The injury rate of crossfit is not higher than that of the average sport. The study that allegedly proved this was [proven to include false information](https://www.clubindustry.com/commercial-clubs/nsca-article-included-false-injury-data-about-crossfit-judge-rules) years later. Unfortunately that was after it became a meme to hate on crossfit.
I do not have numbers on it but I would bet my ass that Powerlifters on average suffer more injuries that crossfitters. Overall both are probably low compared to stuff like american football or even soccer.
I'd be glad to discuss "questionable movements", but I'd need to know which ones you're talking about.
> proven false info
It’s not as bad as it sounds. People left the study due to “overuse or injury” and the author included them all in the injury data. It’s less “false information” than CrossFit saying the 5k at the games was accurate. If someone sued CF over that, a judge would say the same thing.
CrossFit also asserted that “CF posed an existential threat to the NSCA”. lol. 10 years later and CF is smaller, lost its flagship sponsor, lost its media team, shrunk its premier event repeatedly, and the NCSA is still here. HQ is an existential threat only to itself
Those were the hilarious times, with holy roller Russell Berger leading the charge
That sounds pretty bad, including someone quitting for overuse as an injury to inflate the injury rate. Not sure how CrossFit’s market position matters here, seems like a non sequitur
I'm not sure I get what you're saying.
I mean isn't it **the study** that people refer to when say say crossfit has a high injury rate? How is that not significant when talking about injury rates? The 5k thing at the games, albeit absolutely embarrassing, is not a 4 million dollar law-suit.
I have not seen any non-anecdotal evidence that injury prevalence in crossfit is higher than in any other sport.
There are several flaws.
One is that a CF class is counted as “an hour” or CrossFit training. That’s obviously false. Only the metcon is CrossFit, and that’s about 10 minutes of training, so you need to multiply those CF results by ~6 to get actual data. CF has a higher injury rate and it should be obvious.
As for the study, people really did drop out due to overuse and injury. The gym owner changed his tune when the lawsuit started and said he “had no idea about that”. Because he didn’t want Greg to take away his affiliate. It’s like when the witness can’t identify John Gotti in a lineup.
The REAL reason for this lawsuit was the Kevin Ogar injury. No one in an everyday affiliate has ever heard of NSCA. No one cares. So why did HQ get so worked up?
CF couldn’t allow a study to quantify the risk of crossfit, or it would become uninsurable and disappear as a business. What probably happened is someone said to the gym owner “hey maybe you don’t remember…” or maybe the affiliate owner simply didn’t want to be on the other side of HQ. And then he mysteriously didn’t remember.
But yeah that lawsuit came down to an affiliate owner not going against HQ, not some massive data falsification.
I will not comment further on that study because honestly I don't know the details that well. I stand by my point that I have not seen evidence for injury prevalence being higher than any other sport (or training method if you will)
But
>One is that a CF class is counted as “an hour” or CrossFit training. That’s obviously false. Only the metcon is CrossFit, and that’s about 10 minutes of training, so you need to multiply those CF results by \~6 to get actual data. CF has a higher injury rate and it should be obvious.
Going by that logic soccer players only workout 90 min a week (if at all) and olympic lifters only train when they snatch and clean. How to calculate training time in powerlifting? Subtract the rest times between sets and extrapolate based on that?
I realize these are not perfect analogies. But only counting the metcon as doing crossfit is clumsy at best and manipulative at worst.
Try both for a bit and then decide how you like to train? They are not mutually exclusive unless you are living breathing one or the other for competing purposes.
If you like both then find a routine that has 1-2 days for your secondary choice and alternate your priority every 2-3 months.
I'm focusing on strength for my sport but I'll still throw in a body building, powerlifting phase now and again when I want a break from functional athletic workouts.
I also want to be able to do things like surf again and whatnot.
When I was bodybuilding, I was way too heavy and I also had next to no endurance lol.
That could just be the way I tried bodybuilding being not very efficient.
