Crossfit: Strengths, Downfalls and Uncle Rhabdo

Last week, I saw a sign on the bulletin board at school advertising the opening of the very first Crossfit box gym here in St. John’s, Newfoundland. It’s in an industrial part of town so I can only imagine how big the building is and how much great space they have to perform Crossfit-style workouts. Crossfit appeals to the masses because most people associated with it are very lean with chiseled bodies – from the outside looking in, Crossfit looks like the 2nd best thing to being on the Biggest Loser to lose fat and look good naked. (cough, sarcasm, cough)  However, there is more to know about Crossfit before joining the next available class.

I also had the chance to interview my friend Cliff Harvey, ND (www.CliffHarvey.com) about Crossfit.  His answers will be randomly inserted in this post. Cliff is an All-Round Weightlifting World Champion and World Record Holder and former International Vice President of IAWA (International All-Round Weightlifting Association).

What is Crossfit?

For those that don’t know, Crossfit is a style of workout that was founded by Greg Glassman. Glassman opened the first Crossfit gym in 1995 in Santa Cruz, California and was popular among the emergency services including the military and many fire departments. Crossfit incorporates several styles of training into the same program, such as Olympic lifting, power lifting, kettlebell lifting, gymnastics, sprinting, plyometrics, endurance running, medicine ball exercises, rope climbing to name a few. Glassman describes this type of training as “constantly varied [with] functional movements, executed at a high intensity.” Some would argue that this type of training creates a “jack of all trades, but a master of none” while others will claim it develops the “fittest human beings on Earth.”

You can see why this type of training bodes well for those who work with the “unknowing” on a daily basis. For those of you that don’t know, I worked as a firefighter with the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service (VFRS) before perusing a Masters Degree in Exercise Physiology. The job, at times, can throw many physical and mental challenges at you and this type of high-intensity training helps prepare you for that. Hirdemail Rai, owner of Crossfit Overdrive (www.Crossfitoverdrive.com) in Richmond, BC, Canada and a VFRS firefighter says, “when you put your body through that high intensity training, you are more prepared for whatever situations you may be dealt with on the job and in life.”

 However, sometimes, these high-intensity sessions may lead to nausea and vomiting, which is a common sight in many Crossfit gyms.  Some gyms used to give out t-shirts to those who threw up with their cartoon mascot, “Pukie the Clown” on the front. “Pukie the clown” is seen throwing up in front of rings and a barbell in the background as in the picture above. Another character known as “Uncle Rhabdo” also makes an appearance from time to time just like the Polkaroo. “Rhabdo” is short for Rhabdomyolysis, a deadly condition where muscles actually break down and release myoglobin into the blood stream. This is very damaging to the kidneys and can result in kidney damage. Also, high intensity workouts ALL THE TIME can lead to burnout, adrenal fatigue and repetitive stress injuries states Tim Oldfield, also a firefighter with the VFRS and former first grade rugby player in Sydney, Australia.

Crossfit has evolved over the years into what it is today, which is now considered among my peers in the industry as an extreme sport. Crossfit has the Crossfit games which is a yearly competition to determine the fittest Crossfit athlete, male and female. It’s a really big deal in the Crossfit community and is even on ESPN.

People for the most part love Crossfit; however, there are those, in the industry and not (former Crossfit participants), that love to hate it. It’s difficult not to hate it when videos like this get posted on Youtube:

Crossfit also gets mocked a lot on the internet as well:

I've also had great discussions on Facebook about Crossfit - here are some of the best comments.  Justin has an Athletic Therapy degree and works with the St. John's Ice Caps hockey team, Josh is a trainer from Vancouver, David is a trainer from St. John's and John was a training partner when I used to run track and field.

The Program

Rai states that Crossfit gyms follow many different programs that are up to the head trainer. Crossfit is known for posting WODs or Workout of the Day. Crosfit gyms can then incorporate a strength program that may consist of back squats, zercher squats, heavy cleans or deadlifts with WODs to create a “super” workout. Rai had a lot of success incorporating Jim Wendler’s 5, 3, 1 program with WODs. Without incorporating a solid strength program as the backbone to Crossfit WODs, periodization (the planning of workouts) will not exist, as all the workouts will be random and all weights will be fixed. This may be good in preparation for the Crossfit Games but definitely not be good for athletic development during preparation for competition.

