As CrossFit continues to blow up in popularity, more and more media sources are going to start covering the “emerging sport.” The latest article I’m sharing comes from the Fast Company website, which is a site founded on the concept of, connecting “ideas and people.”
They cover as many different lifestyle topics as you can imagine, and I have a feeling that this article is going to reach a much larger demographic through its posting. Also, it’s written from the perspective of a relatively new CrossFitter, so many of “our” concepts, terms and thought processes are actually written so the “Non-CFers” out there can understand.
I’ve shared a few parts of the article below, but go ahead and click here or at the bottom of this post to view the entire piece.
~During my four-month experiment with the growing exercise brand, I learned that CrossFit proposes that elite athleticism and seemingly impossible workouts can be survived with a little help from supportive peers pushing each other through the pain.
Group workouts pack the most functional movements of olympic lifting, gymnastics, and calisthenics into a 10-20 minute sprint. The routines are slowly creeping their way into the regiments of all-star athletes and armed forces divisions around the world. They’ve put me in the best shape of my life.
~”I think CrossFit can be for everyone,” says Val Voboril (who is … 9 months pregnant). “It made my pregnancy easier,” she contends, as the “strength, conditioning, and endurance,” helped her deal with the added weight of carrying another human being.
At CrossFit, however, men aren’t always the alpha dogs, such as 106-pound Ting Wang, who deadlifts nearly 3x her body weight in the video below (I still can’t deadlift double my own weight).
Here’s how the author, Greg Ferenstein, closes out his post. I would say it’s not too hard to agree with him with at least the statement below. The next 12 months will be very interesting for the future of the “Official” CrossFit movement.
The strength of CrossFit’s market-oriented approach may also be its biggest challenge. Since workouts and individual culture are largely decided by independently owned gyms, CrossFit can only maintain a level of quality to the extent that trainers buy into the core philosophy and execute smart business practices. Moreover, since Glassman can’t patent “functional, high-intensity movements,” there’s nothing to prevent a Gold’s Gym or military division from wholesale adopting CrossFit’s basic approach without renumeration or giving credit. Ultimately, the survival of the official brand will depend on Glassman’s ability to maintain its community as the exercise program swells.
Click here to read the entire article!
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