon, but no: (pdf)
[http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/38_05_cf_rhabdo.pdf](http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/38_05_cf_rhabdo.pdf)

~~~
chris_wot
Not to mention the highly casual way the talk about the condition and how
_they_ caused it!

Someone needs to sue them. For a lot of money. Maybe they'll get it through
their thick skulls that it's not cool, or funny.

------
mightybyte
The title of this article is one of the most misleading I've ever seen. It
implies that rhabdomyolysis is little known and covered up. But later the
author admits that it's not little known. "How, I wondered, is it possible
that the layperson exercise instructor is on a first-name basis with a
serious, yet rare medical condition?" Why does he do this? Because being
sensationalist draws clicks.

This article is a microcosm of everything that is wrong with mainstream media.
It takes something quite rare and spins a narrative designed to incite fear,
making you think that these horrible things are happening much more frequently
than they actually are.

I'm no stranger to intense exercise. As a competitive swimmer at a young age,
I knew what it meant to push myself to the limit. It wasn't until 2007 when I
started CrossFit that I was ever educated about rhabdomyolysis. But I'd much
rather be educated than ignorant. Everything in life has risk. And strangely
enough, things that are more worthwhile seem to typically involve more risk.
Is exercise risky? Of course. But not exercising carries its own set of risks.

As for me, I'll stick with exercise. And for that, CrossFit makes more sense
than anything else I've ever seen.

~~~
jusben1369
I think you might have missed the point. To the general public and other
sports/activities it's little known. Yet here is a Johnny guy lay person Xfit
instructor who knows what is ailing the person before she even tells him. Why
would a guy guess right on something so rare?

~~~
mightybyte
Because "Johnny guy lay person" was educated. If it was a secret that CrossFit
was trying to cover up, then he wouldn't have known.

~~~
jusben1369
The "Dirty Little Secret" is they know their users are vulnerable to this
otherwise very rare condition.

------
jusben1369
This reminds me a little of the "Ban PitBulls" argument. If we got rid of all
PitBulls then wanna be gangsta's would go to Rottweilers then Dobermans then
German Shepards etc.

CrossFit is tapping into and flourishing with a certain mindset of folks for
whom this extreme form of punishment is desirable. Probably better to
understand that and help folks dial it back a little vs thinking getting rid
of CrossFit would solve the problem.

~~~
PKop
Problem for whom? If people enjoy it, and don't agree with your assessment of
the program as punishment, then what's the issue?

------
xjtian
The vast majority of Crossfitters are not at a level of physical fitness and
mental toughness that would put them at risk of rhabdo after a WOD. They'd
throw in the towel long before "meeting Uncle Rhabdo" under most normal
circumstances.

However, certain external factors can affect the risk - high humidity, heat,
improper hydration, and poor nutrition can significantly increase the chance
of catching rhabdo from a workout. It sounds like the subject of this post got
caught up in the competitiveness of the workout, turned a deaf ear to what her
body was telling her that day, and paid the price for it. It's a mistake that
many inexperienced athletes make when thrust into a competitive setting, and
most of the time only ends with "meeting Pukey" or some really bad DOMS the
next morning, but the specifics of this circumstance (pushup-overhead couplet
sounds like a stupidly dangerous WOD, plus a "warm Texas evening") lead to a
significantly worse outcome.

~~~
debacle
Don't underestimate the power of peer pressure when it comes to physical
activities. It's one of the main draws of Crossfit, and probably the strongest
force for these people when they push themselves too far.

When you're working out with someone who you barely know, or may have just
met, who doesn't know what to expect and doesn't know their own limits, and is
trying to keep up with everyone around them, you have a recipe for someone
pushing themselves too far to a dangerous extent, whether the outcome is
rhabdo, a tear, or some other injury. Most desk jockies (myself included
sometimes) don't take the proper care that you need when you try and start
moving a body that sits idle for 8-10 hours a day.

------
Whitespace
TL;DR: I got rhabdo from crossfit last year. My CPK was 100,000 and I spent 5
days in the hospital. I wasn't overweight but I wasn't fit when I got it, and
I got it during the first day of a beginner course.

Ask me anything.

==============================

I did crossfit for a couple of months in 2010 and loved it, but I had to stop
since I moved to a new apartment and the gym times wouldn't work with the
longer commute. I always wanted to go back, so in June 2012 I started up
again, taking the two-week beginner course (I wasn't in the best shape and I
wanted to ease into it).