Crossfit has a one-size-fits-all approach to training. According to Crossfit.com, their routines have been used for elderly individuals with heart disease to cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. They say they scale the intensity, but don’t change programs. Basically, the same program will be used for a heart disease patient and a cage fighter. I don’t know about you, but to me, something doesn’t seem right with that statement. When designing programs for my clients, I have not once given the exact same program to people – I always have to tweak the workout to fit the individual. So with this methodology, I would have to disagree with Mr. Glassman.

Crossfit has a number of pre-set workouts named after females known as “The Girls.” Here are some common ones:

Fran: 95lbs Thruster; Pull Ups --- 21-15-9 reps for time

Cindy: 5 Pull Ups, 10 Pushups, 15 Squats --- As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes

Jackie: 1000m row on Concept 2 rower, 45lbs Thruster x50 reps, Pulls ups x30 reps --- for time

There are also "Hero workouts" named after emergency personal killed in the line of duty.  Here's one:

Murph: 1 mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 pushups, 300 air squats, 1 mile run

JK: With your background in O-lifting and All-Round lifting, what are your thoughts on O-lifting for reps/time? 

CH: It’s the nature of the sport that reps are done in higher amounts than would be done if someone was training strictly for weightlifting or as an adjunct to their athletic endeavours. Having said that there are many lifts in Weightlifting that were done for max reps. In All-Round for example there are records kept for max cleans with bodyweight, max jerks with bodyweight and many more. These have always been part of weightlifting. 

Kettlebell enthusiasts too will often do many reps, and the form changes depending on the style of lifting you are doing (GS vs ‘Hard Style’ for example.) 

So should people do higher reps of the O-lifts? 

Sure! Why the heck not! 

The key is that people develop a baseline level of strength that allows them to be more resilient and resistant to injury and learn how to perform the lifts correctly. 

My bias is towards helping athletes to be stronger and better at the various lifts so that the weights they are lifting ion WODs for reps/time is a lower percentage of their max.

There are also common exercises and techniques special to Crossfit. The most common, which you won’t see in any other exercise program, is the kipping pull up. So when performing the workouts listed above, the pull up would be performed as a kipping pull up.

The kipping pull up is the most efficient method to perform high rep pull ups specific to the sport of Crossfit - they are not intended to develop pulling strength nor will they be as effective as strict pull ups at putting on size.

Injury Risk?

JK: CrossFit has evolved into a sport, is highly technical, and very demanding physically and mentally. What risks do you see with an untrained individual who wants to get in shape who joins a Crossfit box?

 CH: The risk of course is injury. As a rule most people are weak in a global sense, and most have postural and patterning issues that need addressing. This is the potential problem if someone simply starts doing CrossFit, jumps into WODs and progresses to doing them Rx’ed too soon.

The CF gyms that I have worked with take a pragmatic approach to this - leading their new clients through an induction phase: teaching the primal movements, teaching the basic lifts and then progressing as able to the more technical lifts and also offering variations of WODs that are more suited to novice and intermediate athletes.

 Much of the criticism of CrossFit should really be levelled at poor quality CrossFit coaches. Quality coaching, ensuring proper movement skills are acquired and then approaching the athletes development progressively is the key to avoiding injury and impairment in CF.

It is important for people to remember that CF IS a sport. There is potential for injury in football, hockey, weightlifting etc. The reality is that any of us pushing ourselves to the max will put our bodies in potentially hazardous positions. That is the nature of sport.

All the top level Crossfit athletes are jacked and chiseled, but this doesn't make Crossfit appropriate for the general population looking to improve health, build strength and CORRECT movement patterns while minimizing injury risk; especially if they have movement dysfunction or pre-existing issues. Dr. Carla Cupido of Baseline Health (www.baselinehealth.ca) in West Vancouver, BC, Canada sees quite a few injuries sustained doing Crossfit workouts. Cupido states that most of the injuries she sees are a result of poor exercise technique, poor functional patterns and too many reps performed on an “ill-prepared body.” She adds the “aggressive training structure” doesn’t help matters. Most of the injuries Cupido treats include shoulder impingement-type injuries, low back and neck strains and wrist sprains.