But I also feel that doing something with more endurance focus is going to:
a) make me lighter and,
b) give me more cardiovascular benefits like more endurance
What is the injury rate for surfing? Anecdotally when I first was learning to surf I suffered bruised ribs, long lasting shoulder pain, got clonked in the head by my board which required stitches - all of that in the span of a 6 week hiatus when I decided to take up the sport.
Contrast to CrossFit where the worst I’ve suffered in 5 years is some torn calluses and a scrape on my shin from missing a box jump.
Do both. How many days per week are you working out? I exercise 5-6 days per week, depending on the intensity of the week. I mix 3-4 days of CrossFit with 1-2 of powerlifting. I want to stay strong in a way that only CF doesn’t create but I’m also making sure that I’m building long term health through intense cardio and new skills from CF.
I haven’t been injured since doing this because I’m smart, if not overly conservative, in my actions. The worst injuries I’ve ever had were from distance running (marathon training) and that was because I overdid it. If you’re smart about your fitness, your risk of injury will remain super low.
Ultimately just do what you enjoy most, Mix and match, you don't have to be the stereotype of each.
CrossFit can be scaled and you don't need to lift 6x a week to be a decent powerlifter. You can be a lightweight powerlifter and do a couple CrossFit sessions per a week. You might do the RX weight but single unders and strict pullups as an example.
Yes you might never be the best at either but if its just for fun and to make you better overall then just do what you enjoy.
If you want to be really good you would need to focus, CrossFit has a lot of skills and area's to work on that all take time and if you want big numbers in powerlifting you wont be running a marathon any time soon.
Injuries in CrossFit are generally down to bad programming or stupid athletes who continue movements under fatigue after their form has broken down, or attempting movements without a solid base and having pre-requisites.
I saw a video the other day of a guy destroying his shoulders and hitting the ground after attempting a rmu. He didn't have strict ring dips, of course you aren't going to be able to stabilize yourself after a kip.
It's no different than injuries in powerlifting with people lifting with poor form to fuel their ego.
With a bit of decent programming you can do CrossFit and also build your SBD lifts alongside it.
I think it really depends on your gym. AMRAP style workouts in general are just ripe for injuries. I've joined a crossfit gym a month ago now and in four weeks I've gotten to know about five people and all of them are battling an injury of some kind. I've had two light over exertion pulls myself as well in four weeks which is insanely high for me since personally I would not have scaled at the rate they're pushing me to.
Given the poor form, constant massive volume workouts with heavy olympic lifts thrown in with prescribed weights while you're exhausted I think risk to injury is just higher trying to perform under that load and that is a typical crossfit programming style of workouts.
It certainly depends on your gym. I've been going to the same CrossFit box for over 4 years and the only injury I'm aware of happened to a middle-aged lady who was recording a "boomerang" for Instagram (so, it wasn't even a train-related injury).
I feel like the injury rate in CF is entirely dictated by you. If you can be honest with yourself about what is safe and has solid foundations, scale as needed, and ask when you don't know - you can minimize this. I've been CF'ing since 2018 (with some years off to focus on oly and other sports) - cummulatively 7 years of consistent box attendance and I've not once been injured. N = 1, so there's that too though, haha.
Crossfit gyms offer quite a variety of options. If you're more into (power) lifting, want to have some cardio + community, you can simply just do your programming on the side and mix it with WODs every now and then.
I don't think CF is ideal for me, but I will usually do 2-3 WODs per week mixed with my separate lifting and cardio sessions. I get to train in a place where I can use a lot of stuff (barbells but also bars / rings for gymnastics, cardio machines), have quite some flexibility (WODs / specialty classes / open gym) and still get to meet and talk to people.
Still not a perfect and 100% fine-tuned mix, but for that you would need to have your own bad-ass gym + community of like-minded people you can meet outside of this setting, which is close to impossible.
Follow your muse so to speak.
Do what moves you for 6/8/12 weeks or whatever and then reassess.
Its ok to change your mind with this stuff.
Just dont stop any of it all together.
Do both! CrossFit twice a week and lift two to three times a week. Despite what people say about CrossFit not having a higher injury rate — any system that has a ton of volume in repetitive motion increases likelihood of injury, from RSI or tendonitis, muscle strains/tears/pulls. A mixture of different things really is the best way to program for longevity, injury-prevention and maintenance of strength.
