StalkingWilbur said:
I really don't get crossfit. I love working out, but the whole format just doesn't make sense to me. I get my gym time in (6 days a week when I'm away at work, less when I'm home) and then get my aggressive, competitive fix by doing jujitsu/boxing/muay Thai. Like I said though, I really think finding something high intensity that you enjoy is the key to keeping up a fitness regime.
I get crossfit, but it's definitely not for me. There are very few people I've met within that community that I could tolerate. Pushing to extreme levels is often a goal, rhabdomyolysis somehow becomes something to brag about, and what you get is a bunch of people locked in to striving for mediocrity in a plethora of fitness categories. Although, many CrossFitters have graduated to specializing in Olympic lifting. Lots of impressive folks learned through a CF affiliate, which is nice to see that something is coming of people outside of breaking themselves repeatedly.
You also have people like Kelley Starrett within that community, his teachings are invaluable.
One will hear stuff like "your workout is our warm up" bandied around, and mascots like Pukey the Clown are born. The narcissism is strong there, and I personally cannot stand it. As was mentioned somewhere else in this thread, there is no singular/cookie cutter way to achieve ones goals. CF tends to preach otherwise, and nothing comes close to backing up their lofty claims.
Paleo, I don't even want to get started on Paleo .. there is too much zealotry under that umbrella. It works like anything else, but long term effects also should be looked into .. as many people regret long term adherence to it. Many of the gurus who write books on this like to cherry pick data, and spoon feed us information that was filtered through their own confirmation bias. Either that, or they are disingenuous, and just want to sell books. The evidence keeps piling up on how strict adherence to this diet for long durations is hugely stupid.
Any variation of a ketogenic diet is a more sane solution, as they have been studied for decades now, and will forever continue to be due to their need in the medical field.
I tend to gravitate to folks like Alan Aragon, Lyle McDonald and Martin Berkhan. Minus a few character flaws in the latter two, their information is reasonable and well applied to any formal lab study you will ever find. Not just the ones that support their claims. Berkhan can be a bit dogmatic at times, but the other two guys are straight shooters with no chance of ever selling out.