Military leaning away from CrossFit?

[Tim Luby]

I have to totally take back everything I said--I'm an idiot! Sorry coach and everyone else. Thought that guy was military. Yes then, he is obviously pushing his own agenda.

I'll shut up now.

[Gabriel desGarennes]

Originally Posted by Tim Luby

I have to totally take back everything I said--I'm an idiot! Sorry coach and everyone else. Thought that guy was military. Yes then, he is obviously pushing his own agenda.

I'll shut up now.

well said

[Michael Wengloski]

Going to have to agree with just about everyone who has posted so far. The military is leaning towards CF.

At my command fitness office they are sending 5 of their memebers to the upcoming March cert and a few are already certified.

I just submitted my "TAD" request to go to the cert as well on the command's money. It's been given the thumbs up right away by everyone i've presented it to so far.

[George Mounce]

Originally Posted by Giles Clarke

This is not even remotely true. Quite the contrary.......

I hope you understand I was just the messenger, I don't believe it myself.

I also want to publicly apologize to Coach Glassman. I had been critical before of him on a few occasions, and I was wrong to do so. My faith in CrossFit has been renewed substantially in the last few months through many ways, the least of which was through this thread. If I had offended anyone else in the last few months (a good 30-day cooldown period helped) I am sorry for doing so.

CrossFit and the things I have learned here have almost singled-handedly saved my mother, a Type I diabetic. She's lost 30 pounds and uses less than 1/2 the insulin she did before (via a Paleo diet and CrossFit scaled down exercises).

Let me tell you all, I was offered that $1000 by Coach Glassman. I refuse to take it. But I did hint at a long sleeve Infidel shirt and a sticker for my truck.

Now, more energy into deadlifts!

[George Mounce]

Originally Posted by Lara Lewis

Has anyone thought about sending these folks (the AF civilians and the MSgt writing the emails) to a Level 1 cert, free of charge? Seriously! I think if they went to one, they would have a much better idea of what CrossFit is all about. They would see that it can be scaled to meet anyone's needs, that form is emphasized to the participants, and that the certs are conducted in a very professional manner.

I went to the Level 1 cert at Ft. Dix in November and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was Ft. Dix MWR that brought the cert there, and one of the trainers from the gym was there. No idea what kind of long term effect it will have, but it certainly seems like a positive thing to me. One of the emails mentioned that they didn't want PT leaders to lead CrossFit PT until they were certified. Then why not bring a cert to your post/base and get people certified!

I sent an email to the person from my base who passed it along, and offered to sit down and answer any questions about CrossFit they might have via my military email. I am only level I certified but I believe I've been crawling these boards and the main site long enough to give pretty darn good answers. I don't post on the main page anymore, but I do read the articles and watch the videos, as well as keeping up with the goings-on.

[Barry Cooper]

You know, I think it's worth dialling in a bit who the enemy here is. Broadly speaking, it is ignorance, and anyone who wants to manipulate ignorance for their own ends. Anyone who is selling a competitive product and making blanket, inaccurate claims about our product, is the enemy.

However, the people caught in the middle, the Air Force, or Navy, or Army Chain of Command, they are not being unreasonable in wanting things like qualified instructors leading CrossFit PT, or some sort of cost/benefit/risk assessment. The caveat is that if we do in fact perform well on those sorts of risk assessments, and CrossFit type programming is still not adopted, then something other than a pure desire for efficacy--read doing right by our troops--is in play.

The task then becomes to sort out what those (presumably political) factors are.

As I read these emails, one immediate concern is the use of the ACSM to vet our program. They didn't invent it, and in point of fact the past programs--which they presumably did vet--didn't work anywhere near as well as CrossFit. Do you go to the doctor whose sick room is always full, or the one whose patients head out the door after one visit and never return?

Upon what concrete accomplishment, one might wonder, does the presumed expertise of the ACSM rest? Publishing? Pervasiveness? Reputation?

One thing about the military, is you are running people across the globe, through potentially EXACTLY the same PT every day, or as many controlled variations as you want. If there is a better field within which to conduct controlled experiments in the realm of physical fitness for the "masses", I don't know what it is.

[Chris Joliet]

First off, this is what happens when we put civilians in charge of things on base. I'm sick and tired of going to an MWR and dealing with some of these people.

There are more fat a$$ people in the military than I would have ever thought. We NEED CrossFit. This society NEEDS CrossFit. If I had a dollar for every whale in cammies I've seen, I'd be rich.

You can make a clown a "Personal Trainer"...but it's still a clown.

OH, and at BRC, we did CrossFit...a lot
Anyone remember SSgt. McCarroll?

[Christian Gotcher]

Coach, your approach was warranted without a doubt, but "Impementing?" "Errorneously?" I at least appreciate that you retracted your own attack on the man's spelling...

On a more serious note, I have a limited perspective on it, but it seems like every base I go to and everywhere I look, somebody's doing Crossfit. They may not know everything about it, and they may have reservations (usually involving the words 'unsafe,' 'crazy,' or 'weird'), hell, they may only be doing a workout a friend gave them with no idea what's behind it, but the knowledge is out there. USNA has started a "combat fitness" sport program which has, in part, CF instructors from the local area coming in to teach proper movement and explain the philosophy, and they're doing a great job.

It wouldn't surprise me if "big military" never 'officially' adopted Crossfit. It sounds too revolutionary, too counterculture for an organization that defines itself oftentimes by its conservatism and tradition. Individual units will pick it up as they realize how effective it is, and for now, that's what we need. Data points. Success stories.

[George Mounce]

Originally Posted by Barry Cooper

You know, I think it's worth dialling in a bit who the enemy here is. Broadly speaking, it is ignorance, and anyone who wants to manipulate ignorance for their own ends. Anyone who is selling a competitive product and making blanket, inaccurate claims about our product, is the enemy.

However, the people caught in the middle, the Air Force, or Navy, or Army Chain of Command, they are not being unreasonable in wanting things like qualified instructors leading CrossFit PT, or some sort of cost/benefit/risk assessment. The caveat is that if we do in fact perform well on those sorts of risk assessments, and CrossFit type programming is still not adopted, then something other than a pure desire for efficacy--read doing right by our troops--is in play.

The task then becomes to sort out what those (presumably political) factors are.

As I read these emails, one immediate concern is the use of the ACSM to vet our program. They didn't invent it, and in point of fact the past programs--which they presumably did vet--didn't work anywhere near as well as CrossFit. Do you go to the doctor whose sick room is always full, or the one whose patients head out the door after one visit and never return?

Upon what concrete accomplishment, one might wonder, does the presumed expertise of the ACSM rest? Publishing? Pervasiveness? Reputation?

One thing about the military, is you are running people across the globe, through potentially EXACTLY the same PT every day, or as many controlled variations as you want. If there is a better field within which to conduct controlled experiments in the realm of physical fitness for the "masses", I don't know what it is.

I've done the experiment Barry with my last detatchment. I took people who were overweight and just finishing up cancer chemo, completely out of shape and skinny fat, and those already in shape, and got them all to well above average fitness using CrossFit methodology. I didn't get in their face, and I tailored each workout to the different levels of their fitness.

The result? Everyone passed their fitness test with a 90% or higher rating (myself and my LT got 100s), and they all learned how to properly squat, deadlift, run, row, etc....over the course of about 8 months.

[Coach]

On the spelling, I know, I know. I'm the world's worst 3am, Blackberry, from bed, and completely ****ed-off operator on earth.