CrossFit is a branded fitness regimen created by Greg Glassman and is a registered trademark of CrossFit, Inc. which was founded by Greg Glassman and Lauren Jenai in 2000. Promoted as both a physical exercise philosophy and also as a competitive fitness sport, CrossFit workouts incorporate elements from high-intensity interval training, Olympic weightlifting, plyometrics, powerlifting, gymnastics, girevoy sport, calisthenics, strongman, and other exercises. It is practiced by members of over 13,000 affiliated gyms, roughly half of which are located in the United States, and by individuals who complete daily workouts (otherwise known as "WODs" or "workouts of the day").
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History
Greg Glassman and Lauren Jenai founded CrossFit, Inc. in 2000. The company was conceived a few years earlier, in 1996, as Cross-Fit. The original CrossFit gym is in Santa Cruz, California, and the first affiliated gym was CrossFit North in Seattle, Washington; there were 13 by 2005, and today there are more than 13,000. Coaches associated with CrossFit include Louie Simmons, John Welbourn, Bob Harper, and Mike Burgener.
Glassman retains complete control over the company after a divorce with his estranged wife, Lauren. Upon the divorce settlement, Lauren attempted to sell her share in the company. However, Glassman was able to obtain a $16 million loan from Summit Partners to buy out her share.
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Overview
CrossFit is a strength and conditioning program consisting mainly of a mix of aerobic exercise, calisthenics (body weight exercises), and Olympic weightlifting. CrossFit, Inc. describes its strength and conditioning program as "constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity across broad time and modal domains," with the stated goal of improving fitness, which it defines as "work capacity across broad time and modal domains." Hour-long classes at affiliated gyms, or "boxes", typically include a warm-up, a skill development segment, the high-intensity "workout of the day" (or WOD), and a period of individual or group stretching. Some gyms also often have a strength focused movement prior to the WOD. Performance on each WOD is often scored and/or ranked to encourage competition and to track individual progress. Some affiliates offer additional classes, such as Olympic weightlifting, which are not centered around a WOD.
CrossFit gyms use equipment from multiple disciplines, including barbells, dumbbells, gymnastics rings, pull-up bars, jump ropes, kettlebells, medicine balls, plyo boxes, resistance bands, rowing machines, and various mats. CrossFit is focused on "constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movement," drawing on categories and exercises such as these: calisthenics, Olympic-style weightlifting, powerlifting, Strongman-type events, plyometrics, body weight exercises, indoor rowing, aerobic exercise, running, and swimming.
CrossFit programming is decentralized but its general methodology is used by thousands of private affiliated gyms, fire departments, law enforcement agencies, and military organizations including the Royal Danish Life Guards, as well as by some U.S. and Canadian high school physical education teachers, high school and college sports teams, and the Miami Marlins.
"CrossFit is not a specialized fitness program, but a deliberate attempt to optimize physical competence in each of 10 recognized fitness domains," says founder Greg Glassman in the Foundations document. Those domains are: cardiovascular and respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy.
CrossFit appeals to both men and women alike and a 2014 statistical analysis showed that CrossFit participants were equally 50% male and 50% female.
Business model
CrossFit, Inc. licenses the CrossFit name to gyms for an annual fee and certifies trainers. Besides the standard two-day "Level 1 Trainer Course", specialty seminars include gymnastics, Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, strongman, running and endurance, rowing, kettlebells, mobility and recovery, CrossFit Kids, CrossFit Football, and self-defense and striking. Other specialized adaptations include programs for pregnant women, seniors, and military special operations candidates. Affiliates develop their own programming, pricing, and instructional methods. Many athletes and trainers see themselves as part of a contrarian, insurgent movement that questions conventional fitness wisdom; besides performing prescribed workouts, they follow CrossFit's nutrition recommendations (adopting a paleo and/or zone diet).
CrossFit makes use of a virtual community Internet model. The company says this de-centralized approach shares some common features with open source software projects and allows best practices to emerge from a variety of approaches, a contention that is disputed by some competitors and former affiliates.
Effectiveness
It has been theorized that CrossFit's implementation of resistance coupled with anaerobic and aerobic exercise across varying training time domains may benefit muscle size, cortisol levels, and improved endurance performance but this has not been substantiated by a body of good medical evidence.
CrossFit Games
The "CrossFit Games" have been held every summer since 2007. Athletes at the Games compete in workouts they learn about only hours beforehand, sometimes including surprise elements that are not part of the typical CrossFit regimen. Past examples include a rough-water swim, a softball throw, and a pegboard climb. The Games are styled as a venue for determining the "Fittest on Earth," where competitors should be "ready for anything."
In 2011, the Games adopted an online qualification format, facilitating participation by athletes worldwide. During the "CrossFit Open", a new workout is released each week. Athletes have several days to complete the workout and submit their scores online, with either a video or validation by a CrossFit affiliate. Since the Open is available to any level of athlete, many affiliates encourage member participation and the number of worldwide participants can be in the hundreds of thousands.
The top CrossFit Open performers for individuals and teams in each region advance to the regional events, held over the following two months. The Games include divisions for individuals of each gender, co-ed teams, and a number of Masters and Teenage age groups.
Certifications
In order to become a certified CrossFit coach, one must go through a series of four training levels. Level one is the introduction level, where participants attend a weekend class and talk about the basic methodology of CrossFit and learn how to conduct their own classes. They go over techniques and how to adjust them for those who cannot perform them. In the second level, training goes deeper into the mechanics of the movements and how to be leaders and communicate with other students. In the level two course, participants learn about athletic capacity and are evaluated as a trainer in groups. In order to earn the level three certificate, a coach one must complete 1,500 hours of active fitness coaching along with becoming CPR certified. To earn the level four certificate, the highest level currently recognized by CrossFit, Inc., the coach must record several years as a level three and pass a test.
