LOL. First, you tell people you don’t own a TV.
I’m guessing you start with talking about why you quit P90X. 
I dunno, I’ve avoided* FB since 2009 or so, but could these people be mostly using it as a blog/diary? Do you automatically get updated (as in, bugged with a pop-up alert or something) every single time somebody checks in with their workout posts…and you can’t turn that off? If so, I’d find it annoying too. But if the workout stuff just kind of lives on their page, I don’t see what the problem is. I’m not working out right now, but I guess I could see using FB as a viable place to keep track of what I was doing (and allow like-minded friends to join in a discussion). There are only so many websites that a person might want to log in to in a day…
About a decade ago (yeesh) I was one of the “top ten” contributors to StumbleUpon, and I used it not only for the intended purpose, but as a catch-all blog, with tidbits about my progress in art school, etc. If people were interested, they read it. shrug
Anyway, I guess I’m just thinking that, for many people, FB and similar sites are a modern way of writing memoirs that others can peek at. I’m sure other people make lots of posts about what they ate that day, or what the new baby/puppy is doing. What do you use it for?
*because every time I logged on, I’d get 20 people wanting to chat, then getting pissed when I would ignore them. All I wanted to do is look at a picture of my niece, not make awkward small talk with someone I haven’t seen in 15 years…yeah, I’m sure there’s a way to be invisible, but god forbid I update my page…:smack:
Absolutely. I do have one friend that does paleo and Crossfit and I have to read her updates. But I can’t fault her. She was very heavy and it seems to be doing very good things for her.
I have absolutely no doubt that a combination of a paleo diet and Crossfit can make a fat or unhealthy person thinner and fitter. I’m a vegetarian who works out, and i’m also sure that if i switched to a paleo diet and Crossfit, it might do me some good, if only because it would be a break from my normal routine.
My beef with paleo and Crossfit is not the diet and the workout, per se, but the attitudes i’ve often seen associated with them. Too often, people involved with these practices are not only gung-ho about their own progress, but have a tendency to dismiss every other type of diet and workout as misguided or useless. They convey an attitude—sometimes implicit, sometimes almost stated outright—that unless you’re on paleo and Crossfit, your fitness regimen is stupid and you’re stupid for doing it.
I also get a bit creeped out by the cheerleading nature of Crossfit. And that’s not because i’m an anti-social person. There are plenty of regulars at my gym who i greet when i arrive, and who i’m happy to chat with between sets. If i need spotting on the bench, i’ll ask someone to help me, and if someone asks me for a spot, i’m happy to oblige. But for me, working out (whether on weights or cardio) is “me” time, and part of the attraction is the somewhat solitary nature of my routine. I use my time doing cardio to think, and while i have good focus when i’m lifting, my rest time between sets is often a sort of quasi-meditation.
I’m just not interested in having people yelling at me while i do squats with a bar in the “jerk” position overhead, or doing those ridiculous “kipping” pullups in a line with five other people, high-fiving at the end. And, while i try to put in a solid effort, working out is not some sort of test of masculinity for me, and i’m not interested in bragging that i puked in the middle of my routine because i was pushing myself so hard.
Also, i don’t know how it is in other places, but around here CrossFit seems incredibly expensive for what you get. And, on top of that, there are generally fixed class times. I prefer to go to the gym when i’m ready.
If CrossFit works for someone, i have no interest in discouraging them from doing it. I’ve always been a firm believer that, as long as you’re doing something, you’re probably doing yourself some good. I just don’t think it would be for me. Also, to be honest, some of the form and technique they promote for some of their exercises seems pretty bad, and looks to me like an injury waiting to happen.
So, I was chatting with a friend who is into cross-fit about just this type of thing - what appears to be a tendency for those who do cross-fit to just go on-and-on-and-on about it. I told him my own outside view is that it seems very cult-like and there is a lot about it that I don’t care for. I don’t believe in any one single exercise plan is “The Answer”. I don’t like the attitude of some cross-fit people I know and the attitudes I’ve seen online, that somehow if you don’t do cross-fit you’re just not serious about your health and getting in shape. I don’t like the constant posting of FB but make no mistake many times these same people only talk about cross-fit in person, to every damn person they interact with.
However, my friend made some good points. Summarizing some of the points he made…
Cross-fit is intense, arguably one of the most intense work-out programs you can do. No one makes any bones about the fact that you are going to hurt, a lot. And it doesn’t necessarily go away as every workout you do is the hardest workout of your life - assuming you give it your all. Most people tackling something that is so personally challenging for them will brag a bit about it. For cross-fit, it is posting WOD info on FB. For gardeners, it is photos of their perfect crop of tomatoes. For runners, it is posting their distance/time.
Also, due to the high intensity of the work-outs a certain culture exists around cross-fit and within the box. It is pretty demanding and as such part of what helps is lots of motivation and encouragement to/for everyone to give their all. You are suffering to do your personal best, complete the WODs, etc., but everyone else is doing the same suffering and cheering for your victories as you do for them. He said it really becomes a huge motivator and keeps you doing one more exercise, and coming back one more day.
So… in that sense, I can see how for certain individuals that bleeds into the other areas of their life. They’re immersing themselves in one culture within the box but can’t reel it back in when they leave. I saw this with a few friends but also in a series on YouTube that I watched that followed a guy who started cross-fit. It was really excellent and the results spoke for themselves but… the guy really was a bit insufferable over how great cross-fit was. Correction, it wasn’t just “great” - he went on and on like a down-in-the-gutter sinner who just found Jesus. To me, it was extremely obnoxious. What was working for him suddenly is The Answer for everyone in his life and he took no breaks from witnessing to the unconverted.
MeanJoe
I’ve been around gyms and dojos the majority of my life and I know plenty of people into high intensity workouts/sports such as powerlifting, boxing, martial arts, etc. Sure, in every group you’ll find some that can’t shut up about what they’re doing. But, IME, it’s a minority. However, I have met MANY into crossfit that practically get giddy and can’t shut up about it and of course the same with the awesomeness of going Paleo. They really do seem cult-like the way those that try to sell you on Amway are.
Maybe because a lot of Crossfit gyms are insanely expensive compared to other gyms. They are just trying to justify the cost to themselves.
Yeah. My wife pays a shitload for a place to work out. It’s literally a part of a stripmall warehouse type thing. No showers even. She pays over a hundred bucks a month to go there. It’s very bizarre.
Someone mentioned runners posting their runs everyday. I’m a runner and the only time I post is maybe after a big race or something but not my workouts. I don’t mind those as much either because you can directly block those apps people use for posting there runs and never see them.
I haven’t encountered any Crossfitters, but from what I’m reading, they sound like brand new Born Again Christians. (not that there’s anything wrong with that)
Perhaps the issue is that Crossfit has a greater proportion of people who transition from a sedentary lifestyle to one that involves a very heavy workout, and it’s more likely to be a revelatory religious-like experience.
Other heavy workouts/activities probably recruit more from people who already do light-to-moderate workouts.
Note that I don’t have any numbers and this is just a hunch borne out from my experience.
I can’t think of a more sure-fire way to fail then to go all-out every workout.
And one of the biggest gripes the more established fitness community has against Crossfit is the high rate of injury, combined with a culture that downplays injury as part of the norm when working out, instead of the result of over-training and poor form.
Well, if the cross fits . . .
Nailed it.