MgoFitness - You're Either Getting Better, or You're Getting Worse
Mates,
Last year about this time we had a pretty rousing discussion about what folks are doing to get in and/or stay in shape. A number of you have some pretty dedicated workout schedules, and also it was inspiring as many also were going to start racing, running, lifting, etc. Bikini season is just around the corner, and there's no time to start like the present.
1. So the first question is: What are you doing as it relates to cardio fitness, weights, and diet to try and stay healthy? Are you going to do any races, either modest or more strenuous?
2. And in recognition of one of the signs we had up in the locker room at Yost, "You're Either Getting Better, or You're Getting Worse", the second question is: Looking back over the year, have you gotten closer or further from your fitness goals?
Have great day.
XM
I started crossfitting back in 2005 while in the military. My background was some olympic lifting so it was a natural crossover. I'm now 39 and crossfit 4 times a week. But I now scale many of the workouts because my body (back) cannot hold up any longer to the Rx workouts.
Pros (for me):
--a scheduled time everyday to work out
--someone else to program for me. If I don't like the workouts, then I will do something else
--most people are very friendly and cordial.
Cons (in my opinion):
--too competitive; being shamed for not going heavy enough, being shamed for being outlifted by a girl.
--seeing beginners trying to compete with much better athletes. Way too much optimism for what your goals should be. Example: The gym I go to is the "fittest" in the state. There are several guys who snatch more than 240lbs. Seeing someone who snatches 115 trying to increase load every week to catch the guys who snatch 240. this is where injury could occur IMO.
--Unrealistic results.
This is a pretty spot on assessment for 90%+ of crossfitters, so thank you for sharing. I agree with you; I enjoy going to the gym every day, I'm rarely bored, I have great coaches, and get to exercise with some awesome (and fucking strong) people. That sucks your gym is too competitive, that's a major turnoff. If you're an experienced lifter those must be some strong, strong ladies- awesome for them.
My knee pain completely went away once I started crossfitting and stopped running (yet nobody wanrs people of the dangers of running). I do have some other neck and shoulder issues right now, but I think that's mostly from fighting through imbalances I developed during my 3x10 Globo days.
It's really too bad that the negative associations continue still. Crossfit is probably appropriate for the majority of the populations' goals, but misinformation and bad press fomr 5+ years ago lingers.
that your knee pain went away. Pounding the pavement has got to be tough on them.
Yes, my Cons are really related to my specific gym. They have seen me lift heavy, so now that I'm choosing to go much lighter, I'm being perceived as lazy.
My 2 goals are don't get injured and don't get fat. And its tough for 25 yr olds to see this as actual goals.
But it is the closest and cheapest gym to my house. And for the most part, the people are really fun and energetic.
Heh, yeah, my goals in order are 1) show up, 2) dont get lazy with form and get injured because then I can't do 1, 3) dont go so hard that I either do 2 or am too destroyed to do 1. I usually end up doing the girls RX'd weight and the beginner level of reps and only once a year or so does that end up with me doing a workout that was too easy. My ego disappeared a long time ago and I've never been at a hardcore competitive gym so I don't care what others think, they usually just compliment me on form anyways. Like you I've often seen new people show up with a big ego and not listen to coaches in their attempt to catch the girls who are kicking their butts.
The problem with Crossfit is that there is an inherent tension between exercise form and speed. If you are doing olympic lifts or other complex movements with perfect form, than you will neccesarily be executing those moves at a slower pace than if you were willing to sacrifice your form somewhat to achieve a higher speed.
Now put that tension into a scenario where you are graded on speed and its inevitable that form will eventually get sacrificed. It just is what it is.
If I tell you to fill up a page with creative poetry and then I turn on stopwatch and tell you "That guy just finished his page in under a minute, lets see how fast you can finish." Odds are high that when you finish, the quality of your poetry is going to suck.
There are plenty of benefits of Crossfit - the community and peer reinforcement are great for the average person who has a hard time getting motivated to go to the gym - but everyone I know who does Crossfit has had at least one major injury, and in some cases more than one.
I dont mean this to be a knock on Crossfit overall. Football has a higher injury rate than other sports, and plenty of people knowingly make the choice to play it anyway.
