A CrossFit Bro-down Message for the New Year

2009 January 1

By Matt

So I’m minding my own business today when I notice I’ve got a new message over on YouTube. I see that it’s from a guy I knew a few years ago.

It’s then that I was hit with my first Bro-down of 2009.

Apparently he’s now a CrossFit fan(atic) and was being nice enough to inform me that I was “uneducated” about CrossFit. This was based on a handful of tongue-in-cheek comments I’d made a few weeks ago regarding this video.

Now, I don’t care who you are: that’s just funny. And you should be able to laugh at yourself. The thing that upsets the CrossFitters so much is that such commentary hits too close to home. The fact of the situation is that XF has more than it’s share of public-domain videos that show people demonstrating not just bad form, but potentially injurious form. That’s not a matter for debate; a quick search on YouTube will prove this point to you in less than a minute.

This leads me to the real issue I see with CrossFit – the utter discouragement of any critical treatment. In the fitness industry I realize that this is a shocking thing, but I’m being serious. Any time you get into a situation that encourages mindless adherence and discourages criticism, you’ve got a problem – and I’ve got a target.

Let me start by saying I do think CrossFit does serve a purpose. To its credit, it’s ‘getting the word out’ regarding lifting with big basic exercises. That’s admirable in itself. I do think it could serve a role for law enforcement officers, firemen, and those in the military – basically people with jobs requiring multi-faceted physical fitness. For those reasons, I’ve largely left CrossFit off my radar; yeah, it has flaws, but it was never an issue worth my attention really.

However I do think it’s ridiculous that it generates such a mindless furor that people feel the need to defend it to that degree. That’s where the Bro-down came into effect. Apparently my old contact is stronger than me and better than me in every athletic test purely because he’s been doing CrossFit for the last few years. I mean it’s not like any sufficiently well-designed physical fitness program and a strong work ethic could make that happen.

Plus we all know the First Law of Internet Debating when it comes to exercise topics: the guy with biggest deadlift is right.

Also according to his message I’ve been powerlifting for that same time frame and since I’m not stronger I don’t know what I’m talking about. The fact that I’ve been rehabbing myself from a slew of injuries for the better part of two years now and consequently doing very little in the way of serious goal-directed training doesn’t matter a bit. Nothing says ‘I’m right and you should listen to my argument’ like completely making shit up.

It’s funny when I rag on people for not being rational when it comes to their own fitness religion – until your pet faith is the one under scrutiny.

I should know better than to bring logic into a Bro-down, especially when somebody’s getting a case of Program Defensiveness. Pointing out flaws in a programming system means that you have to jump to its defense at once am I right? I can’t imagine why people say CrossFit is cultish and dogmatic.

Congratulations for proving you’re a mindless cult with the incessant whining that you’re not a mindless cult, though. A complete lack of ability to be critical of yourself is the first thing a religion needs.