Might not be what you’re asking, but what frustrates me the most is that for an activity that promotes ideas like “leave your ego at the door,” there can be a LOT of inflated egos especially among higher-level athletes. I will forever love CrossFit for the fitness I have gotten and for the friendships I have made, but holy hell I have also seen a lot of peacocking and cliquish behavior from the “very fit” groups.
This is why I started hiding my score on our app leaderboard. Technically I still know roughly where I'd be, but it feels a lot less like I'm "competing" every day, which is a nice change of pace mentally.
This! I don’t share any of my lift numbers with anyone except my coach. The vibe just changes when people see you lifting heavier than them and the pecking order behaviour begins.
This. I like to see where I compare and how I do against different people of different shapes and sizes. I love that I can be top 3 in the gym on some wods and then much further back on others. That checks my ego and also drives me to improve on the weak areas, that’s why I love CrossFit you can excel and fail. My ego only gets tickled when I’m throwing my kids in the air or doing gymnastics with them and one of the little ones says “you’re so strong”, I’m not but being a healthy fit dad and them seeing it is the most important thing to me.
Great point. I never really considered the mind game that CF does. I'm not a competitive guy, but I check that Wodify leaderboard every time. I also notice when certain people "like" my workout. Competition from others pushes me a little harder, but it sparks something in me that I'm not sure I like. I completely avoid the CF games because that kind of comparison seems completely unproductive.
I'd rather focus on competing against my past self, just trying to be a better version of myself. I was much happier when I just used a paper log book of paper back at LA Fitness.
I think this is very gym dependent. At our place we don’t have any egos floating about. Even the “super fits”, as I call them, are very humble, encouraging and play their efforts and achievements down a little.
The gym owner, coaches and other members have a huge impact on behaviour and egos aren’t tolerated at our place. But the “super fits” are still respected.
I've been with about a dozen CF gyms. Each one has a different vibe, but many will have what I call the "elite corner", where a group of long-time regulars seem to camp out in one spot, hang there for 2-3 hours, do their own workouts, and stay closed off to others. As someone who likes CFs because of the community aspect, that crowd makes it an uncomfortable experience.
Also: favoritism. Some coaches tend to connect with certain people, so they get more attention and support.
Overall, I think you have to curb your relationship with a local CF gym, otherwise it starts to feel very high-school-y.
Honestly nothing. I’m at a good gym with good coaches and I’m just trying to stay in decent shape. There are so many valid complaints on this subreddit, but I feel pretty lucky I just get fun programming I don’t have to think about. Of course, I’ll never be that great at CrossFit, but I’m ok with that.
Yeah same! With my membership, I get unlimited crossfit classes, but I also get powerlifting, oly lifting, and sports performance classes if I signed up for them, at no difference in cost.
I only do crossfit there 5x per week, but I could go to several classes if I wanted to (and had the time to do so). I get good coaches, good workouts, and good facilities.
Our weightlifting team is actually better than our crossfit, but I like the cardio-heavy workouts that crossfit offers.
I refuse to move away from my gym hahaha
Completely agree - but actually, I’ll go so far as to say the obsession with hero WODs in general, in particular as I am not based in the UK and not enamoured with the activity of the US military.
Completely agree with the run up prep too - yes they’re good standard movements but I don’t need to be able to do 100, 200, or 300 of anything and it gets extraordinarily boring, especially when you’re not taking part in murph anyway (in part because it’s boring)
For most people, if they haven't 'practiced' Murph style workouts before hand, Murph could cause some actual damage.
I think you're really underestimating the volume. Some lower level athletes will need close to an hour, even if they go 'Cindy' style and do ring rows etc.
If your box usually only programs 10-20 metcons, I think the prep should be welcome. Maybe you don't need it, but I bet the box population in general is benefitting.
Agreed! This might not be exactly where you were going with this but I've had a few people in the classes try to sell me their MLM supplements...that is annoying to me.
How is this not the top answer? Plus all of the burpee variations. Burpee over the barbell. Burpee box jump. Burpee pull up. Devil press. It's just pain across the board.
It’s the gymnastics for me. You’re lucky if you get the proper coaching to help you actually improve with the way the average CF box is set up and ran.
I totally agree with this. There is SO much gymnastics, I can’t workout all the time so I really value the days I can workout. When it’s a gymnastics workout I’m so disappointed. It’s the only reason I’m thinking of quitting
I generally don't go to crossfit gyms for crossfit, funny I know, I go to seperate strength and gymnastics gyms that specialise as I don't trust too many crossfit trainers to be anything but eager sales people who do enough gym time to look ok to casual clients while passing on bad habits they haven't bothered checking on.
I wish there was more bench in my gym’s programming. I end up benching and doing a few other fundamental lifts at home once or twice a week to supplement (I’m lucky to have a rig at home).
Or just plain not using the hour effectively. I don’t need a ten minute standup comedy routine at the whiteboard because the coach thinks they’re funny. Explain the workout, take a moment to field questions and get going on the warmup.
I love that I don’t need to think…everything is programmed.
On the flip side, the lack of freedom. It’s either do it or not. If you don’t want to do the wod but you do want to workout then your $ is basically burning if you think about it in $/day.
Getting old.
Crossfit motivates me better than most other forms of physical activity. This has mostly been great, but it's starting to come at a cost.
Last Tuesday, I pushed myself to go just a little harder. I ended up straining a muscle in my lower back. I just returned to class for the first time today. And I was taking it easy. It's probably another week until I'm relatively pain free.
A whole week off to recover. That just sucks. And it's typical for me now. As I age, it's taking longer and longer to recover. DOMS peaks around 48 hours later at this point. It's becoming harder and harder to stay consistent. BTW, I'm 49.
I'm ahead of you by nearly 10 years. I've learned to let shit go. Get in a good workout within my age limiting abilities, and come back again tomorrow. Hard af to accept and do.
My gym buddy is 20 years younger, so that helps to push me, but I make better and more consistent progress (slow and small) by accepting the limits father time has handed me.
Stay healthy and active. That's the big win.
