“Haters Gonna Hate”
“HATERS GONNA HATE”
By Coach Rick Moore
“Ladies will get too big and bulky.” “You’re going to hurt yourself because the media said so.” “The human body isn’t meant to move like that.” “It looks more like a cult than a sport and is probably based on pseudo science.” I’m sure you’ve heard it all by now, and if you haven’t you will sooner or later…actually sooner rather than later. The average American takes one look at something and quickly comes to a decision on whether it’s a good idea, a great idea, or a stupid one. Crossfit is no exception.
Any man who has ever set foot inside a gym and worked out for longer than a week thinks he knows everything about fitness…and I mean EVERYTHING. What to eat, what movements to do, what supplements to take, and how to recover properly. To top it off, if he doesn’t like something or if he isn’t good at it right away, he’s going to knock it and tell you it’s bad and why you shouldn’t do it in the first place. Most men who work out have massive egos and they rarely listen to anyone else’s advice, so they’re not going to listen to you defend functional fitness no matter how much empirical data you throw at them. They’ve already made up their minds and went to “www.I’mRight&You’reWrong.com” to corroborate their point of view and appease themselves.
Ladies don’t have anywhere near as big of egos as men have, plus they’re willing to listen to other people. That’s probably why they’re more likely to hire a personal trainer/fitness coach. That’s not to say they’re immune from being haters of functional fitness. Ladies, I’m sure you’ve heard more than a time or two that Crossfit will make you too big. (I’m not going to go into detail about why this isn’t true, this blog is not for that.) In most globo gyms the women will hang around the cardio machines, the yoga studio, and the aerobics classes. They just want to lose weight/keep it off and be all around skinny thinking this is what a woman should look like. Not only do they live by this mantra but think that you should too and that lifting heavy weights will break down your body over time.
The media will tell you that doing Crossfit is only going to put you in the emergency room in the short term and a wheelchair in the long term. Even ESPN has been tasked with doing hit pieces on our sport, all the while airing the Crossfit Games year round at the same time. I’ll admit I haven’t done a whole lot of research on this subject but I feel I’ve read enough blogs and articles to mention this. Crossfit is hurting globo gyms like Planet Fitness, L.A. Fitness, Gold’s Gym, etc. These franchises are not the first big businesses to get a journalist to write a scathing article on an up and coming competitor, especially one that could cut into their huge share of the market. Some trainers and licensing agencies have even gone as far as going to Congress to make personal training a federal certification which would null a Crossfit trainer’s certification. Now I don’t know about you but i personally believe the federal government should keep their hands out of this and that’s more than just the small government conservative coming out of me…that’s a subject for another time though.
I guess the bottom line I’m trying to get at is…haters gonna hate. You know what? Let ‘em hate. Nearly everyone we work out with us is in the best shape of their life due to Crossfit and the amazing trainers we have. Try not to let them bother you, and if they do, prove those naysayers wrong with performance. Let them watch you work out or inadvertently show off your strength by lifting something heavy for them when they need help or whatever. You know what you’ve done has worked and quite frankly that should be enough. Now get back in the box, pick up that bar, and continue being awesome!
