The Crossfit regime has it’s legions of admirers and, to be fair, its critics. Having been on the program faithfully since late March, you can count me in the former camp. The functional focus makes perfect sense – there are no leg extension machines that only prepare you for leg extension machines – and I grok the kind of high intensity strength routines over an aerobic time interval that deliberately blur the lines between power lifting and pure cardio. The variety is good as well, you never quite know what’s going be on your plate the next day.
If I had a critique of the program itself (as opposed to the more zealous of its devotees), it’s that I think there’s probably room for more long cardio routines on a weekly basis than Coach Glassman makes room for. A 10k run every other month or so doesn’t hack it, at least not for me. I’m thinking hard about subbing some two hour pedals for yet another 20 minute round of pull ups and dips, one of these weekends.
Results? I’ve lost 5 pounds and two inches off my waist while packing on the kind of upper body muscles I haven’t had since my 20′s, if ever. Given that muscle mass is more dense than fat, I reckon I’ve given back at least ten pounds of the latter. Maybe more. I wake up feeling strong and go to bed at night feeling like I’ve earned my eight straight. Workouts that made my eyes pop in disbelief back in March and April are over in half an hour or so with no great fuss, although I will admit to scaling the loads I do in recognition of five decades wandering the green. Anno domini can’t be beat and it’s no good pretending otherwise.
Still, as I said: There are critics. Like a certain commanding officer of the Navy’s Center for Personal and Professional Development. Whatever that is. Who apparently has issues of his own:
“Another item I want to touch on pertains to a cover story in a recent Navy Times on Crossfit, “the new fitness craze.” This is a commercial off the shelf (COTS) program and is not tailored to an individual. Several SMEs in the sports medicine field (military & civilian) have addressed a concern that the program has the potential for causing an increased incidence of musculoskeletal injuries and even muscle breakdown (rhabdomyoloysis) and therefore is not supported by CPPD. Granted, anyone can develop a program that’s very intense but there’s a safer way of doing this for our Sailors. Additionally, any program that names exercises after women is contrary to our Core Values.”
I’m not sure I know the context within which the good captain made his comments. Maybe he’s a distance guy with a three inch vertical leap who can nearly make the throw from the mound to first, I don’t know. And maybe there are subject matter experts (SMEs) who have their own complaints with the popularity Crossfit has gained among SOF, combat Marines and regular forces, as well as the police. (The main reference to “rhabdomyoloysis” is found in references to the captain’s article, so no help there.) I do find myself rather scoffing at his notion that there’s an implicit alternative provided the Navy that’s “tailored to the individual.” Stumble through a PRT twice a year and – so far as the Navy is concerned – you’ve done your physical bit for God and country. Height/weight, a mile and a half (where are those found at sea?), push ups, sit ups and a “sit reach” stand in for actual functional fitness.
If you want more than that, it’s all on you.
But, it’s all good and room enough for all opinions. Until hisself launched into the whole “Core Values” bit of his speech. I’ve always had issues with that brand of censorious tone, the whole assumed mantle of smug moral superiority. Especially when it’s so poorly founded. A “Fran”, for example – just to name one exercise that’s named after a woman - 21, 15 and 9 reps of 135 pound thrusters (a squat porting a bar loaded to 135 pounds that ends in a shoulder press, repeat) alternating with an equal number of pull-ups. For time.
Anyone who can crank out one of those in under half an hour or so satisfies my definition of “core values” no matter how the exercise is named.
Crossfit studs can do it in a shade over 2 minutes.
And that’s before we get to the issue of the “Murph”, named after Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael Murphy. Medal of Honor winner. It’s a straightforward drill: Run mile at your best pace followed by 100 pull-ups, 200 push ups and 300 body weight squats. Then run a mile again, if you can.
I couldn’t. Did the first bit and then stumbled through 200 squats and half mile at the end and before I called it quits. LT Murphy – God rest his soul – used to do it wearing 50 pounds of body armor.
It’s not just a great workout, that you mightn’t have come upon all on your own. It’s a reminder.
