In the “Epic Win” posts I’ll discuss the triumphs I have made while trying to open my box. There will be far less of these than the Epic Fail posts.

Maybe I’m completely making up this problem, but it seems to me that a lot of people don’t realize the TREMENDOUS value of the CrossFit Message Boards.  I may be projecting here, but message boards have kinda faded to bolivia (as Mike Tyson said) in the internet culture.  In the times of Reddit and Digg, message boards seem very passe.  Having said all that, the CrossFit Message Boards are still pretty awesome.  

The reason I like them is that you can get a really broad range of opinions really fast. I have friends that run boxes and I probably bother them with stupid questions more than I should.  The boards eliminate that problem because a.) the people aren’t your friends and b.) the people who respond patrol the boards and wouldn’t do such unless they loved giving their opinions.  Now, the problem with that is twofold a.)  the people aren’t your friends and b.) the people who respond patrol the boards and wouldn’t do such unless they loved giving their opinions.  

So is it a bit of a double edged sword?  Yeah kinda but that’s not to say the message boards aren’t absolutely chock full of amazing information.  My strategy for using the boards is not only really easy but I’ve found it really effective:

Step 1: USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION!!!!  Type in the key words that you need to know i.e. if you have a question on rubber matting type in rubber matting and search

Step 2: LOOK AT THE OLDEST THREADS FIRST!!!!  Not saying people that answer questions on the boards today aren’t great.  I’ve gotten some great advice and help from recent members.  But when you can ask a question and have Mark Twight, Dan John, Robb Wolf or Greg Glassman provide some advice, it’s a whole lot better

Step 3: READ MORE THAN ONE POST!!!! Don’t assume just because something kind of like your question got answered that’s good enough.  Read more, and more, and more.  It can never hurt to have more knowledge.  Who knows, you might even get a question answered you didn’t even know you wanted to ask.