During the first day back, we went through a lot of basic movements and
listened to the instructor talk about what crossfit was like. In the hour-long
class, we spent the last ten minutes talking about rhabdomyolysis; what it is,
the symptoms, the danger, common ways to get it, etc.

The workout of the day was tabata squats (20 seconds of as many BW reps, then
10 seconds of rest, repeat 8 times for a total of 4 minutes and 2:40 of
exercising), tabata pushups, and tabata situps.

The squats were the one that got me.

The next morning, I couldn't walk, but that was expected since it was my first
day back. I pushed myself quite hard (knowing what crossfit was like), but I
wasn't competing with the people in my class, I was competing with myself. I
took it easy and rested.

The day after that, I couldn't really bend my legs because of the extreme
soreness, and walking down the stairs was neigh impossible. It took a while,
but I took the subway to the office where there's a gym with a stationary
bike, as slow biking was the only thing that would ease the soreness in my
quads.

After 6 hours at work, periodically biking and reading online, I noticed my
urine was coca-cola colored, and that it was the telltale sign of rhabdo. I
knew that because the crossfit instructor drilled it into my head two days
earlier.

I looked online for a hospital that my insurance covered, took a cab, checked
myself in saying I had rhabdo, and I began a 5-day stay where I received lots
of saline solution (1000ml 6x a day, IIRC) to help flush the myoglobin out of
my body. Luckily for me, the hospital saw a lot of cases of rhabdo from not
crossfit members, but prisoners. They have little else to do than workout
extremely hard, and the hospital saw dozens of prisoners a year.

My creatine kinase was almost 100,000 (excess myoglobin is the problem, but
high creatine kinase is a proxy for high myoglobin, and CPK levels are
commonly checked). TFA is right in that the normal is < 100\. IIRC, the
doctors estimated I dissolved 5 lbs of muscle tissue into my bloodstream to
get a CPK that high. I was bored in the hospital so I charted my CPK to
determine when they'd release me:
[http://imgur.com/18HYKNr](http://imgur.com/18HYKNr)

==============================

Many tests afterwards showed my kidneys are fine, and I haven't noticed (or
read about) what the TFA describes as "flabbiness" or some sort of water
retention in my legs. I also haven't noticed that my legs are weak; on the
contrary, after lots of biking over bridges my legs are stronger than my squat
days (at least when it comes to endurance, not power).

TFA is being a bit sensationalist and anecdotal about rhabdo being crossfit's
"dirty little secret." To add another anecdote into the fire, everyone I know
that does crossfit knows what rhabdo is, and rhabdo is mentioned in beginner
classes multiple times; not only what it is, but the symptoms, what to do when
you get it, and how, if left untreated, myoglobinuria can lead to acute renal
failure and death.

I haven't been to crossfit in over a year, but TBH I'm itching to go back. I'm
the kind of personality that will really push myself hard – probably harder
than most – but now I know a little better and will hold back a tiny bit,
especially when doing high reps of low weight.

==============================

Update: My first crossfit experience was at Crossfit Virtuosity in Brooklyn,
NY and I got rhabdo at The Black Box in NYC.

Also, my memory isn't so great as I thought. I took the class on a Friday and,
that same night, moved into a new apartment. The combination of crossfit and
carrying lots of boxes/furniture on the same day was probably the cause.

~~~
enraged_camel
That's scary. Thanks for sharing.

I'm an amateur bodybuilder and I workout alone. Over the years I have
contemplated joining Crossfit (mostly for the comradery aspect), but the
insane level of cult mentality has made me shy away from it every time.
Articles like this just drive home the point.

My friend Jane, who is a physical therapist, specializes in exercise injuries.
She once confided in me that local Crossfitters form by far the largest
percentage of her repeat customer-base. She said she finds the level of
irrationality unbelievable, in that the same people will come to her in a lot
of pain and _brag_ about their injury on the one hand, and _beg_ her to fix
them up quickly so they can go back to Crossfit ASAP. Then they will come back
in a few months with a different injury but the exact same mindset.

