Charles Poliquin’s Take on Crossfit


In the December “Question of Strength” article on T-Nation, Charles Polquin discusses his view of Crossfit.  He gives 6 reasons why he “can’t recommend CrossFit training, especially for those seeking the highest levels of athletic performance”.

Polquin is a World respected Canadian strength training coach who has trained and/or consulted numerous world class athletes and professional sports teams.  His views of Crossfit are well stated in this article, but unfortunately his criticisms are nothing new and have been disputed many times in the past.

One of Polquin’s main arguments is that Crossfit utilizes high rep workouts with Olympic lifts which means that form and technique are lost and that oly lifts are best suited to low rep sets where explosive powere can be maximized.  He says,