Thus it is that I find the comments of the commanding officer, Center for Personal and Professional Development – whatever that is – unfortunate. The Navy’s Core Values are designed to make each sailor a professional warrior, a part of a team. A team that includes women. A functional fitness program that is leaps and bounds beyond what the Navy itself provides is not to be breezily waved away in the absence of a workable alternative. And a service that uses the pronoun “she” to describe her warships ought to have no fear of workouts named after women – and heroic men.
“A ship is always referred to as ‘she’ because it costs so much to keep one in powder and paint.”
Great post, Lex.
Having been a gym rat for much of my life, I’m always interested in fitness. Like economics or art there are many experts who don’t necessarily agree.
A lot of it has to do with what you are trying to accomplish. Do you want to rip through the BUDs program without breaking a sweat or do you merely want to have toned muscles with decent cardiovascular fitness.
Five months ago I relented, tight fisted as I am, and agreed to six weeks with a personal trainer. Best damn decision I’ve made in a long time.
In a very short time he determined that my pecs were too strong, my upper back too weak, my hamstrings far too tight, my balance atrocious, and my posture not much better. Exercises and stretches were prescribed. Such exercises were diligently supervised and no cheating was allowed. Nor was less than optimal effort tolerated. Like I say, money well spent.
I’ve been on my own devices for three months and have made progress. I have much better balance, my posture is better, the imbalance between my pecs and upper back has been corrected, and my hamstrings are much looser.
August 1st I begin another six weeks with him. I know one thing – he will push me and devise exercises to correct my weaknesses. It will challenge me like I am unable to challenge myself. And I will be better for it.
I’ve been on the Crossfit bandwagon for 2 years now. Off and on.
Great workouts. Especially when you add a run in afterward.
A girl in my company Firstie year was on the XC team, and started adding Crossfit to her already hellacious training regimen. She got Rhabdo and was in the hospital for 4 days. We all chipped in and got her the Rhabdo clown shirt from the Crossfit store. Her biggest concern? She lost so much training time that she would have to start subbing the workouts again.
Lex,
Lookut here: I’ve driopped 30 pounds since the first of april. I only somewhat watch what I eat. Mostly, I walk between 4 & 5 miles a day. I drink like a fish, and cut way back on the other carbs, and if i wanted ti could probabkly cut bacj even norte on the tital intake. But what the hey…
The army, bless their souls, had a real eureka moment a few years back. Seems thjat their steroid pimping ranger types kept dropping like flys to hypothermia and exposure. Turns out that those buff fellows had no body fat to speak of, and as such, noi insulation against mother nature.
When they looked at the normal joe, they had a greater graduation rate from Ranger school, and fewer medical dropouts along the way. Just sayion;…
The army os goinf to an all new PT prifram nest year, based ipon the lessons learned in combat. They are dropping many of the standard PT and enducrtance milestones, and going with certain benchmarks done with full combat load. The obstacle course, for example, will be done in fulll conbat gear, etc. The many lonf sistance marcjes will be replaced with shorter sprintds and runds wil all their gear on. I belive that this is a wise move, and one long overdue.
Anyway, I am happy with what I have taken off. I still have a long wayd to go, but the key is slow and steady progress towards the goal.
Respects,
I see that the CPPD CO is a pilot who also wears silver dolphins with absolutely no mention of how they were earned. However, iirc, back in those days midn could come back from summer cruise with dolphins. That or he was one of the last NESEP and embarrassed to mention it in his official bio.
Oops, it may appear from previous post that I have some bias against NESEP. Not so. They were the smartest and most motivated midn that I knew but they were notorious for all being nukes who had absolutely NO intention of returning to the nuclear fraternity of arms after they earned their commissions which, as a midn, spoke volumes to me about life in the nuclear navy.
The CPPD folks have a bio on the easily offended skipper on their website. Hard to tell what they really do, but they sure have all the PC warm and fuzzy job titles and mission statements and collateral duty crapola covered.
I really don’t see where they spend much of their time on training that actually puts ordnance on target, but frankly that old-fashion stuff seems out of favor in today’s modern Navy business model.
