Mon, Aug 26, 2013
If you have not heard of CrossFit by now then you are a little behind on your fitness trends. San Clemente alone has at least 4 crossfit gyms of its own. Crossfit is a system of high intensity workouts including weight training and cardio designed to push your body to exhaustion with each exercise. While many people have had amazing results and have met and even exceeded fitness goals with proper crossfit training, there is still controversy behind crossfit. The crossfit community has also been described as a mafia. Once you’re in you are in!
I often see patients who come to Trestles Chiropractic as new patients because of injuries sustained though crossfit workouts. Many of these patients are trying to lose weight or get to the next level of fitness, which is awesome. What I do not like to see however is the injuries sustained from repetitive exercise with improper form. Too often crossfitters will sacrifice form to get in those last few reps or to hold on to their ego and not drop the weight down when it is too much. Many people also find themselves taking Advil or Tylenol after workouts due to how sore they are. Any Chiropractor or other health care professional would warn you of the dangers to your liver from extensive use of pain killers.
In some cases people can develop a condition called Rhabdomyolysis which is caused by excess creatine kinase and myoglobin being released into the blood stream from muscle fiber breakdown. These extreme levels poison the kidneys as they are unable to filter the blood completely. This produces a dark colored urine. Many people are, as I talked about in a previous article, Dehydrated. This only adds to the problem of not allowing the kidneys to properly filter out the excess by-products of muscle breakdown. Also some gyms have turned vomiting during a workout into a prize. This only further dehydrates they body and can add to the seriousness of this condition
The take away from this article is not to avoid high intensity training like crossfit. However it is important that you know your body and listen to what it is telling you. Know when you are fatigued. If you have to take Advil or other pain killers after a workout you are doing too much. Throwing up during or after a workout does not mean you had a great workout. Finally, NEVER… I repeat NEVER sacrifice form to get more reps or more weight in. Many of my patients and CrossFit trainers get upset when I ask them to take a break from training to allow the body to heal after a sports injury. My point is that had they kept proper form in the first place and known their limits or been instructed properly they would not need to take time off.
If you have any questions about CrossFit or other training programs please feel free to comment below or Contact Me.
This is a good video I found about how Crossfit can be beneficial when properly instructed and carried out.