IMPORANT TOPIC: Rhabdomyolysis

I wanted to bring up an important topic today. Since I started CrossFit or what I called CrossFit (thrusters and lunges in my work gym before I joined at NoHo), I had been aware of what working out too hard or not warming up could lead to. Rhabdo. This is a condition that not many people are aware of - especially not the people who are most vulnerable to it. If you are just starting to work out, make sure to scale appropriately. It is vital for your body's recovery. Please read teh following articles and information to find out more. You might be surprised!

Rhabdomyolysis a potentially lethal condition caused from incorrectly training.
Here is a description of the condition from Wikipedia:

Rhabdomyolysis is the rapid breakdown (lysis) of skeletal muscle tissue (rhabdomyo) due to injury to muscle tissue. The muscle damage may be caused by physical (e.g., crush injury), chemical, or biological factors. The destruction of the muscle leads to the release of the breakdown products of damaged muscle cells into the bloodstream; some of these, such as myoglobin (a protein), are harmful to the kidney and may lead to acute kidney failure. Treatment is with intravenous fluids, and dialysis or hemofiltration if necessary.^[1]

In layman's terms, you work your muscles so hard that they break down and essentially you end up peeing out your muscles and their proteins. If you want to read more about the scientific side of Rhabdo check out the wiki page

This past week, a friend of mine went to urgent care because her 'trainer' had pushed her too hard. This can sometimes happen when 'trainers' are not properly trained themselves. They do not know what can happen if one does not warm up properly or if they push a newer client too hard.

In my experience, and in my research on various CrossFit sites this is a condition that has popped up only a few number of times. CrossFit is very conscious about making sure to scale the workouts for new people or for people who can't quite handle the prescribed weight or reps. The statement in bold below is eye opening.

From CrossFit Journal:

They left their workouts seemingly no worse off than anyone else. The environment and circumstances attributed to rhabdo in the sport and medical literature is so different from what we’ve experienced that we’ve termed the rhabdo we’ve seen as “cold rhabdo.”
From our perspective, it seems abundantly clear that these folks were exposed to too much work in too short a time. Their previous training—the kinds of programs offered in commercial gyms, fitness magazines, popular Internet sites, the U.S. military (including special operations training), and police training agencies—all proved woefully inadequate at preparing them for sustained power output.

For more on the subject relating to CrossFit see CF Journal 38

It is important to remember to push yourself but you should know your limits. More importantly, your trainer should know what they're doing.

One final article on the topic from Women's Health Magazine:

Here's a little bit of it:

For an upcoming study, Melton has been interviewing managers from several clubs (she promised not to name the clubs). Their responses have included: "We know it's important to hire quality trainers, but we…have to pay them more, and that cuts into our profit too much." (According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average personal trainer makes $25,190 per year. The average hourly wage for a trainer at a chain club is $24.42.) She also found that some clubs hire college students--and not necessarily those with exercise-related majors--as trainers in exchange for free membership.

In a survey by the National Board of Fitness Examiners, a nonprofit creating a national certification exam that could be adopted by individual states, nearly two-thirds of the 2,700 certified trainers interviewed admitted knowing trainers they considered incompetent. And a study of health-and-­fitness professionals published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that trainers who had five years of experience but no college degree scored an average of 44 percent on a test of basic fitness knowledge. Those with at least a bachelor's degree in exercise science scored an average of 68 percent. Trainers with an ACSM or NSCA certification got 85 percent, while those with other certifications or none at all came in at 36 percent.

No matter what your fitness program, please, PLEASE be aware of who is giving you instruction and whether or not they have been certified either by CrossFit or by the above mentioned certification groups. Your life could depend on it!