Christa Wiscombe

Rhetorical Analysis

ENGL 1010

“CrossFit’s Dirty Little Secret” by Eric Robertson was written on Sep 20, 2013, for

Medium.

  Eric Robertson is an educator, speaker, and coffee and physical therapy geek. Robertson

is one of the founders of PT Think Tank. Robertson grew up in Northern California and gained

an education as an assistant professor of physical therapy at Regis University. In the acritical

“CrossFit’s dirty little secret”, it's directed to an audience of 18 to 34. The main audience tends

to be under the age of 50. When looking for an article to annotate this one stud out to me. Not

just because I work out and like fitness, but I was genuinely curious about CrossFit. This work

out activity has been in the news and people have been talking about how once you get to

know CrossFit you will love it or hate it. I believe the reasoning behind Robertson writing about

this article is because he has a background in physical therapy. Robertson having a friend who

ends up getting rhabdomyolysis may have been another reason behind him writing this article. 

The “CrossFit’s Dirty Little Secret” is an article about CrossFit. Robertson goes into detail

about what happened with his friend and how she was surprised by how she got hurt doing

CrossFit. Robertson gives information about CrossFit and other people who have spoken up
about getting hurt when doing CrossFit. In the conclusion to his article, he talks about the risk

you take when doing CrossFit and if it's really worth it. Are the CrossFit instructors trained to

know when a person needs to stop so they won't get hurt? These are questions he leaves his

readers. As the reader, I wanted to know more about this work out activity CrossFit, it's very

popular and people talk about the great benefits they have achieved from the workout. Why

has Robertson written an acritical about it and called it a dirty little secret? Robertson uses

creative imagery in his words to sway his readers. The point of him sharing this story about

CrossFit it so let people know what could possibly happen. Is CrossFit worth the risk? 

Robertson's friend is a key subject in his article. She is an athletic person who was also a

physical therapist like Roberson went to a CrossFit class. CrossFit is a fitness regimen created by

Greg Glassman. This work out company was created back in 2000 in Santa Cruz, CA. Once

learning that CrossFit has been around for a while Robertson's friend decided to give it a try.

After she has gone so many times she seemed to not think about the pain in her arms because

the work out she participated in was a triceps work out. When this woman tried heating her

arms to help them feel better after the work out, she wasn’t able to selfheal them. The damage

to her arms was already done. “It took another 24 hours for her professional sense to break

through the grip of the CrossFit culture, and seek medical attention”. To write a sentence like

this shows the dedication Robertson’s friend had to the workout. As a reader, it frightens me

because “break thought the grip of the CrossFit culture” sounds as if she was stuck or

brainwashed into believing something. Later she finds out she had Rhabdomyolysis. A

Rhabdomyolysis is a catastrophic breakdown of the muscle cells. This can cause a person to lose

muscle and damage to their kidneys by having creatinine kinase CPK levels being really high.
When Robertson’s friend found out she had Rhabdomyolysis in the hospital she called and

canceled her CrossFit membership right away. 

The uses words and language in Robertson’s article that can per sway his readers to feel

for his friend. A word choice he uses is “clown” to describe a mascot for CrossFit. A clown can

be taken in a negative way by painting a picture of someone funny or comical that doesn't take

things seriously. He goes into detail with painting a picture of this mascot standing next to a

piece of workout equipment. “The “Uncle Rhabdo” cartoon depicts an exhausted, yet well-

muscled clown, connected to a dialysis machine standing next to some workout equipment”

This mascot is then described to be in a pool of his own blood caused by a Rhabdomyolysis. The

way Robertson describes this person being overworked and tired and then is in pain from the

work out they just did is disturbing. The fact that he calls the mascot a clown goes to show his

thoughts on CrossFit, he sees it as a joke. The number of people who have gotten hurt or are

still working out with CrossFit is not taken seriously, they are clowns. 

CrossFit not giving up on their belief system of working out has caused more harm to

people than any workout regimen. Robertson quotes New York Times in his article saying, “AS

early as 2005, the New York Times documented rhabdomyolysis associated with the culture of

CrossFit in a piece entitled, Getting Fit, Even If It Kills You.” The article included quotes sharing

people's thoughts. One of the main thoughts Robertson’s shares in his article are “Yet six

months later Mr. Anderson, a former Army Ranger, was back in the gym, performing the very

exercises that nearly killed him.” Mr. Anderson then said, “I see pushing my body to the point

where the muscles destroy themselves as a huge benefit of CrossFit.” Robertson shares the

fight between CrossFit and others that want people to know that it’s a dangerous workout. The
Founder of CrossFit Greg Glassman quoted after Anderson saying, “it can kill you, I have been

completely honest about that.” Then why do people use CrossFit if it has such bad

repercussions? People will soon learn that CrossFit is a risk work out and it's not for everyone. 

In conclusion of Robertson’s article on “CrossFit Dirty Little Secret” is people need to be

aware of their work our regimes. Robertson did a good job of pushing his readers to understand

the negative things that come from CrossFit. He provided evidence that Rhabdomyolysis can be

caused by CrossFit, his friend was proof. Something that Robertson did in his article was to use

quotes from other articles that provided information on people's problems with CrossFit. Be

sure to know what you are doing when working out your body, it's important to work out but

do it with knowledge, not with a risk. 

Word Count: 1088

References:

https://medium.com/@ericrobertson/crossfits-dirty-little-secret-97bcce70356d

https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/09/26/crossfit-can-the-popular-extreme-workout-

be-dangerous