I recently took a week “off” training as a deload before a basketball tournament (I love training but I had to take my own advice about how to deload for competition!). That means a week of light training and some conditioning work.
5 days from the basketball tournament I tried out a crossfit workout just for fun. It was what was posted on the crossfit website for that day. Also known as the “crossfit workout of the day”
It was called “DT” and it consists of
12 deadlifts at 70kg, 9 power cleans at 70kg and 6 push press/push jerk at 70kg.
Done for 5 rounds, with the fastest possible timing you can achieve.
I did this for 2 rounds and the time was about 4 minutes. But I stopped. Was I tired… yes… this was a tiring workout. But it was not the tiredness that stopped me.
It was the danger.
I am by no means an expert olympic lifter, but I’m decent and have a 120kg power clean, 125kg push press, and a 80kg clean (narrow) grip power snatch.
But by the second round, fatigue makes my technique really dangerous and bad. So I stopped.
In general, if you are doing conditioning work, don’t use olympic lifts for high reps because they are very techincally demanding. Use more simple movements like jump squats or Kettlebell swings to get the same benefits with much less risk of injury.
Some crossfit workouts are alright for conditioning and you can get fit doing them, but not this one.
There is always a risk to benefit ratio for every exercise and every exercise program. As a personal trainer or strength and conditioning coach, we need to weigh these risks to develop the best possible program for our clients.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree with u Jon, some Crossfit workouts are good for conditioning phase but not strengthing phase.. pple just can’t be doing high reps for power cleans while doing other sorts of workout…it’s really dangerous when u’re already fatigue and also performing a technical base work as it may cause injuries..
We may have the same name, but the difference between you and me is this: I am not a pussy.
While name calling is not necessary, good technique is.
And it’s importance becomes magnified when there are hundreds of clients under our care (rather than just training for ourselves). A long list of injuries is not something that my staff and I want to be famous for.
Productive and insightful comment from the lesser informed ‘Jonathan’ there!
I have a few mates who started Crossfit in Wales and they rave about it. This is the one where they change the workouts a lot and name them after women right? I looked in to it when I was home and thought the same as you ‘Jon’. In fairness the concept is good and I think it’s a million miles from the standard – disgraceful – coaching at fitness first, California fitness, True Fitness etc. your right it can be dangerous especially if you put everything into a workout and are not a ‘cruiser’ in the gym.
In my own experience the best form of conditioning comes from contact sports like MMA, Muay Thai, Wrestling, etc. I myself notice a massive difference in conditioning if I stop Muay Thai for just one week. The injury rate is probably lower than in Crossfit as well!!