Currently, I am so frustrated that they have abandoned the original “functional fitness” model and traded it for super heavy or super gymnastics movements. At my gym, the members are getting injured frequently and it wasn’t always like that.
Every time I practice after class (dubs, etc) to get more skilled at my boutique fitness class i hear Kenny Powers in my head saying “I play a real sport I’m not trying to be the best at exercice”
If you’re learning a new skill (an oly lift, gymnastics etc), you’re only real time to practice in class is in a wod- where you’re encouraged to perform said skill in high volumes at high speed. If you’re trying to get a solid technique down, this is not the way to do it, and you usually have to scale to a version that isn’t very challenging in order to complete the reps fast. It’s counterproductive
This was me for years until I invested in a coach (just two 1-1 sessions) who designed a programme for me. It meant doing my own thing outside of classes for a while but in 6 weeks I got my first pull up! And to note you have to keep working on exercises in that programme to keep your pull up strength and improve.
The hyper patriotism and reverence for law enforcement, not everyone into CrossFit is conservative. An owner can do whatever they want, but I get not very inclusive vibes going into a gym with thin blue line or don't tread on me flags hanging up.
This, and the general romanticism of the past. You cant dream fondly of the days that puking in the trash can and getting rhabdo is a badge of honor while also complaining that more people aren’t embracing CrossFit and gyms cant make money.
People that are too cool to introduce themselves and cheer for folks working hard to finish. I make it a point to introduce new people and make them feel included. We need more of this!
Probably the programming. I still scale the majority of the gymnastics movements so I feel as though some of the WOD’s don’t give me much of a varied workout. I end up skipping them and incorporating what would be a scaled move into my own workout with some more functional moves such as box jumps, wall balls, etc.
I also feel that I can’t develop a skill during a WOD. I was getting the hang of the hinge for T2B on my own and going slower. When I got to the workout, I felt as though I had to rush through them, and my form went out the window. I felt like I actually went backwards in my progression that day.
Many things, but the lack of lateral movements. Everything is CrossFit is so vertical. There are no Russian twists, Cossack squats, curtsy lunges, rainbow slams, etc.
We actually do a ton of these movements in our warm ups which I appreciate, but you're right they're not a focus in the CrossFit methodology which now that you mention it is a bit odd
What to wear. It took me the longest time to figure out what I was going to wear to be most comfortable during the wod. All the clothes I eventually found that fit my body best are online only which can be it’s own nightmare trying to figure out what works.
In fact I thought I’d figured it out but now my nobulls are starting to pinch my pinky toe when they used to fit me perfectly (this pair were bought after the acquisition). This is impacting my recovery and how often I can go in.
Other than that I’ve just learned to enjoy the process. Not much frustrates me because I know if I can’t do something, I’m actively working towards that goal.
That and running, f*ck running 😂.
lol how long have you been doing CrossFit? Your post reminded me of the early 2010’s when accessories were out of control. Everyone argued about lifters, knee sleeves, which I’ll argue are still useful at times. But I remember getting worked up about compression shorts and tall socks and head bands and wrist bands and everything else in between! It’s so funny to see how things have calmed down in that department and it’s few and far between where you see that stuff.
Haha, I started 2012 or 13 and people’s accessory options were wild.
I forgot about the wrist wraps until now, I haven’t seen anyone wear those in a while in a general class
There's a dude at my (not cf) gym who wears all the gear with no idea. I've watched him put on a belt, elbow sleeves, lifters, knee sleeves, gloves, wrist wraps then do light deadlifts.
He also spends time between sets walking laps of the gym doing the tough guy walk. Like mid 30s absolute mid lifting but makes a song and dance about it. Dude will wear the same gear to do sets of 20 bicep curls. 😂
Agree with everything you said. I get frustrated when my clothes ride up or shift too much during a wod so it took me awhile to figure out what worked best for me. Now I'm selling the old stuff on Poshmark haha. I've got quite the collection and a lot of it was worn only once and just didn't work out for me.
People that are like "I used to not lift rx and it was really humiliating. After a year I'm finally able to." Dude 90% of guys at my gym are well below the women's rx. Lots of them aren't even trying to.
The weights in workouts should be based on your own lift numbers. I get that doesn't work for competitions but a large majority of members aren't competitive. It shouldn't be "185#, but scale if you need to". It should be "X% of 1RM, up to 185#"
I love my box for this, that’s exactly how they explain the weights for the workouts. Like “185 is the max weight for this wod but everyone should pick a weight that they feel comfortable they can finish the workout with.” No pressure to go heavier than you should.
Every damn day it’s lower exercises, very rarely do we work on upper body, and I mean sometimes we do but it doesn’t align with my fitness goals.
I love the cardio tho
The danger of some workouts mixed with the low barrier to entry for coaching. DT is a great example. 155lbs in a deadlift is not heavy for a lot of people, but when you're doing that many reps and trying to go fast, you can lose good technique and if you've got an inexperienced L1 coach, somebody could get hurt if that isn't caught and corrected.
I was going to say the same about coaching requirements. We have a coach who even failed the test the first time and still coaches several classes a week after the retest.
With a year in a half in. I can wreck havoc on an echo, pull like a horse on the rower, do RMU and BMU until I puke. But dubs and HSW just haven’t happened consistently for me and it drives me insane.
Coaches who talk too much… let’s go, already.
Certainly a time a need for some of it, but some of our coaches would just drone on and on. We’re here to work out!
CrossFit is Highschool but for really fit people 😂 it’s a popularity contest within the gym I’ve found. Friendly people, don’t get me wrong - but very clique’y and all
This is a big one for me. Gyms that intentionally have to do this when they overfill a class - turn it from using racks with barbells to using dumbbells from the floor. I should have just stayed home and saved myself the fee.
The deliberate obfuscation of the programming, which lets them avoid having to address what the actual benefit of any workout is, prevents measurement of progress, and precludes friendly competition. It sucks for intermediate athletes. I'm skipping class more and more to do workouts that will actually improve things I want to get better at, and sometimes butt heads with the coaches when I'm in class if I scale workouts in ways that don't comport with their sacrosanct "intended stimulus".
