MYTH #1: You Will Get Hurt Doing CrossFit
You may get hurt doing CrossFit, but research shows that your injury risk is similar to that of other sports. Stop when your form is
compromised – what we call ‘technical failure.’ Injuries are more likely to occur when you keep going. People only hurt themselves if they get too competitive and push themselves too far. Stay safe by knowing when to stop and by finding the most educated CrossFit coach in your area.
Injuries here usually never go beyond a strain or a tweak. Damages only escalate when theses tweaks and twists are not properly cared for.
STUDY: The Nature and Prevalence of Injury During CrossFit Training
MYTH #2: CrossFit Makes You HUGE
Probably not. A lot of food, hard work (or shady chemical usage) goes into putting on large amounts of muscle on just about anyone. Furthermore you need to do the correct set, reps loads and rest cycles to make it all work. For example Bodybuilders most commonly use a rep scheme in ranges of 8-12. (yes they go higher and lower, but they hover around there) This rep range tends to elicit sarcoplasmic hypertrophy where the cells fill with fluid giving the muscle a larger size. CrossFitters are constantly varying their reps from 1-100. At CFM we like 5-8 reps to build myofibrillar muscle tissue (it’s that lean, dense fiber your massage therapist hates working on 😉 ) and 1-4 reps to increase strength neurologically and systemically. Do we sometimes hit 8-12? Sure, but not very often just long enough to keep your body adapting. And yes you can go higher than 12 but loads have to decrease to a point where you’re really just building endurance.
MYTH #3: CrossFit Is Expensive
The cost of joining a CrossFit box varies around the country and often depends on the number of times a week you use it. On average, CrossFitters can plan on spending around $200 a month. About what you might spend on an upscale gyms or bootcamps.
You can’t really compare this cost to a traditional gym where you just have access to the equipment. In a properly led CrossFit class you should receive attention several times from a trainer in terms of your form and technique.
Do the math: If you pay $200 each month and you attend classes 5 days a week. That comes out to be $8 each session for programmed workouts, small-group personal training, use of the facility and a supportive community.
Myth #4. Only fit people can do CrossFit
We all have to start somewhere! We’ve had people come in in all sort of deconditioned states. Post-op from liver resections, knee and shoulder surgery, in the midst of chemo treatments – you name it we’ve probably seen it.The trick is to have an open mind and communicate with your coach so they can tailor the session to your abilities and needs
