"Wait, aren't they the same thing??"
That's probably the first thing on your mind as you read that title. To answer your question, no---absolutely not. But in order to find out why it's not, we have to get to the bottom of what both of them are in the first place.
CrossFit is a fitness "regimen" that deals with performing constantly different movements at high intensity. So in short, it's how much you can move in such little time.
Functional Fitness, on the other hand, is it's prettier cousin. It's main focus is not on how fast you can move as much weight as possible, rather it's solely built for you to perform real-life activities in real-life situations. It trains you for what's important in life, and teaches you to work all the muscles together, instead of one body part at a time.
"Ok, I'm still confused. Why is functional fitness better?"
I'm getting to that part. While both these regimens seem great on paper, there are some legitimate reasons that put functional fitness over the edge, and paint a new picture of the craze that is CrossFit, that's sweeping the nation.
1. CrossFit Leads To A Higher Chance of Injury
Probably the main reason why CrossFit is as labelled as dangerous as it is, is it's high rate of injuries compared to any other sport.
We're talking about pulled muscles, torn ligaments, sprains & strains, and fractures.
Why on earth is it like this?
It has a lot to do with performing olympic lifts, such as deadlifts, snatches, squats, & overhead squats, at a high, fast-paced intensity for a long period of time.
The problem with this however is that those Olympic lifts need extra caution & time to perform as they are often quite heavy, and the slightest slip-up could lead to lifelong injury. Is it really worth it to get 'gains'?
With functional fitness on the other hand, it recognizes that these are complex movements that need special attention and care instead of just being thrown around all willy-nilly. And most of the above mentioned workouts, like the overhead squats, are not even needed since we're training for real-life situations & mobility, not just strength.
To really get a killer workout WITHOUT going through immense pain to do so, you can't sacrifice form for speed. Focus on the form. It'll help you a lot better in the long run.
2. Too Much Change & Not Enough Variety
Change is vital & essential to your growth. No one's arguing with that because you cannot expect to achieve your goals without going through immense change. However, that doesn't mean your workouts have to change constantly like it does with CrossFit's WOD.
Having a different workout for every single day? Sounds great but is it really?
Here's the thing, the only way to give your body to chance to change is if you stick with one thing & grind it all the way through for some time.
Yes if you do hit a plateau--where you don't feel yourself performing to your best capability--definitely change it up. But not every day!
Give your body some time for it to adjust to this new lifestyle you've adopted. Remember this is all brand new to you. You're just coming off the traditional weightlifting lifestyle (which I'll talk about a different time), so it'll take a period of time to get used to. So keep on pushing & see yourself growing to maintain that figure of yours that you worked so hard to get.
And speaking about variety, CrossFit may seem like it offers a lot with it's WOD's but it really it isn't much. Take a look and see if you can see a difference:
Why do I need to do so many cleans & snatches? Seems unnecessary.
With functional fitness it's a lot different because it relies on the use of your real-life experiences and a little bit of creativity, granted it's safe to do so. For an example, instead of doing rapid, quick-fire deadlifts, functional fitness would opt for suitcase deadlifts, where it would mimic the use of actually picking up a suitcase.
Or you might opt for rowing or Turkish get-ups or a whole host of other great workouts that mirror real life. And that's the point. You are not limited by time or speed. The only limits in functional fitness is your creativity.
3. Kipping
"Uhmm...What?"
For those of you lost at home, you have every right to be. Kipping is purposefully confusing. Basically, it's when you move your body to create momentum as fast as possible.
Remember what I said earlier? About CrossFit's need to do exercises as fast as possible that actually turns out to be dangerous in the end? Kipping only further illustrates that point. Just look at how atrocious that pull up was!
When you do exercises that just focus on speed & strength, you lose out on a lot of the key ingredients that make up fitness. Things like balance, agility and of course, good form.
These components are actually what functional fitness teaches because it realizes without good form, you can really screw up your body that makes you prone to injuries that last a lifetime. And that's just not what we're about.
Another reason why kipping is dangerous is because it requires pre-requisites to do it. I know, what is this? College? In order to kip, or half-ass a pull-up, you have to half stability in your shoulder joint. That would be great, but the reality is most people don't have stability in their shoulder joints!
With functional fitness however, it allows you to be more flexible and work on improving that shoulder joint and the load it can take.
It doesn't put you right into it like jumping into an ocean full of sharks, without not knowing how to swim.
4. No Rest
Probably the main issue I find with CrossFit is it's inability to add rest into their workouts. Muscles need rest if you want to see proper development in them, and if you want to see results that last. When I was doing the whole no rest thing back when I was bodybuilding, sure I was losing fat but I also was losing muscle.
That's not cool, and functional fitness does not promote that. Sure, a lot of our workouts are no rest between exercises, but once that round is done you owe yourself a break. CrossFit doesn't believe that as it thinks all of us are athletes and want to become one, so rest is unnecessary. That's a load of BS. So go & take as much as rest as you need.
There are some pros and cons to each of these regimens, and not all CrossFit is bad. CrossFit is actually really great for strength training & speed. But what I want to hit home, fitness is not just about those 2 things. It's comprised of so many different elements that come together to craft a better, and more fitter you. However, if your sole goal is to live a life free of unsafe workout habits & supplements that are just plain stupid, then your best bet is functional fitness. And with the help of SuppCo, we'll help you get there.
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