I have a few major issues with cross fit. Before I get to those, however, I will discuss some of the benefits.
First, the use of primarily free weights and non-traditional resistance (ropes, hoops, sand bags, etc.).
Second, the use of predominatly multi-joint exercises and olympic lifts.
Third, the emphasis placed upon conditioning.
Fourth, the team atmosphere.
That said, there are some issues with it. I think the theory to application factors is what make the risks outweight the benefits in many cases.
1. The lack of specificity. When we discuss functionality, we need to delimitate "functional toward what?" Strong men, football, track, tri-athalon, tactical, etc. all require different energy systems and different movement patterns. By ignoring the specialty of each activity in the exercise programming, it is impossible to optimize function.
2. The use of olympic lifts to promote conditioning. Olympic lifts are high technical movement patterns that require metabolic and neural "freshness" to perform correctly, risk free, and to reap the benefits of. Because these lifts require nearly every muscle in the body, coordination, and maximal speed of movement, anything that causes neural or metabolic fatigue will result in poor motor programming, compensations, risk of injury, and increased over use tissue damage.
I can make two analogies. Its like running a 400 m sprint all out, then trying to free climb a rock ledge. Bad idea.
Or, for those of us who played sports, using technical drills that are designed to improve skills for conditioning. You will reinforce bad movement patterns that will result in failure (i.e.: shooting with the elbow facing out in basketball, kicking with the toes in soccer, etc.)
3. And this is perhaps my biggest angst with crossfit. The lack of emphasis on technique and form. There is a quantity over quality mind-set in crossfit. It requires 4-12 months to teach someone to correctly perform a clean and jerk or olympic snatch. There is a whole host of progressions that go into developing technique in these movements. In crossfit, there does not appear to be any coaching regarding technique or form. This results in the development of bad motor programming which eventually can lead to over use tissue damage or freak injury.
i.e.: If you watched the crossfit games on ESPN2, you would see that 90% of the competitors used horrible technique on their lifts: major back rounding on dead lifts, horrible clean form (landing on the toes, on one knee, etc.).
4. If I placed this list in order, this would be 1a. The lack of balance, prehab, and corrective exercises. I recently spoke with a Duke orthopedic surgeon, who said something along the lines of "As long as crossfit and p90x keep gaining popularity, the demand for orthos will increase).
We should not underestimate the importance of assessing and prescribing exercises to correct muscular imbalances. This (as far as I have seen) does not occur in cross fit programs.
Next, there is no use of prehab movements to help prevent against injury. No rotator cuff, scaption, or hip abductor work, etc.
Finally, there is no balance in the programs, and this can be seen in the scapula protraction (forward shoulders), internal humeral rotation, and anterior pelvic tilt in many who perform cross fit. To add to this, there is (to my observations) no prescription of corrective stretches either. All this leads to injuries due to impingement and poor joint alignment.
Br
EDIT: I should add to my benefits, the chicks are always so damn hot!