Personally, im too old to play football and too old to play Crossfit. I lift weights 3 or 4 days a week and already do many of the same lifts that Crossfiters do - just a bit slower.
Fair enough. What I was trying to point out in my post is that with a little bit of spine to stand up to the *perceived* push within CrossFit, you can protect yourself from those risks while still getting the benefit.
I go plenty slow on my repetitive Oly lifts, because I care infinitely more about getting stronger while not getting hurt than I do my standing on the whiteboard (daily scoreboard).
The problem with Crossfit is that there is an inherent tension between exercise form and speed.
I've been doing CF for 2+ years at multiple boxes, and have never met a coach who valued speed over form, or who suggested that it was appropriate to sacrifice the latter for the former (though admittedly, some coaches were better at teaching/fixing poor form than others). From the outset, the instruction to me (an out-of-shape 37-year old when I started) to go slow and with light weight until I got the movements down correctly. I'm still getting that instruction.
Competitive crossfit may have been the single best and worst thing to happen to the community. If most people only see that, then it probably doesn't put the "sport" in a good light. I'm willing to bet that most people who don't like it have never even seen the inside of a box (gym) to realize there are so many different levels of athletes and coaches. Those dudes on tv have some pretty incredible form - you can't snatch 300 pounds without near perfect form. No, they'll never be in the olympics (unless you're Tia Toomey), but it's good. At 185 or 200 lbs they can probably get away with less perfect form or do a muscle snatch, which is still pretty impressive.
Scale that down to me and I'm going to have to attack a workout differently. Take "Randy" for example (75 power snatches at 75lbs for men). I can't do 75 straight. I'm going to break it down into smaller segments- 5's, 10's, 15's, whatever I can keep tension in my back with. If someone's form is off, then it can be modified. Lighter weight, hang snatch instead of from ground, snatch high pull or sumo deadlift high pull instead. We also practice slower, traditional oly rep complexes AND cycling for the "sport" side of crossfit. Both have their place.
Honestly, it comes down to the athletes ego and the skills of the coach. If your ego is too big, then you're going to get hurt. If you're not a good coach, you're going to hurt someone. Yesterday we did clean and jerks on the minute with some other stations built in. The coaches all stressed form, properly warmed up the movements, gave time for people to build in weight, and recommended weights and reps (aim for 5-6 before setting the bar down. If you can only do 3 it's too heavy, if you can do 10 it's too light). Afterwards, I walked past a big box gym by the grocery store. I saw more rounded backed deadlifts, short squats, improper knee alignments in those 5 minutes than I have in the last 5 weeks at my gym.
Been doing Crossfit for about 4 years, agree with Dope Man 100%
I do see a lot of "No Pain no Gain" mentality, or being overcompetitive with others. It's why we like group workouts--we push ourselves just a little more than when alone, but it does lead to more injury.
When you are under 40, you can get away with a lot of bad habits without getting injured:
- (not warming up--Crossfit is actually good about warming up)
- doing more than a few intense workouts per week
- poor form when trying to do as many reps as possible in a certain amount of time
Boxes try to emphasize from, but I think more people have crappy form trying to get extra reps than Crossfiters like to admit.
The other main problem I have with Crossfit is it tends to emphasize too much intensity. If you are young it may not matter as much, but the body actually responds better with only a few intense workouts a week. Tour de France is 2000 miles, but the top contenders only push their limits a few times during the race. If they do more, they will pay later. The older you get or the more work/training you do, the more important managing intensity. Without it, you may be able to get through the workout, but you are not getting maximum performance, and eventuallly your body will break down eventually injured. At first you are more cranky, tired, but eventually you just start getting sick, not to mention having decreased performance. I think this concept is understood, but not really emphasized (almost ignored) in the Crossfit culture, education, and teaching.
Generally don't need to rep to failure to get stronger--body's stress adaptation response works with gradual repetition and consitency over weeks. Best is consistent exercise, and gradual increase. Let the ligaments, tendons, muscle energy systems adapt properly. Best way to avoid injury. Crossfit culture tends not to emphasize this.
