Archive for November, 2008
CrossFit’s “Makimba” Workout
The workout Makimba Mimms alleges caused the injuries he sued a CrossFit instructor over has been named after him and re-categorized it as a kid’s workout by the CrossFit community to mock him. While this might be going a bit far, I am still highly skeptical of Mimms claims and believe the case should be appealed because there is no way the workout could have caused the injuries claimed if performed as prescribed.
According to the Navy Times article,
“The injuries included rhabdomyolysis, lumbosacral spine strain and strain of the bilateral quadriceps, according to court documents. As a result of these injuries, Mimms was incapacitated, lost time from work and required surgery, court records show.”
Frankly, I think this is bullshit.
According to a discussion in one of the CrossFit forums, as mentioned in a previous post on the CrossFit Lawsuit here, the workout Mimms alleges caused the injuries was prescribed as follows:
Three rounds of each of the following, performed for 15, then 10, then 5 reps:
- 10 pound dumbbell thrusters (a thruster is a combined squatting and pressing movement)
- Burpees
- Bodyweight Squats
The exercises are performed one after the other, non-stop. There is no rest between exercises or rounds.
None of these exercises carry a high risk of injury if performed with strict form in a smooth, controlled manner. The sequence as prescribed is not excessive for someone in moderately good condition, even when performed non-stop. If an injury were to occur performing the above routine, it would most likely be due to improper technique, fast or sloppy performance, inappropriate training environment (way too hot, improper training surface, etc.) or possibly just extreme wimpiness.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have had several clients perform this workout, ranging from a very strong 200 pound 35 year old male to a very small-framed, 90 pound 58 year old woman. Two of the men who have done the workout used 20 pound dumbbells instead of 10, and I performed the workout last Friday using 40.
A few people have reported a slightly higher degree of delayed-onset muscular soreness in the thighs, and mine were a bit more sore than usual for a few days, but nothing else. One woman in her 20’s who performed the workout with 15 pound dumbbells and probably could have easily handled 20s experienced no soreness as a result. There wasn’t a single case of exertional rhabdomyolysis, spine or quadriceps strain, incapacitation, or the need for surgery.
The fact that a small, 58 year old woman was capable of duplicating the routine with no problems whatsoever leads me to believe Mimms is full of shit. Either he’s faking or sustained the injuries doing something else and is looking to make an easy buck, or he was using unbelievably bad form. However, I have a hard time thinking his instructor would have allowed that, even considering how bad some of the form is on many CrossFit videos I’ve seen. Without being there or knowing the details of the lawsuit I still can’t be absolutely certain, but the whole thing certainly smells of bullshit to me.
What concerns me about this is a comment another personal trainer made in a previous post on this about potential clients telling him his waiver was beatable in court. He refused to train them, which I believe was a smart move on his part, since they sound like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
On one hand, I believe if someone is seriously injured by a trainer due to negligence or outright stupidity, there should be some recourse. On the other hand, the world is full of litigious bastards looking for an undeserved pay day who may go after a personal trainer or gym if they think they’ve got deep pockets, so trainers, training studios and gyms have to protect themselves.
I’d love to hear opinions on this from trial lawyers who prosecute or defend personal injury cases. How do you ensure that clients or gym members who have been injured due to negligence, incompetence or stupidity (which are all too common in this industry) are fairly compensated, while making sure that good trainers are not wrongly sued by someone just out to make a buck?
High Intensity Does Not Equal High Risk Of Injury
Every once in a while I come across an article by some well-meaning but ignorant trainer warning people of the dangers of training to failure.
If the point of failure is defined as the moment where it is no longer possible to continue an exercise in the prescribed form, than there is nothing dangerous about training to failure. Unless there is a pre-existing injury or condition which would contraindicate performance of the exercise to begin with, risk of injury only increases when one attempts to continue an exercise beyond the point where they are capable of using proper form.
Due to the greater physical and mental demands of to-failure training, a lower volume of work is necessary. I strongly suspect many of the beliefs about problems with training to failure, such as concerns over injuries, CNS “burnout”, etc., are probably the result of people attempting to train with a high level of intensity without an appropriate reduction in training volume.
I’ve been training people using high intensity training methods for over 15 years, and the majority of my clients train to failure almost all of the time after their first few weeks. None of them have ever been injured as a result, and this includes clients with various lower back problems. There is no merit to the claim that training to failure in and of itself leads to or is associated with injury, and while trainers who say so may mean well, they are mistaken.
Strong Enough?
One of my older clients, an 84 year old golfer, recently asked when I would stop increasing the weights he uses in his workouts. I told him I’d stop increasing the weight if he ever stopped getting stronger, but that I thought he underestimated his potential and would probably continue to improve for quite some time. He then asked how strong I expected him to get, to which I replied “as strong as possible”.
His primary concern is maintaining his health and mobility, and his golf game is also a big priority. Both have improved considerably since I’ve been training him and he’s happy with his current level of strength and condition. However, I do not believe in just being strong enough because you never really know what “enough” will be for everything life might throw at you. What may be “enough” strength for your normal daily routine or typical physical activities may turn out to be far too little under different circumstances, and it’s better to be stronger than you need to be 99% of the time than not strong enough during that 1% when it might really count.
Unless you are omniscient and know all the challenges you will face in your life there is no such thing as strong enough. Stay hungry. Focus on consistent, gradual progression in your workouts and always strive to become at least a little stronger than before.