Jillian Michaels Has a Few (Bad) Things to Say About CrossFit
Some background.
Last December, Jillian Michaels wrote an article for Shape Magazine titled “Why Jillian Michaels Wants You to Stop Kipping in CrossFit.”
Then the anty was upped a little when Shape released a video last Thursday where Michaels had a few other not so nice things to say about CrossFit like how movements “don’t really vary”, “it stops being effective because you’re not challenging the body from various angles of push and pull”, and you should choose an exercise where you’ll “get more mobility.”
Are you sure she’s talking about the same “CrossFit” we are?
Sadly, yes. Here’s what she said, in full:
“I have a few issues with CrossFit, which is not a secret. First of all, you’ve got what, maybe 20 to 25 movements that don’t really vary? And you’re doing them over and over and over again,” she said. “So on one hand it stops being effective because you’re not challenging the body from various angles of push and pull, with different varieties of exercises and different types of movements that work different modalities.”
OK, so she doesn’t like CrossFit. Lots of people don’t like CrossFit. What’s the big deal?
First, she’s completely wrong.
Todd Wise, a Brute Strength coach, came in with a laundry list of corrections for Michaels, “We do train the start and finish position (isometric holds) the dynamic range (eccentric and concentric) the whole time focusing on holding and building midline stabilization (protecting the spine). We build strength and stability in these once and athlete shows proper mechanics and consistency of those mechanics we will add intensity meaning (reps, load, or speed) if needed to create more adaptation. Any Level 1 trainer has learned these.”
Second, she has 1.3 million followers on Instagram and one of the most widely recognized names in fitness. For better or worse, what she says and thinks about fitness influences countless people across the U.S. and to a lesser degree globally. And instead of using that platform to recognize how important it is that 15,000+ CrossFit affiliates worldwide equates to a few million people getting off the couch and moving, she instead uses her platform to tear it down and create divisiveness.
The USA Today, which has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the US, put it best when they quoted one Instagrammer: “I’d love to see her be thankful people are just out moving and working their bodies. How about a good job instead of u shouldn’t do this or that! My husband lost 70 lbs with CrossFit 6 years ago and has kept it off. I’d say it works pretty good.”
We could go on and on…
It’s no secret that Morning Chalk Up is a bit biased towards CrossFit, but that’s because it works. Do you know what doesn’t work? Programs that don’t teach people how to change their lifestyle and habits. Fat burning pills. Fad diets. Starving people into a caloric deficit. These things don’t work. CrossFit paired with a healthy sustainable dietary plan works.
But before we hang up our sneakers on this one, we’ll leave you with this zinger, courtesy of Brooke Ence. Hand clap emojis for you Brooke. “Needing to stay relevant so she needs to create controversy. Honestly, I feel bad for her, whoever fed her the information about what is CrossFit did not do their homework and in turn made her look like a complete moron.”
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