The risk of injury associated with CrossFit training has been a subject of controversy since the program's popularity began to climb in the early 2000s. Critics have accused CrossFit, Inc. of using dangerous movements and inappropriate levels of intensity, and allowing underqualified individuals to become CrossFit trainers.
In response to these criticisms, CrossFit, Inc. says, "CrossFit is relatively safe even when performed with poor technique, but it is safer and more effective when performed with good technique." CrossFit, Inc. also says the risk of injury can be reduced by properly scaling and modifying workouts, a concept taught on its website and at the CrossFit Level 1 Trainer Course.
CrossFit supports this position by citing three academic surveys of CrossFit participants. These surveys calculated injury rates between 2.4 and 3.1 injuries per 1000 hours of training, which CrossFit argues is consistent with or below injury rates found in "general fitness training". An independent 2018 review of scientific literature also found that "injury rate with CrossFit was comparable to or lower than injury rates with Olympic weightlifting, distance running, military conditioning, track and field, rugby, or gymnastics." The review found that more men than women suffered from injuries in CrossFit, with injuries to the shoulders found to be more common (25%) than lower back (14.3%) and knee (13.1%), and injuries may occur in situations where supervision was not always available to athletes.
A 2013 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research entitled "Crossfit-based high-intensity power training improves maximal aerobic fitness and body composition" followed 54 participants for ten weeks of CrossFit training. The study said, "...a notable percentage of our subjects (16%) did not complete the training program and return for follow-up testing." "The authors said, "This may call into question the risk-benefit ratio for such extreme training programs...". In an erratum later published by the journal, it is stated that "after the article was published, 10 of the 11 participants who did not complete the study have provided their reasons for not finishing, with only 2 mentioning injury or health conditions that prevented them from completing follow-up testing."
In 2014, CrossFit, Inc. filed a lawsuit against the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) over the publication of this study, alleging that the data were false and "intended to scare participants away from CrossFit." The NSCA denies CrossFit, Inc.'s allegations but issued an erratum acknowledging that the injury data were incorrect.
In September 2016, the District Court ruled in favor of CrossFit because the injury data were found to be false, but not that the NSCA was commercially motivated or that publishing the study was defamatory, as the NSCA no longer stood behind the study. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research eventually retracted the paper in its July 2017 issue.
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In February 2017, CrossFit filed for sanctions against the NSCA after one of the NSCA's witnesses admitted to falsifying statements during deposition. In May 2017, the Court issued 17 issues sanctions against the NSCA, writing that the organization did have a commercial motive to falsify the data, had published the false data knowingly to disparage CrossFit, and had misled the public with their erratum. CrossFit was awarded $74,000 in legal fees and was allowed to continue investigating the NSCA. If the neutral-party analysis of the NSCA servers uncovers any additional misconduct, CrossFit may file an amended complaint seeking further sanctions and compensation for lost revenue. On December 4, 2019, CrossFit was awarded $4 million in sanction not including damages from the case.
In May 2017, CrossFit, Inc. contacted the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine with a demand for the retraction of another paper, published in the journal earlier that month. The paper states that CrossFit participants "are more likely to be injured and to seek medical treatment compared with participants in traditional weightlifting", a finding that CrossFit, Inc. said was based on scientific errors and material from retracted or misrepresented studies.
Exertional rhabdomyolysis
Exertional rhabdomyolysis is a condition that can affect athletes in many sports, especially endurance sports such as marathon running and triathlon, and athletes who perform a high volume of exercise movements involving eccentric contraction or intense exercises when in excessive fatigue, particularly when the exercises are performed in extremes of heat. The relationship between CrossFit and exertional rhabdomyolysis has been a subject of controversy for the company. Some medical professionals have asserted that both the CrossFit methodology and the environment created by CrossFit trainers put athletes at high risk for developing rhabdomyolysis.
A man successfully sued his uncertified CrossFit trainers and was awarded US$300,000 in damages, after he suffered from rhabdomyolysis after performing a CrossFit workout on December 11, 2005, at Manassas World Gym in Manassas, Virginia, under the trainers' supervision. CrossFit, Inc. was not listed as a defendant in the lawsuit.
CrossFit, Inc. does not dispute that its methodology may cause rhabdomyolysis. The company states that exertional rhabdomyolysis can be found in a wide variety of sports and training populations and argues that its critics have conflated CrossFit's high awareness of rhabdomyolysis with high risk. One CrossFit spokesman stated that "ESPN's report on the 53 deaths in US triathlons from 2007 to 2013 should have put the issue to rest."
Since May 2005, CrossFit, Inc. has published several articles about rhabdomyolysis in the company's CrossFit Journal. Three of the articles are included in the CrossFit Manual provided to all prospective trainers.
