Is CrossFit “Hard on Your Joints”?

warm up stretches

Not unless you do it really wrongly.

The things that are hard on your joints are:

  • moving/lifting with bad technique
  • moving/lifting too much or too often for your current abilities
  • ignoring your current flexibility/mobility limitations when moving/lifting
  • not scaling and modifying the workout to match your current abilities or existing injuries
  • not listening to your coach’s guidance on scaling and modifying
  • not being patient and staying focused on the long term goal
  • not giving your body the sleep, hydration, and nutrition it needs to recover

(I know these things from personal experience because I’ve been there and done them all!)

At Reverb we coach you to do the opposite of each of the things above, based on your current capabilities, and if you follow our guidance you’ll be more likely to experience reduced joint pains due to improvements in strength and flexibility – than a significant injury. 

We often have new members starting out with concerns about pre-existing joint pains or injuries.  They get confident training at their level in our On Ramp program, learn how to scale and modify appropriately to train around any issues, and often end up reporting a reduction in pain and injury symptoms after a couple months as they start to build muscle, strength, and stability around the joint. 

As with every other sport or training program where you are pushing your body, there is some amount of injury risk present that corresponds to the amount of fitness there is to be gained.  Having a knowledgeable coach and a well-structured program guiding your journey minimizes your risk.  

And at the end of the day, also remember to look at the long term picture and weigh the short term, relatively low, injury risk against the long term risk of NOT training – where you’re guaranteed to NOT build the strength, flexibility, and fitness that makes you resilient to injuries… 

Dean

info@crossfitreverb.net

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