Just reread CrossFit Journal on Metabolic Conditioning...

[Corey Kissel]

Originally Posted by Steve Shafley

It's been suggested that Drywall is in the employ of HQ so they can get a handle on the detractors within the ranks.

The reality of that statement just hit me pretty hard. That would be pure ingenuity, nothing I would dismiss without serious evidence to the contrary.

[Steve Shafley]

The webfolks at HQ, at one point, redirected anyone coming from IGx to male homosexual bondage sites.

[Tamara Reynolds]

Originally Posted by Steve Shafley

It's been suggested that Drywall is in the employ of HQ so they can get a handle on the detractors within the ranks.

Well, considering that I know that certain people were stalking me in various non-CF places around the internet, that would hardly surprise me. After the last few months, nothing would surprise me.

[Shane Skowron]

Originally Posted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld

That being said, CF was sort of my gateway into the world of fitness. I am a competitive ultimate (frisbee) player and stumbled onto CF when trying to figure out the best way to train for the sport. I probably would not squat, deadlift, bench, press, or know what the olympic lifts are (which I am learning) if it weren't for CF. For a long time, it has defined my view of fitness and been my primary source of (usually) quality information.

I too can owe it to Crossfit to introduce me to various types of training that although I may have done at some point in my life, probably wouldn't have done them earlier.

I think a couple very early ideas of Crossfit were very good. I personally was a big fan of the "have the qualities of a 800m runner, gymnast, and weightlifter" idea. I've never really had any interest at being the best at any one thing, but rather being a well-rounded athlete.

I also liked Crossfit's idea of using workouts to simulate real-world applications for military, LEO, FF, etc. Honestly I think GymJones and Military Athlete/Mountain Athlete do a much better job of this, but they took a lot of their influence from Crossfit anyway.

If Crossfit stayed true to those ideas, and did programming that actually worked to get there, and stopped making ridiculous and obnoxious claims, and embraced critical thinking and science -- it would be awesome. Oh well, not my multi-million dollar corporation.

Originally Posted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld

-Shane Skowron. His Bodyweight workout resource is the single best piece of community service I've seen on a discussion board. I've used that guide tons of times, especially when travelling. His comments in every other thread were also always informed, well-thought out, and respectful.

Thanks for the comment.




In other news, I've tried to contact the Crossfit board admins about a dozen times via email, message posting, and private message over the past week. I've asked them to delete my account. I've been completely ignored. And it's not that they are just busy -- they've responded to plenty of requests on the boards already. Such blatant unprofessionalism for agents of a multi-million dollar corporation.




Also, I've discovered a few things that seem to infuriate Crossfitters:
- Referring to Crossfit stuff as "exercising"
- Not referring to Greg Glassman as "Coach"
- Reminding people that Crossfit, Inc. is a multi-million dollar corporation.

[Andrew Wilson]

Originally Posted by Shane Skowron

If Crossfit stayed true to those ideas, and did programming that actually worked to get there, and stopped making ridiculous and obnoxious claims, and embraced critical thinking and science -- it would be awesome.

This where it totally went down hill. The garage gym concept was great, but right when they started making up their own science and began comparing themselves to other sports, types of training, and highlighting their superiority, and started rejecting common sense and collaboration, that's when it became dogmatic, and got a little crazy.

[Tamara Reynolds]

Originally Posted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld

-Tamara Cohen. Aside from being hilarious, she always gave great advice and clearly knew what she was talking about.

Now, all 3 of these people have been "moderated" for expressing well-reasoned dissent about CF's "methods". I'm at a crossroads seeing 3 amazing sources of information vanish from the boards. It now seems like Eric Montgomery and Chris Mason (who posts only infrequently) are two of the only members who work in the same spirit as the three above. On the one hand, I have a very hard time going to a board where I know the moderators are willing to exile some of the highest quality members for petty issues. On the other hand, it's still a very heavily trafficked board and has some good information.

Thank you. That is why I stayed on the boards after I left CrossFit. The number one reason was my training log, and the number two reason was the sheer number of PMs and emails that I received from people asking for advice. HQ can think whatever they want to think about my reasoning. I never stayed on the boards to "poison the well." I stayed because I enjoy helping people, and after all I went through with CrossFit, I sure as hell wanted to help some newbies avoid the same mistakes that I made.

I have been clear for a long time about the issues that I have with CrossFit. I'm not someone who does things in a sneaky way. I say what I think. Period. And, I don't post anywhere on the internet anonymously. People can easily find every single thing that I've ever said about CrossFit. I'm not a liar, and if people from HQ choose to believe that certain things are untrue, then oh well. I've had my two weeks of crying and raging about being moderated, and I'm over that part of things.

Originally Posted by Shane Skowron

In other news, I've tried to contact the Crossfit board admins about a dozen times via email, message posting, and private message over the past week. I've asked them to delete my account. I've been completely ignored. And it's not that they are just busy -- they've responded to plenty of requests on the boards already. Such blatant unprofessionalism for agents of a multi-million dollar corporation.

I at least said my piece via PM and received one response. My follow up response was ignored, but in the last week, I have certainly crossed whatever line they have by ranting on Facebook. I live my life with no regrets. I hope everyone at HQ can say the same.

In other news, I finally learned to snatch yesterday after 11 months of pretending to be a weightlifter, so that was awesome.

[Geoffrey Thompson]

I think their 100 word definition of stuff is still pretty good. Okay, they spend a lot of those words on gymnastic skills which, in retrospect, I don't think are as important as they make them seem, though they certainly are cool, and I might not agree with everything in there, but it's not *terrible*. The garage gym ideal is also pretty cool. All that stuff is "early CrossFit". Once you get to "IWCABTAMD"-era, it's down the rabbit-hole.

But this reminds me of that introductory CFJ they hand out to people:

Our weight training program includes not only weightlifting and powerlifting but also throwing work with medicine balls. The
medicine ball work we favor provides both physical training and general movement practice. We are huge fans of the Dynamax
medicine ball (www.medicineballs.com) and the throwing exercises elaborated in the Dynamax training manual that comes with
their balls. The medicine ball drills add another potent stimulus for strength, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy.
There is a medicine ball game known as Hoover Ball. It is played with an eight-foot volleyball net and scored like tennis. This game
burns three times more calories than tennis and is great fun. The history and rules of Hoover Ball are available from the Internet
(http://www.hooverassoc.org/hooverballrules.htm).

1. They don't do any of the Dynamax throwing exercises. They use the medicine balls in a way the owner of the company hates and use a size the owner hates. As an aside, the powerlifting gym I'm at has 4# and 8# medicine balls, maybe I should start fiddling with them or something.
2. Hooverball is pretty awesome, I remember playing it in PE classes in elementary school. I think we used an 8# ball a little bigger than a basketball.

[Clay Jones]

Originally Posted by Andrew Wilson

That sh*t is annoying. Buy some iron plates, people.

[Chris Walls]

Originally Posted by Clay Jones

That sh*t is annoying. Buy some iron plates, people.

Isn't that Brian Clay about to bench more than a lot of people probably deadlift?

[Andrew Wilson]

Originally Posted by Chris Walls

Isn't that Brian Clay about to bench more than a lot of people probably deadlift?

Sure is







Crossfit Rhabdo 217
"mainsite"