Crossfit

[PaloAltoCougar]

Being over 50 I would take the physique of the runner. I don't care if it's fat or muscle it gets to hard to carry the extra weight when you get older. I do some cross fit stuff to try and maintain some muscle but I don't want to get bigger.

Ditto. My week consists of two days of weights, two days of running (7 and 3 miles), and two days of cycling (10-12 miles at speed; 30-50 miles of whatever). I'm not sure I'm capable of building up muscle mass (I'm 59), but I'm pretty content with the modest progress I've made. Of course, I still regard you as the gold standard for fitness after 50.

[Tone Loc]

Being over 50 I would take the physique of the runner. I don't care if it's fat or muscle it gets to hard to carry the extra weight when you get older. I do some cross fit stuff to try and maintain some muscle but I don't want to get bigger.

Um, I have a feeling that if you were able to develop that body/muscle, you would be just fine to carry it around. I don't care what age you are.

However, to each their own. I admire endurance athletes for a lot of things, but their bodies are not one of them.

[Jacob]

Um, I have a feeling that if you were able to develop that body/muscle, you would be just fine to carry it around. I don't care what age you are.

However, to each their own. I admire endurance athletes for a lot of things, but their bodies are not one of them.

Crossfit gyms always get people coming in to check it out who say "I don't want to gain too much muscle (typically women). But the fear is pretty laughable. Most people will not be able to put on a lot of muscle mass without a pretty hard core dedication to weights. You are simply not going to get that if you are a casual about your exercise, if you are not dedicated to building muscle mass (some are more genetically predisposed than others). So there is really no fear of putting on a lot of muscle. As we start to age, it is more about maintaining muscle mass, not increasing it.

[jay santos]

A guy at my gym was karate kicking the triceps rope pull down thing. Is that part of Crossfit?

[Surfah]

A guy at my gym was karate kicking the triceps rope pull down thing. Is that part of Crossfit?

Some girl was doing that to the weight hangers on the side of a Hammer Strength machine at my gym today like it was some wing chun dummy.

[Omaha 680]

I'm back on the horse after a few sporadic months. This week has been hard but not as rought as when I first started at the beginning of the year. My wife is more obsessed than ever. She has all the gear, goes 3-4 times per week, and probably will compete in the open next year. She's also really excited to watch weightlifting in the Olympics.

[Omaha 680]

Strained my lower back doing pullups of all things a couple days ago. Doesn't seem serious as it appears to be just a muscle strain.

My wife did this entire workout last week: 10 rounds for time of 10 pullups and 10 thrusters. I think the women's weight was 65 for thrusters. It was 95 for me and I almost died. Only did half of the workout because I was doing it in the gym at our apt building so when I quit no one could yell at me.

[ERCougar]

One of our nurses was on the team that won the World Crossfit Games last month.
http://games.crossfit.com/team/14
http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/39764

[Omaha 680]

One of our nurses was on the team that won the World Crossfit Games last month.
http://games.crossfit.com/team/14
http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/39764

My wife had mentioned to me a team from SLC won. That's impressive.

[Omaha 680]

So I am running in this tomorrow:

http://www.spartanrace.com/tristate-...rtan-2013.html

I signed up with a friend from the ward back in early July with the thought that it would help me get back on the crossfit/exercise horse after months of neglect due to businenss travel and moving. However, my daughter was born mid July and my training has been sporadic at best. I have been at it about 3 days a week, but that isn't enough and the intensity of my workouts hasn't been enough. I am in shape enough to run, but I could stand to lose about 15 pounds and I haven't done nearly enough circuit/crossfit training. So my goals for tomorrow are to finish and not get injured. I figure I will either come out of the race more motivated than ever to get in shape, or just quit trying all together.

[FN Phat]

good luck, Omaha.

[wally]

I am curious if any of the ER docs on here are noticing a bunch crossfit related injuries? seems like crossfit is the trendy new fitness craze and the fact that it incorporates powerlifting exercises has me wondering about it. Powerlifting is not the type of exercise that you just pick up and run with at age 35, unless you have the right body type for it. I would think there would be more risk of injury in taking up crossfit than taking up another fitness program.

