Ok, I’ve had enough. The CrossFit Community may be awesome in a lot of ways, but the amount they complain about EVERYTHING online is unprecedented. No matter what it is, what workouts are presented, or how the scoring system is set up, no one can seem to shut the hell up and just enjoy it for what it is.
Over the past week, workouts have begun to be released for the CrossFit Games. I just wanted to address some of the common complains towards them, so maybe some of the CrossFit Games haters can just shut up already (never gonna happen, but I least I can give out my opinion).
Complaint #1: “The Snatch/MU/Run Workout doesn’t make sense, it’s not heavy enough to make the athletes have to stop”
DUH. You figure that out all on your own? Tests of fitness don’t need to have extremely heavy weights or hard gymnastics to make them good tests. The fact that it is lighter and the athletes can all get through it unbroken (at least the men), is going to really test some aerobic power, and some pain/mental thresholds as well. On top of that, it will make the event extremely exciting. Who doesn’t want to see 10 athletes finishing the final lap within 30 seconds of each other?? That makes for a great spectator experience, and it’s a type of test that we really haven’t seen come out since last years GHD/Deadlift/MU/Run event at the track.
Complaint #2: “The GHD-Med Ball Toss is Stupid”
First, a ball toss is a great test and this one is much better than last year’s softball toss in that it is more fair and probably a better predictor of an athletes overall fitness. It takes explosive power through the core followed by a rapid production of force by the arms. Many professional athletes get tested on their ability to throw a med ball with their arms, as it tells a lot about their force production in the upper extremity. This one is just that with a unique twist.
Complaint #3: “Athletes are going to Hurt Their Neck on the Football Sled”
Really? These guys have 300+ clean and jerks and you don’t think they have the functional tolerance to push a football sled leading with their head without hurting their neck??? Come on! Hell, I’ve seen way sketchier things happening testing HSPU with people collapsing on their heads, and no one ever seems to have any problem with those.
Complaint #4: “The Swim/Bike/Run is excessively long”
First, that scoring for this one is a great improvement from last year. Last year people were not punished (like Froning) for having shitty long-distance endurance, since it was scored as just 1 event. This year, it’s worth 200 points and if someone does poorly on this, it could ruin their chances for a podium spot, whereas last year you could get away with it. Second, yes it is a little excessively long on the run. Yes, it’s probably for the hype and to build excitement around the sport. But that’s what this sport needs! The more exciting and interesting these workouts are, the more people get interested in the sport, the more it grows. The more it grows, the more these athletes can get financial support from sponsors. The more athletes doing this full-time, the better they get and the more fun the sport gets. People act like CrossFit putting on a show for ESPN is a bad thing. It’s not.
Complaint #5: “Med-Ball Cleans…”
Look, we don’t do many (if any) med-ball cleans at our CrossFit facility, but that’s not because it’s not a functional movement. It’s because we don’t have heavier med-balls for people to progress with and 20#/14# is just too light t0 get a good workout with. If I had medballs at 150#, I’d use them. Some people are saying that medballs shouldn’t be used that way (same people who say Oly Lifts shouldn’t be done for more than 3 reps). Even most Olympic Lifting coaches I know (including ones who dislike crossfit), actually prefer to use strange objects like balls or sandbags for conditioning their fitness members, because it doesn’t hinder the learning of the barbell movements. The only reason to complain about seeing these is just for the sake of complaining. Again, people need to stop whining and just enjoy it.
Ok…I’m done. Back to training.