scott abel article on crossfit.

[Jorge Montesinos]

wanted to share an article i read, what is your take on it.

Link removed. You must indicate whether your links are Work and Family Safe (WFS)

[Justin Ludwig]

"Crossfitters never deal with questions or even basic principles of exercise physiology."

How does he base this obviously false claim?

"Crossfit has no programming element, and follows no methodology at all."

Again, his mouth is leaking air that has sounds.

The goal of course is to avoid an exhaustive state where the systems of the body are too overloaded to respond and adapt. Crossfit considers none of this, and in fact often the goal seems to be the exhaustive stage. That can only lead to burnout, injury, or illness. You can read more about this in my book, The Abel Approach.

And we get to the meat and potatoes of his article. "Buy my book, I'm an expert."

I'm not saying this gentleman does not know his stuff, but he's only comprehending CrossFit as he sees fit (or by looking at one week's worth of WODs) to further his own cause. I wish him the best of luck.

I fee like I just finished watching an hour of CNN and now am an expert on politics.

[Dimitri Dziabenko]

Originally Posted by Jorge Montesinos

wanted to share an article i read, what is your take on it.

http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2012/0...-crossfit.html

I think this criticism is not entirely up-to-date. Much of the community seems to have gravitated towards programs like 531 with some conditioning added in.

Mainpage programming is still a mess, so there, his criticism is about right. Nothing new though.

[Andrew Bell]

Originally Posted by Justin Ludwig

How does he base this obviously false claim?

Not that I am a follower of his, but I think the jest of it is that the overwhelming majority of Crossfitters never question where the principles of what Coach used to preach. They just accepted it all as true with out anything to back it up other than being better at CF than other athletes. All the while Coach use to argue that there was no such thing as sports science, something that pretty much everyone in the industry supports.

Again, his mouth is leaking air that has sounds.

No actually he is 100% correct. Mainsite is as random as it comes. There is no pattern, rhyme, or reason to it's programming. This has been stated by the HQ staff over and over again in video's.

[Justin Ludwig]

I was referring to his claim of no methodology. I don't follow Main site programming. I program my own WODs in conjunction with Wendler 5/3/1. I do thoroughly peruse the journal for technique videos, articles, discussions and such that all got into detail of methodology of some aspect or another.

He is correct in stating about the massing latching onto a new trend without discrimination - which will doubtfully never change.

His article is fully biased, but it has to be for him to sell his book. I've yet to see a CF video or read a CF article that suggested you lift heavy without first learning the movement with little to no weight and then graduate up.

No actually he is 100% correct. Mainsite is as random as it comes. There is no pattern, rhyme, or reason to it's programming. This has been stated by the HQ staff over and over again in video's.

I've read that they loosely follow the 3 on 1 off with variation of G.W.M. modalities discussed in CF Lvl 1 Guide, and this can be seen in the variance of the workouts posted on mainsite. I wouldn't go as far as saying 100% correct.

My point is this: If a person who knows nothing about Crossfit read this article, they would have an entirely false perception of what is CF.

[Eric Montgomery]

Originally Posted by Justin Ludwig

I was referring to his claim of no methodology. I don't follow Main site programming. I program my own WODs in conjunction with Wendler 5/3/1. I do thoroughly peruse the journal for technique videos, articles, discussions and such that all got into detail of methodology of some aspect or another.

He is correct in stating about the massing latching onto a new trend without discrimination - which will doubtfully never change.

His article is fully biased, but it has to be for him to sell his book. I've yet to see a CF video or read a CF article that suggested you lift heavy without first learning the movement with little to no weight and then graduate up.

I've read that they loosely follow the 3 on 1 off with variation of G.W.M. modalities discussed in CF Lvl 1 Guide, and this can be seen in the variance of the workouts posted on mainsite. I wouldn't go as far as saying 100% correct.

My point is this: If a person who knows nothing about Crossfit read this article, they would have an entirely false perception of what is CF.

Mainsite absolutely does not follow that theoretical template discussed in the CFJ and at L1 certs. If you can find a week's worth of CF.com workouts that resembles it I'll buy you a six-pack of beer.

[Tom Crier]

Originally Posted by Justin Ludwig

I was referring to his claim of no methodology. I don't follow Main site programming. I program my own WODs in conjunction with Wendler 5/3/1. I do thoroughly peruse the journal for technique videos, articles, discussions and such that all got into detail of methodology of some aspect or another.

I guess, if anyone can program their own routine, incorporating other established programs or not, then he could be correct or not. If anyone can do whatever they want, and still say they're doing Crossfit, then it's a bit meaningless.

[Graeme Moore]

Originally Posted by Tom Crier

...anyone can do whatever they want, and still say they're doing Crossfit...

If it's constantly varied, functional movements at high intensity, then yes.

[Paulo Santos]

Just another article from a "fitness expert" who doesn't know what CrossFit is all about.

[David Meverden]

Originally Posted by Paulo Santos

Just another article from a "fitness expert" who doesn't know what CrossFit is all about.

Pretty much. Just another person that glances at the mainpage and thinks that that is all of CF. If that coach were to work with a variety of CFers then they would get a much more balanced view, like the one Charles Poliquin has gotten, as discussed in this thread:

http://www.board.crossfit.com/showth...light=crossfit (WFS)

Poliquin in that one realizes that there are things that are good in the community, tendencies that are bad in the community, and points out things that he sees successful CrossFitters doing, which in and of itself is significant because it acknowledges that CrossFitters are different and that a lot of people run with this stuff in really good ways, even if not everyone does.