Scientific inquiry can be dishonestly confounded in a number of ways, and pollution or bias, whether resulting from industry funding or deeply held ideology, is often at the heart of the problem. In this CrossFit Health series, Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades review the “cardinal sins” of scientific research, starting with “cloaking,” the sleight of hand that makes the real money behind a study disappear to the casual observer.

An estimated 26 million patients worldwide experience heart failure, a syndrome associated with major symptoms and a significant increase in mortality. Treatment involves a variety of drugs, and dietary interventions generally include salt restriction. However, the evidence that salt restriction is beneficial for individuals at risk of cardiovascular disease is inconsistent and inadequate. A 2018 systematic review surveyed randomized controlled trials testing the impact of salt intake reduction in adults with heart failure and found insufficient research and trial results to support this oft-prescribed intervention.

Low-sodium diets are widely recommended for people who have a variety of ailments, but there’s little proof they help those with heart failure.

The CrossFit Journal was launched in 2002 with this article, signaling a breaking point with the commercial gym model. “The garage-gym tradition is revered and respected. The number of athletes training in garages, barns and abandoned buildings is legion. Many of these are world dominant in their sport. Some go this route because no other resources are available, but most have chosen the garage gym realizing it best provides for their needs. The lifting, throwing, jumping and climbing essential to responsible programming will find no welcome home for you and your friends at 24-Hour Nautilus. …CrossFit endeavors to lead a revolution in fitness training, a radical departure from the ineffectual, non-functional prevailing bodybuilding model of the commercial gyms and toward the professional strength-and-conditioning model of the university, pro sports franchise and military. Your needs, regardless of your current fitness, differ from the professional or elite athlete’s by degree not kind. We’re waging this revolution in your home.”

In 2005, the CrossFit Journal revisited the CrossFit garage-gym concept to “report on the successes of what may be hundreds of CrossFit start-up gyms and the aspirations and motivations of the people behind them.” In this follow-up to “The Garage Gym,” Coach Glassman writes, “We want to fuel a revolution in fitness that advocates the pursuit of function, not form—that measures performance, not anatomy. We want rings and bumper plates in our gyms, not machines. We believe that where you train is less important than how you train and that who you train with matters more than what gear you have. We know this can be done in little boxes and we’ve proven that the garage is as good an environment as any for forging elite fitness.”