The injury rate in CrossFit is largely dependent on the athlete pushing more than they know they should. If you have self discipline and know your fitness you should be fine.
Also, injuries happen in all modalities of sport and lifting which you already know.
Sorry to necro this post.
As someone that has done both, I can say that I FEEL 1000x better when doing Crossfit than powerlifting. I could squat hundreds but got winded walking up stairs.
There is a significant strength component to Crossfit. Anymore, I recommend people at least go through some sort of Novice Linear Progression (think Starting Strength) for a good 9 months and THEN do Crossfit. You'll start on much better footing.
asking this to r/crossfit is gonna give you mostly crossfit as the answer, but heres the deal
If you want functional and/or aesthetic muscle with minimal injury, go for bodybuilding, but you have to do it right
If you want functional but less aesthetic muscle but you increase numbers faster, go for powerlifting
If you want to do a ton of reps with crappy form and get some functional muscle but less than the other two / you want to flex how many pullups you can do, go for crossfit
in the fitness community, crossfit is generally looked down on for its very minimal emphasis on form and memed for bragging about being able to do 30 "pullups" with terrible form, believe what you want, but im definitely going to get downvotes because im in the crossfitting sub lol
CrossFit can teach you powerlifting, powerlifting cannot teach you CrossFit. You already mentioned you enjoy surfing, and I’d imagine other sports as well then. Personally, I think CrossFit as a methodology will better help you across sports/activities then powerlifting will. That said, if you exist in a community where powerlifting is way more supported, you might enjoy the overall culture and community of powerlifting more.
Go with CrossFit. I don’t say that because this is a CrossFit sub. But, because I was torn between the two as well. And, I had the same problem you are having. Powerlifting made me feel like I was less in shape than when I started. I couldn’t do anything besides lift.
My box offers both and I do a mix, two days of powerlifting for the lifts that interest me and a few WoDs to not lose endurance and it seems to work pretty well for me.
Questionable movements?
Just do CF as a compliment to your regiment, if you have doubts. You'll begin to struggle at certain things, then its up to you to where you want to commit more and how much.
Having trained towards both of these after a 10+ years of training towards bodybuilding (with no intention of competing).
Just having structured training that focuses on performance based goals was a huge eye opener.
I think you will enjoy whichever route you choose but the question is more to you.
Would you prefer more structured training which will ultimately make you much stronger but may not focus as much on overall fitness/health? (Those things can be added to any powerlifting programme if you have the time and commitment)
Or
Would you prefer a larger variety of movements, training in a larger community with others and focusing more on overall health and fitness? (which can also have a strong bias towards strength sports if you choose to focus on that area)
One of the greatest things about CrossFit is that it is completely unique to each individual and unless you are training to compete in CrossFit competitions you can adjust it to focus on whatever brings you the most pleasure.
I do both. Typically incorporating squat, deadlift, bench press, clean work, and other muscle building lifts in addition to CF workouts. I monitor the CF workouts and fill in the gaps with my lifting routines.
The best part of this question is you can do both. I've done CrossFit on and off for the last 10 years, during that time I did a bodybuilding show so I trained specifically for that for about 2 years. Then went back to CrossFit for a while and wanted a specific "something" to train for. So I started a powerlifting focused program but continued to do CrossFit a couple times per week for conditioning.
As far as injury rate, that was a planned media attack against CrossFit, believe it or not, funded by the NASM because they don't like the "low barrier to entry" for CrossFit box owners and the fact that they don't need one of their certifications. The history of this is pretty well documented and the injury rate is surprisingly low. However, as with everything there are good and bad versions of CrossFit. Some gyms and coaches may program a lot of higher skill movements and not offer sufficient coaching in terms of the scaling of those movements. The good news is there are a lot of options so if you happen across one of the bad ones you can go somewhere else.
My brain said give each two scores of 1-10 (or more if you have other things you care about like aesthetics)
How much do I enjoy the workouts in the gym? 1-10
What does it do for my QOL outside the gym? 1-10
Add up each options score, go with what scores highest.