They are all excited about their new, soon to be mandatory NPP (Navy Pride & Professionalism) Course “NPP is comprised of 10 modules and consists of introductory topics, intended to develop Sailors’ awareness of Navy rules and regulations. The modules include: The Navy Core Values, decision-making, communication and conflict management, mentoring, diversity, equal opportunity, violent crime and suicide awareness, courtesy and military etiquette, uniform wear, and Navy family care and planning.”
They sound like they would benefit from the crossfit program so they will have the strength to overcome cranial-rectal inversion.
See for yourself how badly the Navy has fallen since Lex left the fleet.
https://www.netc.navy.mil/centers/cppd/index.cfm?fa=home.biographies
[...] One O-6, new brown card equivalent in hand, whacks another one. It ain’t pretty. [...]
Lex, try http://www.crossfitendurance.com. They seem to be fully hooked into the Crossfit program (right down to Eva on the front page), but with an endurance “aerobic” component.
Congrats on the improved fitness, Jimmy, Tim and Lex! It’s rather motivating, I must say… I think I need to pick up the pace: I’ve been focusing on eating better the last few months and returning to semi-regular exercise (with modest results), but with your examples in mind, perhaps I need to be a little more focused and intense about this…
Truly motivating to hear the results you’re experiencing! Of course, part of good health is getting to bed at a decent hour…
*looks at clock*
Also, the “rhabdo” thing is thoroughly discussed on the website. As is the “core” master who sat on the glute-ham device, fully reclined–and then had to be lifted back up, his “core” was so uselessly developed (well-developed for playing with a Swiss ball, useless for actually lifting his trunk). What I appreciate about Crossfit is that nothing is hidden, it’s all out in the open, measured and dissected and argued about, and nothing is removed from revision, correction or improvement. However, the bottom line is all about performance, and improved performance can’t happen if participants are dropping like flies. Same goes for Jimmy J, he got good guidance, he implemented it, and he got the results he wanted in better performance. If it works, stick with it.
You’re not really having fun till you’ve had a visit from Gym Jones I used to think Crossfit was horribly hard, then I started trying to do their stuff.
FbL –
CrossFit is intense, no two ways about it. But the main page WOD is often beyond the capability of us lesser mortals. Thus, on the left side, among the links to click is one called “Start Here” – which has a subordinate link called “BrandX Scaled Workouts.” BransX Martial Arts (a CrossFit affiliate) always posts several scaled down versions of the main page WOD – and the scaling is progressive (Big Dawgs – less for Pack – less for Puppies – least for Buttercups).
There’s no shame in being a Buttercup – you work hard from where you are, today. Work your diet (and there’s lots of, umm, heated discussions abouts what’s best in the forums). And you will get more fit, in a general, all around sort of fitness. Life rarely requires you to run 10K – but you might have to lift someone/something up from ground level, maybe even to overhead. You might have to pull yourself out of a jam without help from your legs. Etc. CrossFit is excellent preparation for that.
Cap’n,
For a viable Crossfit sample try this:
1. Run five (5) miles then, immediately
2. Jump in swimming pool and swim two (2) more miles
That’s what I did before the Reserves beached me. Of course, I could do any PFT at any time. I usually swam 500 yards in less than 6 minutes at age 40 (when I could have taken up to 15 minutes), did 50 sit ups and 75 push ups. I also spent 90 minutes ever other day practicing Tang So Do (a Korean Martial Art) under a Korean Grand Master where doing 500 jumping jacks before class was the norm.
Be that as it may, the simple fact I had to do injections to treat my MS put me on the beach permanently. Didn’t matter what my physical condition was.
I have a special affinity for the Fran. Its the one workout that always seems to result with me puking. My times are getting better however. I’m down to 10 minutes.
I’m bemused by the good captain thinking naming a kick-ass workout after a woman does not reflect “Navy Core Values”. Was he badly frightened by a strong woman at some point in his youth? Does he think the Navy benefits by having *weak* women? Me, I think that is excellent PSYOPs and should replace a “sensitivity and diversity training” seminar.
