Lazar Dukic’s death near the end of a half-mile swim at the 2024 Crossfit Games has prompted questions about whether adequate safeguards were in place.
I was lucky to learn Olympic Weightlifting in the 90s from a world class coach, but that was just because I was in the right place at the right time.
I’m thankful for the exposure CrossFit brought to the sport, because there’s lifting platforms everywhere now. However, most CrossFit coaches are horrible in regard to providing necessary technique instruction to avoid injury.
One small example that frequently results in injury: you do not “catch” the bar when performing a clean on the palms of your hands. You catch the bar across your deltoids and clavicle.
At a CrossFit gym where I weightlifted for 3 years, I knew of five people needing surgery to repair damage to their wrists from catching a clean improperly on the palms of their hands. They could have just been taught proper technique from the start, but most CrossFit gyms are more concerned with pushing you to your limit immediately, not with finding your long-term potential and avoiding injury.
Hopefully it’s improved, but based on the rapid downward popularity trend, I’d assume they have killed off participants through attrition.
One of the lifting coaches is a girl that was on the national team. Hilariously enough, I grew up with her, but lost touch for years, only to bump into her at the CrossFit gym
In general, most CrossFit coaches were well intentioned, but cared more about a rapid pace through reps, rather than the safety of the members.
Weightlifting in CrossFit is better understood as a subtly different exercise. Traditional Weightlifting is a maximum effort exercise, and purely by human physiological limits it has to be modified for CrossFit. If sub-max effort shortcuts were taught, and technical qualification requirements were mandated, the injury rate would be greatly reduced.
I was lucky to learn Olympic Weightlifting in the 90s from a world class coach, but that was just because I was in the right place at the right time.
I’m thankful for the exposure CrossFit brought to the sport, because there’s lifting platforms everywhere now. However, most CrossFit coaches are horrible in regard to providing necessary technique instruction to avoid injury.
One small example that frequently results in injury: you do not “catch” the bar when performing a clean on the palms of your hands. You catch the bar across your deltoids and clavicle.
At a CrossFit gym where I weightlifted for 3 years, I knew of five people needing surgery to repair damage to their wrists from catching a clean improperly on the palms of their hands. They could have just been taught proper technique from the start, but most CrossFit gyms are more concerned with pushing you to your limit immediately, not with finding your long-term potential and avoiding injury.
Hopefully it’s improved, but based on the rapid downward popularity trend, I’d assume they have killed off participants through attrition.
One of the lifting coaches is a girl that was on the national team. Hilariously enough, I grew up with her, but lost touch for years, only to bump into her at the CrossFit gym
One data point doesn’t make a standard.
In general, most CrossFit coaches were well intentioned, but cared more about a rapid pace through reps, rather than the safety of the members.
Weightlifting in CrossFit is better understood as a subtly different exercise. Traditional Weightlifting is a maximum effort exercise, and purely by human physiological limits it has to be modified for CrossFit. If sub-max effort shortcuts were taught, and technical qualification requirements were mandated, the injury rate would be greatly reduced.
I don’t disagree that safety should be paramount, or that one point doesn’t make a standard; I was just telling you my experience. YMMV