I Did CrossFit for 5 Years: Here are the Pros and Cons

I have a very unique perspective of seeing the ins and outs of working out at a CrossFit gym for five years, for 4 to 5 days a week. Most videos or books about the topic are people who tried CrossFit for 5 days or 30 days or a week, which gives a very superficial perspective. Having seen all the pros and cons of what it’s really like to be part of the CrossFit community, this podcast episode unveils it all. I talk about a lot of things, including pros and cons of CrossFit you never realized, how people get a lot of false ideas about it from afar (that it’s a cult, that women will look too manly, that it’s too intimidating, etc.), I talk about where it really shines from other alternatives, and where it falls short. We address some common factors like how expensive it is, injury risk, biases, the bad perception of kipping pull-ups and how outsiders falsely judge that, and a lot of interesting things you didn’t know or consider (high turnover of coaches and students, how the community is like no other and can help with mental health and self care). There’s so much tea to spill. You’ll have to listen to the episode to find out more. Subscribe to my podcast on Apple. I paid 10 times as much as friends, coworkers, and other people my age for my gym membership. And I make roughly the same amount in income as them. Well, up to ten times. If they have a cheap membership from Planet Fitness or Gold’s Gym or something similar, then yes. If they have a premium membership to a luxury gym like lifetime fitness or earth treks, I paid more than two times.   At first, this situation may seem like madness for a personal-finance junkie like me. I’ve literally written personal-finance articles for top publications like founder. Why would someone so interested in saving money for the power of compound interest willing to spend so much on the gym?   The truth is I can’t rationalize all of it. I’d much rather pay $50 a month for what I’m getting now and that would be much more reasonable. You get much less Non-barbell related equipment Then at a commercial gym.   I pay for CrossFit because of the community. I see people there I recognize every day and there usually more friendly and open to talking to fellow classmates and strangers than a commercial gym. That community helps my mental health because I got very lonely at a commercial gym. I would reach out all the time and talk to people at a commercial gym ( planet fitness, though I’ve tried others like Gold’s Gym and LA fitness with similar results ) But there would be is some distance with people are trying to make friends with. They don’t want to talk to strangers as much, they keep away, you often don’t see them again for a while, and are often in the zone wanting to get a workout in with their headphones on.   An aside reason would be for the strength gains I’ve made at CrossFit. The programming had so much barbell work that it’s almost ingrained into the culture of the gym. There’s enough experience people there to guide me and point out small problems I have with my form. When you combine that together with consistency in patients over the last three years, I’ve PRed On various lives constantly, from the back squat to the benchpress to the deadlifts. I just never got that at a commercial gym, where free weights and machines often reigns supreme. There’s something about barbell exercises that just push your muscles to work harder, plus it’s easy to track my progress and compare results. In addition, there is a competitive aspect to the sport, which pushes me to work harder.    That does come with its downsides, as I have to focus hard to not let my forms slip as I’m raising others, something I’m much more cognizant of and concer...