Crossfit incorporates a bevy of exercise styles that target both calorie burning and muscle building. It uses elements from popular training methods such as interval training, weightlifting, plyometrics, powerlifting, gymnastics, calisthenics and others. Crossfit uses a multitude of equipment, many of which are easy to obtain and use if you choose to follow the program at home. These include barbells, bumper plates, jump ropes, kettlebells, plyo boxes, resistance bands, gymnastics rings, power balls and abmats. Crossfit doesn't use machines, so treadmills and ellipticals won't be part of your workout. Crossfit includes moves like squats, push-ups, pull-ups, lunges, sit-ups, rope climbing and more. Some Crossfit locations even incorporate running, swimming and rowing into the routines. Beyond simply making people fit, Crossfit is renowned for increasing endurance, stamina, power, strength, speed, agility, balance and coordination. Since Crossfit incorporates many types of training into the program, athletes from a variety of sports find it appealing. In addition, the variety keeps you from getting bored. Crossfit maintains an enthusiastic, team-like community of support and motivation. Trainers and fellow participants will push you to do your best and succeed. If you prefer group workouts and like competing with the guy next to you, you'll enjoy the Crossfit environment. The program is very high-intensity, so results often come quickly. You'll notice within weeks that your body is getting stronger and fitter.

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The Bad

Injury inducing program
Service may vary on location
Expensive membership

Crossfit has earned a reputation as an injury-inducing fitness program. Of course, risk of injury is present any time you exercise - however, in recent years, there have been increasing reports of injury to Crossfit trainers and athletes. In early 2014, a Crossfit trainer incurred a critical spinal injury performing a common Crossfit weightlifting move known as a snatch lift and is now paralyzed - though the trainer was not at a Crossfit gym or Crossfit-sanctioned event when the injury took place. There have also been several reports of Crossfit athletes suffering from rhabdomyolysis, a kidney condition caused by excessive muscle breakdown that can cause permanent damage. A more common - and minor - report is athletes throwing up during Crossfit training. This is also a sign that they've pushed their bodies past healthy limits, although it won't have any long-term effect unless it becomes a regular occurrence. This doesn't necessarily mean that Crossfit itself is dangerous - but could indicate that athletes are encouraged to keep working out past a safe point or that trainers aren't skilled enough to pace and correct the athletes properly. The various exercises in Crossfit are time-based circuits, which means that you'll be expected to keep going even if you feel tired or weak before time is up. If you're competitive, you could be tempted to overdo it and hurt yourself rather than stopping before the buzzer. Your Crossfit experience may vary, as Crossfit doesn't have franchises. Each location, known as a "box," pays a yearly affiliate fee to Crossfit but has ample freedom over the exercises and environment they offer. While this makes it difficult to know what to expect from each Crossfit location and trainer, this also means that if you don't enjoy working out at one Crossfit location, then you may still enjoy another. Crossfit is done in a group setting and many exercises are done with a partner - so if you prefer to work out solo, you may want to opt for another type of program. The price of a Crossfit membership is about $150.00 per month, though the exact cost will vary from location to location. This isn't as expensive as SoulCycle or SurfSET, but it will set you back financially more than a typical gym membership will. While you can do Crossfit at home, you will need to purchase a lot of equipment to complete the variety of exercises - so you will still be spending some cash on kettlebells, weights and more. The Crossfit website is somewhat difficult to navigate and may require you to do a lot of scrolling to find what you're looking for. Pages such as Exercises & Demos are extremely long, one-column lists in a very small font - they're challenging to read and not optimized for easy searching.

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The Bottom Line

If you enjoy spirited competition, intense physical challenges and a varied workout, Crossfit may meet your needs. While Crossfit's history of injuries is somewhat concerning, there isn't enough evidence to indicate that Crossfit is unsafe - but this may mean that it needs to better regulate its affiliate locations or trainer certification process. Since each location and trainer may vary, we recommend that you shop around to find a Crossfit location that offers safe and supportive instruction.

