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The last time we reported on Jillian Michaels was just a few weeks ago when she was calling the keto diet unhealthy. Keto devotees of course defended the diet and some personally attacked her. Now she’s getting the ire of another dedicated group, Crossfit practicers. Crossfit is a exercise program where people do circuits that change every day. I haven’t done it but have gone to a studio to learn about it. From what I understand it’s very rigorous, it goes quickly and you get both a cardio and weight training workout at the same time. Only Jillian says it’s repetitive and isn’t a balanced enough workout and that it uses momentum to lift weight instead of strength and is essentially cheating. She recorded a video for Shape (the full version is here and a segment is below) calling out Crossfit for this and other things. She know what she’s doing by coming for Crossfit. Here’s some of what she said.
“My issues with CrossFit are as follows. First of all, you’ve got what — 20 to 25 movements that don’t really vary? And you’re doing them over and over and over again. So on one hand it stops being effective because you’re not challenging the body from various angles of push and pull, with different varieties of exercises and different types of movements that work different modalities,” Michaels, 44, said in a video for SHAPE. “And I know CrossFit [athletes say] — ‘Oh, we work all the modalities!’ — but no, not really, so shouldn’t you choose a workout that has a little bit more flexibility and strength so you get more mobility, not just power, which is speed and strength.”
Michaels said that instead of doing CrossFit, people should look for a more well-rounded workout.
“A little agility work, maybe some endurance training,” she advised. “So that you’re training in a more balanced way, to keep the body changing and keep your training more holistic by hitting all modalities of fitness.”
And Michaels also takes issue with one movement in particular that’s common in CrossFit: kipping
“In case you aren’t familiar, it’s likely you’ve seen it in CrossFit. It’s when you use momentum by bucking or jerking your hips,” she explained. “And a lot of athletes or CrossFitters use this to do things like pull-ups or toes to bar. And they feel like it makes them more efficient because they can do more reps. Some believe it helps builds power which is speed and strength together.”
The mom of two recognized that her take on kipping isn’t going to make people happy.
“I know this is going to make so many people pissed off, but where I come from that’s called cheating, using momentum to do a repetition,” she said. “And if you don’t have fantastic form, you can get hurt, and we don’t want that to happen.”
[From Shape via People]
I’m a cardio girl, I do spinning and Zumba. I know that I’m not balancing my training but as long as I’m working out at least five days a week I feel good about it. (I get some strength training randomly from classes, like this Popsugar kickboxing workout that kicked my ass last night.) So I don’t have a dog in this fight and am of the opinion that exercise should be something you enjoy and will keep doing. Also I’ve seen Jillian’s kettlebell workouts on YouTube. She swings the hell out of those things and she’s been criticized by other trainers for putting people at risk for injury. That was many years ago though maybe she’s adjusted her form. She threatened to sue the LA Times for their claims in that story about her method. She really hasn’t changed much.
Here’s the video:
Those pants
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Photos credit: Getty
I’ve been doing CrossFit for over 4 years and I don’t necessarily disagree. I’ve stopped doing it as much as it doesn’t agree with my body. High reps can cause injuries and you see a lot of them in CrossFit. I also don’t like the kipping movements but good coaches will program them sparingly. I’m now a Pilates and cardio girl. Works better for me.
And she knows she’s going to be slammed. CrossFitters usually don’t take criticism well.
To your last sentence, the rabid fanaticism of CrossFit devotees has always been a huge turn-off for me.
Bingo. The cult of the crossfitter.
You know what they say about CrossFiters? You never have to guess what workout they do because they are going to talk about CrossFit nonstop no matter what. Ugh. LOL I have been stuck next to people at social gatherings who CrossFit and they manage to work it into ANY conversation somehow. 😂 I just don’t care but it gets old fast when it’s all someone wants to talk about.
Dated a guy for month who did keto, intermittent fasting and crossfit. He was worse than a vegan the way he evangelized them all. He has seriously injured himself in crossfit to the point he had to get surgery to reattach muscles he ripped off his arm/chest lifting heavy weights in crossfit.
He was strong and in great shape. But He was too obsessive and righteous with his fitness and diet and it was a huge turn off.
I was often extremely hangry around him. Never again!!