Exactly, BCR!
AH, I wasn’t even beginning to think of taking up CrossFit. WAY outta my league. However, looking at it made me realize that I’m not really pushing myself in my exercise; I’m far too laid back about it. So, I’m going to do things like make my cycling longer in time or distance, and work toward making it a daily event rather than every couple of days.
Congrats to Lex & AW1 Tim! I have lost 40 pounds in the past year – due entirely to employing common sense eating habits. Let’s face it – we all know what and how much we shouldn’t eat. Except for a few “notables”, I haven’t deprived myself of much. I eat just about everything – it’s all about moderation and portion control. I do need to add more consistent exercise into my dailies – I’ve stalled at the weight loss thing for a bit. But I have maintained a 35-40 pound loss for 5 months – no small thing and a guarantee that I won’t regret donating my entire wardrobe to The Salvation Army – you think food and gas are expensive…try having to replenish an entire wardrobe when you’ve dropped 3-4 sizes.
The Hubby has lost over 30 pounds as well. Pretty soon combined we’ll both be down an your average super model.
FBL,
Yeah, mostly I walk. I walk everywhere. The grocery store is about a mile and a quarter away, so is my namk. I walk tyhere to get the stuff i need, and usually walk back. If there is too mucj to carry, then I might get a cab back or take the city bus. Itherwise, it’s a nice walk. Three times a week I volunteer at our local soup kitchen. It’s about 1.5 miles, and mostly up ji;; from me, but it’s also a good walk. I carry my backpack everywhere, so it keeps my jands free as I can stuff my purchases into it.
Anyway, I find that walking is the key. I do eat better, and have severely cut back in beer, but not the hard stiff. A man gas to have something to enjoy
All those miles add up and the pounds are coming steady ogg, which is the better way to fo it.
I have thought about getting a bike, but I absolutely refuse to wear a helmet. We’ll see.
I really need to come up with some sort of workout routine. At one point (5 years ago) I had lost a good deal of weight. But, it was done in the wrong way. I spent several months in the hospital and that took the weight off. It (combined with a neurological disorder) also left me with so little muscle mass that I literally couldn’t hold my own head up.
Since then, a lot of the weight has come back on, but my fitness level has improved a little (heck, it couldn’t have gotten any worse
). I’m able to walk short distances… maybe a half a mile round trip.
The problem in terms of starting a routine is that I don’t know where to start. When you’re this far down the ladder you don’t have a lot of options. Most all of the programs I’ve seen are so far above my fitness level that there’s no way they would work.
One thing is clear though… I have to do something!
Does anyone have any recommendations?
Jim C
Hey All-
This might be a bit off topic, but I’ve been participating in a program through http://www.usafit.com to prepare to run a marathon or a half-marathon. Here is the site for San Diego: http://www.inmotiontraining.com/site4.aspx
The program is six months long, and it meets every saturday. The price is $100. Yes, that’s right, 10,000 pennies. I’ve lost weight (I’ve gotten down to 206 lbs, and am 6’3″), and it’s hard to beat the price.
-DM
PS: If anyone asks about my fitness goals… I wanna look good naked.
I just may give it a shot, Lex. Should have a little more time on my hands once I get to the Citadel. Measure of how busy the IG crap has kept me since return from spring break: I’ve made one, count ‘em, one jump with the parachute squadron. Pretty sure association with those guys was what kept me in for the last two years anyway. Not sure what I let happen there, but I am sure looking forward to leaving this outfit. Would say leaving “leaving uniform” but taking a position at the Citadel sort of keeps it from working out that way. So it goes. I’ll let you know in a few months how the Crossfit thing works out though. I’ll take your endorsement as a good enough reason to start.
Somebody tell Jim C to go check out the Crossfit website with special attention to the whole scalability thing.
Blue skies, Doc.