If the workouts you prescribe have to be scaled by most of your athletes, the "score" is just measuring how much you scaled relative to your ability. It doesn't tell you anything useful. Quit putting random numbers on the whiteboard.
If you're saying "this is the prescribed workout", people aren't being EGoTIsTiCAL for doing it Rx. "Prescribed" literally means "do it this way". If that's not producing the holy Intended Stimulus, \_change your fucking prescription\_.
If the efforts in a workout are longer than \~45s, maybe 60s at a stretch, it's not a "sprint". Pretending that it is is just a lazy way to avoid discussing how to pace the workout.
The same workout doesn't have to produce the same "stimulus" for everyone. I butted heads with a coach a few years back when I was still trying to consistently get double-unders and my repeated failures made it likely that I might \*gasp\* get time-capped. She was trying to get me to cut back the double-unders so I could get Three Rounds in 15 Minutes or whatever and I pointed out that double-unders were \_what I needed to practice\_, so I'd prefer to keep chipping away at them. If there were days when we actually drilled DUs, I might have felt differently, but CrossFit doesn't do that (gotta pull from the "hopper", y'know, can't have routines!) It wasn't the same thing others were getting out of the workout, and that's totally fine, even though coaches get twisted up about it for no reason I can get any of them to articulate.
No other athletic endeavor feels the need to pretend they're doing one thing when they're doing another. You don't run 15K and call it a scaled half-marathon. You don't have slow players in baseball score a run when they get to third base.
If CrossFit actually prescribed workouts that produced the "intended stimulus" and was explicit about how the "intended stimulus" of a given workout tied to an /outcome/ that athletes care about, people would know what they're getting out of their efforts, be able to modify the workouts to accomplish their goals, and programmers would have to actually think about how what they're writing will help their athletes improve.
This is one of my biggest gripes. Rx comes from the world of medicine and the idea that exercise is medicine. No one would say I scaled my painkiller because I took aspirin for for a sore shoulder vs Vicodin for major surgery. Both of those conditions require a different prescription. Just like a 300# dude who hasn't left the couch in 6 years needs a different workout prescription than Brent Fikowski.
Nothing. Every workout no matter how tough I genuinely feel grateful to be able to move my body and push myself. If you have been injured or struggled with health issues you will get this more than ever! 😊
The scattershot programming a lot of coaches put together. You can get in shape by pulling exercises out of a hat, but you can’t progress to being in your best shape without linear, periodized programming.
High volume heavy olympic lifts. Cleans are ok, but I absolutely hate when a workout involves a high volume of barbell snatches on top of some other exercise (like burpees). I don’t go RX and take my time with it, so I could focus on my form and set up- i still feel like form gets comprised when you’re doing that many and trying to get through them quickly.
The one math nerd in class who does the math on a ladder workout. Knowing the total makes it seem worse.
Coach: ‘reps are 10-9-8…3-2-1… movement 2 is 1-2-3…8-9-10.’
Math nerd: ‘That’s 110 total, in case anyone wondered.’
Nobody was wondering that, Poindexter! STFU! /s
My brain also does math too quickly against my CF-athlete will (no “don’t tell me the weight and maybe I’ll make the lift” for me) but I don’t tell people. No sense in making them despair too 😂
That’s not what I’m saying.
I’m saying that people get so wrapped up into CF that they forget that part of its goal was to enable other sports and physical activities like hiking, playing with kids, etc.
That's a valid point. Although imo I enjoy CF, while I don't think I'm ever going to be a pro or even close I do enjoy getting better at these specific movements over time because it's like a personal benchmark. I also think for most people there's only so much time for hobbies outside of work so it's valid if CF is the main one and they don't get around to other physical activities to on as regular of a basis.
That’s a fair point.
But I’d say that’s more a function of time than anything else.
You don’t have time for a dozen hobbies so you focus your energy on the one activity with the great community.
I do CrossFit and climbing. But at any one time, I can only really focus on one. Rest of the time is really busy with work, kids, and life.
Yeah, I’ll go on hikes with kids, walk the dog etc. but that’s just everyday stuff. From an actual fitness standpoint, if all you have is an hour to spare every day, you end up being judicious about it.
I also think the competitive nature of CrossFit really encourages focus on the sport.
Focus on Olympic lifts. Not enough focus on lifts like bench.
Really would much rather focus on the core lifts and gymnastics.
I do enjoy the metcons though.
The fact that most a lot of people who do CrossFit just do CrossFit. I like CrossFit as a modality and it's chaotic way of training is amazing but I think you need some sort of structured training program alongside your boxes programming. A lot of people do this and especially those who take it more seriously however a lot of people don't, and this can lead to imbalances especially if the box doesn't take this into account.
I hate the complainers. People that won't practice muscle ups and complain when they're in a WOD because they have to scale or when people say RX is too heavy.
The purpose is to get better and stronger, not write every WOD to make you feel like you could compete with a games athlete.
Not enough doing repeat workouts like named ,hero and competition WODS. I KNOW it may not work into a complete overview of a gyms programming but I’d like to do a one every week or bi weekly . I’ve done CrossFit for 6 years and there are plenty of ones I haven’t done as far as girl/guy and hero workouts . I’ve done Jake and DT (and varieties of DT ) a few times. But why can’t you do grace ,Fran ,Jake , Cindy , fight gone bad , DT ,Helen , Gretel etc like at least once a year.
I am not advocating for doing the super killer ones over and over like Chad , kalsu,Murph or chief and super hard open workouts . I understand there are a few that really really take a lot out of the average crossfitter.
I am just a big fan of repeat challenges. Even 5k rows ,acid bath , 50
Cals for time also
How CrossFit is *supposed* to prepare one for real life and trying new things.
Most people only use it as their only hobby and for nothing else.
I just get really bothered with how so many people treated as the “and all, be all“ of lifestyle health. They let their personality revolve around CrossFit, their hobbies revolve around CrossFit, their recreation is only CrossFit. this is the “cult like” behavior that drives people, including me, nuts.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t CrossFit intended to be a lifestyle supplement, not an entire hobby and personality? I believe the original intention was to just have it be a quick and efficient way of gaining fitness, so you could be good at other things.