I agree with Jillian in the idea that you should mix it up in order to target different areas of your body. I get bored easy and enjoy running, Orange theory, Pure Barre, Hot Yoga, Indoor Rock climbing and Indoor skydiving.
I like a blend of strength, HIIT, and MetCon, and I’m starting to mix in more cardio and today I am going to add my first yoga class as well. I think everyone might benefit from being well-rounded in their fitness approach to target strength, endurance, flexibility, etc, but honestly, the first step is finding sustainable workouts that keep you interested and motivated. It took me years to do that.
Something nice: everybody has the right to their opinion
Something real: she can kiss my a**. 2.5 years of CrossFit resolved my Type II Diabetes, borderline high blood pressure, & 70 pounds. At 49, I am stronger & fitter than at any time in my life.
Miss Biggest Loser can have a seat
Congrats !!
I just do one CrossFit seance with my 3 sessions of running weekly
I know this was supposed to be “CrossFit session” but the thought of a CrossFit seance is extremely entertaining to me. x
@sassafras – hahaha. Ya, I’d be there for sure.
Weight training is really important, especially for “cardio people”. It makes you faster and prevents pain and injuries. It’s enough to do some compound movements (like deadlifts, squats and overhead press) regularly.
Yeah I chuckled a little but when I read C/B’s comment of “I’m a cardio girl”. So is everyone, C/B! 😉
That’s the problem: people (especially women) tend to become obsessed with cardio and skimp on the weight training, which is a shame. We really need to put more of an emphasis on EPOC and less of an emphasis on the calorie-burn that occurs while you are doing cardio. Plus weight-bearing and muscle-bearing exercises are so important to increase bone density and combat osteoporosis as we age.
Hate cardio, hate it and rarely do it. Do HIIT once a week and I’m in the best shape of my life currently. Strength training only with a tiny bit of cardio. Know this may sound judgmental but noticed people that use mostly the treadmills and cardio machines, cardio classes at the gym have little muscle tone and tend to slim out, rather that “pop” out. (big booty building). Which is OK if that is your preference many women want more fat than muscle. I’m not one of those women.
If you want to exercise and not develop muscle, stay with mostly cardio.
Building muscle with less fat, strength train with a little cardio added in.
You can lose weight in the end with both.
Agree completely. I’m a runner (and I love it) but HIIT challenges me in a way that running does not. On that note, it’s also helped me increase my speed–I’ve won a few races recently and I give all the credit to HIIT.
Man, bless anybody who can get into HIIT. I just cannot get myself to like it. I’ll do an hour plus on a bike or elliptical at max strength, but something about interval training always leaves me lightheaded and sick feeling afterwards. The closest I’ll get is flipping between jogging and speed walking on the treadmill concurrently.
@Isabelle – do you follow HIIT workouts online, and if so, can you recommend a starting place. I’m not terribly fit and I’ve heard great things about HIIT. I’m okay at trying most things, although burpees legit make me vomit.
@Veronica I’ve done one HIIT class and nearly threw up from the lightheadedness. Yoga, cardio and weights works for me.
It’s also really important for women because it can increase bone strength, which helps later after the menopause years.
Several PT’s I know agree with her, and several friends have had to stop because it’s so repetitive with squats, even done properly, they developed knee issues. There are several articles about the issues with the redundancy and type of exercises in CrossFit. Many physiologists say the issue is not so much with the exercises but that CrossFit devotees do not give their muscles a rest day or ironically, cross train (yoga, jog, bike, etc.).
To the commenter that CrossFit helped resolve health issues, that’s more because you found a workout community that was a fit vs the actual Crossfit workout.
I commented on the Keto thread that my ED gets so many keto related issues coming in, crossfit used to be a huge problem also. Not as much anymore its a small town and they seem to have injured everyone already, but they were really spreading tendonitis like the gospel over there.
I don’t want to discourage fitness, just the trainers need a higher standard for certification because the injury frequency varies gym to gym depending on who works there. Crossfit is injuring people, but its not really the crossfit, its mostly uninformed undertrained trainers.
Yeah, my dad is a physical therapist and jokes that CrossFit keeps him in business. I’ve seen some stupid WOD workouts like “how many deadlifts can you do in a minute” – deadlifts are not something you should be doing for speed because the form is so, so important. Things like that and that’s why there’s so many Cross Fit injuries.