[Omaha 680]

I am curious if any of the ER docs on here are noticing a bunch crossfit related injuries? seems like crossfit is the trendy new fitness craze and the fact that it incorporates powerlifting exercises has me wondering about it. Powerlifting is not the type of exercise that you just pick up and run with at age 35, unless you have the right body type for it. I would think there would be more risk of injury in taking up crossfit than taking up another fitness program.

I'm not a doctor but I can see the potential for injury. I'm not in to maxing out on the power lifting movements. That is where you can really hurt yourself if you don't know what you are doing. I'll max on squat and maybe deadlift, but I've never been asked to max on snatch or clean and jerk and I probably would refuse if asked. Doing the daily workouts that are peppered with power lifting moves where you are doing a bunch of reps at 50% or less of your max seem a lot less dangerous to me.

[Omaha 680]

So I am running in this tomorrow:

http://www.spartanrace.com/tristate-...rtan-2013.html

I signed up with a friend from the ward back in early July with the thought that it would help me get back on the crossfit/exercise horse after months of neglect due to businenss travel and moving. However, my daughter was born mid July and my training has been sporadic at best. I have been at it about 3 days a week, but that isn't enough and the intensity of my workouts hasn't been enough. I am in shape enough to run, but I could stand to lose about 15 pounds and I haven't done nearly enough circuit/crossfit training. So my goals for tomorrow are to finish and not get injured. I figure I will either come out of the race more motivated than ever to get in shape, or just quit trying all together.

I finished in 3 hours which isn't great but I wasn't expecting much as I noted above. The hills were brutal on the course and I failed four obstacles incurring a total of 120 penalty burpees (you only get one shot at some of the obstacles). I found out when we got there that we were actually doing a "super spartan" race, which is 8 miles. We should have started with the Sprint version which is only 4 or 5 I believe. It was a fun experience and I'll probably do a couple more next year and train better for them. I'd like to see how well I can do if I don't feel like I'm going to die the entire time. Tips for anyone who wants to do one of these:

1. Light clothing made of clima-cool material or whatever equivalent that doesn't hold moisture. It seemed like my shorts were carrying around about 5 pounds of water and sand for much of the race.
2. Coverings for elbows and knees. The only time I really wished I had them was the barbed wire crawl, which was about 75 yards through mud and water crawling under barbed wire. The mud had a bunch of gravel under it, so I scraped my elbows and knees up pretty good and for the last half of the pit I resorted to rolling. Only my left knee was unscathed because I was wearing a cheap knee brace.

If nothing else, it was good to get out of the city and run through the mountains a bit, and burn much more calories in a day than I usually do in a week of exercise.

[Green Monstah]

I started working out at a crossfit gym two weeks ago. It's early, but here are my initial reactions. First, I really enjoy the workouts. I go to the 5am class with about 8 other people. Our trainer is trained, certified, and is also an RN during the day.

We start with warmups (rolling on the foam, using PVC to stretch shoulders, jogging/rowing machine; dynamic stretches, etc.), then we spend about 20-30 minutes on a "Skill" portion. Often these are Olympic lifts, which I've never done. My schedule doesn't allow for the "cornerstone" class, so the coach has me work near the front and he watches my form and gives me tips/advice. Then comes the workout of the day. I have to scale myself down quite a bit, but this is my favorite part. The workouts last from ten to twenty minutes and we go hard.

I can see how having bad coaches could be really harmful. The people at my gym really seem to know what they're talking about and give good instruction. The guys are all really competitive, so when we are doing our "skill" portion, they're contantly trying to out-do each other. I saw a guy squatting way more than he should have today with some really shitty form. The coach was helping another person, but saw it, came over, and took weight off the guy's bar.

I've been dropping a lot of weight the last six months, but was stuck for almost a month at the same weight. I decided to start crossfit as a potential way to bust through my plateau (also, my former trainer up his prices, and it didn't make sense to pay $400 per month for 2x per week training). At any rate, I'm down 8 pounds in two weeks, which is the pace I was on when I first started my weight loss journey. In addition to crossfit, I run 2x per week (30 minute run/60 minute run). As of this morning I'm down 73 pounds and weigh about the same as I did when I graduated high school, although I'm 2 inches taller than I was back then.

My only advice to people considering this is to go check out the gyms in your area and make sure the trainers are attentive and know their stuff.