Pelvic floor awareness has been a passion for me. Travelling around the country and now New Zealand, I am constantly delighted and surprised by the interest in the topic, the lack of knowledge about this very important muscle and how it works within the body.

It is more than just stopping yourself from peeing when you don’t want to, but also an important part of the core musculature and how this functions to support the internal organs, as well as providing support throughout the pelvis and lower back.

Oh there is so much more to it than these two simplified sentences, but that is not what I am on about this month.

This month I am going to have the BIGGEST go at a training program that is a worldwide phenomenon – Crossfit.

Ok, I know some of you a huge fans of Crossfit and this is not so much about individual instructors who provide great options and cater appropriately for individual needs, so you can settle back down in your seat, but the program as a whole.
A few days ago, a wonderful instructor emailed me a link to a youtube clip – do you pee during your workouts? click here to watch the video.

It has been professionally made by Reebok for Crossfit. So apparently, they thought it would be a good idea to interview women participating in Crossfit to find out if they ‘pee during a workout’. And the answer, proudly said like a badge of honour was ‘Yes’.

Incredibly there is also is a gynaecologist who also thought it was ok. WOW – and it crossed my mind, how many other people in our fabulous fitness world were also as stupid, uneducated, ill informed, blissfully ignorant about the overwhelming health risks and potential for much worse damage than a little pee that you need to wipe up off the floor after you have finished your bout of ‘double unders’ (skipping when you turn the rope twice in one jump), box jumps or other intense exercise.
It is not that you can’t do intense exercise, it is just that it is incredibly ill advised to do exercise that will continue to weaken a core muscle that is not being strengthened. Obviously Crossfit is all about the reps and the weight and nothing to do with fitness, health or core strength. Perhaps even, shall I say it…the gynaecologist was rubbing her hands together at the thought of all those surgeries that she would be able to perform again and again and again. A bit too far Marietta…well I don’t think anything is too far when Crossfit now encourage women to wear T-shirts that say, I pee during workouts click here to see for yourself!. Yep, ridiculous, incredibly negligent and nothing to do about health and fitness.
I am really angry – really angry. What do you think you are doing Crossfit trainers and organisers? You are not about health or fitness. Actually, based on this clip, I don’t know what you are representing. I wonder if Crossfit thinks it is ok for people to injury their backs or knees or shoulders in the name of repetitions, strength or power. Maybe it is – it certainly looks that way. That clip was the worst thing that Crossfit ever did to promote their program – and yes, they did…