That’s poor programming. Unfortunately you see a lot of it in CrossFit which adds to the bad rep. Good CrossFit coaches would not program that. But the programming even by the good coaches can still result in injuries.
Hi Samc,
I appreciate your comment, but no I said what I meant to say.
😉 Rabid CrossFitter signing off
Hi Samc,
I appreciate your comment, but no, I said what I meant to say.
😉 Rabid CrossFitter signing off
She’s correct. CrossFit is basically classic circuit training plus Olympic lifts rebranded in the “American Extreme” cultural style we all know so well- it’s marketing hype.
I’m a pro athlete with a good friend who works as a physio. It’s very common to see Crossfitters who come in with injuries because they were pushed too hard too fast, too much weight, too high reps, incorrect technique.
Weight training is essential for anyone doing sport at any level. Crossfit will get you results in a short period of time but has high potential to harm your body with an injury or dysregulated metabolism/ severe overtraining. (Plus I find the culture totally obnoxious – I’m sure there are nice people somewhere but many tend to have a superior bro attitude which is antithetical to Olympian culture).
There are better ways to train scientifically and for anyone who is serious about reaching a higher level of fitness or jump up a level in their sport I would suggest hiring a trainer with a university education or PhD in sports sciences, physical therapy, strength and conditioning….someone to manage an intelligent program.
great intelligent comment!
cosign on the culture issue with crossfit!
My sister and her husband did CrossFit together and then she got a pretty bad injury doing dead lifts and she has been an athlete for most of her life. She quit after that and she said that the guys her husband still worked out with would bounce on her for quitting and tell her she needed to come back. He eventually stopped as well due to his work schedule.
One of my old bosses also does it. When I works for her years ago she didn’t but she was always working out and doing marathons or half’s and doing some diet. Now she’s paleo andand seems to be at CrossFit all the time but she actually doesn’t look as fit as she used to imo. She used to have good definition but now looking at her you wouldn’t think she spends the hours in the gym that she does, weird.
Really any article with her in the title should be “I’m Jillian Michael’s, Wanna Fight?”
I dont know much about the effectiveness of crossfit or its dangers, besides that I personally hate it and prefer weight lifting. If I had to do it I probably would never exercise. I’m a firm believer that you workout doing something you enjoy enough and will keep doing.
All that being said, I have a negative view of crossfit because there was a crossfit studio in the building I used to work in. We kept finding barf in the stairwell daily which was disgusting. Literally just barf down the stairs. The building management finally found out it was the crossfit classes running up and down the stairs, barfing in place, and leaving it for the cleaning crew. Building management shut that down fortunately, but seriously f those people. The lovely cleaning ladies had enough to deal with.
O. M. G. That is vile. Not to mention rude af.
Disgusting!!!! Clean up your own puke!!!
I was intrigued by Crossfit but after reading an article about the unusual incidence of (horrible) injury called rhabdomyolysis connected to Crossfit, I was turned off. And my old boss does it and she is/was always so sore, to the point of almost not being able to move, almost every week. I like being semi-sore, because it makes me feel like I did something, but she would seriously appear to need traction regularly.
I have really come to enjoy strength training and do two days a week with a trainer who also mixes in bursts of cardio and agility, so I feel like it’s more balanced than how Crossfit seems. I also really enjoy spin classes and running, I will always need a few days a week of good cardio to feel healthy.
I did Pilates for about 8 years and really loved it but as I get older I feel like the strength training is more important for me. It can be challenging to hit all the “modalities” she’s talking about because regular people only have so many hours in a day for fitness!
That’s really good, finding what really works for you is always good. It’s so hard to find some form of exercise(s) that really jive with you. Having a trainer probably really helps. I LOATHE cardio specific exercises, but I admire people who can sustain running or cycling exercises longer term. It’s so impressive. I’ll stick with weightlifting and strength training, I’m panting and drenched in sweat by the end so that’s enough cardio for me.
You’re right, strength training does get your heart rate up. I guess I like to keep it up for a sustained period, lol. The trainer I work with isn’t one on one, it’s a group setting. Which is nice for me because I don’t think I’d like the intense scrutiny of a one on one session. But the group is small enough that he can make sure everyone is doing ok. I feel like I get so much more out of it than trying to go lift on my own. And it’s much cheaper than private sessions!
