Get Off CrossFit Bro

Get Off CrossFit Bro

Last week an article was brought to my attention that was bashing CrossFit. I know some surprise. No name coaches and athletes are constantly writing articles bashing CrossFit because they know it will bring them attention. Of course most of the attention is negative, but when no one knows you, negative attention is better than none at all.

I am a strength and conditioning coach, weightlifting coach, powerlifting coach, world champion powerlifter, nationally ranked weightlifter, and I was a collegiate athlete. Now I am not saying all of that to brag, I am just saying that I bridge a lot of gaps. A lot of my strength and conditioning colleagues bash CrossFit. My powerlifting and weightlifting friends are 50/50. I believe that the ones who dislike and/or bash CrossFit fit into one of two categories:

1. They aren’t familiar with it.
2. They had a bad experience.

Most of us are afraid of what we don’t know. I have to admit that I didn’t like CrossFit at first. I thought it was a lot of random unplanned mess. That was before I met some of the better CrossFit coaches in America. After meeting coaches like Ryan Grady, Aaron Landes, Will Hall, the Barbell Shrugged Crew, Garage Games Crew, and the Undisputed Strength and Conditioning Crew to name a few, I know that these coaches are masters of their craft.

When I met Ryan Grady, he had more books on Periodization than me. The guy was and is a sponge for knowledge. These coaches have this thing dialed in man. They periodize the important things, and use some random creativity for their met cons. Even their random met cons are kept within the parameters of anaerobic or aerobic depending on the time of year and the block that they are in.

These guys and gals have taken mobility, movement, and human performance to realms that just a few years ago where unheard of. I have met athletes like Christmas Abbott, Spencer Hendl, Elisabeth Akinwale, and Rich Froning, and all I can say is wow! These athletes are strong, mobile, lean, athletic, and simply unbelievable. I have also witnessed coaches take middle-aged, out of shape coach Potatos, and turn them into athletic beasts. I have watched lives change right in front of my eyes with my own members. One of my members, a 53 year old named Mike, is absolutely ripped.

CrossFit has done more to get people active than any movement like it in history. People who hated fitness before have learned to love CrossFit and the Community that goes with it. I have watched family members and friends workout for the first time and get in the best shape of their lives! My point is don’t knock what you don’t know. If you haven’t experienced, try it for yourself. Don’t listen to some athlete or coach desperate for attention

Are there coaches within the CrossFit world that aren’t very good? Yes. However there are terrible trainers within every globo gym in America. There are terrible strength coaches in college. There are terrible powerlifting coaches and weightlifting coaches. I have witnessed ridiculous activities performed with each of these disciplines, but I have also witnessed true greatness in each.

I could make a blooper highlight film from each area area, and I could put together a highlight film of incredible moments from each. I have watched globo gym trainers force their clients to perform exercises that were absolutely dangerous. I have watched Weightlifters drop weights on their head and neck. I have literally watched Powerlifters break bones, and pee & poop the platform. Ridiculous stuff!

I have also watched trainers in Globo Gyms change lives. My own strength coach in college literally changed my life for the better. I am friends with some of the most incredible weightlifting and powerlifting coaches in America. I have watched records broken that brought tears to my eyes, and I have broken some of those records myself. My point is that there is good and bad in all of the barbell disciplines.

CrossFit has done a thousand times more good than it ever has bad! I have had a love affair with barbell since I was eleven years old. I love all the major movements performed by that one piece of equipment. Nothing or no one has done more to popularize the barbell than CrossFit. For that all Weightlifters, Powerlifter, Strength Coaches, Bodybuilders, and meat heads should thank them. I thank them!

For all of you that are unsure about CrossFit, get to know a good coach, visit a good box, and experience the community that is CrossFit. You will never hate on them again if you meet a coach like Ryan Grady or Aaron Landes. You will simply smile at all the amazing things being performed by these guys, and all the lives that they are changing.