Again, if you're less than 30 you can get away with all kinds of bad habits and never pay the price. You can party all night without sleep, and bang out an intense workout no problem. Over 40, good habits become more critical to avoid injury.
That said, by lifting heavy weights with functional movements, Crossfit can be one of the best ways to avoid injury, especially if you are over 40. With young kids, I am now a weekend warrior--sometimes I play basketball, skateboard with the kids, tennis, surf, touch football, mountain bike. Because I Crossfit with functional movements, I don't worry as much about getting hurt with pickup basketball because my muscles are used to contracting explosively in similar patterns. Without Crossfit, a pickup game of basketball or sprint for first base is much more likely to get me an Achiles tendon tear.
I don't know why these conversations all go sideways. There are two sides to this. One is I do not believe at the very highest level most sports or activities in the extreme are not about health...and that is ok. You can say that for almost any sport or extreme activity. People take the crossfit thing so personal too. Maybe I feel for you a bit since I'm in a cult sport (bodybuilding) that is odd and not about health at all.
Anyway good luck with crossfit. If you enjoy it, if it keeps you motivated go get it man.
now i am getting old. i am 47 and have a nice 4 pack, and the mass I added when i was in my 30's has largely held, but man is it getting more difficult. the only cardio that does not kill my knees is the spin class and bikram yoga and both are full of hot soccer moms so there's that. the free weights have taken a toll on my shouders and elbows but i've backed off the weight and really make a mind-muscle connection on every rep now so i get a great pump, but the progress is really non-exisistent. at my age it seems to be all about maintaining not improving. i could take drugs but why - i am married and old what is the point?
one of the best decisions I've made my life. 3x the results working out combined with a sex drive I've never had before.
is the best starting point for anyone looking for a meal plan IMO. It's an old book you can get it on AMazon for $1.99. it will form the basis of how you eat, and when you care more you can start managing your macros.
Hitting the gym 4 times a week. need to start mixing in more cardio. if i squat more than 6 reps (at 400lbs+) I feel like im gonna pass out. bench is pretty good though (315x6). Once i stop being lazy and start doing some running i think i will see an increase in my numbers. right now i feel like a lazy pos.
so don't do it. it's hard on your knees and you wil be sorry when you are old like me. find something you don't hate. bikram yoga, boxing, full court hoops, lift with only :30 seconds between sets, super sets, drop sets, it's all cardio homie. get a heart rate monitor so you can see how hard you are working.
Used to box in and would do sprints up the hill outside the north endzone of the Big House. didnt mind sprinting but do hate long distance. Need to find a new gym around where I live now to atleast hit the bag.. probably wont compete though lol glory days are over.
I have started adding more supersets/drop sets in my workouts to get the heart rate up.
There's not much better for you than windsprints. They fucking suck though. 10 sets of full bore 100m sprints with 1-2 minutes rest in between will wreck you...in a good way. Long slow distance grinds away your body in a bad way, there's no reason to do it unless you love it.
I add that to 2-4/week intense training bike rides in the hills of 15-30 miles, lift 1-2x week, and I'm doing pretty well as a 50 yr old.
I also love and value lifting first among all fitness activities, though my numbers aren't as big as yours.
I am preparing for my first triathlon, and while I still hate the run, I have found I really enjoy the bike and swim. Both are low impact and make use of the muscle I've built.
Swimming is hard when you have thighs capable of squatting 300+. It helped reveal some fundamental weaknesses in my back (reflected in my standing, sitting, and walking postures).
2-3 days rock climbing
1-2 days mtbiking
1-2 days running
Been working out with weights 3-4 days a week for the past few years, but diet is lacking and i hate running. i know i need to eat better and possibly find some form of cardio i enjoy. probably put on 6 pounds of "not muscle" over the winter.
Maybe this thread will give me some ideas/motivation to get better.
Also i don't feel like capitalizing my "i's"
You said it in your first pargraph. You have to find something you enjoy.
Getting on the treadmill for 20 minutes and keeping a static jog will do nothing for you other than increase your heart health. If you find things you like doing with exercise and put your passion into it, that will help a ton.