Esmom my husband’s friend lost his only child to Rhabdo last year. A young man in his prime with a wife and new child. About to go off to the naval academy and a rabid cross fitter. Dead at 25.
Also , my niece and her husband are a trainer and a PhD trained physical therapist respectively. They abhor CrossFit. My niece told me the biggest problem is that for your average Joe it is neither reasonable nor necessary to lift the amounts of weight they do. Add that to poor form and you get injuries galore. Her husband has soooo many patients that come to him after crossfit injuries. I was thinking about trying it a couple years ago but after talking to them I would never. My niece trains Olympic athletes so she knows her stuff, and is in phenomenal shape herself. Her muscles have muscles 🙂
Oh I like the idea of a small group, one on one training always felt like too much pressure to me and in large groups no one actually corrects your form. Good idea.
I got into weightlifting because of my fitness instructor/pt assistant brother, he loves it. Weightlifting done right is more about how much weight you can lift progressively while still maintaining good form. That doesn’t always mean that you’ll lift a heavy weight and it means moving slow enough to pay attention to your body. So crossfit people lift tons of weight quickly? Erg, that sounds dangerous. I thought it was intense interval training and flipping tires? I’m not being facetious, that’s my understanding of it.
yeah? My personal trainer would always take down the weight if I was starting to struggle with my form. And if that meant lifting 8lbs, so be it. No shame at all. He also taught me dropping weights around the floor loudly is bad manners. I learned a lot from him about working out.
Crossfit seems like throwing weights around in a rush. I just don’t work out like that.
Just go swimming
FINALLY!!! Somebody said it!! Swimming works all the muscles and it is low impact on the body. Folks can do it from 8 to 80!! People that say swimming is not exercise can go sit don and STFU. It will wear you out!!
Not everyone has access to a swimming pool as easily as a standard gym…for example, in my area, use of the the pool will cost you an additional £30 a month. Perhaps not doable for some folks.
That’s hard sell for us northerners, lol. You’re spending a pretty penny to access those pools even in the summer months. There just aren’t that many around.
I can’t swim for exercise. I have a genetic hearing impairment and when I’m trying to swim laps, the limited peripheral vision with goggles plus the noise of the water and my ears going in and out of the water give me such bad vertigo. I would love to be able to do it, though.
Rowing is my jam!
I never hated much in this world until 2015-16. But one thing I did hate was using disparaging comments about competition to boost sales and self promote. It’s ridiculously apparent and reveals weakness not strength. If you find a way to move your body AND enjoy, you’re a success story. So. End of that story.
This. She needs to stop trying to become relevant again by running her mouth.
Except for – she’s not wrong and could potentially be saving people from causing serious harm to their bodies. Just scroll through the comments (or you know, read up on this) and you’ll see what many many many PT’s have to say about CrossFit and its impact on joints etc.
The injury rates are astronomical.
I believe Crossfit has a cult like mentality. My husband left me and our three children to pursue relationships with crossfit women and their more ideal body types. I will hold a grudge for the rest of my life. I was pregnant or breast feeding for 6 straight years and could not compete.
Jillian- you pulled me out of my depression, gave me structure, balance, and motivation…plus a pretty hot body at 40! Thank you 😘
Oh my god I am so sorry that happened to you, but sounds like you’ve picked up and doing great! Yay Jennifer!
Your ex was a jerk, with or without CrossFit.
Got to love the men who set up house, have multiple children with a woman and decide its not for them. It’s like a thing these days, 40 year old women who went through exactly that.
Thank you ladies! Yes he was a jerk- it just gave him the importance he needed to cut himself loose! Now he’s miserable- those young women keep dumping him…he can’t figure out why! Three little kids and all that child support don’t make him super attractive if you’re young and free. Meanwhile I think I’ve pulled myself from the abyss and I’m doing ok. 😘😘😘
But I still resent crossfit, for all those lonely Saturdays and lonely mornings and lonely evenings. And there’s nothing quite like holding a baby to your breast while your husband comments on your lack of trap muscles….
These exercise threads usually get messy so I’ll just say this: I’m not a fan of CrossFit for a multitude of reasons that I won’t get into because I don’t want to get yelled at.
However, I DO believe in weight-training and HIIT several times a week. I didn’t really start doing serious weight-training till I was 30 but in the past 10 years I’ve seen my body change dramatically from it. Plus it just feels GOOD to be strong. As a single woman who lived alone for many years, I was always very proud (and thankful) that I could hoist/lift furniture, heavy grocery bags, a giant basket of laundry etc etc.
