Crossfit – I too apologise
I’ve been a gym rat on and off since my early teens ..
I didn’t however start lifting weights till I was in my late teens. I recall taking my personal trainer (at the time) a picture of Sharon Brunei explaining that I wanted to “look like that”, she (my p.t) literally scoffed and said “Oh no! You don’t want to look like that!” (I did actually)
Suffice to say I’ve weight trained for a long time, give or take a few hiatuses. I started as a somewhat recreational lifter for “toning” (yes I was one of “those”) then I got serious about lifting 13 years ago when I took up bodybuilding which consumed a large portion of my adult life, that is until I literally stumbled across functional training.
Due to my varied I’ll give anything go background it goes without saying that I have a broad range of friends. Everything from bodybuilders (recreational and competitive), functional trainers (that don’t crossfit), crossfitters, yogi’s, multi sport athletes, professional rugby and league players (both past and present) and I can even claim an Olympic medalist.
So I’ve not only been on both sides of the fence, but all the yards surrounding it so it still surprises me when I see comments like this in regards to crossfit from athletes from different disciplines;
“CrossFit coaches are able to get certified in a weekend.
The only real barrier to opening up your own CrossFit gym is how much money you have. Very few of them have any real knowledge of proper form.”
Firstly the same could be said for any globo gym. And certification? these days you don’t even need instructors let alone certified ones. Just lease a room, fill it with equipment and hand out a door code so people can let themselves in.
You see the funny thing is crossfitters are usually bagged for their “bad form” but in my experience crossfitters in general are sticklers for form who spend hours, upon hours, upon yet more hours refining every detail for even the most mundane of movements.
I for one should be living proof that crossfit teaches you move better.
I trained for years under various personal trainers and not one of them ever got me to squat to parallel let alone to the point where my hip crease was below my knee. My body just “couldn’t” do it, I wasn’t strong enough, my bad knee was well bad. I couldn’t squat, it was impossible.
That was until I found crossfit!
One squat with the empty bar and my weekend certified coaches could see the problem, corrected it and taught me how to squat. You see there was no work around, I couldn’t just go use the leg press or hack squat machine, no longer was I training so that my legs looked asymmetric and good in a bikini a couple of times a year. Now they needed to be functional!
Sure there are probably shite coaches out there who are just in it for the money, but you can say the same thing about personal trainers in “real gyms”. If $1.00 was deposited into my account everytime I walk past a trainer looking at their smart phones while their client is executing (with shocking form) some movement I (and all of my friends) could retire ..
I’ll just leave you with this quote from David in his article 9 Mind-Bending Epiphanies That Turned My World Upside-Down
Beliefs are nothing to be proud of;
“Wherever there is a belief, there is a closed door. Take on the beliefs that stand up to your most honest, humble scrutiny, and never be afraid to lose them.”
I was well and truly a non-believer and if I’m truthful I was probably one of the BIGGEST non-believers and although I didn’t dismiss crossfitters form persea I may have insinuated that it was a bit “wussy” after all they didn’t even do real pull-ups.
Oh how little did I know! I too apologise for my ignorance ..
Till next time
