Fitness fads are all the rage these days, and it seems as though every few years someone is introducing a new program or routine that promises to give people ripped abs and bulging biceps with less time and effort than the last one. Perhaps one of the biggest fads of this nature in recent times is ‘CrossFit’, but what precisely is CrossFit and is it something that you should consider using yourself?
An Introduction to CrossFit
Essentially CrossFit is a fitness company that promotes its own workout and sell related products and training to make money. That program advocates the use of different ‘types’ of training all in a single workout in order to bring about more total body transformations. For instance a typical CrossFit workout might involve doing deadlifts and other Olympic Lifts, before moving on to sprinting then doing calisthenics.
What has made CrossFit even more popular are the ‘CrossFit Games’ which were introduced in 2007. These games challenge practitioners to compete in varied events to demonstrate overall power and endurance and has created many big celebrities such as Rich Froning.
Opinions
In theory there is nothing ‘wrong’ with this training program and the concept of using multiple types of training within single workouts is a good one. The program also recommends intensive workout sessions and doesn’t proclaim to offer a ‘silver bullet’ for a rapid body transformation with no work on your part.
But despite these positives, CrossFit is still very controversial with as many detractors as fans. So what’s going on?
Is CrossFit Dangerous?
Well on the one hand, CrossFit is considered by many to be too intensive and thus potentially dangerous. The main issue here is that it involves a lot of Olympic-style lifts in high volume. Not only are these lifts (including the deadlift, clean and press and squat) risky for beginners, but they are also usually performed with a low number of repetitions. High rep ranges for such complex and back-intensive exercises can easily risk injury.
Adding to the controversy is the fact that it only takes a weekend of training in order to become a certified coach. This means that you could be being coached by someone with zero real-world experience leading to accidents.
The Problem With CrossFitters
The other problem is that many practitioners are currently giving CrossFit a bad name. CrossFit has many diehard fans who claim that it can solve everything from foot pain to asthma. At the same time these fans believe that CrossFit was the first practice to suggest combining training methods and seem to feel a certain ‘ownership’ of it – even going as far as to attack other coaches who use similar techniques. Of course CrossFit style training has been around forever.
Another point to remember is that CrossFit is no specific in any way when it comes to building muscle. If you want to build bigger muscles there are better ways, and if you want to burn fat there are easier ways.
CrossFit has a specific advantage for people who want intensive athletic training, but it is not the be-9all-and-end-all of fitness and it can be very risky.
Author Bio: Nancy Baker is a freelance blogger and an ace creative write with many years of experience writing for top blogs. Nancy has written on a myriad of topics and has written several posts for us.