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Chris Janquart Long Beach, CA

I did CrossFit gym for about six months and had a few issues. Now I know that CrossFit has an almost cult-like following (like anything else) so I'm sure the CrossFitters will tear into me, but I don't care. Issue 1: Since Crossfit was the new thing to do, it was popular and we had a lot of people doing it. Problem was there were days where there were so many people the gym was short on space and equipment. Not a big deal when you're doing something like pushups or sit ups, but when you're doing anything with weights (deadlifts), you need a bit of room. This was of course an issue with the gym not having adequate space/equipment. Issue 2: No scalability. The WOD was posted on the board with number of reps and different weights for men and women. I was 40 and 275#, so there was no way in hell I could do kipping pull ups (let along "regular" dead hang pull ups)...so I'd just try and engage my arms/shoulders/back/core and just hold on as long as I could. Then there was the day we had to do double unders and I have a hard enough time just jumping rope....just couldn't get the timing or manipulate the rope correctly. Coach said "You're tall, get a longer rope"...I had the longest one I could find from their limited inventory. I was so pissed off I actually walked out of that workout. Suffice to say I never "RX'ed" a workout and thought signing your finish time (I was either me or the other not-so-fit guy that got the "DFL" designation...yes, if you finished last, you had to put that next to your name instead of your finish time). Issue 3: Coaching. Other than some free weight work I did in high school (say bench presses), I've never done Olympic style lifting. Most of the time I was using just the bar for the more complicated (to me) lifts (thrusters?) but could do about 250# deadlift. The instruction was pretty minimal and with all the other people in class, you got little attention unless you pulled the coach aside, when he wasn't too busy with ladies or the more "elite" people (they had a CF team). I know the job of the coach is to push you and help you excel but sometimes they'd just yell at you for whatever reason (motivation?). One of the coaches told me that one of the ladies (she was in great shape) was lifting more than me. I said something like "That's nice, she's really good but I'm new to lifting and don't want to get injured" and he just started laying into me. Got to the point where I mentioned it to the staff and eventually stopped going when he was instructing (I only did CF two or three days a week). Issue 4: Injuries. Other than "feeling it the next day", I had no serious injuries that laid me up but did something to my shoulder trying to do those damn kipping pull ups (trying to do the swing and pulling as high as I could). Mr. Yeller Coach would tell (motivate?) me to go faster, more reps, more weight but I knew what I could/couldn't do so I largely ignored it. Makes no sense working out to the point where you can't function in daily life or train again (all while paying that monthly rate). Issue 5: Cost. You're not paying for a membership to 24 Hour Fitness, you're paying for fairly technical instruction. I don't remember what certifications the coaches had, but I don't think any of them had say advanced degrees. Was on the expensive side for me, but I'm a security guard so don't exactly make a ton of money. So for the money spent, I didn't see a ton of results (mostly because I was doing it twice a week if my schedule allowed). Don't get me wrong, CrossFit done properly with the right "box", coaching, and support is really beneficial. I just got unlucky by picking the wrong box and while it didn't completely turn me off from trying CF again, I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to do it anytime soon. Just sticking with running and body weight exercises for now ("Body weight everything before free weight anything").

11 years ago

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Jim Saint Cloud, MN

I did crossfit on a regular basis for 2 years. I enjoyed the competition and hard work it encouraged, but it came at a cost. I had chronic back pain and many many other minor injuries which would not go away. Before Crossfit I worked out on a regular basis mixing cardio with body building type weightlifting. After crossfit my cardio level was higher but due to the high rep little rest of many of the work outs I lost muscle mass. Overall I looked and felt better by doing traditional workouts designed for myself. Crossfit can be addicting due to the people and the workouts can be like a sport. So I can see why people are so dedicated to it and defend it so much. Crossfit is good for cardio and muscle endurance at the expense of having constant injuries. If you have trouble finding workouts on your own or pushing yourself on your own then crossfit is good otherwise doing your own proper workouts and pushing yourself to your own limits is a much better way to be fit. For that reason crossfit gets a 3 out of 10.

11 years ago