Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Some Crossfit Fodder for Discussion

Here's an article my old trainer sent to me from T-Nation. It looks like one of their writers went to a Crossfit certification. Take a look at what he had to say. It's a fairly long article, but it's an interesting read. I always think it's a good thing to question the things we do and why we do them.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_investigative/crossed_up_by_crossfit

I'd be especially interested to hear from you Jerry and our other trainers. What are your thoughts? Did this guy miss it? Does he have a point? Just curious.
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4 comments:

Adrienne said...

I'll start w/ comments.. this was the response I sent to my trainer.

Did an initial read through. From what I read he has some really spectacular points. Of course I started reading at the bottom. Portions about form and nutrition. The form part I disagree with. At the cert I attended form was emphasized and perfection was demanded. That's generally how I work out. One perfect movement after another. If it's not that then I lower weight. I understand what Pat Sherwood was saying, but my coach doesn't instruct that way and I don't workout that way. Hopefully people are smart enough to see that.
Nutrition.. sweet.. I can eat a cheeseburger from mcdonalds!? No, not really. The zone doesn't preach eating fast food. In fact its the opposite, but it's just a little demonstration done for fun. It shows that if you have to make a choice, you can choose something a little more healthy that actually fits within the Zone's parameters. The actual discussion about the zone during my cert was filled with really good information. I had been zoning for months by that point, so I was familiar with the material and used it more as a refresher. Eat clean. That's simple.
the tough thing with Crossfit is that it really comes down to your affiliate and the coaches. If your coaches are strict about form the athletes will be too, it's even better when the athletes are strict about form in the first place. Strict form leads to improved technique and strength. No one should try to go really heavy if they think differently..

These are just some initial thoughts.. What are your thoughts??

April 22, 2009 at 2:41 PM
Bacon said...

I think the biggest factor in all of this is what people intend to do once they've completed the cert. Do you want to instruct? Did you do it to further your own understanding of Crossfit and work on your own weaknesses?

I did my level 1 almost a year ago now and have been instructing, fairly seriously now, for about 7 months? During that time we've had people come in saying they'd been to a level 1 and blah blah blah but they didn't know the difference between a thruster and a jerk and they'd call somebody out for not shrugging enough on a clean before they noticed the blatant reverse curl going on. A big part of this, I'm sure, was how quickly they jumped into the cert. I had a good 2 1/2 years under my belt before I went. One guy I knew had maybe 3 months.

I think having not done Crossfit for all that long he just didn't have a good enough understanding of the movements themselves to even begin to be able to digest everything else that was going on. When you hear "overhead squat" and can't picture it in your head the rest is just going to be beyond you. I think people who haven't done Crossfit and don't have the background/understanding just aren't going to see the certs in the same way that people who have been doing it longer do. I was 2 1/2 years at a globo...maybe 6 months at an affiliate might be different, or maybe not. Some people are just not good at things. As mean as it sounds, it's true. I will never be a statistician. Just not gonna happen. Some people are not good at coaching/instructing. That's what the level 2 is meant to weed out and what, at a minimum, I'd think anyone who is serious about coaching would want to achieve.

April 22, 2009 at 7:31 PM
Adrienne said...

Agreed Bacon! It's difficult for a personal trainer, who has never done Crossfit before, to go to a level 1 and be able to actaully train his/her clients in Crossfit. It's actually not difficult. It's impossible.

I don't train per se, but at our affiliate there is an environment that everyone helps each other. If I see someone who's off on form, it's not unusual for me to correct it. That's pretty common for a lot of the people who have been training at our affiliate. I think this creates a great environment for learning and improving.

I don't give much creedance to people who just have their Level 1 and claim to be a Crossfit certified trainer. I want to know how many years you've been crossfitting and, if you don't have your Level II, when are you planning on getting it. Anyone with a grand can get a Level I cert, but it takes some skill to pass your Level II. That's what this article fails to mention.

I do appreciate that he admits that Crossfit is a great program if you're looking for general conditioning. It's true. Crossfit can be a great fit, but it depends on what your goals are. That's the first thing our coach asked me.. and everyone else who wants to join. He asks about each atheletes goals and physical background. It's a great way to guage if Crossfit will be a good fit.

April 23, 2009 at 7:18 AM
danny said...

first off, t-nation is a bodybuilding website. so any article published there will be skewed towards bodybuilding. secondly, TN has on numerous occasions posted articles bashing crossfit so it would make no sense that they would post an article that now praises crossfit.

we would get the same thing if we had a seasoned crossfitter write an article about bodybuilding.

the thing is, there's godd stuff to take away from both sides. the problem is that sometimes people are so "kool-adided" into thinking that what they do is best, they dont have the clarity to discern that something else may be useful/helpful.

solution? learn everything. try anything. refer to someone smarter.

April 28, 2009 at 9:16 AM

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