Crossfit A Bad Rep

I know what you are thinking. Crossfit can be scary. Crossfit looks super intimidating. Crossfit is not new. Crossfit is not a trend that will disappear as fast as Billy Blanks and his Tae Bo workouts. Crossfit can be defined as a minimalist workout system that is super demanding, but can be scaled and done by anyone of any age or shape. Crossfit is a mix of Olympic weightlifting and gymnastic movements. I have been an avid Crossfitter for the last couple of years. I just recently started at a new box. A box is the Crossfit equivalent to a gym. A box is a community, and I have never met a more accepting close knit place to workout. Crossfitters are some of the nicest people you will ever meet in a gym. Honestly I have never met a not so nice person at a Crossfit box. Greeting every person that walks through the door is one of the unwritten rules I have found at numerous Crossfit boxes. So lets talk about some of the not so good stuff.

Ok lets assume you know nothing about Crossfit except the negative stuff floating out there. Here is the list some common misconceptions.

1. Crossfit is dangerous. Ok I have to agree it is more dangerous than your typical globogym. If all I do to workout is walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes and do some curls while I take numerous gym selfies while posting how beastmode I am getting, then yes Crossfit is more dangerous. Lets break down why people think Crossfit it dangerous. Social media is the ultimate culprit. I can't tell you how many Crossfit fail videos I have seen. One thing they all have in common is people using horrible form dropping weights on their heads. Now I have been in Crossfit for a couple of years and owned my own gym for 10 years before that, I have seen people do some stupid stuff. The one difference is that at the Crossfit gyms I have been at, you might do something really stupid a couple of times, but with a good coach they will stop you. That is a big difference when it comes to being new to working out. The coach will keep you from hurting yourself. The coach will guide you in the right direction. With Crossfit you have access to a certified coach every class. Don't get me wrong I am sure there are some bad coaches out there, but even those bad coaches had to go thru a certification.
2. All people who do Crossfit want to just talk about Crossfit. Ok maybe this isn't really a misconception, but it is made out to be a bad thing. I like to talk about Crossfit, but it is because of the awesome community that I have found at Crossfit. When people find something that they really love they like to talk about it. It is hard to describe how awesome the community actually is until you are a part of it.
3. Crossfit will not make you lose weight. This is one I see float around all of the time on the interwebs. No Crossfit will not make you lose weight if you are not adhering to a diet that will allow you to do this. Diet is the key component to weight loss. Yes you can lose weight with no exercise at all, but would you want to look like Shaggy from Scooby Doo or would you want to look like Rich Froning. If you don't know who Rich Froning is, just plug it in and see. The man is a stud for sure. Ok that kind of touches on the next misconception that you can't build muscle on Crossfit. Let's address the first one, weight loss. To lose weight you have to expend more calories than you take in. Crossfit is a super high energy workout that will definitely help you expend some calories.
4. Crossfit will not build muscle. OK but if your working out that hard you can't build muscle. Wrong. Crossfit is built upon Olympic lifting movements and gymnastic movements. Olympic lifts are the basis behind more than a few strength and conditioning programs. Then trying to argue that gymnastics does not require a ton of strength you would have to living under multiple rocks. Yes there is such a thing as rhabdomyolysis. This is the breakdown of muscle tissue that releases a damaging protein into the blood. It is often cited as a result of overtraining. It is certainly possible to do this from any type of workout, but so highly unlikely it is almost not worth mentioning. Bottom line you will build muscle doing Crossfit. Anytime you lift weights, you will build muscle. Crossfit is also about functional movement. So yes you might not build as much muscle as you would if you stuck to a strict body building workout, but I guarantee if you participate at all in class you will build muscle.
5. Doing Crossfit as a woman will make me look bulky. Ok you got me. I have never done Crossfit as a woman. But lets examine the cream of the crop of Crossfit athletes. The Crossfit games is a yearly look at the athletes at the top of the Crossfit food chain. These women are the fittest on the planet. I have not met too many women who would not kill to look like some of these women. Of course you will find some more bulky body builder type bodies in Crossfit, but just lifting weights does not make you look like a pro body builder. This myth has been passed around for so many years it is hard to still have to address it. Yes Crossfit is new to a more mainstream audience, but at its core it is about lifting weights. And so lifting weights alone does not make you look like a pro body builder. If you don't believe please just Google women of Crossfit.

So these are a few of the misconceptions. I am sure there are a ton more. Crossfit for me has been one of the most enjoyable ways I have ever worked out. My suggestion is to look past the difficulty. Look past the stigmas you see on the internet. Get your self to the gym. You will enjoy it. And as always keep Chasing Health.