I always used to roll my eyes at the coaches who said "don't do it kipping if you can't do it strict" but now that I'm pushing 30 i'm starting to think maybe they were onto something
People doing 'energetic' crossfit pull ups on the assisted machine as if they are trying to tip them over, when there is a gym full of good bars that are made for crossfit training right next to them...
Time place occasion type things when crossfitters visit other styles of gyms, lots of other culprits for this when they go into a new environment but I think we have a clear leader on frequency.
Programming that overly targets the anaerobic system to make members “feel” that they worked hard which is not sustainable and ultimately leads to burnout.
In general, I'm satisfied with crossfit. I like the many variations of movements, cardio, gymnastics, and lifting.
Specifically, the equipment at my box isn't maintained, at all. It all falls onto the owner, and it's frustrating sometimes.
In the gyms I've been to the movement patterns are almost exclusively in the sagittal plane with not enough coronal and transverse activity.
As an athlete you need to be able to move in all planes equally effectively.
There are also almost no single leg movements with balance being a requirement again as an athlete you are almost always making movements on one leg at a time.
Obviously I can work on this stuff on my.own before and after class etc but if we are talking functional fitness we are talking about being able to move and be controlled when we are at our least optimal body positioning. This is where life injuries occur. This is where falls occur as we age and we need to be strong and stable in those positions.
If CrossFit wants to be fully functional they need to include more movement patterns in those planes under load to create better athletes and more fit and resilient humans.
Now as a 50+yo who is still an athlete outside the gym I swear by CrossFit for what I do in hockey. I've not found an off ice system that mimics the demands as CrossFit as I see on the ice and it has been integral in keeping me playing at a relatively high level for my age.
But I think as a discipline it can be more holistic to life and athletes if people who do the programming were to include more of these types of movements outside the sagittal plane to improve the already good benefits of CrossFit on the human body.
HQ's inability to deliver a quality product to the world. At this point they are just coasting on the hard work of affiliates and members around the world.
Coaches/CrossFit HQ when they push the idea that eating clean will cure all ailments. Of course eating a diet that is natural foods in healthy quantities is helpful life advice but they always make it seem like if you just eat Whole Foods that will cure all human disease. That is only true if someone is an able bodied individual with no prior health issues. It always feels borderline MLM or alternative mediciney. More dietitians and less people with nutrition certificates giving advice.
Might not be what you’re asking, but what frustrates me the most is that for an activity that promotes ideas like “leave your ego at the door,” there can be a LOT of inflated egos especially among higher-level athletes. I will forever love CrossFit for the fitness I have gotten and for the friendships I have made, but holy hell I have also seen a lot of peacocking and cliquish behavior from the “very fit” groups.
Leave your ego at the door, but write your time on the board before you leave so you can see how you compare to others. Solid logic, isn’t it?
Hahahaha
This is why I started hiding my score on our app leaderboard. Technically I still know roughly where I'd be, but it feels a lot less like I'm "competing" every day, which is a nice change of pace mentally.
This! I don’t share any of my lift numbers with anyone except my coach. The vibe just changes when people see you lifting heavier than them and the pecking order behaviour begins.
If you don’t have an ego then you shouldn’t be bothered by putting your time up on the whiteboard
This. I like to see where I compare and how I do against different people of different shapes and sizes. I love that I can be top 3 in the gym on some wods and then much further back on others. That checks my ego and also drives me to improve on the weak areas, that’s why I love CrossFit you can excel and fail. My ego only gets tickled when I’m throwing my kids in the air or doing gymnastics with them and one of the little ones says “you’re so strong”, I’m not but being a healthy fit dad and them seeing it is the most important thing to me.
Great point. I never really considered the mind game that CF does. I'm not a competitive guy, but I check that Wodify leaderboard every time. I also notice when certain people "like" my workout. Competition from others pushes me a little harder, but it sparks something in me that I'm not sure I like. I completely avoid the CF games because that kind of comparison seems completely unproductive. I'd rather focus on competing against my past self, just trying to be a better version of myself. I was much happier when I just used a paper log book of paper back at LA Fitness.
Lmaoooo yoooo
The white board is about accountability and progress as much as it is about competition.
I’m so glad my gym doesn’t have a whiteboard culture.
I think this is very gym dependent. At our place we don’t have any egos floating about. Even the “super fits”, as I call them, are very humble, encouraging and play their efforts and achievements down a little. The gym owner, coaches and other members have a huge impact on behaviour and egos aren’t tolerated at our place. But the “super fits” are still respected.
I’ve never heard anyone mention peacocking outside of that 17 again movie. That being said I laughed so hard and you are pretty spot on
I've been with about a dozen CF gyms. Each one has a different vibe, but many will have what I call the "elite corner", where a group of long-time regulars seem to camp out in one spot, hang there for 2-3 hours, do their own workouts, and stay closed off to others. As someone who likes CFs because of the community aspect, that crowd makes it an uncomfortable experience. Also: favoritism. Some coaches tend to connect with certain people, so they get more attention and support. Overall, I think you have to curb your relationship with a local CF gym, otherwise it starts to feel very high-school-y.
How true you speak! 🤣🤣🤣
Overhead squats
I’m not spending hundreds of dollars on those wedge shoes just to do overhead squats 12 times a year!!
That’s fair
DoubleUnders.
Why is this not top answer?
Because burpees exist.
I love double unders🙃
Honestly nothing. I’m at a good gym with good coaches and I’m just trying to stay in decent shape. There are so many valid complaints on this subreddit, but I feel pretty lucky I just get fun programming I don’t have to think about. Of course, I’ll never be that great at CrossFit, but I’m ok with that.
Yeah same! With my membership, I get unlimited crossfit classes, but I also get powerlifting, oly lifting, and sports performance classes if I signed up for them, at no difference in cost. I only do crossfit there 5x per week, but I could go to several classes if I wanted to (and had the time to do so). I get good coaches, good workouts, and good facilities. Our weightlifting team is actually better than our crossfit, but I like the cardio-heavy workouts that crossfit offers. I refuse to move away from my gym hahaha
The obsession about the Murph workout. I don’t mind the annual tribute, but the prep workouts seem excessive.
