Disclaimer— I have a CF-L1 certificate, coach at a local affiliate, and have been doing CrossFit for over five years. So yes, I unabashedly and unequivocally believe in the Cult of CrossFit.
I drink the Kool-Aid religiously.
I’ve worked out in one or another, on and off, since high school. I lifted weights, ran a variety of K’s, played pick-up basketball. I did both Billy Blanks’s Tae Bo and Tony Horton’s P90x. But, I never remained as thoroughly invested in any workout style or program until I was introduced to CrossFit.
Below are my top reasons why I belong to the Cult. Millions of memes litter the internet about the 1st Rule of CrossFit, so I’ll try to be brief…
- Technique Before Intensity Before Speed
A common complaint against CrossFit is that, because of the intensity, it’s dangerous– you’ll blow out vertebrae, muscles, testicles, brain matter, etc.
A second complaint is that the coaches don’t really coach. They simply write the workout on the board, start the clock, and scream at you to go faster and harder until you dissolve into a mass of pain-ridden goo.
That’s bullshit.
Granted, some coaches are probably like that in some boxes, but the same thing can be found in any gym. I would guarantee, though, that those rogue CrossFit coaches don’t remain coaches for long.
It would be terrible for business. How can you run a gym if all your members are constantly crippled or peeing out large junks of kidney?
The CrossFit Level 1 training program is intense. I’m a teacher with all kinds of degrees, and I consider myself somewhat intelligent, but I sweated the certification test after the seminar.
CrossFit insists on its coaches teaching movement and technique that is efficient, effective, and most of all–safe.
We didn’t touch a barbell in the training until the final group workout. All movements were taught and drilled with a PVC pipe. If you couldn’t master the PVC, you didn’t move on to the barbell.
Every paid CrossFit program (CompTrain, Mayhem, HWPO, etc) consists of movement prep prep periods. If the coach does not feel the athlete is using safe form, that coach should put said athlete back on the PVC.
If you are on the barbell and I see you with a weight that leads to sketchy form, you better believe that weight will come off the second I notice any breakdowns.
I want to push yes, but I also don’t want thousands of dollars of medical bills on my conscience.
Had I the knowledge I picked up from CrossFit when I was younger, both my joints and the gains would have been all the better for it.
3. High Intensity = Instant Gratification
Unfortunately, I lack patience and am a sucker for instant gratification. I love straight, traditional weight-lifting, and still do the occasional mesocycle, but I get bored with it. It can become pure drudgery–especially when results or pumps aren’t coming.
CrossFit WoD’s (workout of the day) hit hard and fast. Each workout has prescribed standards for the weight, reps, and movements. The prescriptions are suggestions in order to reach the desired stimulus of the workout, but those prescriptions are (and should be) scaled to the athlete’s ability and strength.
Whether you scale or not, you will face a challenge every, single day they come in. To this day, I still walk in, look at the workout and think that there is no way in hell my 50-year-old body will finish or even survive.
Some days I don’t finish.
But I don’t quit. I keep moving. It may not be fast, but I keep moving and pushing until that final buzzer.
I’ve taught myself that with some focus, grit, determination, and effort, I can, in fact, do hard things. Very hard things.
It’s an incredible feeling. As sappy as this may sound, I try to remember those lessons when I face ANY difficult challenge. CrossFit has taught me to approach any difficulty just like I would approach a WoD.
3. The Cult of CrossFit
That CrossFit is cultish is another negative that makes its rounds through anti-CrossFit circles.
The truth?
Yeah, maybe it is. I’m okay with that. I mean, come on, Paranormal Pressings, hauntings, Do I Believe in Ghosts?… you get it.
But seriously, one of the largest draws of CrossFit is the community.
In a regular gym, you will find healthy people doing healthy things, yeah. But they are generally doing their own thing.
In CrossFit boxes, you are all doing the same hard work together. You are sweating together, failing together, reaching personal bests together. The workout does not end, and equipment is not put away until EVERYONE finishes the workout or the final buzzer sounds. It’s a form of “Leave No Man (or woman or non-binary) Behind.”
In fact, CrossFit does share the same community ethos of the military. Makes sense because you are effectively going to war (mostly with yourself) in these workouts, and there is no better bonding experience than going through hell with your brothers and sisters.
I’ve formed some of the best, healthiest, and most lasting friendships with the people I work out with. We stay far too long at the Box after the session ends, hang out on the weekends, talk shop through texts, etc. I even got ordained through the Universal Life Church to officiate the marriage of two of our athletes.
Hmm.
Coaching, performing marriages, enforcing Spartan policies– that would make me, well, kind of like a Cult Leader, wouldn’t it?
So what do you think? I would love to hear about your experiences, either negative or positive with CrossFit.
You a believer? A skeptic? A Kool-Aid drinker? Curious?
Picture Credits:
Kettle and Box Photo: Photo by Ryan De Hamer on Unsplash
Guy at squat rack: Photo by Alexander Redl on Unsplash
Barbell and Legs: Photo by Victor Freitas on Unsplash
Paranormal Pressings 
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