It’s empowering to be strong.
Amen. I feel like the stronger I am physically, the stronger I am mentally. The mental benefits are just as important as the physical ones to me. I think if more people got that they might be less reluctant to work out.
I used to do crossfit and loved it because it made me feel strong. The problem was that I was not this superhuman machine that the other crossfitters were, so I was constantly trying to keep up and failing. It was bad for my self esteem, bad for my body, bad for my health. I’ve just moved to a new city so I need to find something that works for me, but like you said, it has to be empowering. A mix of strength and cardio, but fun so that I don’t get disheartened like i did at xfit.
Exactly how I felt!!!
is steroid abuse an issue in crossfit? the person I know who does crossfit abuses steroids and has also tore his pec trying to lift heavy weight to “keep up” with the other cross fitters.
There’s correlation between strength training and keeping depression at bay, even if you don;t do it daily. I understand it’s recommended to the elderly more and more because of that.
IT IS. That is why weight lifters and bodybuilders HATE IT. Not to mention the fact that when you are doing olympic “style” moves and focusing on speed, there is a problem there. Oly moves are for using PROPER FORM and focusing on WEIGHT, not speed!
I don’t do crossfit because of the high injury rate. I cross train, though. My schedule is kind of like this: Monday am – run, Monday evening – yoga, Tuesday am – spin class, Wednesday am – run, Wednesday pm – weight training, Thursday am – spin class, Thursday pm – yoga, Friday am – run, Saturday am – pilates class. Sunday – either go for a run, a leisurely bike ride, or rest. And I swim whenever I can (almost every day in the summer and when I am in the Bahamas). My yoga classes are for fun. I go with friends.
Wow I’d love to be able to do all that. Shouldn’t have had so many dang kids 😂
Damn. You really are paranormal!
I run because I like it. I go to yoga and then out for dinner with friends afterward (so I probably defeat the whole purpose, lol). And to be honest, it’s often less than 2 hours per day of exercise/me activity. The only seriously scheduled classes are spin and and weight training. The rest I do with friends and it’s more fun. Lately my boyspawn has been getting up to run with me. That makes it even more fun.
It really helps that the spawn are 16, going on 17 now and have their own schedules and my husband gets home later from work or works from home. I just make sure to get everything in by 7:00/8:00 and then it’s home with the dogs unless I’m stuffing my face on tex mex after yoga (which is usually Thursday evenings.)
I’m deeply and thoroughly envious.
If I didn’t have a private practice and make my own hours, I would just run in the morning and do yoga or pilates once a week. I do like exercise. I didn’t always, but do now.
Man, I miss being able to work out like that. You just feel so much more energetic when you’re consistently active. I’m hoping to get back into it, though my schedule is often very unforgiving because I travel for work and do an average of ~60 hours a week.
I’m so jealous of your schedule! I can manage spin once or twice a week but can’t do more than that with my job and kids. Keep it up!!!
The club I go to has the Les Mills program. I do Body Pump, Body Attack, Body Combat, and Spinning.
Les mills has come out with a CrossFit like program called Grit. I tried it once and that was enough. It was too fast and I didn’t think it was safe. I get occasional knee pain and I was afraid I would seriously hurt my knee so I never went back.
I actually agree with Jillian, wholeheartedly. I think kipping is flat out cheating, looks awkward and weird and I don’t think you’re getting the exact exercise you think you’re getting. And everyone is always getting hurt at CrossFit! It’s like a badge of honor that you got injured. It’s almost expected. Those deep into CF will counter with, yeah but injuries are part of every sport. Uh, no, not like that.
I used to train with a personal trainer who was so great. She had an excellent mix of endurance, running, strength. We even developed a friendship that went beyond our client/trainer relationship. But somewhere around a year ago, she started going to CrossFit. And that was pretty much the end of our relationships. She became totally obsessed, and would proudly comment, “Yep, I’ve drank the KoolAid and I’ll post about it all I want and I don’t care what anyone thinks! :)” And it’s daily posts about CrossFit does this and that and it’s so amazing and what a great community…. on and on. She’s totally abandoned the well-rounded personal training for CrossFit. She’s extended invitations for me to try it with her, but I haven’t found the time to get there and we’ve lost touch, mostly.
