Most gyms I have seen don't have a proper ramp up to their main programming. It's literally throw you to the wolves.
The hype behind CF goes beyond what Stalin could of ever hoped for when he was running the Soviet Union. Young Joe sees this and believes that if he is not beating the living piss out of himself every training session then he won't ever be "elite" There he goes, smoking the hell out of himself day in and day out. Most soldiers I believe are Type A personalites, they won't quit, especially the younger ones who feel they have something to prove. While this recipe for disaster brews let's just sprinkle in some spice.....I mean a little substandard coaching...now let's watch this baby come to fruition...
Sadly I've witnessed units demonstrate horrible coaching for the WOD they were going to do (this one involved "floor to overhead" anyway you can 3 reps per 60 seconds) Leadership allowed their guys to just stand there leaning against their PVC pipes
. I mean we can't actually take the
T in Physical Training seriously, we have people to look hard in front of. As long as higher has never suffered a serious orthopedic injury it's just not possible right? We can't actually take the time to instruct...breaking people off is what's important!
During this event I had to cover down on one of the bars because their was a shortage. So me and my buddy are doing clean and presses. I made sure to coach him before this abortion took place. We were both getting done within the minute. We kept the weight decent and I just made sure that our form was good. I knew once fatigue set in that form would be the first thing to take a dump. So I was pretty anal about the form before weight. I also am careful about injuries I have. It doesn't really limit me but I have to think about my position and I just can't run in like a drugged out wildabeast on meth.
Fast forward to a circuit of pullups, box jumps, handstand pushups, med ball slams and ring dips. I never do any of this shite in my training. I can knock out 20 deadhang and one good deadhang single weighted with 80-90lbs....100pounds depending on if the planets are align. So I do this workout no bs with a pelvis injury...take my time to focus on not killing myself on the box jumps ect. I don't finish first..that went to a Radio Recon Marine who was a freak of nature...but I beat command who is pimping this out....because this is all they ever do...
Afterwards, I am told that I should of moved up in weight during FTO (floor to overhead) because our form was too perfect and obviously we could of done more. I explained that I wasn't really familiar with this programming and I wanted to be on the safe side instead of risking injury...I also had limited time since I was sharing a bar.... "If you can't do this type of training then you can't perform in the field"
Now...I finished 2nd....yes..just the first loser.. I wanted to say, but you have been doing CF for how long? Yet I beat you...don't you run the section? However, I didn't and it was probably for the best. I moved on and I had to actually try out for my slot at the new unit. Not once was I asked to demonstrate my snatch ability. I was expected to be in shape though and it was tested through doing my job. How I reached that level of fitness needed was unimportant.
There are numerous ways to get in shape safely. Crossfit, based on my experiences has a huge void to fill in regards to safety.