CrossFit, Inc. has also been criticized for having a "cavalier" attitude towards rhabdomyolysis by promoting a character known as "Uncle Rhabdo": a cartoon clown dying dramatically—hooked up to a dialysis machine, with his kidneys and intestines falling on the floor. In response to this criticism, Greg Glassman stated, "We introduced (Uncle) Rhabdo because we're honest and believe that full disclosure of risk is the only ethical thing to do."
Social media controversies
CrossFit, Inc. has been variously criticized and praised for its unorthodox approach to social media. This approach has included publishing articles and tweets about non-fitness topics (including politics, philosophy, and poetry) as well as directly interacting with other social media users and critics of the company's program.
On June 4, 2014, CrossFit uploaded a parody video to their Facebook page of Jesus, featuring concepts such as the "Holy Trinity of exercise". Yasmine Hafiz wrote in The Huffington Post that some "viewers are outraged at the disrespectful use of a Christian symbol", with one user asking "on what planet is it comical or encouraged to mock someones belief?"
In June 2018, CrossFit fired its chief knowledge officer, Russell Berger, after Berger wrote about the LGBT community on Twitter. Berger's tweet followed the closure of a CrossFit location in Indianapolis after it faced backlash for canceling a special LGBT Pride Month workout. Berger wrote on Twitter, "As someone who personally believes celebrating 'pride' is a sin, I'd like to personally encourage #CrossFitInfiltrate for standing by their convictions and refusing to host an @indypride workout. The intolerance of the LGBTQ ideology toward any alternative views is mind-blowing." The tweet triggered angry responses denouncing Berger as a bigot and pressuring CEO Glassman for him to be fired; Berger was first placed on unpaid leave, but was later fired by Glassman, who publicly condemned Berger.
In May 2019, CrossFit shuttered its Facebook and Instagram accounts, which had 3.1 million and 2.8 million followers, respectively. On the company's homepage, the announcement stated that CrossFit was concerned about user privacy and security in the wake of "well-known public complaints about the social-media company that may adversely impact the security and privacy of our global CrossFit community." The company also cited intellectual property theft and Facebook's collusion with "food and beverage industry interests" as reasons for deactivating its social media accounts.
On June 6, 2020, the founder of CrossFit, Greg Glassman, tweeted, "It's: FLOYD-19" in response to a tweet from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington that states, "racism and discrimination are critical public health issues that demand an urgent response." Glassman's tweet was widely panned; many CrossFit-affiliated gyms around the world responded by ending their affiliation, and Reebok also announced that they would end their corporate association. Glassman also hosted a criticized Zoom call with CrossFit gym owners where he propounded conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and claimed that the murder of George Floyd had been part of an elaborate cover-up of counterfeiting unrelated to racism. On June 9, 2020, Glassman resigned as CEO then two weeks later announced he had put the company up for sale.
Death of Lazar Đukić
At the 2024 CrossFit Games, a Serbian athlete, Lazar Đukić, died from drowning in the first event that involved an open-water swim. Criticisms have been voiced on the decision to hold an outdoor run and swim event in the heat of Texas, where the water temperature may be too high to be safe, and on the inadequate provision of lifeguards and safety personnel at the event. Athletes and coaches also said that CrossFit had ignored safety concerns expressed by athletes over many years. Some athletes also criticized the decision to continue with the Games, when the leader of the sports team, Dave Castro, made a false claim that the Đukić family wanted the Games to continue as a tribute to Lazar in order to convince the athletes to stay in the competition. A number of athletes including both 2023 champions Laura Horvath and Jeffrey Adler chose to withdraw from the competition. Horvath accused CrossFit of being responsible for Đukić's death, thought the response to Đukić's death "inhumane", and characterized CrossFit as a corporation driven by a basic instinct of "survival and profit". The Professional Fitness Athletes' Association (PFAA), a group representing the interest of CrossFit athletes, called for transparency on the investigation into the death, the creation of an independent safety team, and the removal of Dave Castro as leader of the sport team.
CrossFit, however, refused to publish the third-party investigation into Đukić's death, created its own safety advisory board, and kept Castro as leader of the sport team. It also established instead its own CrossFit Athlete Council as an alternative to PFAA. PFAA expressed its dissatisfaction with CrossFit's response and said that it would support any athlete should they wish to boycott the Games and explore alternative competition routes. A number of prominent athletes, including Patrick Vellner, Laura Horvath, and Annie Thorisdottir, opted not to take part in the 2025 Games season, and affiliates have announced their de-affiliation from CrossFit or non-participation in the Open. Participation in the CrossFit Open fell over 30% from nearly 350,000 athletes in 2024 to 234,000 in 2025, and more than 1,400 CrossFit gyms de-affiliated in 2024, in part due to the controversy.
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