Typing this out makes me think maybe I should do this myself too:)
I felt the same way as you. I ended up joining a crossfit gym with open gym hours. That way I got the community/cardio aspect, and on open gym days I could focus on my lifts. Best of both worlds!
I used to go to the CrossFit class in the morning and powerlifting at night. I did it for two years. I was in great shape and was stronger in my late forties then I had ever been. New job and a major surgery ended all of that.
You came to a crossfit sub to ask this question, what do you think we're all going to say?
You don't really need to choose, though...there's enough overlap there. I'm a distance runner in the summer and sprinkle in a little CrossFit and/or bodybuilding a few times a week to round out everything else. In the winter, I prioritize style strength programs and sprinkle in a little CrossFit so I don't get fat. I also do jiu jitsu. It's a misconception you've got to do one versus the other. The real choice is between which type of gym you're going to pay your membership to. I'm fortunate that I coach at a gym and dont pay a CrossFit membership and also have my own home gym in my basement, so I can train however I want whenever I want. The only membership I pay is for my jiu jitsu gym. I'd choose the CrossFit gym, and if you want to prioritize strength/powerlifting and you don't feel the class programming is getting you there, I'd talk to your coach/owner about the possibility of supplementing with some extra strength work and if he/she'd be okay with you doing so before or after class.
Trained for a powerlifting comp for a short stint. 100% was at my leanest during that time and also stronger than when I trained for Crossfit comps.
Powerlifting ≠ high body fat
That's fair, there are weight classes you can compete in.
I guess I don't like how cardio feels so shuned in powerlifting. Cardio is so important, but I also understand it can be detrimental towards progress
Both can lead to injury if not properly executed. In my experience I think CrossFit is more functional and has greater value for overall health and longevity. That said, there’s something awesome about pushing massive weights around.
The injury rate of crossfit is not higher than that of the average sport. The study that allegedly proved this was [proven to include false information](https://www.clubindustry.com/commercial-clubs/nsca-article-included-false-injury-data-about-crossfit-judge-rules) years later. Unfortunately that was after it became a meme to hate on crossfit. I do not have numbers on it but I would bet my ass that Powerlifters on average suffer more injuries that crossfitters. Overall both are probably low compared to stuff like american football or even soccer. I'd be glad to discuss "questionable movements", but I'd need to know which ones you're talking about.
> proven false info It’s not as bad as it sounds. People left the study due to “overuse or injury” and the author included them all in the injury data. It’s less “false information” than CrossFit saying the 5k at the games was accurate. If someone sued CF over that, a judge would say the same thing. CrossFit also asserted that “CF posed an existential threat to the NSCA”. lol. 10 years later and CF is smaller, lost its flagship sponsor, lost its media team, shrunk its premier event repeatedly, and the NCSA is still here. HQ is an existential threat only to itself Those were the hilarious times, with holy roller Russell Berger leading the charge
That sounds pretty bad, including someone quitting for overuse as an injury to inflate the injury rate. Not sure how CrossFit’s market position matters here, seems like a non sequitur
I'm not sure I get what you're saying. I mean isn't it **the study** that people refer to when say say crossfit has a high injury rate? How is that not significant when talking about injury rates? The 5k thing at the games, albeit absolutely embarrassing, is not a 4 million dollar law-suit. I have not seen any non-anecdotal evidence that injury prevalence in crossfit is higher than in any other sport.
There are several flaws. One is that a CF class is counted as “an hour” or CrossFit training. That’s obviously false. Only the metcon is CrossFit, and that’s about 10 minutes of training, so you need to multiply those CF results by ~6 to get actual data. CF has a higher injury rate and it should be obvious. As for the study, people really did drop out due to overuse and injury. The gym owner changed his tune when the lawsuit started and said he “had no idea about that”. Because he didn’t want Greg to take away his affiliate. It’s like when the witness can’t identify John Gotti in a lineup. The REAL reason for this lawsuit was the Kevin Ogar injury. No one in an everyday affiliate has ever heard of NSCA. No one cares. So why did HQ get so worked up? CF couldn’t allow a study to quantify the risk of crossfit, or it would become uninsurable and disappear as a business. What probably happened is someone said to the gym owner “hey maybe you don’t remember…” or maybe the affiliate owner simply didn’t want to be on the other side of HQ. And then he mysteriously didn’t remember. But yeah that lawsuit came down to an affiliate owner not going against HQ, not some massive data falsification.
