Well that was certainly an inspirational weekend! We have just witnessed the biggest CrossFit Games so far and you could clearly see the potential this event has to become huge.
With Reebok behind it this year everything was upped from the prize money ($250k for first place anyone?!) to the production scale to the locations and the TV coverage on ESPN. To the detest of many followers CrossFit is now no longer an underground movement. CrossFit is going all glitzy and glamour and moving away from the spit-and-sawdust of how it started out. It has 'sold out' as so many forum scribblers are keen to tell us.
But is this a bad thing?
As an affiliate owner and CrossFitter i have to say 'no'.
If what drew you to CrossFit in the first place was the hardcore, beat your chest, grab an old pair of shorts and workout till your sick kinda thing then i can see why the brand placement, massive product advertising and CrossFit apparel may piss you off. However, ultimately we all became addicted to CrossFit for the same reason. It works. We got stronger, fitter and faster than we had ever been. We pushed ourselves harder than we thought possible because we wanted to lower our times or improve our scores. We wanted to get more technically proficient at the hard Olympic lifts because we wanted to lift more weight above our heads. And we wanted to train as much as we could because we loved training with the community that was created at our local box. Wanting to go to the gym? Now theres a thing.
Something this good is always going to be found out by the wider public eventually. I didn't even get into CrossFit until a couple of years ago. I would call myself a relative newcomer too. But whats wrong with sharing? I opened an affiliate because i was passionate about getting more and more people involved with CrossFit. I wanted to share my knowledge and make real changes in their lives. I wanted to see people go from not being able to hold their own bodyweight on a bar to doing full chest to bar pull ups, to go from feeling awkward with an empty Olympic barbell in their hands to clean and jerking their bodyweight.
When we ran the recent 30-day Paleo challenge at the box (see an earlier post) we saw some incredible changes in our members. To watch as they lost nearly 30kg in combined weight over the course of just one month and became leaner but also stronger and fitter too was inspirational. They now see that what we were saying about CrossFit being a fantastic way to train when they first walked through our doors is true. If you want to make a serious change to your health and fitness CrossFit is one hell of a place to start.
The Games this weekend were a great example of what can be achieved by the human body. All the men and women that competed, including the truly amazing Masters categories, were phenomenal and just looking over some of the times and results that they posted is a real inspiration to keep training harder. We may never reach their level but to finish a workout knowing you have truly given everything is all that can be asked. If you do, the results will follow.
So is CrossFit the be-all and end-all of fitness training? Certainly not. It is just one nicely packaged, results driven, community inspired movement that i am happy and proud to be part of. I will always do my own research and learn from my own experiences as to what works best at any given moment. I think CrossFit can grow further and become even better by ensuring they continue to look at all other training modalities and dont just declare that CrossFit is the only way to go. We can all continue to learn.
So, do i mind that Reebok have come on board; that more and more people are getting in touch with our affiliate because they have started to see the name around the Internet and on TV; that more people like the look of CrossFit because they are bored with their regular way of training and that more people are making a positive change in their lives by dramatically improving their health, diet and lifestyle?
No, you bet i don't.
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