Crossfit
Crossfit is a brand, just like Nike is a brand.
Crossfit is the fastest growing fitness movement available, and because it is a fairly new phenomena, there is not much data available looking at rate of injury, types of injury, and overall safety.
Like many fitness certifications to become a Crossfit instructor requires a 2 day certification. I see one consistent problem with 2 day certifications; it does not give any one person expertise in the field. It gives minimal anatomy and physiology knowledge, and skeleton guidelines in safety. Is it possible that you can find a qualified Crossfit instructor? Yes! They would possess an associates or bachelors degree in Exercise Science, multiple certifications, and I would strongly suggest either a focus in biomechanics or an additional certification in the biomechanics of exercise. Are there? I don’t know the answer to that question. You would have to research the instructor prior to participating.
With fitness professionals safety and knowledge is a long term pursuit and is not gained in a weekend course. This in of itself can pose a problem to the safety of the participants.
With all forms of exercise there are safety guidelines that exercise professionals must follow, and proper program design and periodization is an important element of all exercise programs.
Each participant is an individual, with individual needs; structurally, biomechanically, and has additional training and life demands that need to be taken account for when writing an individual program.
Almost all people have an area of their body that is considered biomechanically inefficient; I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t. Tightness is generally a form of weakness of a particular muscle or muscle group. Pain in the muscle is generally either a) an overused muscle, making up for work of a muscle, or muscle group or b) the weak muscle itself, in both cases the muscles are working on protecting itself. We have recently learned through Muscle Activation Technique when we train an area that is impacted by an inefficiency or weakness within a group of muscles the strong muscles keep getting stronger, and the weak muscles keep getting weaker. This can lead to injury and pain, and over time, injury and pain is highly likely, no matter what the sport is.
This is where the biggest safety issue with Crossfit lies.
If I take an athlete with a known tightness/weakness and continually load that person with heavy weight the chance of injury greatly increases.
When I train, I train with balance. I spend more time strengthening a person’s weaknesses, than I do strengthening their stronger more gross muscle groups. I do this to prevent injury, not promote it.
There is one study that came out in 2011 in Medicine Science Sports Exercise Volume 43 Supplement 5; Incidence in Prevalence of Injury Among Crossfit Participants; that looked at 738 Crossfit participants.
51% or 374 of these participants said ‘yes’ they had been injured within the last 12 months. 3 of these injuries were Rhabdomyolsis and most of these injuries were sustained to the back and shoulder areas of these participants. Of those 51%, 52% of those people had multiple injuries sustained while participating in Crossfit in the last 12 months, and 11% of them required hospitalization. I feel, it is important to note, that 18% of those who participated in this study were not sure they went to the hospital.
The other major safety issue I see with Crossfit is that many of the exercises that are staple exercises within the program are contraindicated and high risk movements as established through the American College of Sports Medicine. Fitness and Biomechanic Specialists are knowledgeable and understand the dangers of many of the exercises that are often prescribed in Crossfit routines or programs. In other words, many of these exercises are not safe.
To add insult to injury Crossfit is quickly loading these contraindicated exercises, and repeating them in high repetitions to failure. This, in my mind, is a sure recipe for disaster.
I am between a rock and a hard place because anything that gets people excited about exercise is a good thing, right?
Next time you’re in class, you can look at the person next to you and one of the two of you is going to get injured within the next year.
To be fair, I do feel that Crossfit may be good for certain populations; gymnasts, retired military personnel, and civilian protectors like the police and firefighters.
I would never in good conscience recommend Crossfit to anyone.