~~~
dkarl
_Over the years I have contemplated joining Crossfit (mostly for the comradery
aspect), but the insane level of cult mentality has made me shy away from it
every time._

That's a good reason to shun a particular location or instructor, but I and a
lot of other people have had completely opposite experiences. If the workouts
interest you, I encourage you to give it a try and see what the instructors
are like. Maybe ask Jane where her patients work out and go someplace else.

~~~
enraged_camel
>>That's a good reason to shun a particular location or instructor, but I and
a lot of other people have had completely opposite experiences.

Before I posted that, I knew that a Crossfitter would respond and defend
Crossfit. That is the level of cult-like irrationality I am talking about:
looking at statistics (such as the ones about much higher incidence of Rhambo
in Crossfitters) and responding with anecdotal evidence like, "well, my
experiences are very different!"

~~~
dkarl
After you went out of your way to thank someone for an anecdote that confirmed
your bias, you'll have to forgive me for believing that you're reacting to my
point of view, not the nature of my evidence. All I said is that you should
see for yourself and trust your own judgment. To quote myself, "they don't do
much to actively ensure the quality of local affiliates.... I wouldn't
encourage anyone to blindly trust whatever local Crossfit affiliate happens to
pop up down the block."

~~~
enraged_camel
>>After you went out of your way to thank someone for an anecdote that
confirmed your bias...

You sound hopelessly confused. We are not discussing anecdotes. We are
discussing actual statistics provided in the original article that clearly
showed Crossfit to have much higher rates of injuries and potentially-fatal
medical conditions.

When you put the burden on new people to figure out whether their affiliates
are high quality, you are blaming the victim. Most beginners are not capable
of accurately assessing whether the types of workouts done in Crossfit and the
manner in which they are done are healthy or not. What they do is read reviews
of the gym on the Internet and see all the five-star raves, then visit the gym
and see everyone cheering each other on and having a good time, and think,
"hey this is cool, I want to be a part of it too!" Are they supposed to know
about normally ultra-rare conditions like rhabdo? Or should Crossfit do its
fucking job and keep its affiliates in check?

~~~
spinlock
I know the article's title calls rhabdo a secret but if you read the article -
and the comment at the top of this thread - you'll notice that Glassman and
every CrossFit coach I've ever met talks about it all the time. In fact, I bet
you can't find one person who does CrossFit who doesn't know what it is.

~~~
enraged_camel
>>you'll notice that Glassman and every CrossFit coach I've ever met talks
about it all the time.

Look dude, the problem is not that they don't talk about it. The problem is
that they make people do complex exercises in a manner that significantly
increases risk of rhabdo and a ton of other injuries _despite knowing about
those risks_. This is irresponsible at best and grossly negligent at worst.

There is a way to lift weights in a safe and responsible manner. Crossfit not
only refuses to teach its clients that, but also builds and encourages a
culture where injuries become badges of honor. _That_ is what makes it a cult.

~~~
mudetroit
FWIW,it can absolutely be that way, and I have visited at a few gyms that I
would never go back to. I also know that at my gym, if a coach notices you
breaking proper form at all they immediately work with you on it, or have you
back down an bit be it in speed or weight.

I am in no way saying that the bad behaviors described above, and you can
absolutely get a cult like mindset focused around entirely the wrong thing. I
would also say that I think some of the nature of the workout strategies in
general may attract these kind of behaviors.

------
skizm
Crossfit charges 1000 bucks to certify that you understand the movements and
general philosophy and 3000 bucks a year to use the "Crossfit" name. That's
it. Each gym is only as bad as the trainers and/or person writing the
programming. People got rhabdo before Crossfit and they'll get it when the fad
dies down. The only thing I hate more than fanatical crossfiters is (are?)
fanatical crossfit haters.

------
jacques_chester
As an Olympic-style Weightlifter and coach, I hold the usual reservations
about Crossfit. The insensible use of the competition lifts for high
repetitions, the bonkers programming, the creepy culture, the pack of drongoes
at HQ, the deliberate absence of quality control.

However, it has two positive features, in my eyes:

1\. It gets lots of people up off their backsides and working hard. A lot of
folk don't realise how much they can really do if they _want_ to do it. The
flipside of Crossfit's sometimes overblown culture is that it forms a strong
social environment for most trainees to motivate them to keep it up.

2\. It has introduced millions of people to Weightlifting and a lot of those
people defect to the sport proper.

In the English-speaking world Crossfit has been a massive shot in the arm for
Weightlifting and Powerlifting. They've gone from being struggling niche
sports 10 years ago to seeing an unparalleled period of growth.

