This commerical/segment is now in the top 3 most “fun” things I’ve seen in CrossFit. Any of you who know me relatively well will be able to see why.
Bottom line… go ahead and say CrossFit sold out. This “campaign” of theirs is going to spread the word to so many more people than we can even imagine.
Brace yourselves…. the “Sport of Fitness” really has arrived. The next 3 months leading up to Regionals are going to be NUTS!
There was a CrossFit commercial. On TV. During the NFC Divisional Championship game (that’s football, Juli). That means, I can only guess, that a few MILLION more people saw what CrossFit is all about for the first time.
I was sitting there at a lunch with my friend watching it at a bar (because I knew it would be on during the game), and for the entire commercial, I was just smiling and fist-pumping in my seat. What an idiot! The commercial was over and I said to my friend… “I know I had NOTHING to do with creating that commercial, but WOW did I feel proud watching it!”
A lot of people are saying that CrossFit has “sold out” now due to their partnership with Reebok, but I say, “if our goal is to change lives for the better and make people healthier, why does it matter HOW they hear about it?” I love it. Check out the commercial below.
To accompany that, another short video was released with CrossFit Founder, Greg Glassman, talking about what CrossFit is all about.
So… did CrossFit “sell out”? Well, to jump on a bandwagon that almost certainly saw an INCREASE in the “trending” that #CrossFit and #Reebok must have had on Twitter after the commercial was debuted yesterday, Hamilton Nolan (blogger from Gawker.com?) released a piece this morning on CrossFit.
The title of his post: Crossfit Is Over
Go ahead and click that title and read the full post over on the site (it’s pretty short), but the point of the post was to say that now Reebok has partnered with CrossFit, that the program is less “underground.” Does that therefore make the program less effective, too? And a partnership with Reebok? “Yeah. Not even one of the cool shoe brands,” he says.
Some of the things he says in the piece (pasted word-for-word):
“Next thing you know Crossfit gyms will be popping up at ever suburban strip mall from here to San Diego, and wealthy stay at home moms will start showing up after their yoga classes, and Jillian Michaels will make a Crossfit DVD, and there will be a Crossfit reality show and some MTV kid will get MADE, into someone who can do 20 pullups. And then there will be the inevitable Under Armour- Reebok- Nike Crossfit sneaker wars, until every Crossfit club is owned and branded, and there will be a pro tour and youth leagues and fashion shoots and celebrity endorsements and doping scandals and cheating.”
Actually guys…. he’s right. It’s been heading in that direction for some time, as we can all tell. You know why? Because people, athletes, companies… are starting to MAKE MONEY with CrossFit. You know where else that happens? Every other professional sport.
Again, though, back to my point, and my stance on the subject…. I don’t train/coach/(live?) CrossFit to make money from it. I do it because it’s hands-down the most effective physical training program I’ve ever come across. I do it because I’ve physically seen it change people’s lives for the better (my own included), not because Reebok now makes “CrossFit Shoes”.
(Sidenote: shoes I will likely NEVER own because of how expensive they are…)
So, is he right in saying “And Crossfit will be full of *ssholes. Too bad.”? No. I think there will be the same ratio of cool people to *ssholes as there is right now. As the sport continues to change, it’s core will still be the thousands of people who do it for the right reasons… and those regular, normal, everyday people are awesome!
You know what WON’T change, even when (even more) celebrities and professional sports teams start using CrossFit, though? I still won’t choose to associate with any of those people.
Final Thoughts:
CrossFit is quickly turning into two different things.
First is CrossFit as a workout program and fitness regimen. This side of CrossFit does, and ALWAYS WILL, be appropriate for anyone. Yes. Anyone can do CrossFit… (And personally, I think everyone SHOULD)
The second is CrossFit as a legitimate Competitive Sport. This is where there will be multi-million dollar prize packages, multi-million dollar sponsorships, scandals and controversies, celebrities, glitz and glam. That just comes with the territory, people. The difference between this and every other sport out there, is when people are in the stands watching the CrossFit Games, almost all of the fans are active participants in the same activities. So, even though we don’t lift as much weight, and move as quickly as those “elite firebreathers”… we share in what they do moreso than any other sport.
That’s one of the biggest differences in CrossFit to me. We all get it. And whether you’re the best athlete in your gym, or a first-timer getting off of the couch for the first time in a decade, we’re all on the same level…. we’re all trying to be “better than yesterday.”
So, while CrossFit may have “sold out” depending on who you ask…. CrossFit is most definitely NOT over.
Nice little rant today, huh?
Post your thoughts to comments!
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!
Tommy Hackenbruck, owner of Ute CrossFit, was the 2nd Fittest Man in the World at the 2009 CrossFit Games. In 2011, he’s ready to dominate again.
Check out this awesome video with him telling his story!
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