Rai, a BCRPA Personal Trainer and Russian Kettlebell Challenge Certified (RKC), works at his Crossfit box when not at the fire hall. At Rai’s gym, clients must pass a “Crossfit 101 class” prior to fully participating in Crossfit workouts. “Our clients have to show competency in the fundamental movements…and we require that all members be able to perform 100 reps with good form before being allowed to perform the [particular] movement in a WOD."  In terms of reducing injury risk, Rai scales down the Crossfit workouts to a level where the members can execute the exercises with correct form. This is awesome that Rai does this “screen” to his new members, as I know other Crossfit gyms unfortunately do not. Oldfield enjoys performing high-intensity workouts and knows of the benefits of these particular workouts, but believes the workouts shouldn’t push you to a point where you’re injured and have to be taken off the fire floor. Tom Corrigan, a firefighter in Everett, Washington and IKFSA kettlebell certified said it best when he told me “our bodies are our job” – “If I get hurt in the gym, I can’t work and my body needs to work to save other people’s lives.”

I was speaking with one of my bosses, Mike O’Neil, at Definitions earlier this week. He was telling a story of how he jumped into a Crossfit class with his brother in Toronto, Canada. He said it was his first Crossfit class so the timed sets/get as many reps as you can concept was new to him. The class was split into groups and during the workout, Mike was using the correct technique to perform the exercises and was getting yelled at by one of this teammates “wrong form, wrong form, go faster, go faster!” Mike was going fast, but not so fast to sacrifice his technique. At the end of the workout, Mike apparently did the worst out of his team and was forced to do 25 burpees for slowing the team down. (he didn’t do them)

The most efficient technique to attain the most number of reps in the least amount of time may not be pretty (actually, I can assure you it won’t be pretty). I wrote a post on sloppiness HERE that comments on how technique changes with exhaustion and fatigue.

When the clock has to be beat, technique is thrown out the window because who wants to lose to the clock? No one. I am a fan of high intensity training – but to a point. IMHO exercises on the lower end of the technique scale (e.g. body weight exercises – no not kipping pull ups – isometric core exercises etc) are great for circuits like this. Olympic lifts do a great job of disturbing your metabolism (known in the industry as metabolic conditioning or metabolic disturbance training) because these exercises use a ton of muscles to move a weight fast; but, snatches and cleans are designed to develop explosive power and are highly technical.  I think doing sub maximal O-lifts for time depends on the proficiency of the lifter and their overall strength levels and is definitely not for everyone.

Is it the Trainer?

Seems like everyone and their dog is getting Crossfit Level 1 certified. If you look at the course schedule on Crossfit.com, most of the courses are sold out. No experience is necessary and a 50 question multiple-choice exam caps off the weekend course allowing newly certified trainers to begin training others using the methods of Crossfit. Not sure about you, but I wouldn’t put my trust into the hands of a green trainer with no further education or training experience.

It’s not just Crossfit though. I’ve seen terrible trainers with certified personal trainer certifications, and even Kinesiology degrees. As with any industry, you’ll have the good and the bad – any monkey can put someone through a workout and kill them without knowing anything about human movement or physiology.

The Strengths of Crossfit

JK: What are your thoughts on the strengths of Crossfit?

 CH:

1. Hard Work 

I have a huge respect for the intensity that CF’ers bring to their workouts. I’ve been guilty of being a bit dismissive of CrossFit in the early days, but having had the opportunity to work with many great CrossFit athletes I can certainly see that they work extremely hard and are bona fide athletes.

When I first returned to New Zealand I did some coaching work with the athletes at CrossFit NZ and participated in a few workouts with them. The first workout I did was called ‘Grace’. It involves doing 30 clean and jerks with 135lbs. To me that looked pretty easy….however the reality was something else! I completely destroyed the first 10 reps…and then the last 20 were basically singles. I was gasping for breath and finished dead last out of around 20 people.

Many trainers and indeed many coaches simply don’t train hard, and have never pushed themselves past what they thought was possible. I have a massive respect for people that go above and beyond, and a lot more respect than those that simply snipe from the side-lines without ever having done any hard work.