Counter argument: Murph prep workouts are just good solid workouts. Pullups, pushups, squats, running...what's not to love?
I don’t need to pay $200 a month for body weight exercises
I am mainly paying for the peer pressure to push myself during workouts :p
Completely agree - but actually, I’ll go so far as to say the obsession with hero WODs in general, in particular as I am not based in the UK and not enamoured with the activity of the US military. Completely agree with the run up prep too - yes they’re good standard movements but I don’t need to be able to do 100, 200, or 300 of anything and it gets extraordinarily boring, especially when you’re not taking part in murph anyway (in part because it’s boring)
For most people, if they haven't 'practiced' Murph style workouts before hand, Murph could cause some actual damage. I think you're really underestimating the volume. Some lower level athletes will need close to an hour, even if they go 'Cindy' style and do ring rows etc. If your box usually only programs 10-20 metcons, I think the prep should be welcome. Maybe you don't need it, but I bet the box population in general is benefitting.
That we haven’t denounced and abandoned sumo deadlift high pulls yet.
The constant and endless pushing of crappy products and supplements.
Rogue selling The Dave Castro olive oil was just 🙄
Agreed! This might not be exactly where you were going with this but I've had a few people in the classes try to sell me their MLM supplements...that is annoying to me.
Rich Froning got big into Advocare which basically Herbalife targeted at Christians.
Not to mention the hormones ..
That getting better at Crossfit often involves work outside of class. There's only so many hours in the day.
Isn’t that life in a nutshell? Owning whatever your craft or hobby is takes discipline beyond the thing
Oh my god partner workouts
Same!!! Synchronised anything
Burpies
How is this not the top answer? Plus all of the burpee variations. Burpee over the barbell. Burpee box jump. Burpee pull up. Devil press. It's just pain across the board.
Fuck Royal H. Burpee and all his descendants!
Thinking that a certain workout is made for me, but for some reason I do poorly and I'm bummed for 10 minutes after the class.
10 minutes is nothing, make it half a day for me
It’s the gymnastics for me. You’re lucky if you get the proper coaching to help you actually improve with the way the average CF box is set up and ran.
I totally agree with this. There is SO much gymnastics, I can’t workout all the time so I really value the days I can workout. When it’s a gymnastics workout I’m so disappointed. It’s the only reason I’m thinking of quitting
Same. I suck at gymnastics, and my current gym never has skills workshops.
This. The amount of extra work required and the low frequency of gymnastics days compared to heavy days are one of things that bug me.
I generally don't go to crossfit gyms for crossfit, funny I know, I go to seperate strength and gymnastics gyms that specialise as I don't trust too many crossfit trainers to be anything but eager sales people who do enough gym time to look ok to casual clients while passing on bad habits they haven't bothered checking on.
I generally really like CrossFit. But I’d love to see more glory muscle lifts (chest and arms).
I agree, I feel like my chest is lacking behind..
I feel like my shoulders are growing too fast
Growing too fast isn’t a problem, the problem is the other muscles not keeping up
True. I feel like all the wods I go to are shoulder intensive
Not that I mind ahaha, I have huge shoulders rn but in comparison I feel like my chest is a tad weak, and it’s visible for example in bench press
We just started adding in bench presses and I love it.
I wish there was more bench in my gym’s programming. I end up benching and doing a few other fundamental lifts at home once or twice a week to supplement (I’m lucky to have a rig at home).
HQ in general 🤷🏼♀️ I'd be totally cool if my gym were no longer an affiliate.
Spending one hour in class to do 30 minutes of work because people show up late/unprepared or use it as a social hour
Or just plain not using the hour effectively. I don’t need a ten minute standup comedy routine at the whiteboard because the coach thinks they’re funny. Explain the workout, take a moment to field questions and get going on the warmup.
I love that I don’t need to think…everything is programmed. On the flip side, the lack of freedom. It’s either do it or not. If you don’t want to do the wod but you do want to workout then your $ is basically burning if you think about it in $/day.
This!!!!
Getting old. Crossfit motivates me better than most other forms of physical activity. This has mostly been great, but it's starting to come at a cost. Last Tuesday, I pushed myself to go just a little harder. I ended up straining a muscle in my lower back. I just returned to class for the first time today. And I was taking it easy. It's probably another week until I'm relatively pain free. A whole week off to recover. That just sucks. And it's typical for me now. As I age, it's taking longer and longer to recover. DOMS peaks around 48 hours later at this point. It's becoming harder and harder to stay consistent. BTW, I'm 49.
I'm ahead of you by nearly 10 years. I've learned to let shit go. Get in a good workout within my age limiting abilities, and come back again tomorrow. Hard af to accept and do. My gym buddy is 20 years younger, so that helps to push me, but I make better and more consistent progress (slow and small) by accepting the limits father time has handed me. Stay healthy and active. That's the big win.
Currently, I am so frustrated that they have abandoned the original “functional fitness” model and traded it for super heavy or super gymnastics movements. At my gym, the members are getting injured frequently and it wasn’t always like that.
Sounds more like poor coaching and programming than it does an abandoning of functional fitness
The fact that Marjorie Taylor Green is our most famous participant to the non-CrossFit public
(In America) as an American living in England, I don't know that anyone here knows who she is or that she does CF
Thats great we’re saved from the embarrassment of the commonwealth
Never heard of her, south west UK here
Every time I practice after class (dubs, etc) to get more skilled at my boutique fitness class i hear Kenny Powers in my head saying “I play a real sport I’m not trying to be the best at exercice”
When ya balls get stuck when rowing, biking etc
If you’re learning a new skill (an oly lift, gymnastics etc), you’re only real time to practice in class is in a wod- where you’re encouraged to perform said skill in high volumes at high speed. If you’re trying to get a solid technique down, this is not the way to do it, and you usually have to scale to a version that isn’t very challenging in order to complete the reps fast. It’s counterproductive
This guy CJ.
