3 Reasons to Keep Crossfit, not cancel it

While CrossFit former-CEO Greg Glassman’s recent comments are worthy of condemnation, they shouldn’t forever tarnish a worldwide fitness community and a sport that has changed so many lives.
The Founding Fathers had some issues. CrossFit founder Greg Glassman has got some issues, too.
Many of us were taught to revere the Founding Fathers in school. Turns out they were actually quite monstrous people in many ways. In most ways, they were also able to operate throughout their lives largely, if not entirely, unchecked.
I think it’s fortunate that, unlike the US Founding Fathers, Glassman, and the CrossFit organization he founded, is around today to learn their lesson, and help the rest of us to learn in the process.
In recent weeks, following insensitive comments by CrossFit founder and former-CEO, Greg Glassman about George Floyd, the Black man murdered on camera by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, many CrossFit gym owners have started taking steps to de-affiliate their gyms from the CrossFit brand.
Greg Glassman exhibited callousness and insensitivity in his remarks about Floyd, specifically on Twitter, and in a private Zoom call with some CrossFit staff and affiliate owners in attendance.
Glassman’s comments sound more like the rantings of a racist Thanksgiving uncle than the leader of a successful international fitness company. The dismissive comments showed that, at the time, Glassman was not taking the police murder of a Black man in any way seriously, an event that was shaking the nation and sparking protests worldwide.
Gyms that have been CrossFit gyms for years are now dropping the word “CrossFit” from their names. On a single day in June, over 15 CrossFit gyms I follow on Facebook all changed their page names.
No doubt Glassman was surprised, as was the rest of the staff at CrossFit Headquarters, at the suddenness of the social media outcry against him and the rapid decision of many CrossFit gyms to de-affiliate, change their names and otherwise sever their long-held ties with the company.
Social media has many downsides. One good thing about the Power of the Ratio, in my opinion, is the way that average, regular people can get rich, powerful, and otherwise untouchable, people to self-assess.
I personally have no issue with individual box owners making their own business decisions. I just don’t personally want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

    1.    CrossFit Exercise Programs Change Lives
CrossFit as a sport and fitness program has helped so many people and changed so many lives, my own included. I hate the idea of something that has been so personally meaningful to me could suddenly be turned into a bad word or become shun-worthy.
I used to be a person with a very bad opinion of my body. I used to run for hours and hours a day to quiet the critical voice in my mind. I counted calories. I didn’t eat enough, and then I’d eat too much all at once, and start berating myself again. I’m not exaggerating when I say that when I discovered CrossFit, the workouts changed my life.
Crossfit workouts changed my body composition, got me upper body strength I’d only dreamed of, and got me so far out of my head I stopped berating my body altogether.
CrossFit helped me free my mind from the prison of constant self-criticism. It was such an intensely freeing experience, I wanted to share it with everyone. It’s something I’m going to be grateful for forever.
2. CrossFit Boxes (Gyms = Boxes) are largely very welcoming communities with membership that are largely unafraid of hard work and who welcome personal growth.
I was the co-owner of a CrossFit gym for over 10 years. Over those years, I worked to create a community that is supportive, nurturing, and fun. My business partner and I fostered a non-competitive environment that welcomes people of all ages, races, genders, orientations, and religions. Athletes at Wildcat CrossFit are there for each other, supporting each other, and working to tackle tough workouts together as a community.
I encourage self-reflection in every level of the organization and I hope that CrossFit leadership, as well as individual box owners, will take the opportunity to learn the important lessons these times present us with.
I’m disappointed with Greg Glassman for what he said. I’m glad he apologized for it, and I’m glad that he stepped down from his role at the helm of the organization. At the end of June, Glassman took the step of putting CrossFit, up for sale.
I look forward to seeing what they do next at CrossFit HQ under incoming-CEO Eric Roza to address the important issues of systemic racial insensitivity and lack of diversity within the US CrossFit community.
3. An Excellent Opportunity for Learning and Growth
It’s a shame that Glassman interjected statements this unhelpful into the national discourse, but perhaps another way to look at it is that a very necessary lesson has started to be learned. Like CrossFit Certification Courses, education is expensive.
I welcome accountability from Glassman and CrossFit HQ Staff. I encourage the public to give the CrossFit organization time to show us that it can improve. Improvement takes time, as anyone who’s ever labored to get Pull-ups can tell you.
Here is one suggestion to increase representation and increase sensitivity. Historically, when soldiers and first responders are killed in the line of duty, CrossFit has come up with a ‘Hero Workout’ or ‘Hero WOD,’ a special workout dedicated to the person who has died. One famous Hero WOD is “Murph.”
One way that CrossFit, as a worldwide business, could make amends for Glassman’s comments would be to release a new set of Hero workouts that tell the stories of Black activists, Historical Heroes, and Black people unjustly killed by police. Initiatives to make CrossFit certification courses less expensive and more available to individuals from disadvantaged communities would also be a welcome step to take. I also implore the incoming CEO and the rest of HQ Staff to listen to community members better, and more.
Increased diversity, representation, communication, and outreach can only make the CrossFit community stronger.

Note: This post was originally published in Medium on Friday, 7/10/20. Here is a link to that article.