Recently Mat Fraser, winner of 5 back to back CrossFit Games and arguably the fittest man who has ever competed in CrossFit, was interviewed by Joe Rogan. At the time of writing the episode has been viewed on YouTube over 24,000 times and probably listened to way more than that on Spotify.
Whilst Mat has some very interesting things to say about a whole range of topics, there are some things that are said that we want to refute and talk about a bit more.
Fairly early on in the podcast, Joe and Mat have a discussion about rhabdomyolysis (rhabdo).
Rhabdo is the breakdown of muscle tissue that leads to the release of muscle fiber contents into the blood. These substances are harmful to the kidney and often cause kidney damage or death. Rhabdo is often caused by huge traumatic injuries involving muscles being crushed and the chemicals inside getting out.
It can also be caused by extreme over-exertion of one or more muscle groups that are not used to that kind of volume and intensity.
The mild soreness a day or two after a gym session you’ve done is almost certainly not rhabdo.
Joe asks if rhabdo is “a real thing that is pretty common amongst people who do CrossFit” and Mat says “yeah, it’s more towards the beginners because now when I train I don’t get sore”.
At this point the conversation is potentially damaging to hundreds and thousands of gyms like us who pride themselves on meeting people where they are, finding out what the most appropriate form of training is for them and then tailoring things so that the risks of a serious condition are mitigated. We want to make it known that whilst we know and understand the very real risks that rhabdo pose, we use our decades of experience to make sure that those risks are kept as low as possible for everyone, regardless of their fitness level.
We see it as our duty to keep people healthy and help them get fitter, so why would we expose people to unnecessary risks?
Maybe it’s time you booked a FREE No Sweat Intro so that we can discuss with you how best we can help you get fitter and healthier…
Disclaimer: We’d like to remind people that whilst Mat is a phenomenal athlete, his views do not represent what we do on a day to day basis. Trying to copy him without being him would be like turning up to the swimming pool in around 2008 and attempting to do exactly what Michael Phelps was doing and thinking that you were going to make progress and be safe at the same time!