But it doesn't matter if you work out 19 hours a day, if your diet is crap, nothing will change.
if you train like a beast and eat like a pig you will look like a pig. if you do nothing but sit on a couch but eat clean you will look good in clothes at least. this fitness thing is 10% what you do and 90% what you put in your mouth.
convinced that what you eat matters at all, just how much. It's easier to eat vegetables and stay in the lower calorie ranges, but if you could eat 1200 calories of junk I'd bet you would be pretty healthy.
As I was getting help with losing weight, I was told this: "You can't outrun a bad diet." Unless you're working out at a Michael Phelps level, you have to be really careful about what you eat and how much you eat.
I have learned to think of it like Dave Ramsey's advice that you can't outearn undisciplined spending habits. To flip it around, you can always outeat any level of training.
But I find that the diet thing just isn't true to an extent. You can eat whatever you want. Just do it in moderation. There are monuments to me at my work for my noted love of fast food. I didn't change my diet at all and lost 50 pounds on just exercising 3.5 hours a week. Tweaked my diet to remove carbonated drinks and lost another 10 pounds.
Different things work for different people. I know myself well enough to know I have no desire to give up food I enjoy eating whereas other people have no problem giving up foods or completely changing their food lifestyle to lose weight. For the people who have the discipline to give up foods, good for them, heck some of them dont even have to exercise and they can lose weight/stay healthy.
I find that if I stick to a reasonably low carb diet, I can eat pretty much whatever else I want and still maintain my weight and waist size. I have to watch mu nut intake but it's not too much of an issue.
If I add carbs back into my diet, I'll start gaining weight. Part of it seems to be related to signalling--carbs just don't fill me up. When I was younger I could eat an entire box of granola in one sitting.
Fortunately I've discovered I can't eat gluten so that cuts out a lot of carbs.
I used to hate running too; now it's something I moderately enjoy (as much as I'll enjoy any exercise, of course). The key for me was getting an appropriate plan. When you're just starting out running, you often go too hard, too fast, burn yourself out, and feel like crap. When you have a good plan, you start at a level you can actually manage, and you don't go hard all the time. Your runs should vary throughout the week: some will be easy, some hard; some long, some short; some fast, some slow. It helps a great deal mentally: when you know you have a hard run coming up in a couple days, you get mentally prepared for it. Not every run is hard, so the hard run becomes a milestone, a big deal. Conversely, after a hard run, you know that your next day or two will be recovery and easy running. Your plan has given you permission to relax a bit. Not feeling like I constantly had to give max effort is super important. I also found that having a heart rate monitor to give me feedback about my effort while I'm running was useful. YMMV.
Anyway, good luck! I hope you find something that works for you.
Appreciate the feedback Yzerman, Leo, and Zenogias...and Xtra for starting the thread. Think I'm going to start making some changes!
It will take a good 6-8 weeks of regular running (which might include run-walk workouts) before it goes from feeling terrible to feeling good.
Variety is also good in terms of length, time, intensity, but the vast majority of running during a week should be easy. That means you can hold a conversation while running without having to catch your breath. Do this, and you'll achieve significant aerobic gains, and speed will come along.
Heart rate training is tricky because so many things can affect it (temperature, your health, sleep, what you ate, etc.). If you use HR training, you should do a time trial test to get a sense of what your max is (no, the 220 minus your age is not accurate), and then base your effort levels on that test.
I'm up to 25-ish miles and 12-ish beers per week.
Gonna put up the first 30/30 (during the week leading up to Memorial Day) since Mike Trout & Ryan Braun both did it in 2012.
I like to workout, lift weights, and do cardio, but 90% of the mornings after I wake up with a terrible headache. I can't figure out why, I don't think it's dehydration, I drink plenty of water before, during, and after. The only thing I can think is that my head is too sensitive to the stress? If this happened to anyone else and they have any ideas that'd be great!
Or (not to scare you!) you might what to get an MRI/MRA of your brain just to make sure you there is not a bulging aneurysm.
Thank you, I've had a history of concussions and it happens when I do anyting physical really. It's like when my heart is beating fast for an extended period of time, running, playing basketball, lifting weights.
I had the same problem and realized that the majority of time spent exercising I had my teeth clenched. My solution has been to chew (sugar free) gum religiously.
I haven't noticed, but I'll try that, thank you!
Just another thought....