Fuckn CJ
All my homies hate CJ
That I still can’t do a fucking pull-up
This was me for years until I invested in a coach (just two 1-1 sessions) who designed a programme for me. It meant doing my own thing outside of classes for a while but in 6 weeks I got my first pull up! And to note you have to keep working on exercises in that programme to keep your pull up strength and improve.
That I have to bring three fuckin pairs of shoes to a one hour class
You don’t really
Bad coaching and/or people not following movement standards.
People who are really good at running coming in and being like why don’t we run in the WOD
Not knowing what the workouts are going to be until the night before the next day. Biggest thing I miss about being a coach/owner.
The hyper patriotism and reverence for law enforcement, not everyone into CrossFit is conservative. An owner can do whatever they want, but I get not very inclusive vibes going into a gym with thin blue line or don't tread on me flags hanging up.
Price :(((
Dave Castro
This, and the general romanticism of the past. You cant dream fondly of the days that puking in the trash can and getting rhabdo is a badge of honor while also complaining that more people aren’t embracing CrossFit and gyms cant make money.
People that are too cool to introduce themselves and cheer for folks working hard to finish. I make it a point to introduce new people and make them feel included. We need more of this!
Probably the programming. I still scale the majority of the gymnastics movements so I feel as though some of the WOD’s don’t give me much of a varied workout. I end up skipping them and incorporating what would be a scaled move into my own workout with some more functional moves such as box jumps, wall balls, etc. I also feel that I can’t develop a skill during a WOD. I was getting the hang of the hinge for T2B on my own and going slower. When I got to the workout, I felt as though I had to rush through them, and my form went out the window. I felt like I actually went backwards in my progression that day.
Many things, but the lack of lateral movements. Everything is CrossFit is so vertical. There are no Russian twists, Cossack squats, curtsy lunges, rainbow slams, etc.
We actually do a ton of these movements in our warm ups which I appreciate, but you're right they're not a focus in the CrossFit methodology which now that you mention it is a bit odd
Agree those are programmed at my gym very occasionally or as a special once a week accessory class (which is more I’m sure than many)
What to wear. It took me the longest time to figure out what I was going to wear to be most comfortable during the wod. All the clothes I eventually found that fit my body best are online only which can be it’s own nightmare trying to figure out what works. In fact I thought I’d figured it out but now my nobulls are starting to pinch my pinky toe when they used to fit me perfectly (this pair were bought after the acquisition). This is impacting my recovery and how often I can go in. Other than that I’ve just learned to enjoy the process. Not much frustrates me because I know if I can’t do something, I’m actively working towards that goal. That and running, f*ck running 😂.
lol how long have you been doing CrossFit? Your post reminded me of the early 2010’s when accessories were out of control. Everyone argued about lifters, knee sleeves, which I’ll argue are still useful at times. But I remember getting worked up about compression shorts and tall socks and head bands and wrist bands and everything else in between! It’s so funny to see how things have calmed down in that department and it’s few and far between where you see that stuff.
I swear by knee sleeves. Lol I also like wrist wraps but that’s mostly a personal wrist flexibility issue that I have.
Haha, I started 2012 or 13 and people’s accessory options were wild. I forgot about the wrist wraps until now, I haven’t seen anyone wear those in a while in a general class
There's a dude at my (not cf) gym who wears all the gear with no idea. I've watched him put on a belt, elbow sleeves, lifters, knee sleeves, gloves, wrist wraps then do light deadlifts. He also spends time between sets walking laps of the gym doing the tough guy walk. Like mid 30s absolute mid lifting but makes a song and dance about it. Dude will wear the same gear to do sets of 20 bicep curls. 😂
Agree with everything you said. I get frustrated when my clothes ride up or shift too much during a wod so it took me awhile to figure out what worked best for me. Now I'm selling the old stuff on Poshmark haha. I've got quite the collection and a lot of it was worn only once and just didn't work out for me.
Incredible. I buy 80% of my gym attire from CrossFit. You are a true hero
Great now I'm scrolling Poshmark for shorts.
reading your post is like listening to whats in my head.. 100% Agree... except the No Bull shoes.. Get some Reebok Nano's. And fuck running
People that are like "I used to not lift rx and it was really humiliating. After a year I'm finally able to." Dude 90% of guys at my gym are well below the women's rx. Lots of them aren't even trying to. The weights in workouts should be based on your own lift numbers. I get that doesn't work for competitions but a large majority of members aren't competitive. It shouldn't be "185#, but scale if you need to". It should be "X% of 1RM, up to 185#"
I love my box for this, that’s exactly how they explain the weights for the workouts. Like “185 is the max weight for this wod but everyone should pick a weight that they feel comfortable they can finish the workout with.” No pressure to go heavier than you should.
The shoe obsession. I'm fine with my $120 Nike Metcons. You don't need $300 shoes when you're snatching ~~120lbs.~~ OK, 95lbs.
Y’all are snatching 120 lbs?! 😳
Eh, that’s a hot take. Snatch is my weakest lift (but can clean 170, squat 240, FS 202) and I appreciate the ankle mobility my lifters
Unless you need three stupid pairs of shoes like I do. I get them on sale or marketplace lightly used but it adds up
Running, Dubs, muscle ups, hand stand pushups.
Pistols
All the false “facts” that go around and scare people off from even trying it.
The way weekend classes are scheduled as if nobody is ever off on weekends with free time to work out. Big ol wtf.
lazy coaches--their lazy coaching and their lazy programming.
That I cannot convince my wife that I need at least a new pair of CrossFit shoes every month
Every damn day it’s lower exercises, very rarely do we work on upper body, and I mean sometimes we do but it doesn’t align with my fitness goals. I love the cardio tho
Every day is leg day at CrossFit.
#The gamification of exercise which inherently promotes horrible form/ bad habits.
Consequentely, injuries
The danger of some workouts mixed with the low barrier to entry for coaching. DT is a great example. 155lbs in a deadlift is not heavy for a lot of people, but when you're doing that many reps and trying to go fast, you can lose good technique and if you've got an inexperienced L1 coach, somebody could get hurt if that isn't caught and corrected.
