The couch thread

[Kenny X]

I am curious about something-

Why on Earth would somebody train CrossFit, or any other thing, without health insurance?

That boggles my mind.

[syaigh]

Well, according to the docs I know, the hospital and surgeon will usually write off their cost as charity in cases like this. Its the rehab and long term care that will cost a fortune for the rest of his life. Most of the companies that run these contests have liability insurance and im sure a good attourney could walk through any liability agreement. He may not want to, but he probably needs to consider it.

[JDub]

Apparently it's safe to do crossfit because there is other more dangerous stuff out there. So that means you don't need insurance to do crossfit. Make sense?

[Cave Canem]

Saw the video. This might have been prevented. Mr. Ogar failed on the attempt and was falling backwards when he dumped the bar. The bar hit stacks of plates behind him on the "platform" and bounced back into his back. Were it not for the plate stacks, it appears that it would have been a clean bailout.

[Shafpocalypse Now]

OK. Doing that shit in a confined space is pretty fucking negligent. Poor son of a bitch is paying the price for the stupidity of it all.

As far as training without health insurance, why not? I mean, physical training should improve your health and wellness, that's the #1 benefit. It's competing sans health insurance that's really stupid. When I played rugby, you had to show your health insurance coverage to the coach or club president, otherwise all you could do was practice, and then only non-contact stuff.

[Kenny X]

OK. Doing that shit in a confined space is pretty fucking negligent. Poor son of a bitch is paying the price for the stupidity of it all.

As far as training without health insurance, why not? I mean, physical training should improve your health and wellness, that's the #1 benefit. It's competing sans health insurance that's really stupid. When I played rugby, you had to show your health insurance coverage to the coach or club president, otherwise all you could do was practice, and then only non-contact stuff.

Here's what I'm saying about that-

YES, like you I argue that a guy or gal who wanted to shape-up could jog, and do some some strength training, etc. without health insurance, and be fine. These things do improve health and it is good to do them and they are relatively safe activities.

However- @Fit isn't jogging. It isn't basic strength training. It isn't attending a rugby practice doing all the no-contact stuff for fun and exercise. And if you can't handle the risk of breaking you neck on the rings -per Glasshole- and can't pay for the hospital and rehab bills, it's probably not a good idea to be among their "ranks."

Not a sermon, just a thought.

[Kenny X]

FURTHERMORE-

How will HQ blow this whole thing up? Will this poor guy be honored in some sick, sad way among the inner-circle of sycophant Kool-Aid drinkers? Will they name a ridiculous benchmark WOD after him?

Will people in boxes everywhere be doing their "Kevin" at break-neck speed for better times?

What insanity will come from this?

[JDub]

Will they name a ridiculous benchmark WOD after him?

Will people in boxes everywhere be doing their "Kevin" at break-neck speed for better times?

I think you already know the answer is a big solid yes.

[lasalle]

FURTHERMORE-

How will HQ blow this whole thing up? Will this poor guy be honored in some sick, sad way among the inner-circle of sycophant Kool-Aid drinkers? Will they name a ridiculous benchmark WOD after him?

Will people in boxes everywhere be doing their "Kevin" at break-neck speed for better times?

What insanity will come from this?

Well, step 1 is now complete. He has a hash tag #ogarstrong

from https://www.facebook.com/BarbellsforBoobs

OGAR UPDATE | Kevin’s first surgery is in the books and though it is a step in the right direction he’s got a very long road ahead of him. More surgeries, years of rehabilitation and a life drastically different than the one he knew is in store for this young soul. We’re doing everything in our power to get the right fundraising platform set up for him so that we can get him focused solely on rehabilitation. We’re launching a website at 2pm (PST) tomorrow that should shed a ton of light on how the fundraising process will work from that point on. Thank you for your patience, ensuring that a platform will benefit someone for a lifetime takes a lot of work and we want to get this thing right, so rally your troops and hold the line until we sound the horn. Big things to come. It’s time to get #ogarstrong.

[Cave Canem]

FURTHERMORE-

How will HQ blow this whole thing up? Will this poor guy be honored in some sick, sad way among the inner-circle of sycophant Kool-Aid drinkers? Will they name a ridiculous benchmark WOD after him?

Will people in boxes everywhere be doing their "Kevin" at break-neck speed for better times?

What insanity will come from this?

Dude, that train already left the station;
1/13/14
14 min AMRAP
"Ogar"
3 TnG Snatch HAP
1 Muscle Up
12 Wallballs 20/14#

To be fair this did not come from HQ but from his gym in Colorado.

[JDub]

Saw the video. This might have been prevented. Mr. Ogar failed on the attempt and was falling backwards when he dumped the bar. The bar hit stacks of plates behind him on the "platform" and bounced back into his back. Were it not for the plate stacks, it appears that it would have been a clean bailout.

That really sucks. Sounds like negligence on the part of the organizers. Sad. How did you see the video?

[Kenny X]

I'm seriously praying for some kind of surgical miracle for this guy.

Since I found out about this yesterday I've been taking a weird mental inventory of myself, and I've also been looking over my own recent history, looking for stuff to be thankful for, as well as reviewing things I've observed.

I remember meeting my friend J when he started at the gym where I work. He'd learned all about barbell training from 70's Big and the SS forums. This kid was divebombing 350 with terrible form for "Volume Day" and Ryan and I were observing.

Ryan asked him "So, how long are you planning on lifting weights?"

J responds, with much bravado- "I'll go until I break."

Oh how we laughed.

J eventually learned how to listen, and he's doing great with his powerlifting now that he's training smart and following direction.