Jim C –
http://www.crossfit.com/cf-affiliates/ (WFS) – Here’s a page with the various CrossFit affiliates. Spend a few bucks with one of them and they will get you started where you are right now. They have taken people w-a-a-a-a-y overweight, no clue ~how~ to do exercises, much less able to do them, and given them a plan to work their way up out of the condition they’re in. The key is intensity with good form – good form to protect you from injury, and intensity to keep you from doing long, slow aerobic that just gets longer … and slower … and not that helpful.
It can be done. But it has to suit you. For that, you won’t really know until you get a closer look.
I’m a wimp on a lot of the workouts – but I push myself, and that’s what’s making me slowly better, even a my (ahem) age.
I smoked like a fiend while competing in tris (Run, Swim, Shoot) – my goal was to kick non-smokers’ heinies. And I marvel now at the hotel gyms filled when fresh air is moments away (though their inclined ramps are handy for crunchers)- As long as there’s gravity, I won’t pay a cent for “memberships”…kinda like prayer – you snooze you lose. Gratuitous? yep.
Funny, the first time I heard about CrossFit was meeting a personal trainer at the base gym. Army doesn’t seem to have the hangups. Maybe they have different core values or something?
I second DM’s endorsement of USAFit; ran my only Marine Corps Marathon (too many knee replacements in the family; I don’t do it no moar) using DCFit. Great camaraderie, four hour runs that were really good conversations with interesting people, and seminars that among other things showed me that the wrong kind of shoes would keep me periodically twisting my ankles, national affiliation so that when I went to Chicago I found a branch that took me for a ten miler on gorgeous territory. Plus this fat guy can say he ran a hundred mile week at the same weight he is now (never mind that muscle versus fat issue, please).
Not bad for $75 for the whole thing.
And unlike DM I still didn’t look good nekkid. And no I ain’t comparing photos.
Ahhh, crossfit. Jumped on it some 4+ years ago now. Did it religiously but then hurt my back, due to picking up heavy stuff with poor form. Some of that was putting in a rock patio in my back yard, but probably some of that was doing deadlifts, snatches, overhead squats, and clean & jerks as per the WOD without perfect form. Get a trainer to show you exactly how to do those, or sub something in that is lower risk until you do. Self-teaching puts you at risk.
Since then I longer follow the WOD or crossfit directly, but it changed all of my workouts forever. A lot more power-endurance gut checks with functional whole body movements. No isolation exercises ever. Last night I did thruster/pullup combos in the garage, for example. Few nights prior I did 30 power clean/push jerk combos. Killer.
Just got back from a short visit down range. In OEF at one gym they had a Fight Gone Bad team contest for the 4th of July, along with a tire drag contest. Kettlebells and Oly lift platforms were seen. There’s no going back.
Read that CPPD CO’s bio. Helo guy – and that’s about the only good thing I see in the bio.
No combat time, but bio spells out in detail his JPME achievements. Lot’s of staff work.
Bet he is a blast to work for!
Nose
Anybody got any good advice for do’s and don’ts if you want to start it?
Skippy-san, the crossfit website has oodles of gouge on starting up. Keys are scaling it appropriately and learning the moves for ones that are technique dependent. Go to the website and there is a link labeled “START HERE!”
Cap’n, I, too, latched onto the CPPD CO’s appeal to “Core Values” as rather tin-eared. My first reaction was “damn, that’s a pretty sexist thing for an O-6 to publicly say,” but subsequent readings have led me to conclude that it was his reaction to what he perceived as sexism on behalf of Crossfit. If so, it just tells me he likely reacted before researching the subject. Neither possibility seems to reflect well.
Ahh, um, I guess I should clarify something. I’m not terribly overweight. I mean, I am overweight, but by far my biggest problem is a lack of strength because of the neurological problems (Guillain Barre Syndrome), and a lack of conditioning.
I will definately check out the crossfit program. If I can find something to help me get back some of the strength I’ve lost to this damned illness it’s all good
Jim C
Lex,
Been lurking around the Crossfit site ever since this post. Retired, moved, started new job, settled in, still lurking, until finally I took up the gauntlet last Monday, and Thursday, joined a local Crossfit specific gym. Not sure I like you that much at the moment. Arms hurt so bad I can’t even scratch my own eyebrows.
Sucker!