Why I Hate Crossfit (and why you should to)

Crossfit is a mess.

It’s a bunch of random exercises thrown together that you then do for a random amount of time or a random number of reps.

1 minute you could be doing rope climbs the next you could be running.

2 of the lifts they do are the snatch and the clean and jerk - both taken from the sport of Weightlifting (or Olympic Weightlifting).

A sport I competed in for 4 years, winning a British Weightlifting Championship, multiple Northern Irish Weightlifting championships, and holding a few records.

The sport of weightlifting was my life.

I trained anything between 5 and even 10 times a week (doing double sessions), for 2-3 hours at a time, practicing the art and skill of weightlifting, doing everything I could to improve.

If you’ve done a snatch or a clean and jerk you’ll understand that they are by far the most technical lifts that you can do with a barbell, nothing comes close.

And because they’re so technically demanding, they require an insane level of time and effort to perform to a high standard.

Amateur weightlifters spend between 1-3 hours a day practicing, professionals spend between 2 and 5 hours.

And at that, it’ll still take an amateur weightlifter 2-3 years of practicing 4-7 times a week for 1-3 hours a day to get proficient and technically sound at both the snatch and the clean and jerk.

Crossfitters on the other hand, do 30 shitty reps as fast as they can.

They rush it. They get injured. They never improve their technique.

Weightlifting is such a technically demanding sport that it’s impossible to improve at it without deliberate focus.

If you watch an Olympic weightlifter who’s been training 2-5 hours a day for 15-20 years do a snatch compared to a crossfitter (primarily at the lower levels, but even at the CrossFit games), the difference is night and day.

A weightlifter makes a new world record look easy, lifting well over 2x his body weight above his head.

They’ve spent so much time with a barbell in their hands that it’s one with their body and it looks like art, they’ve mastered the lift.

A cross fitter looks unnatural and uncomfortable.

Don’t get me wrong, crossfitters are tremendous athletes, some of the best in the world, but they’ve never dedicated the hours of undistracted focus every single day to nailing the Olympic lifts, hence they’ve never mastered them.

They look uncomfortable and are actually holding back their own performance in CrossFit by not being good at weightlifting.

If they took 1-3 years and solely focused on weightlifting, they could come back to CrossFit and be a much better athlete.

The same context can be applied to anything in your life.

If you want the results of the top 1%, you need to master whatever you’re doing, you need to dedicate hours of undistracted focus each day to practicing it.

Whether that’s mastering writing to help grow your audience.

Or mastering outreach to sign your clients.

Or whether that’s mastering your mind, actions, craft, or performance.

Otherwise, you end up like a crossfitter, never mastering anything and getting “okay” results.

You’ll forever be holding yourself back, limiting your potential, and getting in your own way.

All because you lack the guts to go all in on mastering 1 thing, you’re stuck in the short term, not able to see the benefit of mastery.

Mastery is one of the most powerful phenomenons to exist.

If you master something, you get top-class results, you feel fulfilled and you make constant progress.

Any problem you encounter can be solved.

Any roadblock can be passed.

You need to chase Mastery.

So how do you do that?

1. 2-Hour Mastery Formula

Every single day, without fail, dedicate;

• 1 hour to learning about your craft/whatever you’re trying to master

• 1 hour taking action and practicing your craft/whatever you’re trying to master

If you have more than 2 hours to dedicate, do it. 

But keep the time you spend learning down to 1 hour and spend more time taking action.

2. Chase Self-Mastery

To master anything, you first need mastery of yourself.

How can you expect to put in the hours of undistracted focus, time, and effort needed to master your craft if you don’t have mastery of yourself?

The second you get bored you’ll get distracted and stop.

The day you don’t get results you’ll quit.

The moment you don’t feel like working, you’ll take the day off.

You’ll never be able to focus, improve, or master anything if you don’t have mastery of yourself.

If you want to achieve Self-Mastery and unlock your true potential, click here to get MasteryOS.

Enrollments will be closing soon.

Enjoy your day and chase Mastery. 

- Ross

PS: I don’t actually hate Crossfit, but I hate how they butcher the art of weightlifting and make beautiful lifts look ugly :)

PPS: I’d love to know what you thought of this newsletter, feel free to click reply and let me know!

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