True story: I signed up for CrossFit and I was going to physical therapy for a separate issue and the therapist made me suspend my membership right then and there. She proceeded to tell me about the numerous CF athletes who come in for injuries and that if I wanted to get better I needed to stay away from CF. I now go to a gym that is more similar to what Jillian talks about, that continually mixes it up. I am so much stronger now, and probably the best shape of my life to include adolescence.
I do a combo of running, strength training and kickboxing. One time when I was only running, not doing the other things, I ended up getting hurt and my physical therapist told me that I needed to start cross training. He advised against Crossfit because he said he saw tons of Crossfit injuries so I joined Farrell’s Extreme Body Shaping, combined that with my running and have had zero injuries in 1 year. Nothing, no aches (other than the normal stuff), I’ve lost weight/inches, gained muscle…but I cannot do a pull-up to save my life and that’s ok!
Crossfit to me looks way too intense and have n desire to ever do it. It isn’t only crossfire that fatigues muscles, a lot of pilates exercises do the same, even Barre. High reps to fatigue muscle. Crossfit just uses larger weights. Blogilates, which is popular, as an example of high reps to fatigue muscles.
Which I the end isn’t truly building longterm muscles results and you can still have a layer of fat over said muscle. No matter how many reps you do.
Jillian, is right about Crossfit, if used incorrectly can cause injury & amp;isn’t longterm muscle building. Still think her diet knowledge and yes exercise knowledge is a bit out of date and stuck in the 80s and 90s.
I did CF for years & genuinely enjoyed the accomplishment of lifting heavy. But Jillian is not wrong. Many of my fellow Crossfitters couldn’t run a mile. Many you couldn’t even tell they worked out but were deadlifting 350lbs. What’s the point?
I’ve been addicted to the Rocks show Titan Games. Many of the competitis do CrossFit, they often lose if the challenge isn’t strength focused. They’re not agile or fast. It’s the runners or yogi’s who incorporate strength training that win the challenge.
Just because you can squat 300lbs doesn’t equal health & fitness!
I’m a lifelong jock and at the end of the day, the best workout is the one that you will do. Period.
That said, Cross Fit is pretty hard on the body. I think that if you blend it with other modalities, great. But it’s probably not a sustainable workout into your 50s and beyond without mixing it with a lot more flexibility-based work.
I do OrangeTheory, another program that can bring about cult-like reverence from some people, about twice a week along with spin, rowing or treadmill and strength training. I’ve worked with a personal trainer for over 3 years so I know most of the moves they show us in OT, but I worry about people who don’t have that knowledge. Despite what they say, in our gym at least OT trainers tend to not correct form and I worry about people getting hurt. I train with one of my friends on occasion, and she doesn’t know her strength well, so she usually uses weights below her ability and in an incorrect manner- she is rarely if ever corrected.
I love orange theory! I’ve never noticed the culty-ness of it. I’ve been doing it for about 4 years.
If you have worked with a trainer before, you’ve probably done a lot of the weight floor exercises in Orange Theory. I do see the newer more out of shape people doing things wrong but they tend to be using those low weights so I don’t think they will hurt themselves using 8lb weights. I think its just good they are trying. You have to start somewhere!
I did CrossFit for 2 years and while it was very effective in getting me to drop weight fast, and I loved getting stronger that quickly, several things about it just weren’t for me…..first of all the WOD focus on speed and getting your name on the board over proper form was not my style. I mitigated against this by only doing WODs with the one instructor who focused on form. Secondly, the pride in working out till you puked and visits from Uncle Rhabdo was beyond cray cray. Add in the copious bacon eating and general cult like environment and it wasn’t for me…..fast forward to present day and my exercise regime now looks like running a couple days a week and HIIT classes (which I lovingly refer to as Crossfit without the crazy)…I totally endorse the idea that everyone should find whatever gets them moving and that’s the main idea – just know that Crossfit ain’t the ShangriLa it’s made out to be…..
