My mate had a serious back injury from a gym that was similar in their workouts to CrossFit and caused irreparable damage, and as such is in permanent pain from it years later. His new girlfriend keeps trying to make him do CrossFit to “strengthen his back again”. If he had listened to her, he would probably be in a wheelchair by now
It depends heavily on which gym your working out at and who your coaches are. Part of a good CrossFit routine, at least in the gyms I’ve worked out at and taught at, has been spending at least 15-20 minutes just doing form work. Usually one movement is the focus for that part and then you move into the main workout which typically makes use of that movement in a selective manner; be it many light reps or a pattern that has a couple heavier reps with several other movements that give you time between the focus movement. I’ll also add that one of the challenges of creating a good CrossFit workout is having the option of alternative movements. Using box jumps as an example, step ups are a commonly used alternative in regular workouts and encouraged for beginners. For people with injuries, lunges or squats are also common substitutions. The reps may differ based on the overall goal of the workout, but there’s plenty of room for creativity and flexibility.
Don’t get me wrong, there are definitly CrossFit gyms that aren’t particularly good gyms with instructors of questionable knowledge and creativity. But many of the people I’ve had the pleasure of working with in a CrossFit environment have been far from the image of people doing dangerous exercises that get people hurt frequently.
As an aside, from my experience CrossFit gyms tend to have a much higher retention rate than your average planet fitness type gym. That’s not meant to throw shade but to highlight that part of CrossFit isn’t just the workout, but the community. It’s much easier to keep going to the gym when you’ve got familiar faces who cheer you on and work and sweat doing the same exact stuff as you. It’s much easier to stick it out through an injury when you’ve got a community that is looking forward to you healing up and that wants you to get better.
The baseline to become a coach is, I admit, not very strict in some places. Many places even. It relies on coaches who know what they are doing to approve other coaches who are required to demonstrate knowledge of movements, workout planning, and running classes. The better the initial coach, the better the successors and visa versa. None of those factors are strict and clear cut enough to be a foundation for universal success. But then again, the bar is low across the board for class based exercise instruction.
In terms of why snatches and C&J? They are excellent full body movements. Moving through them even at moderate to light weight with good form can help many people and athletes round out weak points and develop better posture and biomechanics. If your fitness system makes continuous use of routines trying to round out a physique your gains are more likely to help prevent lasting damage Or getting hurt in general. Think of it this way, if you’ve ever heard “lift with your legs” you might occasionally remember to do it. Maybe it just clicked and now you always do it. But for most people that doesn’t happen. But if you’re regularly working on movements that rely on that principle you start to do it out of habit. Great technique is applicable everywhere! And when you use good technique you tend to avoid making mistakes that get you seriously injured
A few notes just in general, not really a counter to anything you said but just to add to my original bit.
If I might make a point on safety, I wouldn’t exactly say that independently training is safer. Maybe there’s no box jumps, but there’s still plenty of people who don’t train in a well rounded manner and get seriously hurt for it. Just take your pick of any trending gym fails. Your not going to find a CrossFit based person doing leg presses until their legs literally snap. You’re not going to get nearly as many people going for the lift with no spotter and getting trapped and only just making it because some bystanders happened to be near by. For all the talk of poor form it’s just as prominent if not more so outside CrossFit than within. Coaches are there to ensure that people push their limits but don’t exceed them, while also ensuring to the best of their ability that if people are at risk or get hurt the measures taken are rapid and effective. In addition to the obvious instruction and logistics that comes with any sort of coaching.
After a certain point I would argue that the image people have of CrossFit in popular media effects the echo online about CrossFit bad, and as a large organization they are an easy target. The name is known, the people can be snobby, and they seem to enjoy fitness in a way that older schools of thought don’t seem to pair well with. The marketing in particular can be very polarizing in a lot of places, very “holier than thou” which primes people to look for flaws and tear into them with a passion. I’ve met and worked with some excellent coaches who had exactly that experience. And that’s okay! Not that they were treated in that manner, but to look at a system and pick out the flaws. Then it’s a matter of improving where you can.
The goal determines the exercise. Beginners don't need explosiveness via highly technical lifts.
They are good for moderate/advanced lifter who was well coached on them. I had multiple coaches for olympic lifts and I still don't do them perfectly even after years.
They are absolute waste of time for a beginner. They will waste 30 minutes warming up for them and another 30 trying to go through 20 cues of multiple phases of snatch stances. Then they will snatch 60lbs and stall after 3 weeks, or worse, snap their shit.
“lift with your legs” you might occasionally remember to do it.
Goblet squat with a dumbell. Maybe front squat with a barbell. Don't let beginners do snatches, plyometrics or box jumps, come on people.
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u/Runktar 1d ago
From everything I have seen Crossfit is just garbage exercises prone to hurt people.