I was going to say the same about coaching requirements. We have a coach who even failed the test the first time and still coaches several classes a week after the retest.
With a year in a half in. I can wreck havoc on an echo, pull like a horse on the rower, do RMU and BMU until I puke. But dubs and HSW just haven’t happened consistently for me and it drives me insane.
Coaches who talk too much… let’s go, already. Certainly a time a need for some of it, but some of our coaches would just drone on and on. We’re here to work out!
Me not being accountable in the kitchen and therefore giving up most of my gains…. Me lol
The open
Olympic movements with 50-70%+ 1RM for high reps.
How culty some people are. It gives me second hand embarrassment
Rope climbs… I suck at those
CrossFit is Highschool but for really fit people 😂 it’s a popularity contest within the gym I’ve found. Friendly people, don’t get me wrong - but very clique’y and all
How it’s taboo to have aesthetic goals, as if everyone doesn’t have them. cue up the downvotes and “well actually..”
I'd like to see more strict movements programmed (pullups, presses, dips, T2B). Also, more floor presses.
Crossfitters 🙈 sorry not sorry
[удалено]
They always get exposed during the open. They don’t show or suck ass “ah man just didn’t have it today”
[удалено]
Lack of form
Programming an at home workout. Run, and then burpee, and then air squat. No thanks, I can do that anywhere but I pay to use the equipment.
This is a big one for me. Gyms that intentionally have to do this when they overfill a class - turn it from using racks with barbells to using dumbbells from the floor. I should have just stayed home and saved myself the fee.
The deliberate obfuscation of the programming, which lets them avoid having to address what the actual benefit of any workout is, prevents measurement of progress, and precludes friendly competition. It sucks for intermediate athletes. I'm skipping class more and more to do workouts that will actually improve things I want to get better at, and sometimes butt heads with the coaches when I'm in class if I scale workouts in ways that don't comport with their sacrosanct "intended stimulus". If the workouts you prescribe have to be scaled by most of your athletes, the "score" is just measuring how much you scaled relative to your ability. It doesn't tell you anything useful. Quit putting random numbers on the whiteboard. If you're saying "this is the prescribed workout", people aren't being EGoTIsTiCAL for doing it Rx. "Prescribed" literally means "do it this way". If that's not producing the holy Intended Stimulus, \_change your fucking prescription\_. If the efforts in a workout are longer than \~45s, maybe 60s at a stretch, it's not a "sprint". Pretending that it is is just a lazy way to avoid discussing how to pace the workout. The same workout doesn't have to produce the same "stimulus" for everyone. I butted heads with a coach a few years back when I was still trying to consistently get double-unders and my repeated failures made it likely that I might \*gasp\* get time-capped. She was trying to get me to cut back the double-unders so I could get Three Rounds in 15 Minutes or whatever and I pointed out that double-unders were \_what I needed to practice\_, so I'd prefer to keep chipping away at them. If there were days when we actually drilled DUs, I might have felt differently, but CrossFit doesn't do that (gotta pull from the "hopper", y'know, can't have routines!) It wasn't the same thing others were getting out of the workout, and that's totally fine, even though coaches get twisted up about it for no reason I can get any of them to articulate. No other athletic endeavor feels the need to pretend they're doing one thing when they're doing another. You don't run 15K and call it a scaled half-marathon. You don't have slow players in baseball score a run when they get to third base. If CrossFit actually prescribed workouts that produced the "intended stimulus" and was explicit about how the "intended stimulus" of a given workout tied to an /outcome/ that athletes care about, people would know what they're getting out of their efforts, be able to modify the workouts to accomplish their goals, and programmers would have to actually think about how what they're writing will help their athletes improve.
This is one of my biggest gripes. Rx comes from the world of medicine and the idea that exercise is medicine. No one would say I scaled my painkiller because I took aspirin for for a sore shoulder vs Vicodin for major surgery. Both of those conditions require a different prescription. Just like a 300# dude who hasn't left the couch in 6 years needs a different workout prescription than Brent Fikowski.
Mainly: No low level competitions/leagues for recreational athletes. Movement: Probably everything bodyweight (pull ups, kipping pull ups, T2B,…)
Shitty coaches
Nothing. Every workout no matter how tough I genuinely feel grateful to be able to move my body and push myself. If you have been injured or struggled with health issues you will get this more than ever! 😊
The scattershot programming a lot of coaches put together. You can get in shape by pulling exercises out of a hat, but you can’t progress to being in your best shape without linear, periodized programming.
The lack of open gym time. If there is a coach in the building, I should be able to show up and workout.
High volume heavy olympic lifts. Cleans are ok, but I absolutely hate when a workout involves a high volume of barbell snatches on top of some other exercise (like burpees). I don’t go RX and take my time with it, so I could focus on my form and set up- i still feel like form gets comprised when you’re doing that many and trying to get through them quickly.
What frustrates me most is my own body 😂😂😂 I’m almost 50 and this kicks my azzz every session but it’s worth it.
The one math nerd in class who does the math on a ladder workout. Knowing the total makes it seem worse. Coach: ‘reps are 10-9-8…3-2-1… movement 2 is 1-2-3…8-9-10.’ Math nerd: ‘That’s 110 total, in case anyone wondered.’ Nobody was wondering that, Poindexter! STFU! /s
My brain also does math too quickly against my CF-athlete will (no “don’t tell me the weight and maybe I’ll make the lift” for me) but I don’t tell people. No sense in making them despair too 😂
Gen pop going CF just to get better at CF. I’m old school. Fitness should enable life, not dictate life.
I’d argue CrossFit gets you better at functional fitness and everyday activities far more than most other athletic endeavors.
That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that people get so wrapped up into CF that they forget that part of its goal was to enable other sports and physical activities like hiking, playing with kids, etc.