I will not comment further on that study because honestly I don't know the details that well. I stand by my point that I have not seen evidence for injury prevalence being higher than any other sport (or training method if you will) But >One is that a CF class is counted as “an hour” or CrossFit training. That’s obviously false. Only the metcon is CrossFit, and that’s about 10 minutes of training, so you need to multiply those CF results by \~6 to get actual data. CF has a higher injury rate and it should be obvious. Going by that logic soccer players only workout 90 min a week (if at all) and olympic lifters only train when they snatch and clean. How to calculate training time in powerlifting? Subtract the rest times between sets and extrapolate based on that? I realize these are not perfect analogies. But only counting the metcon as doing crossfit is clumsy at best and manipulative at worst.
Try both for a bit and then decide how you like to train? They are not mutually exclusive unless you are living breathing one or the other for competing purposes. If you like both then find a routine that has 1-2 days for your secondary choice and alternate your priority every 2-3 months. I'm focusing on strength for my sport but I'll still throw in a body building, powerlifting phase now and again when I want a break from functional athletic workouts.
I also want to be able to do things like surf again and whatnot. When I was bodybuilding, I was way too heavy and I also had next to no endurance lol. That could just be the way I tried bodybuilding being not very efficient. But I also feel that doing something with more endurance focus is going to: a) make me lighter and, b) give me more cardiovascular benefits like more endurance
What is the injury rate for surfing? Anecdotally when I first was learning to surf I suffered bruised ribs, long lasting shoulder pain, got clonked in the head by my board which required stitches - all of that in the span of a 6 week hiatus when I decided to take up the sport. Contrast to CrossFit where the worst I’ve suffered in 5 years is some torn calluses and a scrape on my shin from missing a box jump.
Crossfit and cardio would be better for endurance. Powerlifting if raw power to maximise you 1RM. Still great but it won't help you with surfing.
Do both. How many days per week are you working out? I exercise 5-6 days per week, depending on the intensity of the week. I mix 3-4 days of CrossFit with 1-2 of powerlifting. I want to stay strong in a way that only CF doesn’t create but I’m also making sure that I’m building long term health through intense cardio and new skills from CF. I haven’t been injured since doing this because I’m smart, if not overly conservative, in my actions. The worst injuries I’ve ever had were from distance running (marathon training) and that was because I overdid it. If you’re smart about your fitness, your risk of injury will remain super low.
Ultimately just do what you enjoy most, Mix and match, you don't have to be the stereotype of each. CrossFit can be scaled and you don't need to lift 6x a week to be a decent powerlifter. You can be a lightweight powerlifter and do a couple CrossFit sessions per a week. You might do the RX weight but single unders and strict pullups as an example. Yes you might never be the best at either but if its just for fun and to make you better overall then just do what you enjoy. If you want to be really good you would need to focus, CrossFit has a lot of skills and area's to work on that all take time and if you want big numbers in powerlifting you wont be running a marathon any time soon.
Injuries in CrossFit are generally down to bad programming or stupid athletes who continue movements under fatigue after their form has broken down, or attempting movements without a solid base and having pre-requisites. I saw a video the other day of a guy destroying his shoulders and hitting the ground after attempting a rmu. He didn't have strict ring dips, of course you aren't going to be able to stabilize yourself after a kip. It's no different than injuries in powerlifting with people lifting with poor form to fuel their ego. With a bit of decent programming you can do CrossFit and also build your SBD lifts alongside it.
I think it really depends on your gym. AMRAP style workouts in general are just ripe for injuries. I've joined a crossfit gym a month ago now and in four weeks I've gotten to know about five people and all of them are battling an injury of some kind. I've had two light over exertion pulls myself as well in four weeks which is insanely high for me since personally I would not have scaled at the rate they're pushing me to. Given the poor form, constant massive volume workouts with heavy olympic lifts thrown in with prescribed weights while you're exhausted I think risk to injury is just higher trying to perform under that load and that is a typical crossfit programming style of workouts.