The current generation of Crossfitters won't make much of an impact on the
elite levels of Weightlifting. But their children might.

In the long run, and despite the butchering of the lifts that goes on in many
gyms, Crossfit might be the best thing that ever happened to my sport.

------
rayiner
Reading about CrossFit makes me a little queasy:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CrossFit#Body_weight_exercises](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CrossFit#Body_weight_exercises).
A lot of these things don't seem very good for you. I feel like this stuff is
going to come back to bite you in the ass in 20-30 years...

I personally would stick to basic weightlifting. You can get an intense 30-45
minute workout, don't put tons of pressure on your knees, and most importantly
the long-term effects are very well-studied.

------
badclient
I had rhabdomyolysis in high school after an intense afternoon of running
around in the cold. Let me describe the pain:

* everytime I breathe in or down I felt like screaming

* moving almost any part of my body even an inch made me scream

* my urine was dark red

All my life I've had above normal pain tolerance from another chronic illness
but it took rhabdomyolysis to really break me--quite literally. Ultimately it
resulted in being put in a stretcher as I screamed my ass off.

It took a lot of morphine to find any relief and dialysis to fully recover.

~~~
Whitespace
My experience with rhabdo involved no pain (outside of really sore muscles).

I am not a doctor, but I think what you experienced was what rhabdo leads to
if untreated: myoglobinuria (kidneys poisoned due to excess myoglobin) which
then leads to acute renal failure (kidneys fail).

The normal treatment for rhabdo is intravenous saline (I had 5 days of
saline), whereas myoglobinuria or acute renal failure require dialysis, since
your kidneys have shut down.

In any case, that sounds absolutely frightening in the worst way imaginable.
Any long-lasting side effects?

~~~
badclient
That sounds about right. Mine had gotten much worse by the time we took
action, mostly because we confused it for my other illness during the early
stages.

And thank you for crediting saline. I became a saline "addict" myself. We were
told to get home health to give IV at any sign of red urine.

This was almost exactly 10 years ago. I've been well since.

------
callmeed
This article seems a little sensationalist. Just because a journal had an
article about it with a cartoon attached doesn't mean they've adopted as a
"mascot" or make light of the condition.

My wife has been doing crossfit full-force for almost a year (including some
competitions [1]). Along with previous standard workouts and diet changes,
she's lost 60+ lbs over the past 2 years. And she's getting pretty buff.

She's never heard of rhabdomyolysis.

Every exercise/activity has some risks. If anything, I'd say crossfit puts you
at risk for other injuries (back, joints, heat exhaustion at competitions,
etc.).

[1] My wife at a recent competition. A male competitor here fainted and had to
go to the ER:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnQ8ZDSmg70](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnQ8ZDSmg70)

~~~
dkarl
_Just because a journal had an article about it with a cartoon attached doesn
't mean they've adopted as a "mascot" or make light of the condition._

Unfortunately, that part is real. There were two unofficial mascots, Pukey the
Clown and Rhabdo the Clown. If you puked during class, you "met one of the
clowns." The clowns were celebrated on t-shirts, murals, etc. That was dumb,
but it was eventually recognized as dumb, and it was stopped. Of course it
provided grist for the first round of "Crossfit exposé" coverage, which has
consistently attempted to portray Crossfit as a cult in which people
uncritically worship ideas that are obviously problematic to anyone who hasn't
been brainwashed.

There's a little bit of truth to that, in that many of the coaches are
enthusiastic, rah-rah cheerleader types who don't take a critical approach to
much of anything. However -- and this is a BIG however -- that is true of
every approach to physical fitness I've ever been exposed to. Like other types
of training, Crossfit has its share of smart and critical people as well, and
they do their best to improve the practice of Crossfit and identify and fix
problems.