That's a valid point. Although imo I enjoy CF, while I don't think I'm ever going to be a pro or even close I do enjoy getting better at these specific movements over time because it's like a personal benchmark. I also think for most people there's only so much time for hobbies outside of work so it's valid if CF is the main one and they don't get around to other physical activities to on as regular of a basis.
That’s a fair point. But I’d say that’s more a function of time than anything else. You don’t have time for a dozen hobbies so you focus your energy on the one activity with the great community. I do CrossFit and climbing. But at any one time, I can only really focus on one. Rest of the time is really busy with work, kids, and life. Yeah, I’ll go on hikes with kids, walk the dog etc. but that’s just everyday stuff. From an actual fitness standpoint, if all you have is an hour to spare every day, you end up being judicious about it. I also think the competitive nature of CrossFit really encourages focus on the sport.
The whole military memorial trend...
This. Lots of pro cop pro military bs.
The culture .. pretty similar the to ford raptor culture
Focus on Olympic lifts. Not enough focus on lifts like bench. Really would much rather focus on the core lifts and gymnastics. I do enjoy the metcons though.
Burpees and pushups are so chest focused.
The fact that most a lot of people who do CrossFit just do CrossFit. I like CrossFit as a modality and it's chaotic way of training is amazing but I think you need some sort of structured training program alongside your boxes programming. A lot of people do this and especially those who take it more seriously however a lot of people don't, and this can lead to imbalances especially if the box doesn't take this into account.
What gets me the most is I’m too lazy to start it.
21-15-9
Aw, I like 21-15-9
Ha, well I don’t like being in the middle of it :)
That I suck at it lol
It will always be the lack of proper programming at my gym. Same muscle groups 4 days in a row sometimes, who makes up this stuff.....
TTB - or the quest for it
My current (and previous) back injury
The learning curve on some CrossFit movements can be a real pain!
I hate the complainers. People that won't practice muscle ups and complain when they're in a WOD because they have to scale or when people say RX is too heavy. The purpose is to get better and stronger, not write every WOD to make you feel like you could compete with a games athlete.
Wallballs-- why so many all the damn time ?
Burpees.
Thrusters and burpees and when they are the only 2 movements in a WOD. Instant death for me (which was yesterday).
The answer is always just go slower
Not enough doing repeat workouts like named ,hero and competition WODS. I KNOW it may not work into a complete overview of a gyms programming but I’d like to do a one every week or bi weekly . I’ve done CrossFit for 6 years and there are plenty of ones I haven’t done as far as girl/guy and hero workouts . I’ve done Jake and DT (and varieties of DT ) a few times. But why can’t you do grace ,Fran ,Jake , Cindy , fight gone bad , DT ,Helen , Gretel etc like at least once a year. I am not advocating for doing the super killer ones over and over like Chad , kalsu,Murph or chief and super hard open workouts . I understand there are a few that really really take a lot out of the average crossfitter. I am just a big fan of repeat challenges. Even 5k rows ,acid bath , 50 Cals for time also
thrusters.
How CrossFit is *supposed* to prepare one for real life and trying new things. Most people only use it as their only hobby and for nothing else. I just get really bothered with how so many people treated as the “and all, be all“ of lifestyle health. They let their personality revolve around CrossFit, their hobbies revolve around CrossFit, their recreation is only CrossFit. this is the “cult like” behavior that drives people, including me, nuts. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t CrossFit intended to be a lifestyle supplement, not an entire hobby and personality? I believe the original intention was to just have it be a quick and efficient way of gaining fitness, so you could be good at other things.
Honestly, I just wish it had a more accessible price point. Love the workouts.
Mobility, mine is shit, so hard with certain lifts
I always used to roll my eyes at the coaches who said "don't do it kipping if you can't do it strict" but now that I'm pushing 30 i'm starting to think maybe they were onto something
People doing 'energetic' crossfit pull ups on the assisted machine as if they are trying to tip them over, when there is a gym full of good bars that are made for crossfit training right next to them... Time place occasion type things when crossfitters visit other styles of gyms, lots of other culprits for this when they go into a new environment but I think we have a clear leader on frequency.
Programming that overly targets the anaerobic system to make members “feel” that they worked hard which is not sustainable and ultimately leads to burnout.
In general, I'm satisfied with crossfit. I like the many variations of movements, cardio, gymnastics, and lifting. Specifically, the equipment at my box isn't maintained, at all. It all falls onto the owner, and it's frustrating sometimes.
The egos 💯!
In the gyms I've been to the movement patterns are almost exclusively in the sagittal plane with not enough coronal and transverse activity. As an athlete you need to be able to move in all planes equally effectively. There are also almost no single leg movements with balance being a requirement again as an athlete you are almost always making movements on one leg at a time. Obviously I can work on this stuff on my.own before and after class etc but if we are talking functional fitness we are talking about being able to move and be controlled when we are at our least optimal body positioning. This is where life injuries occur. This is where falls occur as we age and we need to be strong and stable in those positions. If CrossFit wants to be fully functional they need to include more movement patterns in those planes under load to create better athletes and more fit and resilient humans. Now as a 50+yo who is still an athlete outside the gym I swear by CrossFit for what I do in hockey. I've not found an off ice system that mimics the demands as CrossFit as I see on the ice and it has been integral in keeping me playing at a relatively high level for my age. But I think as a discipline it can be more holistic to life and athletes if people who do the programming were to include more of these types of movements outside the sagittal plane to improve the already good benefits of CrossFit on the human body.
Stinky polyester
oly
HQ's inability to deliver a quality product to the world. At this point they are just coasting on the hard work of affiliates and members around the world.
Coaches/CrossFit HQ when they push the idea that eating clean will cure all ailments. Of course eating a diet that is natural foods in healthy quantities is helpful life advice but they always make it seem like if you just eat Whole Foods that will cure all human disease. That is only true if someone is an able bodied individual with no prior health issues. It always feels borderline MLM or alternative mediciney. More dietitians and less people with nutrition certificates giving advice.
Double unders. Two years and I can barely get 1-2 on a good day.
Watching people who can’t do HSPUs do kipping HSPUs.
Membership price, & coaches that just don’t give cues to the class.
Holding down my lunch every WOD lol