It’s a fair question at this point if you’re curious about trying CrossFit with the not insignificant amount of negative attention it’s gained in the last few years particularly regarding injuries. I’m by no means a CrossFit apologist, but as a reasonable person who has had a great deal of experience with it, dating back to its earliest days, I will say that much of the criticism is based on misinformation or poorly-executed logic.
A simple statement like “CrossFit is dangerous” is similar in many senses to saying, “Cars are dangerous.” Yes, cars have the potential to be dangerous, but that danger is primarily a product of their manner of use. Likewise, the potential danger of CrossFit is a product primarily (although not exclusively) of its implementation.
There are a few elements of CrossFit that have the potential to create injury risk, not all of which are unique to CrossFit, but occasionally which are magnified by the way the element is implemented or how it reacts with other elements.
CrossFit uses a very wide range of exercises, none of which are particularly dangerous, but can become so if performed at the wrong time by the wrong people and in the wrong way (like any other exercise). Some of the potential risk is due to the exercises’ relative complexity in terms of skill, such as the snatch, clean, jerk and their variations, and rudimentary gymnastics-type skills like muscle-ups and handstand walking. Some of the risk is due to the exercises’ demands on the body, which often exceed what many individuals are physically prepared for, such as high-volume plyometric activity.
In addition to the possible risks that come along with the exercise selection is the mindset commonly associated with CrossFit and encouraged in its participants—sometimes not well-controlled or judiciously applied intensity and ambition.
However, while these things may create the potential for greater risk, they also, in most cases, create the potential for greater training effectiveness. This is a pretty common theme in all areas of athletic training and certainly not unique to CrossFit. The higher the level of athleticism you’re endeavoring to attain, the harder you need to work, the longer period of time you need to work, the more sacrifices you have to make, and the more risks you have to take.
Where CrossFit truly becomes dangerous is the application of training methods and levels of intensity and volume that are beyond what certain individuals are capable of managing safely. Imagine taking a formerly sedentary 40-year-old and having him perform the same training as an 18-year-old level 10 gymnast. Would he get hurt? Of course. Does that mean gymnastics is a horribly and unavoidably dangerous sport? No, it means it has potential risks and those risks are greatly magnified by its inappropriate use.
CrossFit is no different in this way, except for one major thing: its accessibility and consequently more frequent improper implementation. That is, high-level gymnastics training is not something that any individual can walk into a gym and do on a whim. CrossFit, on the other hand, is something that nearly anyone can now find access to, and if we’re being honest, I would venture to say that the majority of CrossFit trainers and gyms are failing with regard to proper introduction and progression for new clients, although more and more are thankfully figuring this out.
In other words, too many people are being thrown into CrossFit classes with exercises they don’t yet know how to perform properly, activity they don’t have the athletic foundation to tolerate, and levels of intensity and volume they are not adapted to, resulting in far more injuries and chronic pain than would ever exist with the exact same activity were all of the participants properly prepared.
Is CrossFit dangerous? It has the potential to be. It certainly has more potential danger, at least in the orthopedic sense, than more mainstream bodybuilding-style approaches to fitness. But it also has greater potential benefit, at least in terms of athleticism.
So before you rule out CrossFit as being too dangerous, consider what makes it dangerous, how those factors that magnify its risk can be corrected, and what your priorities are with regard to training, fitness and health. If you want to try CrossFit, find a qualified coach who will teach you well and progress you gradually according to your individual ability and need, not just throw you into a class far beyond your abilities.
