[Crossfit]
The crossfit craze is reaching near-mainstream level with Reebok lining up as a big investor. Buckle in folks because here we go once again on the roller-coaster ride of machismo filled workouts.
If you watch the video, they try and sell Crossfit as some “everyperson” workout routine built on strenuous exercise, accomplishment and support. If you actually look into the Crossfit community or do an expose piece like this writer did, you find out that the first two things are true. The third? Well, it depends on what you mean by “support.” Crossfit is a lot of the same stuff that weight training exercises get negatively pegged for—You gotta be tough! Pain is weakness leaving the body! Don’t be a pussy!
In a well-written Men’s Health article, you find out just what kind of attitude this sort of exercise mentality cultivates when it puts its participants at risk of bodily injury:
Rhabdomyolysis is another health concern that’s become associated with CrossFit over the years. “Rhabdo” can occur when muscles are worked so hard that the fibers break down, releasing the protein myoglobin into the bloodstream. In extreme cases, it can lead to kidney damage or even kidney failure. It’s commonly seen in people with crush injuries, such as those from auto accidents.
Former U.S. Navy information systems technician Makimba Mimms was awarded $300,000 in damages from his local gym, the CrossFit affiliate training company, and his trainer for injuries he sustained during a CrossFit workout in 2005. Those injuries included rhabdomyolysis.
Rather than refute the association with potentially fatal injury—or at least try to change the subject—CrossFit has used it as proof of its intensity. The WOD that nearly killed Mimms was renamed “Makimba” and recategorized as a children’s workout.
There’s a tough balancing act here. With exercise, I’m all for pushing oneself and working up a good old sweat. But when throwing up during an exercise is not seen as a medical concern or when someone’s physical injury is used to mock their toughness, you have the modern meathead gym mentality that is, unfortunately, such a part of modern masculinity.
A quick trip into the comments section of the MH article reveals the type of tough guise bullshit that a lot of Crossfitters seem to embody:
The bottom line is that you CHOSE not to do your due diligence and you are getting reamed for it. Hopefully Men’s Health sees that as well. Find a new job…. at a yoga studio, perhaps?
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Wow… I read the entire article and maybe I blacked out or something, but all I heard was, “I saw how hot my ex looked, tried CrossFit, realized I was a giant manGINA after I got beat by a group of PTA-soccer-moms, so I took my globo-gym membership and went home to listen to Adele and cry. The responsibility for proper form falls on each individual box and it’s respective trainers. Happy Zumba-ing.
Most of the comments are pretty heated in their hatred of the writer for being a “quitter” and also in admittedly a rabid support of Crossfit. And therein again tells me all I need to know about this craze which purports to say leave your ego at the door. In reality, it sounds a lot more like you leave your ego at the door and then once you’re done with your workout, you enter the real world and attack everyone for not doing Crossfit or being a “quitter.”