2. It’s helping to keep weightlifting alive! 

No matter what criticisms are levelled at CrossFit, one cannot deny that it has spawned a much greater awareness of Olympic, All-Round and Kettlebell lifting. I simply love to see people taking an interest in the ‘iron arts’. The reality is that CrossFit has helped to encourage a lot more people to be actively lifting. There is a movement now for many CrossFit athletes to compete in Olympic and All-Round events. These people would probably not have done so if it weren’t for CrossFit, and so I see it as positive. Many strength coaches and trainers have never been involved in strength sports and they therefore don’t realise that competitive lifting is in trouble! There are remarkably few competitive lifters and I for one believe that we need to preserve the history, stories and records of both All-Round and Olympic lifting if we are to have the best knowledge and practical base from which to apply lifting for performance.

3. It empowers women 

One ancillary benefit that I have seen in my time working with CrossFit athletes is the huge positive benefit for women. CrossFit encourages women to seek strength and solidity and this is backed up with attention to qualitative (not quantitative) nutrition.

This is in stark contrast to the usual ‘eat like a bird and run for hours on a treadmill’ exercise (in other words starve yourself and beat yourself up with ridiculous amounts of cardio) that seems to be the norm for many women’s training.

4. It encourages community 

Possibly the biggest reason for CrossFit’s success is that it built a community around fitness. Some would say this is a ‘cult mentality’ and while I see that in some boxes it could be, what I have seen in the gyms I have worked with is simply a group of like-minded people doing something they love and having a support structure around them to do it.

If that also provides a social network that is congruent with your values and ethos then what is wrong with that? 

5. It encourages a lifestyle approach to health and fitness 

Most people that are into CrossFit also become interested in the styles of eating propagated by CrossFitters (namely ‘The Zone’ and ‘Paleo’) which are in my opinion both much better ways to eat than the modern western, grain based and highly refined diet.

It is also very common for recovery strategies to be given prominence. I have never seen so many foam rollers as at CrossFit NZ!... 

6. They are keen to learn 

Probably the biggest turning point in my relationship with CrossFit came from working with several CrossFit gyms as an external consultant.

Never before had I worked with a group of athletes who were so interested in weightlifting and interested in continuously improving their lift performance.

According to Oldfield, some concepts in Crossfit are quite beneficial to the fire service as the cultures are very similar. He goes on to say the team environment and competitive nature are akin to the dynamics in the fire service. The camaraderie and support from the members make for enjoyable workouts with friendly competition. Nothing pushes you more than competing with your peers. Cupido thinks that Crossfit can be great, if done properly with a gentle introduction. Cupido states that “simple patterns need to be dialed-in before excessive reps and weight can be added.” Such movements include the hip hinge, shoulder pack and the squat pattern she adds. “If these aren’t addressed immediately, people are at risk of injury.” “This is my main concern,” she says.

I think Crossfit is great at introducing people to Olympic lifting, kettlebell swinging and body weight exercises – movements or exercises that would not normally be introduced to the average gym “go-er” who spends hours on the elliptical doing cardio. Rai claims that it’s the owners and coaches’ responsibility to recognize injury risk and address it before it becomes a problem. Injuries can happen when you least expect it, even when form is kept perfect. I had a client once hurt her back from doing a loaded squat. Nothing crazy heavy for her, but her back just went into spasm.

To Wrap Up

Crossfit has strengths and weaknesses. It may be for some and not for others. If you’re resistance trained and want a new challenge, Crossfit may be for you. If you are new to working out, I would recommend hiring a personal trainer/strength coach/Kinesiologist that can tailor a program specific to your movement patterns and goals. The high intensity stuff can come later.

Crossfit will make you better at Crossfit, just as sparing will make you better at fighting.  Crossfit will help you finish a 10km but will not make you a National Champion.  Programs need to be specific to the athlete in mind.  There are a lot of blog posts and articles on-line discussing if Crossfit is a good program for football or running and it isn't.  It's too general and too risky.  Athletes need to come away from their strength and conditioning program feeling fresh so they can focus on their "real" training - remember, gym stuff is all supplemental to the sport-specific training.  The risk of injury and becoming run down with Crossfit workouts is not worth it for non-Crossfit athletes.

My Philosophies on Training

Seems like a good time to state my philosophies on training clients/athletes and myself.

• Assess for movement impairments and dysfunction
• Do not load dysfunction
• Improve mobility issues
• Improve stability and activation
• Learn the basic movement patterns
• Once mastered with body weight, load movement patterns with external resistance
• Incorporate into workouts specific to your goals/ambitions
• Make fitness a lifestyle change
• Train smarter, not harder
• Persistence + patience = progress

Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who contributed to this post.

-JK

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