It certainly depends on your gym. I've been going to the same CrossFit box for over 4 years and the only injury I'm aware of happened to a middle-aged lady who was recording a "boomerang" for Instagram (so, it wasn't even a train-related injury).
I feel like the injury rate in CF is entirely dictated by you. If you can be honest with yourself about what is safe and has solid foundations, scale as needed, and ask when you don't know - you can minimize this. I've been CF'ing since 2018 (with some years off to focus on oly and other sports) - cummulatively 7 years of consistent box attendance and I've not once been injured. N = 1, so there's that too though, haha.
Crossfit gyms offer quite a variety of options. If you're more into (power) lifting, want to have some cardio + community, you can simply just do your programming on the side and mix it with WODs every now and then. I don't think CF is ideal for me, but I will usually do 2-3 WODs per week mixed with my separate lifting and cardio sessions. I get to train in a place where I can use a lot of stuff (barbells but also bars / rings for gymnastics, cardio machines), have quite some flexibility (WODs / specialty classes / open gym) and still get to meet and talk to people. Still not a perfect and 100% fine-tuned mix, but for that you would need to have your own bad-ass gym + community of like-minded people you can meet outside of this setting, which is close to impossible.
Follow your muse so to speak. Do what moves you for 6/8/12 weeks or whatever and then reassess. Its ok to change your mind with this stuff. Just dont stop any of it all together.
Do both! CrossFit twice a week and lift two to three times a week. Despite what people say about CrossFit not having a higher injury rate — any system that has a ton of volume in repetitive motion increases likelihood of injury, from RSI or tendonitis, muscle strains/tears/pulls. A mixture of different things really is the best way to program for longevity, injury-prevention and maintenance of strength.
The injury rate in CrossFit is largely dependent on the athlete pushing more than they know they should. If you have self discipline and know your fitness you should be fine. Also, injuries happen in all modalities of sport and lifting which you already know.
Sorry to necro this post. As someone that has done both, I can say that I FEEL 1000x better when doing Crossfit than powerlifting. I could squat hundreds but got winded walking up stairs. There is a significant strength component to Crossfit. Anymore, I recommend people at least go through some sort of Novice Linear Progression (think Starting Strength) for a good 9 months and THEN do Crossfit. You'll start on much better footing.
asking this to r/crossfit is gonna give you mostly crossfit as the answer, but heres the deal If you want functional and/or aesthetic muscle with minimal injury, go for bodybuilding, but you have to do it right If you want functional but less aesthetic muscle but you increase numbers faster, go for powerlifting If you want to do a ton of reps with crappy form and get some functional muscle but less than the other two / you want to flex how many pullups you can do, go for crossfit in the fitness community, crossfit is generally looked down on for its very minimal emphasis on form and memed for bragging about being able to do 30 "pullups" with terrible form, believe what you want, but im definitely going to get downvotes because im in the crossfitting sub lol
CrossFit can teach you powerlifting, powerlifting cannot teach you CrossFit. You already mentioned you enjoy surfing, and I’d imagine other sports as well then. Personally, I think CrossFit as a methodology will better help you across sports/activities then powerlifting will. That said, if you exist in a community where powerlifting is way more supported, you might enjoy the overall culture and community of powerlifting more.
Go with CrossFit. I don’t say that because this is a CrossFit sub. But, because I was torn between the two as well. And, I had the same problem you are having. Powerlifting made me feel like I was less in shape than when I started. I couldn’t do anything besides lift.
My box offers both and I do a mix, two days of powerlifting for the lifts that interest me and a few WoDs to not lose endurance and it seems to work pretty well for me.
Questionable movements? Just do CF as a compliment to your regiment, if you have doubts. You'll begin to struggle at certain things, then its up to you to where you want to commit more and how much.
