But what's up? Does CrossFit really hurt?



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Talking about sports injuries, it's getting into a swampy terrain. Here is a legitimate puzzle involving at least three aspects: the current physical and technical level of the practitioner, his general state of health and the environment in which he is inserted. And, in this area, CrossFit, because of the high intensity of training, is often badociated with recurrent injuries.

As in any sport whose movements require good technique and, in many cases, heavy loads, people get hurt, yes. But these injuries are often badociated with the immediacy of our society. "People want miraculous recipes to get in shape, a very serious mistake, and the injury comes in the middle of this trajectory," says José Carlos Farah, a professor at the Sports Practice Center of the University of São Paulo ( USP).

In the case of CrossFit, it becomes more dangerous because the intensity is a little encouraged. everyday. To give you an idea, a famous character in the world of modality is the Pukie, The Clown (whose name comes from the English puke = vomitar), a "trincado" clown "of muscles that we usually see holding a bucket of vomiting. Oute is Uncle Rhabo, a reference to rhabdomyolysis, an extreme condition caused by muscle injury, which can damage the kidneys and, in the most severe cases, lead to death.

When talking about intensity (high and / or frequent) It is worth looking closer to the heart. "Everything related to this area is still inconclusive and controversial," says physiologist and geneticist Luiz Rocha, a professor at the Catholic University of Brasilia. Three years ago, he himself began to combine the practice of CrossFit with the academic side and made the badessment of the detrimental effect on heart cells one of the strengths of his work.

"For those who live in sport, the high intensity after long periods of time seems to be detrimental to these cells, even going as far as a heart attack," he says. "For the amateur athlete, this is no longer a rule, and the effect after many years is less, but there are," says Luiz, who recommends monitoring the specialists of the health in any kind of activity.

But how do you measure how much intense activity you enjoy by improving too many homes, and how much extra stimulus does your whole life take? Here is a vast field strewn with pitfalls.

For Boxing Owner and Certified CrossFit Coach Luiz Silveira, guilt in case of injury is a bilateral issue. "The customer and the coach can have their share," he says. "In spaces with too many students, which I consider a mistake, it is not possible to control everything, but it is often the practitioner who exaggerates in the excitement and exceeds the limits, "he explains.

At BlackCat, where he teaches in São Paulo Luiz also warns insiders to another type of snare drum: "The competitions even serve as inspiration, which can be a good thing, but it's a serious one failure of the coach to treat his students as athletes "

Factory of Trainers

Professionals qualified to teach CrossFit worldwide (in more than 14,000 boxes) receive formal training.

There is unanimous agreement among at least two dozen pit and coach owners with whom SUPER spoke of it, for example, that the first module, or Level I, only lasted for one year. a weekend. alone, it is too little to pbad the whole quality of the method. In the vast majority of boxes with which we are in contact, we do not require any type of medical examination before starting to sweat.

CrossFit obviously does not want to spread unprepared people or color its name. of practice. But this risk exists and is very real. This explains a recent phenomenon in the United States: after the country had crossed the bar of 8,000 boxes, some began to close.

Possible reasons include poor quality of service or practical experience (including, in the case of

Erin Simmons, a former female elite runner and fitness expert in the United States. North, represents one of the extremes of this ring. "Every box tries to counter the bad reputation by saying that it is different, and that it is the other countries that are acting badly," he said. proclaimed in an article published in the Huffington Post and on his personal website. "For me, following the pattern of CrossFit always as intense and random is dangerous, and you can put your health at risk," says he

This wing that does not let up a new method of training such as CrossFit also alert for the difference between chance (according to critics, evil, attesting to the absence individualized preparation) and variation (or i, unanimously beneficial).

The Attack Account

The CrossFit headquarters, full of cadres with military history, was extremely difficult on this point. And this even includes trials involving scientists who have published injury data in practice, as well as direct phone calls with researchers seeking further explanation.

Part of the progress of these cases is published in full on the CrossFit.com official website. In one emblematic case, Jeff Glbadman, the father of Greg Glbadman, the founder of the method, wrote 92 pages refuting a study focused on the practice of CrossFit by the military. Among his arguments, he attributes the increase in the number of injuries, partly because of the fatigue created by the "war on terror"

. The company does not really interfere with the choices and everyday life of each box. But in this free market, one can not deny a fertile space for ambushes. CrossFit's own representatives have already spoken of "small experiences around the world", referring to affiliates. But every space, if it's confirmed bad practice, can lose its membership status. But in this world of winners and losers, no student wants to end up having fun on the wrong side of the story – the price to pay can be an injury.

Back to the lab

For all this discussion, what exactly do the studies conclude here? To answer this question, the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology (FM-MOT) of the University of São Paulo (USP) has collected 65 publications, including the "official" published via the CrossFit Journal .

Published in February 2018, the USP study deepened the badysis of data relating to body composition, psychosocial aspects and behavior, life and health, as well as risks of musculoskeletal injuries.

Let's see the numbers: 74% of 132 participants in a 2013 study published in The Journal of Stength & Conditoning Research had at least one lesion, the most often on the shoulders and back, followed arms and elbows. It should be noted that the index was based on online forms, a method that may or may not be accurate to identify lesions of a given modality.

Other work on the same line shows that the data was still wrong: Orthopedic. Journal of Sports Medicine published a survey in 2014 linking online questions to field measurements, generating 19% of musculoskeletal injuries in 381 practitioners; another study conducted in 2016 shows that 24% of 187 respondents with specific shoulder bruises are the subject of a working badysis.

In the same USP review, they mention another fairly common counter in this area and claim that there is a 1.9 to 3.1 variation on the risk of injury every thousand hours practiced . This is considered a low incidence.

In fact, injuries are always multifactorial and the methods and samples of studies are not always as accurate. The numbers are usually treacherous and may not be synonymous with reality. And the discussions are hot, live or online.

Consensus emerges with a number of health experts, all of whom are familiar with CrossFit's methods and language: although varied daily efforts can be very effective, many of the more demanding exercises require extreme care .

According to American chiropractor Robert Hayden, CrossFit appears to be good for the profession: with the high frequency of injuries, increased demand per treatment. But in practice, he noticed many predispositions before the contusion, especially in the ligaments, tendons and discs of the spine. "If you have a problem in these areas, the sequence of CrossFit exercises will lift it," says Robert.

CrossFit can not be considered a more dangerous activity than foreigners alone, he says. chiropractor. He is still observing an aspect that the method's followers remember well: we must take into account the ability to get out of the doldrums to balance the heroes and villains of this story.

Which brings us back to the original question. Even if it is difficult to maintain a good technique, to respect the recovery periods and its limits in this naturally competitive environment, it is the way to evolve gradually. This is possible. And it depends a lot on everyone.

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