Wednesday, August 19, 2009

So is it the kool aid?

So I humored you all and went to see the ortho about this hip. Xray was good. MRI was good. No cancer. No stress fracture. Maybe a labral tear.

Thats good news Melinda. Why yes, yes it is. But I still hurt. But that is not the point of this post. PT will take care of that perhaps.

The point of this post is to ask other crossfitters their opinion about people who dismiss the power of crossfit and its effectiveness over other training methods for people of all shapes and sizes - young and old.

My ortho basically said fat people shouldn't run. That maybe crossfit was not the right program for me. And have I tried the elliptical? Stationary bike? Swimming? Why don't I do spinning? He basically also said that old people should not run. And that what is good for the military may not be good for people over 21.

So I am sitting there fuming because after losing 85 pounds I'm still seen as fat and unable to train like an athlete. But again, that is not the point of this post.

I told him I would keep crossfitting thank you very much. And I will sub rowing.

I mean, this fat old crossfitter is doing just fine after 7 months. In fact, I'd venture to say this fat old girl might be more fit than skinny joann-blow from down the street who uses the elliptical to train.

And P.S. 35 is so not old!!!!

So is it the cfit kool aid that makes us think cfit is so wonderful? Or is it really wonderful? What do you say other than go google crossfit (which I totally did - told him it would help him with his triathlon training)?

7 comments:

  1. Don't let the jerk get you down! Maybe you can find a way to take the useful diagnostic information and mentally ditch the rest of his uninformed opinion? If you don't want to take on a full educational effort with this guy, you could just tell him that you don't agree with his opinion and get back to discussing the health issue at hand.

    Unfortunately a lot of folks still think that all "athletes" or "fit" people should look one way. And even more unfortunately, a sizeable chunk of those folks work in positions where their (mistaken) opinions have some power.

    I'm sure you know that people who appear to match the popular stereotype of "what fit looks like" get sick or have heart attacks every day. People who don't match that stereotype compete in endurance events and train hard in lots of ways every day.

    Krista at Stumptuous posted yesterday about breast cancer survivors being told they shouldn't lift anything over 5 lbs, but weight lifting turned out to be what helped recovery most. (http://www.stumptuous.com/take-that-you-boobs)

    Every time I see a doctor, I struggle with how much power to give their opinions. Most doctors seem to have been trained to feel that they are in charge of my health for longer than the 15 minutes they see me, and I was certainly trained to go along with that. I tend to turn to standard healthcare for diagnostic help and prescriptions, and look for additional information to get a sense of context for the doctor's opinion or advice.

    Crossfit is good, and 35 isn't old. "Old" is 20 years older than whatever your current age is. ;)

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  2. WTF??? Your ortho's an idiot. Size and age have nothing to do with physical fitness and there are plenty of athletes that prove that everyday. Attitudes like the one your ortho has are part of the reason we have so many out of shape people in this country. People are told once they get to a certain age or size that they can't do anything about it. That's BS.

    PS, I think almost all, if not all, of the contestants at the CrossFit Games were over the age of 21.

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  3. I'm going to agree with Dave on this one.

    Permit me a brief moment to get up on my soap box and discuss my hatred of the medical community (yes, I know this is crazy... I'm in medical school, but there's a reason... I want to be a different type of doctor than your average pompous jerk who thinks he knows it all). First of all, if your doctor was using his brain, he'd have FIRST applauded your 85 POUND WEIGHT LOSS! Very very very few people in the world have accomplished such a difficult task. So, let me give you an extra STANDING O. Though you may have pain in your hip as a result of working out, you're certainly a HECK of a lot more healthy on the whole than before you started CF.

    Yes, there are body types, etc that are more or less conducive to certain types of workouts. There are tendencies for certain people to get certain types of injuries. However, this doesn't mean you shouldn't do them. You should do them intelligently with proper supervision (which you have) and caution when injuries do crop up.

    Bottom line: if you've found something you love that's making you healthier, then your doctor should be jumping up and down because many patients are too lazy to get up off their butts and make an effort. Keep looking around until you find one! And, if you need some suggestions, let me know... :-)

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  4. I have an idea. Why don't you stop doing the exercise you like and have used to astronomically improve your health and start doing something you more than likely will hate. You will then undoubtedly stop doing said exercise and gain back all the weight you have lost. Yes, that is a much better idea. Sitting on your couch and eating bon bons will be much safer than Crossfit.

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  5. I know, right? It was weird.

    Didn't mean for this post to be an ortho bashing. Just thought it was a strange encounter.

    I'm just gonna keep on keeping on. But I am going to keep subbing rowing. Maybe I'll be like Becky and be able to run again down the road when I am stronger. Thanks for the comments.

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  6. I'm late to the party, having just discovered this blog. As a fat, old person (41 years old), I am in the best shape of my life so far. Low BP, low resting pulse, weight loss of 40 pounds, 14 half-marathons, one full marathon, and another half and full in the pipeline (run/walk/shuffle). CrossFit since January 200. I still struggle with what an athlete is supposed to look like. Hey, I'm an athlete, so that's what one looks like! If I didn't exercise and train, all the weight lost thus far would be regained by now, and then some.

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