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- What's up, Elite THENX Athletes?
It's Chris Heria.
Welcome to another video of official THENX.
Today we're going to be talking about
the problem with CrossFit.
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All right, before I get started,
I just want to say I have the utmost respect
for all athletes,
for everybody that even engages in physical activities,
any type of physical activity,
training, swimming, body building, olympic lifting,
yoga, fitness, CrossFit, all styles of fitness.
If you're doing something active
I already commend you
and you have my utmost respect.
So today we're going to be talking about
the problem with CrossFit.
But before we begin
let's search what is CrossFit.
So if you search what is CrossFit on Google,
you're gonna get the definition of CrossFit,
a high-intensity fitness program incorporating elements
from several sports and types of exercises.
All right, so the definition of CrossFit on Google,
that's actually what I try to do
with my training every single day.
I try to use the best aspects
of different types of training styles
to incorporate them into my workout regimen.
So now if you Google the purpose of CrossFit,
it says CrossFit is constantly varied functional movements
performed at high intensity.
All CrossFit workouts are based on functional movements
and these movements reflect
the best aspects of gymnastics,
weight lifting, running, rowing, and more.
So that sounds great, I'm totally with that,
that sounds like you want to use
the best aspects of different types of trainings
to get better, stronger, and more efficient.
Now the problem is that over the years
has become to do as many reps as you can
in as short amount of time as possible,
which would mean the faster you do your reps
in the shortest amount of time possible
equals the more efficiency
or the more efficient you are.
Now the truth is anybody that has been training seriously
for quite some time
knows that doing an exercise as fast as you can
in the shortest amount of time possible
does not mean that you're going to become more efficient
or more efficient in that exercise.
What actually gets me better, stronger, and more efficient
is progressional training
with proper form and proper technique.
Take pull-ups for example.
I've had students come into my gym from a CrossFit gym
being able to do 30 kipping pull-ups in a row,
sometimes 40,
but yet they can't do simple, basic pull-ups.
And there's the clear indication of the problem right there.
There's no progressional training,
there's no proper technique
and there's no form.
If you go straight in to doing
kipping pull-ups as fast as you can, and that's the goal,
well, maybe you will eventually be able to do
50 kipping pull-ups in a row in under a minute,
but you're never gonna move on to more advanced things,
one-armed pull-ups, high pull-ups,
muscle-ups, and so forth.
You're gonna be stuck doing kipping pull-ups forever,
you're never gonna progress on
to doing more difficult things.
When I said that CrossFit sounded like a good idea to me
at the beginning of the video,
the definition of CrossFit was supposed to be
cross training, taking the best aspects
of different types of training
and incorporating them into your workout regimen
so that you can be doing different things
that you don't normally do
with the same style of training
that you typically do everyday,
making you more efficient, more functional,
and overall stronger.
But the proper way to do that
is with progressional training.
Take the best aspects of all training
but don't half ass the movements
to just say that you're doing that type of training.
Every type of training comes with
it's own progressional steps.
So make sure that you're learning about
and you're taking those progressional steps.
Take pull-ups, for example,
anyone that does Australian pull-ups
with good form and good technique
is eventually gonna to get better at this movement,
eventually they'll work their way up
to jumping pull-ups, muscle-ups, one-arm pull-ups,
weighted muscle-ups, and so forth.
If you start from day one doing these
you're never gonna go anywhere.
How can you expect to turn that
into even 10 proper pull-ups,
let along one-arm pull-ups, weighted muscle-ups,
or anything else?
You're not even getting your body up there
engaging the proper muscles,
doing it the proper way with the proper overload.
How can you begin to completely control yourself
if there's nothing controlled about that movement?
So here's a little home project, guys.
I want you guys to do a pull-up,
as slow as you can,
do two lasting 30 seconds each.
Try that.
And then try to do
20 kipping pull-ups in a row,
you tell me which one is harder.
Write it in the comment section down below.
So did you try it?
Never confuse high intensity with speed.
You can have high intensity
and not even do a single rep.
Whew!
You see, those couple seconds right there
are gonna be way more intense on your body
than the 30 kipping pushups
that you're doing right here.
You're really not doing anything actually,
when you're doing that movement right there.
In fact, why do that movement?
Why increase your repetitions
on something that's gonna get you nowhere?
If you were to just practice on something
completely controlling your body
start on an easy progression,
something that you can completely handle,
eventually work your way up
to just one or two normal push-ups,
take a break and practice those perfect push-ups,
you will eventually be repping out 10 push-ups perfectly,
20 push-ups perfectly,
the whole point is that
you're increasing your perfect repetitions,
you're not increasing repetitions
that are not going to get you stronger,
better, or more efficient.
If you're doing it like that and you're counting it,
you're just counting a number,
you're just making yourself feel good about yourself,
but you're really not gonna
take it to the next level doing that.
So if you start with the proper progressions
it's inevitable that as you keep going on
and you master them
you're going to eventually be doing
more advanced movements.
Whew!
So to sum it up, guys,
the main problem with CrossFit
is that it doesn't stay true
to it's definition, cross training.
Right now the name of the game is to do as many as you can
in the fastest amount of time possible
and the main thing to blame
is these CrossFit competitions,
these CrossFit championships.
Like every single competition,
championship, in the world,
nothing counts unless you do it correctly.
In any competition, any championship,
Olympic gymnastics, calisthenics, skateboarding,
you have to do the move the right way
in order to count.
CrossFit is the only championship I've ever seen
where you can do something completely wrong
and still earn points for that.
Now what does that develop?
That develops a cheating attitude.
You want to just do it as fast as possible.
Well, hey, I'm doing it the right way
but if the guy next to me is doing it completely wrong
and he's gonna get points for that,
I'm gonna start doing it wrong
so I can get more points than him.
Now that creates a huge problem
because now it's no longer about the training aspect,
the real aspect of the movement,
but it's about who's getting more numbers
than who.
And last time I checked,
if we're having a pull-up competition
and you're kipping,
that doesn't count.
And making those count is not going to help anybody,
it's not going to help you, the person doing it,
and it's not going to help the people around you
that are trying to better themselves as well.
So the actual definition of CrossFit,
the one we read on Google,
that's the one that I resonate with,
that's the type of training that I actually do,
cross training, taking different aspects
of different styles of training
and incorporating them into my workout regimen.
Why?
So I can become better, stronger, more efficient.
But that doesn't mean that I'm going to take out
all the fundamentals, all the technique,
all the structure to these movements
just to say that I can do them
and that I can do them with a high repetition.
That's not going to do anything for me.
So to sum it all up, guys.
Do no confuse speed with high intensity.
And that is the basic problem
for CrossFit right now.
Remember, it's not what you do,
but it's how you do it.
You want to be training in a progressional state
so that you are reaching something
eventually more advanced, eventually more difficult
than what you're doing at the moment.
Stay humble during your training and train the things
that you are going to be capable of mastering,
do not try to go ahead of yourself,
learn how to properly do things the right way
and that is what's gonna make you more efficient.
Remember, at the end of the day
if you stick to the fundamentals,
you stick to progressive training,
you might start off doing Australian pull-ups,
but eventually you're gonna turn those into
jumping pull-ups, then pull-ups, then muscle-ups,
eventually one-arm pull-ups.
Now you tell me which person is more efficient,
the person that can do something with one
or the person that needs two to do the same thing
and you can barely even do it?
Let me know in the comments section down below
and with that, guys,
thank you so much for watching.
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Again, not knocking CrossFitters.
At the end of the day cross training is where it's at,
that's actually what I do,
but let me know what you guys think
in the comments section down below
and I'll see you guys next Sunday.
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