Have you ever tried CrossFit? It’s not an easy sport. I have been doing it for over 4 years now and currently own a CrossFit facility in Scottsdale, AZ. Therefore, I feel qualified to write an article on why you should NOT do CrossFit.

If you have not tried CrossFit I would recommend against it for the reasons below. If you are currently doing CrossFit, I would suggest identifying why you started in the first place.

Here are the top 5 arguments I have against CrossFit:

1) CrossFit is very hard. That’s right; don’t let anyone fool you into thinking that CrossFit is an easy fun sport. It’s not. After more than four years I can tell you it is a very brutal and demanding sport, which requires hard work, persistence, patience and time.

2) CrossFit is dangerous. How many people do you know that have been injured in CrossFit? People hurt their backs, shoulders, rip their hands up. Not sure about you, but I like my hands soft and pretty not callused and ripped.

3) CrossFit is expensive. Gold’s gym is $9.99 month and the cheapest gym in Scottsdale that I know of is $99, most charging a lot more. Power in Motion is $199/month. Why pay 10X what you could pay to get a good workout at Gold’s?

4) CrossFitter’s can’t run and I like to run. I watched the CrossFit Games and saw Rich Froning walking during a 3 mile run. Who walks during a 3 mile run…not me? I want to be able to run and be fit.

5) CrossFit makes girls bulky. I’ve seen the pictures of those CrossFit girls and they are always bulky. I like my girl’s fit not bulky.

Really!?!

No, I’m just messing with you! This list is social media hype and misinformation!! These are all reasons I have heard or seen on social media. Let me uncover each of these mistruths and show you the facts.

1) CrossFit is very hard. That is true. I can’t argue with the fact that CrossFit is hard, but what sport, done well, is not? Do you know of any? I would argue that life is hard, especially if you want to be good at it. Excelling takes hard work, persistence and patience. And, not surprisingly, so does CrossFit.

2) CrossFit is dangerous. The numbers speak for themselves. There is more injury in running than there is in CrossFit, especially if done correctly and with proper training. I can speak from experience, having run multiple ultra marathons, that I have been injured more and seen more injury running than I have doing CrossFit. Riding a bicycle to the corner store is much more dangerous.

3) CrossFit is expensive. Expensive compared to what? Gold’s gym is $9.99month but to get even close to the training you’d get at a CrossFit gym you’d have to hire a personal trainer at $80+ an hour. For 3 times a week you’d be spending $960 a month on training and $9.99 a month on your membership. I guess $199 a month to get a top notch training experience is worth it after all.

4) CrossFitter’s can’t run. I love this one. As I mentioned before, I like to run and have run several ultra marathons using CrossFit as my foundation. One of my coaches came in 2nd in the AZ Spartan race this year, wins or podiums most of the races he does. He will be doing AZ Ironman later this year and is expecting a time around 9 hours. Hmmm: I guess CrossFitter’s can run and run fast.

5) CrossFit makes girls bulky. Owning a CrossFit gym where over 50% of my members are female, “it just ain’t so!” Bulkiness depends upon diet, genetics, supplements, etc. not Crossfit! If you look at body builders who eat non-stop, they get bulky because of the quantity of food they consume, CrossFit ladies mostly train to be functional fit; not bulky.

I hope I’ve clarified some of the myths around CrossFit