~~~
jacques_chester
> _Like other types of training, Crossfit has its share of smart and critical
> people as well, and they do their best to improve the practice of Crossfit
> and identify and fix problems._

The problem is that none of these people work at Crossfit HQ and CFHQ goes out
its way to excommunicate them.

~~~
dkarl
That's one reason it's actually a good thing that the affiliates are so
loosely regulated. Everyone respects Mark Rippetoe, no matter if they entirely
agree with his assessment of Crossfit or not, and everyone knows that Greg
Glassman is a second-rate jackass (even if they give him credit for
popularizing the idea of Crossfit in the first place.)

------
kayoone
The biggest problem with Crossfit is that it promotes excessive amount of
exercises under time pressure, which really is a dangerous combination. People
die in competetive sports all the time. Its very rare but still, there are
people dieing doing marathons, thriathlons, crossfit, biking and even less
taxing endurance sports like football(soccer). Its rarer than rhabdo but
excessive stress on your cardiovascular system can kill you (cardiac arrest,
heart attack etc) especially if your heart isnt 100% healthy (and most young
people have never made a check on their heart).

No reason to panic though, its very very rare, but it happens and thus it
should be noted that excessive excersise (in whatever shape or form) just isnt
risk free.

------
robbiep
Not a crossfitter but if they actively warn about the risk of rhabdo and have
a cartoon (however poor taste some people may find it) then how is that a
'dirty little secret'?

~~~
jacques_chester
It isn't, but it makes for great link-bait.

------
Raphmedia
I have a lot of coworkers that injured themselves doing CrossFit. I don't
understand why CrossFit is such a trend in the tech industry.

It seems like an easy way to hurt yourself.

Simply go to the gym and do your own workout...

~~~
revelation
The popularity in tech could certainly explain the large number of people
embarrassing themselves here with their boneheaded defense of what is just
another for profit company.

~~~
smsm42
Implying for profit things are all bad?

------
nivals
Veterans to CrossFit are not immune, nor are good movers/fit athletes in
general.

I've been doing CrossFit for six years, this past December during a 'holiday'
WOD I got nailed by acute rhabdo in my right arm.

It took many months of rehab and different body work techniques to get things
back to normal. Very, very, painful process.

Honestly, the workout wasn't out of whack with a tougher than normal day. It
was for me, however something that put me out of commission for five months.

Lesson learned.

------
iopq
Oh really? Overexertion is bad? Tell me more!

There are a ton of things wrong with crossfit like their insistence of doing
skill lifts for time. But training too much? That's actually your choice.

------
raverbashing
"Any" exercise done in excess can trigger this. I suppose Crossfit's
characteristics make it easier for it to happen

"You’re supposed to push yourself to the limit, but when you hit the limit and
pay the price, you’re the idiot who went too far." Isn't it? There are several
"coaches" that only know how to push people but have _no regards_ for personal
limits

Diet can also cause rhabdomyolysis [http://www.ergo-
log.com/vegerhabdo.html](http://www.ergo-log.com/vegerhabdo.html) (in this
case, because of lack of protein - not necessarily because of vegetarianism)

------
programminggeek
This apparently happens in p90x as well. The culture of mostly unathletic
people trying to do extremely athletic things without any training beforehand
is foolish and stupid.

The one thing p90x gets more right than apparently Crossfit does is the videos
tell you to take breaks and go at your own pace. If you cant do 50 pushups in
90 seconds, do what you can. "do your best, forget the rest." is the refrain
Tony uses, which is a lot smarter than telling people to push beyond their
limits no matter what their body tells them.

------
cdjk
I am thankful for crossfit because it introduced me to powerlifting. But I
quickly realized I liked the strength portions a lot more than the AMRAP (as
many rounds as possible) and other timed workouts.

The official line is "you're only competing with yourself," but in practice
that's not the case. Especially when there's a whiteboard and everyone knows
what the various times/number of reps are. Trying to force anything with a
strong technique component (like olympic lifts) into a time based or number of
reps based competition just seems like a bad idea.

Also, with the wide variety of WODs, it's hard to track progress. Yeah, the
workouts repeat, but if you only do something a couple times a year it's hard
to keep track of progress.

I ended up doing Starting Strength instead. I got my squat from about 80lbs to
245, and then 295 with some intermediate programming. I almost never got sore
- only a little sore after the first couple workouts, or if I missed a week or
two. I'm currently trying to figure out how to integrate cardio and lifting,
which is one thing that crossfit has going for it, but I liked powerlifting
workouts a lot more than crossfit.

------
lnanek2
Pretty impressive that most diets fail and it is so easy to go the gym and not
do much, this is pretty much one of the few stand out exceptions that can
motivate people to the point of hurting themselves. Seems like a success if a
little more precautions were added to avoid this one issue.

------
AlexanderDhoore
Every single article I read on medium is near worthless.