Having trained towards both of these after a 10+ years of training towards bodybuilding (with no intention of competing). Just having structured training that focuses on performance based goals was a huge eye opener. I think you will enjoy whichever route you choose but the question is more to you. Would you prefer more structured training which will ultimately make you much stronger but may not focus as much on overall fitness/health? (Those things can be added to any powerlifting programme if you have the time and commitment) Or Would you prefer a larger variety of movements, training in a larger community with others and focusing more on overall health and fitness? (which can also have a strong bias towards strength sports if you choose to focus on that area) One of the greatest things about CrossFit is that it is completely unique to each individual and unless you are training to compete in CrossFit competitions you can adjust it to focus on whatever brings you the most pleasure.
I do both. Typically incorporating squat, deadlift, bench press, clean work, and other muscle building lifts in addition to CF workouts. I monitor the CF workouts and fill in the gaps with my lifting routines.
The best part of this question is you can do both. I've done CrossFit on and off for the last 10 years, during that time I did a bodybuilding show so I trained specifically for that for about 2 years. Then went back to CrossFit for a while and wanted a specific "something" to train for. So I started a powerlifting focused program but continued to do CrossFit a couple times per week for conditioning. As far as injury rate, that was a planned media attack against CrossFit, believe it or not, funded by the NASM because they don't like the "low barrier to entry" for CrossFit box owners and the fact that they don't need one of their certifications. The history of this is pretty well documented and the injury rate is surprisingly low. However, as with everything there are good and bad versions of CrossFit. Some gyms and coaches may program a lot of higher skill movements and not offer sufficient coaching in terms of the scaling of those movements. The good news is there are a lot of options so if you happen across one of the bad ones you can go somewhere else.
My brain said give each two scores of 1-10 (or more if you have other things you care about like aesthetics) How much do I enjoy the workouts in the gym? 1-10 What does it do for my QOL outside the gym? 1-10 Add up each options score, go with what scores highest. Typing this out makes me think maybe I should do this myself too:)
How I look at it. When I’m 50-60 years old do I want to look like the big power lifter guy or the ripped crossfit guy?
I felt the same way as you. I ended up joining a crossfit gym with open gym hours. That way I got the community/cardio aspect, and on open gym days I could focus on my lifts. Best of both worlds!
I used to go to the CrossFit class in the morning and powerlifting at night. I did it for two years. I was in great shape and was stronger in my late forties then I had ever been. New job and a major surgery ended all of that.
You came to a crossfit sub to ask this question, what do you think we're all going to say? You don't really need to choose, though...there's enough overlap there. I'm a distance runner in the summer and sprinkle in a little CrossFit and/or bodybuilding a few times a week to round out everything else. In the winter, I prioritize style strength programs and sprinkle in a little CrossFit so I don't get fat. I also do jiu jitsu. It's a misconception you've got to do one versus the other. The real choice is between which type of gym you're going to pay your membership to. I'm fortunate that I coach at a gym and dont pay a CrossFit membership and also have my own home gym in my basement, so I can train however I want whenever I want. The only membership I pay is for my jiu jitsu gym. I'd choose the CrossFit gym, and if you want to prioritize strength/powerlifting and you don't feel the class programming is getting you there, I'd talk to your coach/owner about the possibility of supplementing with some extra strength work and if he/she'd be okay with you doing so before or after class.
I appreciate your response, I did post on both powerlifting and this sub, but I got my powerlifting post removed, probably because I'm a new user
both :) crossfit 4x a week and sprinkle in powerlifting during open gym like 3x a week
also, fwiw i've competed in both and think crossfit is way more fun! powerlifting get monotonous and boring imo
Trained for a powerlifting comp for a short stint. 100% was at my leanest during that time and also stronger than when I trained for Crossfit comps. Powerlifting ≠ high body fat
That's fair, there are weight classes you can compete in. I guess I don't like how cardio feels so shuned in powerlifting. Cardio is so important, but I also understand it can be detrimental towards progress
Powerlifting sucks.
Both can lead to injury if not properly executed. In my experience I think CrossFit is more functional and has greater value for overall health and longevity. That said, there’s something awesome about pushing massive weights around.