The article had two claims against CrossFit, the dangers of Rhabdomyolysis and the lack of form due to the high intensity of the WODs. That ticks me off.
High Intensity and Form. Most awesome CrossFit gyms utilize a detailed fundamentals class that goes through ALL of the movements, form, pillars of fitness AND stressing the need for personal responsibility. Personal Responsibility. Let me say that again, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. If your gym doesn't utilize this...RUN AWAY. I am asked to think, be a part of the process and communicate. Then there is an on ramp time frame with shorter workouts and lower weights to accommodate those who are building up to greater levels of awesomeness. Our gym has a 5-6 hour program that is REQUIRED for membership before the first WOD. The beauty of CrossFit is that everyone, despite ability level, can get an awesome workout doing different levels of the SAME workout. Good form is a process. No one is perfect the first time. When an out of shape person or new to CrossFit person joins; there is going to be a time frame of learning how to do the movements while minimizing the risk of injury but capitalizing on the greater activity to gain a greater level of fitness. CrossFit is not a government funded health program where everything is provided to the athletes (read this post on personal responsibility) if it were, it would be easy, we would be given a trophy JUST for showing up AND would be worse off than when we started. Plus a GMO laden corn syrup covered cupcake. I want excellent health and I need to work for it. Nothing worth having comes easy.
Rhabdo is nasty business. However, obesity is a greater risk. I am not a Doctor but could <loosely> qualify as a mathematician so I am going to stick with numbers. There are many causes of rhabdomylosis. Crush injuries, drug abuse, alcoholism, kidney disease, flu etc etc etc. I searched and searched for a percentage of US deaths by Rhabdomylosis and as it turns out...1 in 5 deaths in the US are from obesity related illnesses but no numbers for Rhabdo. Specifically no numbers for exertional related rhabdo. I read the National Vital Statistics which doesn't specifically list Rhabdo...my guess is that it falls under "Kidney Disease" but again...not a doctor and honestly I lost interest as I was scrolling by; heart disease, stroke, diabetes which are all linked to obesity. However, please note that the big blue chunks on the right. Obesity has been linked to cancer as well as heart disease which comprises half of the deaths in the US. Type 2 diabetes deaths are also linked to obesity which is the icing on the cake of death. (chart stolen without shame from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr62/nvsr62_06.pdf)
Double Grace for time anyone?
****Please excuse my lack of APA/MLA citing...this isn't a paper and I forgot about that stuff the minute I got my grad degree.