------
ok_craig
What's different about CrossFit from regular exercise? It doesn't give a
summary of what it is or how it's different. That makes me scared that all
exercise has this risk, especially lifting weights, which I enjoy. Is that
true?

~~~
freshhawk
The main difference I see is that CrossFit is presented as a sport in and of
itself, rather than a way to train for other sports.

Your second point is not true if you follow the most basic guidelines for
making sure you have good form and don't overtrain. It's the culture of
competing against others to finish a set workout quickly that distinguishes
crossfit, that both motivates people to train harder, makes people who like
competition enjoy tough and normally dull workouts and also leads to bad form
and overtraining.

~~~
jaredmcateer
Olympic lifting, running, rowing, swimming, and more are all sports in which
the main for of training is doing the sport.

------
physcab
Good lord, what is with all the Crossfit hate? I've been an avid crossfiter
for over 3 years and I've never once had an injury. As with all workouts, you
need to listen to your body. It doesn't matter who prescribes them - whether
it be Crossfit, Men's Health or GQ Magazine, your general practitioner, Tony
Robbins, or your best friend BodyBuilder Bob. Listen to your body. If
something hurts, stop. If you're too sore to move, rest. If you're hungry,
eat.

All this talk about Crossfit being the problem is b.s. You have a choice.

------
awould
Same thing here. Got it in 2007 on my 2nd day w/ a physical trainer after
being a lazy slob for several years. Physical trainer said his method was
"push to failure" and it was the proper way to learn my limits and establish a
routine. My CK was over 110,000 and I spent a week in the hospital. It was
painful and no fun at all. Doctors were surprised I left the hospital with
both kidneys. Long term effect, for me, was nothing. Got a rough education
though and now approach my physical fitness with a lot of caution.

------
jasonlingx
From the article: "It’s so rare that one study reported the overall annual
incidence of rhabdomyolysis to be 0.06%"

Crossfit reports only 5 cases up till May 2005:
[http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/38_05_cf_rhabdo.pdf](http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/38_05_cf_rhabdo.pdf)

I wonder how the numbers stack up after taking into account only the
population that does some form of exercise.

------
karl11
Lots of smart people here and no one is looking for real data, including the
author of this article.

My bet is that rhabo:crossfit is similar to crashes:airplanes - you don't hear
about all the people that do crossfit and simply get into shape without
serious injury (most everyone who does crossfit).

Do more people get rhabdo doing crossfit than concussions playing football or
torn ACLs playing basketball? Doubt it.

------
westoque
I don't get why this is on the top of hacker news. I'm getting this impression
that most hackers are ripped crossfit dudes/gals.

------
akurilin
When in doubt, just do regular time-tested strength training and you'll be
fine. Works 100% of the time, 0 bull.

------
moocowduckquack
I wonder if I could get office workers to shift rubble for me in the evenings
and get them to pay for the privilege as a fitness craze. I have never really
understood paying to lift things, you might as well do an evening shift doing
order picking at a warehouse.

------
adamzerner
Most people don't come nearly close enough to working so hard they damage
themselves. Since the overwhelming majority of people don't work hard enough,
the fact that CrossFit pushes people is a good thing.

------
yalogin
Unrelated to the actual post, I have seen that with pages on medium the images
load first and then after about 4seconds the text loads. Its a rather long
wait for the text to load. Did any one else see that?

~~~
kalleboo
That's the typical behavior of pages that use Web Fonts. The text doesn't show
until the font has downloaded.

~~~
yalogin
Thanks! Did not know that.

------
zobzu
10 pages to say: if you over train, it's dangerous for your health. Crossfit
mentality pushes for over training, over exhaustion.

thanks.

------
moccajoghurt
It should be mentioned that it normally only occurs when well trained people
stop working out for a couple of weeks and then get into it again at full
speed.

If you are used to working out hard, you won't get rhabdomyolysis.

So if you're pretty fit but stopped working out for a while, get into it with
moderation!

To everyone else: don't be scared of rhabdomyolysis and work out!

~~~
anigbrowl
Well, there you have it folks - the story in the article is obviously the
fault of the very fit physical therapist having no idea and just carelessly
blowing up her own arms. Can't possibly happen to _you_!

------
rachaelwriter
hi there i'm a journalist in the Uk and looking for someone who'd be willing
to be interviewed about this? If anyone is up for it please email me
rachael.woolston@gmail.com