Uh oh the cross fitters are coming for ya!!!! Seriously tho I don’t disagree with her necessarily because I have heard a lot of horror stories regarding CrossFit and how they don’t factor in safety into the WODs and the cult personality it breeds. My husband belonged to a “box” and though he loved it at first the longer he stayed the more he realized this wasn’t a long term option. He also thought it was funny how the box promoted chiropractors and therapists at the gym because many clients would complain about aches, pains etc…wonder how they earned them?? Again she’s just saying to incorporate different exercises to help train different aspects of your body but sure tons of people will be pissed. Jillian knew what she was stirring soooo I’m sure she knew what was gonna come.
Oh wow that’s really funny you say that, I didn’t know about that. I commented above about a boss I had years ago that is obsessed with CrossFit and her and her husband are chiropractors!
I did CF for several months last year, hoping to lose weight and gain strength. I did gain strength, but I bulked up fast, in a (to me) quite unattractive way! It was a bummer, but after I stopped doing it my clothes started to fit again and I’ve been happier with my appearance. My husband, OTOH, has been doing CF for a year and looks and feels great. I guess it works for certain constitutions and body types, and not so well for others.
Jillian needs to have several seats. All the people save 1 who were on biggest loser now have a 700 calorie deficit at the start of every day as that program seriously messed up their metabolisms, there was a study done. She could use major dose is humility as to what she was doing previously. My opinion of course.
I’m 66 and here’s my typical week of exercise: light weights and low-impact cardio for an hour; 45 minutes on a rebounder with 1 lb hand weights; 45 minutes of combo yoga/pilates; an hour of heavy weights interspersed with cardio blasts; 45 minutes on a step; 30 minutes on a rowing machine; day off.
I’m fitter than I was 20 years ago. Jillian Michaels is pushy, obnoxious and self-obsessed and can take a seat.
Considering there are now articles published in peer-reviewed medical journals about the increasing rate of orthopedic injury related to Crossfit, she’s probably not wrong.
I’m sure Crossfit, like any other form of exercise, can be beneficial if it’s done properly and with supervision by an expert. But that is rarely the case with so many things. Her point about the keto diet is similar – like the Atkins diet, etc., many people just do those things incorrectly and take it all to extremes, and they don’t stop to think about whether that particular eating style is the best one FOR THEM.
I’m a longtime marathoner and recent CrossFit dabbler–been going a couple of times week for a few months alongside my regular running. I’m fortunate in two ways. First, my gym is women-owned and coached, and the vibe is chill and noncompetitive. There is no pressure to lift heavier or faster just to show off on a board (most people do not bother to post times and such), and the coaches have been great about correcting my form and scaling activities so that I’m getting a workout and not getting hurt. Second, I am nearly 50 and know all too well that (a) I am not invincible, and (b) a person’s bodyfat percentage is almost always the least interesting thing about them. Being fit is a way to feel BETTER, and when it starts making you feel worse, you gotta stop.
i would totally do an all women’s crossfit class. I largely have avoided it because the classes are mixed gender. Do all women classes exist?
I don’t work out with weights like men and don’t want to be doing the same exercises as men or be pushed to lift heavy weights. fitness is about feeling good mind body soul for me. and to help keep the cellulite in check LOL
I mix it up: swim at the Y(but I hate how the chlorine makes my hair feel and I HATE the cap), spin bike, weight training, yoga, jogging/run/walk intervals….try to get my steps in. Going the best I can with two babies running around. No set scheduling, sneak it in when I can.
Eh. CrossFit is just another symptom of America’s obsession with fitness. Jillian’s very existence is also a symptom of that, lol. And she just wants people to do things her way and buy her shit.
Moderation is the key to everything but we live in a go large go big culture and people overdo and take everything to the extreme. What I found amusing is that the number of gyms in the US has more than doubled since the late 80’s. It seems everyone belongs to some type of gym and yet Americans just keep getting fatter and fatter (myself included, lol).
Agree with Celebitchy – do what suits you!
And that will change at different times of your life.
I used to love spin and did it 5x a week.
I used to love circuit training and did that 4x a week.
I’ve had lazy af periods where I did nothing and loved it.
Now I do pilates x2 per week & ballet x1 per week.
In a few years I’ll probably be doing something else! Change is part of what makes life fun! Though admittedly injuries now effect what I will and won’t do (running + my ankles will never be… not that I ever liked running)
I love Jillian’s workouts. My knees started aching a bit so i decided to try Pilates. I’m really liking that as well. I thought it would be easy compared to Jillian’s but i get sore from Pilates too. Like em both