Hell, they have a couple of big Crossfit gyms in the middle of DC where there is hardly any room. Imagine the most blown out industrial building/former mechanics shop and BAM, Crossfit gym. You could probably own your own "Crossfit gym" if you had a 1/4 acre of land and minimal equipment/tractor tires.
With the prices listed I would've guessed business owners, CEOs, etc basically people who can afford to take a few hours off work to exercise or don't have to be in the office all day.
It would seem somebody didn't read the article, or just didn't understand it to me. The article was very much about the mentality and culture Crossfit creates in its members that contribute to the conditions needed to promote the rhomb.
Not always. A lot of people prefer going to the gym because it is more social. It also provides some opportunities for networking.
*unlurk* The risks are exaggerated methinks. There's really nothing particular to crossfit that gives you rhabdo. Any exercise, taken to extremes, could theoretically do it. You just have to be careful that's all. There are worse things that can happen to you while working out. e.g. taking somebody 50 pounds overweight and getting them to do 400m repeats might conceivably give them a heart attack. You have to be sensible. Mind you, crossfit does have a dirty little secret; the fact that it's not really anything you couldn't do without being 'affiliated' to their evil empire. 'constantly varied high intensity functional movement' shouldn't have a bloody copyright notice on it IMO. I do similar workouts but with less meaningless variety. When i was on the crossfit properly, I noticed that I could go for months without doing the same exercise twice. That can't be good.
My work gym is free. It has um....30yr old olympic coloured weights. 1 squat rack. An uneven number of DBs 8 crosstrainers - (7 of them broken) 4 Row machines - 2 of them broken Pec Deck and Calf raise machines are new though..
In a lacking gym . . . . a pec deck and calf raise (really?) machine would definitely be my first purchases for it . . . .
You've a bar, a rack and bumpers. It's a lot more than a lot of gyms! One and atleast you'll have swole pecs and calves I honestly think a lot of people are just butthurt that most crossfitters are bigger and stringer than them despite not following their 'rules' (not talking about this forum obvs) I stand by that stupid stuff done with intensity trumps smart stuff done like a girls blouse. Funny story though: Me and my cousin used to work out in a CF 'box' during the open gym, we both are competitive boxers, him middleweight me heavy. We went there purely for strength work, squat, press, bench and dead etc, the odd clean w/e. We used to do all our cardio and conditioning at boxing, on the beach or running hills. After a while we were drawing some attention to ourselves, playing "who can deadlift this the most in 10 mins" with a 405lb bar, obviously we got pretty winded from it and the crossfitters decided to tell me that out conditioning sucked, amped up on effadrine and ammonia I challenged them all there and then to WODs. Over the next four days I 'wodded' against 7 of them, and beat 6. The moral of the story? I'm a total bellend. Oh and train strength to get strong then conditioning to get fit, that's two workouts, not one.
My wife did Crossfit for a year. She didn't have to deal with the "push yourself until the point of rhabdo" stuff I've read about online, though the intensity of the work was quite high (more than once she described people puking or dry-heaving as part of class). But I really don't believe they spent nearly as much time teaching proper form as they should have. She had no weightlifting experience (she was a distance runner) and she ended up hurting her back to the point where she hasn't been able to do any lifting whatsoever for a year. Maybe that would have happened anyway with another instructor, but I'm not so sure it would. If you have a good base for proper lifting form and proper body mechanics, her club struck me as a great place to get a high-intensity workout with good peer support. As a place to learn how to lift...I'm not sold on it at all.
I have seen videos online of people with VERY bad form in Crossfit gyms. I watch them and wonder where the trainers are to ensure proper form. Never heard anything about this until recently. Up until now, the only rule I ever followed in training is to stop if you can tell you're pushing past your limits.
so having been going to a local CF place for a while now, i can proudly say that they're good. they push you, as well they should, but in the end the intensity is entirely up to oneself, and they're 100% receptive to whatever boo-boos one might have, or might get during the course of training. combined with ice cream, pizza and BBQs, that makes exactly 4 things that argentina got right
Alright, my turn to be flame-bait, I suppose. I'd thought I'd seen negative CF posts here and there and then read this thread today - so its obvious the nearly overwhelming opinion here amongst you folk in regards to CrossFit is that it is not good. As someone who has participated in it from time to time and who incorporates some of the methodology into my own work-out routine, I'm somewhat dismayed regarding the near-overwhelming consensus. Is it due to reasons such as quick proliferation of CF gyms, questionable instructor training/merit, 'McDojo'-like marketing, a combination of these or unsound exercise principles at the core of it? Could someone point me to a source that gives an accurate, encompassing critique of CF ? Seeing the MAP membership in almost (rare) universal union on a topic calls for more than a casual glance. Cheers,