I remember when I had the same attitude that J did. And I'm glad that all it took for me was getting a fucked up ankle, and a mildly herniated disk, to make me pay more attention to doing things right.

I'm not saying this man wasn't paying attention. And I'm not saying he was doing anything wrong. That isn't what I'm driving at.

What I'm saying is that, and it's been said here before That which does not kill you could make you stronger, but it also has the potential to fuck you up really badly.

Fuuuuck.

[Kenny X]

FURTHERMORE-

How will HQ blow this whole thing up? Will this poor guy be honored in some sick, sad way among the inner-circle of sycophant Kool-Aid drinkers? Will they name a ridiculous benchmark WOD after him?

Will people in boxes everywhere be doing their "Kevin" at break-neck speed for better times?

What insanity will come from this?

Dude, that train already left the station;
1/13/14
14 min AMRAP
"Ogar"
3 TnG Snatch HAP
1 Muscle Up
12 Wallballs 20/14#

To be fair this did not come from HQ but from his gym in Colorado.

Well, there it is.

[Blaidd Drwg]

I am curious about something-

Why on Earth would somebody train CrossFit, or any other thing, without health insurance?

That boggles my mind.

Most amateur athletes don't have health insurance. This concept that we all must have health insurance to leave the house is an invention of the last 30 years.

Those trying to link a tragedy (sounds like an avoidable one) to the overall safety and efficacy of high intensity circuit training are misguided. The big fat part of the bell curve has plenty of examples of day to day CF malfeasance.

Turn this around and critique a rogue BMX promoter for having a poorly designed course where someone broke their back (it's happened plenty of times) It's an inherently dangerous sport. If you tried to use that outlier event as an indictment of the whole, you'd rightly be told to fuck right off. I don't buy that is a sport, I do think the randomness of their approach is inherently bad but there's no credibility in linking Ogar's tragedy to the real problems with CF.

[Bud Charniga's grape ape]

I'm not a fan of CF. In any way. At all. BUT I tend to fall more on the Shaf/BD side on this one. He'd have been far more likely to suffer permanent injury skiing (even recreational skiing, not necessarily competition), or doing motocross, or playing American football, or baseball.

There are far, far more damning indictments of CF to be made than this one unlucky SOB.

[Shafpocalypse Now]

There are specific requirements that the us and international Olympic lifting organizations have for room around the lifter

The SoCal folks decided to ignore them

I've seen Crossfit dumbass #1 drop a barbell and have to bounce into his shins. I've also seen Crossfit dumbass #1 (same person) drop a barbell and have it bounce and hit someone else.

[Batboy2/75]

Sorry, Bats, that's basically the same as saying the Commandant of the Marine Corps might as well have pulled the trigger on every marine kia under his command.

That was a joke. Turn on your sarcasm meter!

Does the guy that got hurt, bear the ultimate responsibility of the accident? Yes. Did @fit create the environment that accident occurred in? Yes.

So I'll amend my original comments. The now crippled guy is responsible for fucking himself up. @fit is legally blameless. @fit is still a bunch of fags.

[Shafpocalypse Now]

I'm on board with that

[Cave Canem]

There are specific requirements that the us and international Olympic lifting organizations have for room around the lifter
The SoCal folks decided to ignore them

If there are established, accepted and published standards for clearance around a lifting platform during competitions and if the organizers could be reasonably expected to know these standards, it would seem that they would be considered at least partially liable.

[DARTH]

While he does bare responsibility for entering the event, they also bare enough responsibility for him to sue the fuck out of them so he can be a comfortable cripple, not stinking rich but enough to have a modest home set up for his condition and the help he is going to need.

Like some of you pointed out about the lifting area. Did they even bother to look into what the standards from the sport that movement is from pertaining to lifting area?

More CrossFit our way is they way shit?

Shaf, you stated how much stupid shit you have seen go down with them, seems they never noticed and ever though "Hmmm, maybe we should set that area up better?"

This would be like me having my students practice hard throws on a wood floor. You can do it but it's stupid as fuck if you care about safety and the people you train with.

I know I could be crippled or killed doing my art, lots of neck and back targeting and nasty throws, ect. It's a risky art in many ways and I accept the risk but I do not needlessly add to the risk by adding more.

Tonight we train outside and due to the rain we will be on concrete under a pavilion, so there will be no throws or takedowns tonight but if I had the CF mentality we might.

[Shafpocalypse Now]

The barbell does not appear to hit him at any time on the way down as his back was almost vertical which would have made it almost impossible. He basically sat on his butt as he lost the weight behind him. As his butt makes contact with the ground the barbell clearly hits the stack of blue 45# plates behind his platform and comes right back into his lower back at which point you see him react.

From an avid viewer of the vid

[Shafpocalypse Now]

I made modifications when I was instructing and also suggestions if I was not. Whenever I'm working with a group of folks, the first concern I have is safety and will divide into groups if there is not enough room. Many affiliates are small, and you need to do this

[Gary John]

Somebody got hurt bad. End of story. I save my grief for friends and family. Seems folks croak running marathons every year, so we are supposed to wring our hands and make everybody take an EKG the morning of the run?

Yeah, it is a subset of X-fit stupidity. And try and find a diving board at a pool.

Never thought this board would be so pussified about shit. To many posting lately saw like out of work slip and fall lawyers.

[The Ginger Beard Man]

I've been without health insurance several times, and practiced martial arts without it. Not terribly smart but one could do worse things.
But people of all ages claim they can't afford insurance, then carry smartphones, drive expensive cars, and join expensive gyms and yoga studios.
Priorities?

[syaigh]

Well, there is the RRG.