Criticism
Injury
The risk of injury associated with CrossFit training has been a controversial question since the program's popularity began to climb in the early 2000s. Critics have accused CrossFit, Inc. of using dangerous movements, inappropriate levels of intensity, and allowing under-qualified individuals to become CrossFit Trainers.
In response to these criticisms, CrossFit, Inc. claims, "CrossFit is relatively safe even when performed with poor technique, but it is safer and more effective when performed with good technique." CrossFit, Inc. also claims risk for injury can be reduced by properly scaling and modifying workouts, a concept taught on its website and at the CrossFit Level 1 Trainer Course.
CrossFit, Inc. supports this position by citing three academic surveys of CrossFit participants. These surveys calculated injury rates between 2.4 and 3.1 injuries per 1000 hours of training, which CrossFit argues is consistent with or below injury rates found in "general fitness training."
A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research entitled "Crossfit-based high intensity power training improves maximal aerobic fitness and body composition" followed 54 participants for 10 weeks of CrossFit training. The study said that "...a notable percentage of our subjects (16%) did not complete the training program and return for follow-up testing." The authors said "This may call into question the risk-benefit ratio for such extreme training programs..." In 2014, CrossFit, Inc. filed a lawsuit against the National Strength and Conditioning Association for publishing this study, alleging that the data were false and were "intended to scare participants away from CrossFit." The NSCA denies CrossFit, Inc.'s allegations but has issued an erratum acknowledging the injury data were incorrect. The lawsuit was settled in September 2016 with the District Court ruling in favor of CrossFit Inc.'s claims that the injury data were found to be false, but not that the NSCA was commercially motivated or that the publishing of the study was defamatory as the NSCA no longer stood behind the study. In February 2017, CrossFit filed for sanctions against the NSCA specifically in regards to the statements that the NSCA did not consider CrossFit a competitor so it had not been commercially motivated to make the defamatory conclusions in the study. The new filing was triggered by the discovery that one of the NSCA's witnesses falsified statements during the original ruling. Upon the re-opening of the case, NSCA documents were opened to inspection and NSCA was found to have been investigating CrossFit as a competitor including paying one of their employees to take classes to become a CrossFit certified trainer and provide a documented analysis of the program. The NSCA internal report was titled "Competitive Analysis" and explicitly mentioned CrossFit as one of their third-party competitors. In June 2017, the court ruled in favor of CrossFit, Inc. that the NSCA did have a commercial motive to falsify the data and awarded CrossFit $74,000 in legal fees as well as the allowance to continue investigating the NSCA. If the neutral party analysis of the NSCA servers turns up any further misconduct, CrossFit can again file an amended complaint for further sanctioning and compensation for lost revenue.
Exertional rhabdomyolysis
The relationship between CrossFit and exertional rhabdomyolysis has been a subject of controversy for the company. Critics argue that both the CrossFit methodology and the environment created by CrossFit trainers put athletes at high risk for developing rhabdomyolysis.
Makimba Mimms claims to have suffered from rhabdomyolysis after performing a CrossFit workout on December 11, 2005, at Manassas World Gym in Manassas, Virginia, under the supervision of an uncertified trainer. He successfully sued his trainers and was awarded US$300,000 in damages. CrossFit, Inc. was not listed as a defendant in the lawsuit.
CrossFit, Inc. does not dispute that its methodology has the potential to cause rhabdomyolysis. The company states that exertional rhabdomyolysis can be found in a wide variety of sports and training populations and argues that its critics have conflated CrossFit's high awareness of rhabdomyolysis with high risk. One CrossFit spokesman stated that "ESPN's report on the 53 deaths in US triathlons from 2007 to 2013 should have put the issue to rest."
Since May 2005, CrossFit, Inc. has published several articles about rhabdomyolysis in the company's CrossFit Journal. Three of the articles are included in the CrossFit Manual provided to all prospective trainers.
CrossFit, Inc. has also been criticized for having a "cavalier" attitude towards rhabdomyolysis by promoting a character known as "Uncle Rhabdo" (a cartoon clown dying in a dramatic fashion--hooked up to a dialysis machine, with his kidneys and intestines falling on the floor).
In response to this criticism, Greg Glassman has stated "We introduced (Uncle) Rhabdo because we're honest and believe that full disclosure of risk is the only ethical thing to do."
Social media presence
CrossFit, Inc. has been variously criticized and praised for its unorthodox approach to social media. This approach has included publishing articles and tweets about non-fitness topics (including politics, philosophy, and poetry) as well as directly interacting with other social media users and critics of the company's program. In one example, CrossFit, Inc.'s Twitter account posted a doctored illustration of a Coke advertisement, with "Open Happiness" replaced by "Open Diabetes". The image was paired with a quote from CrossFit CEO Greg Glassman that read: "Make sure you pour out some for your dead homies." Controversy followed after singer Nick Jonas responded to the tweet, calling CrossFit, Inc.'s comments "ignorant". The company defended its tweet, stating that "Compelling statistical evidence supports CrossFit, Inc.'s campaign to prevent diabetes by raising awareness about its causes." When ABC News asked Greg Glassman to comment on the exchange, he replied "Fuck Nick Jonas. This is about the scourge of Type 2 Diabetes and its underlying causes. His sponsor, Coca-Cola, is a significant contributor to the diabetes epidemic both with product and 'marketing' spend."
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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