Samantha
Spengler
journalism. design. digital marketing.
Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, Class of 2018
CrossFit: cultivating community, competition and capability
The community appeal of CrossFit, a method of full-body training, could be the reason that the methodology has become increasing widespread.
EVANSTON, IL— Last Friday night, Ashland Avenue in Evanston, Illinois was quiet. Few noises—and still fewer cars— permeated the static evening air. However, inside the walls of the tucked-away CrossFit E-Town, a rental car garage-turned workout facility, there was anything but silence. One of its weekly classes, dubbed “Friday Night Lights,” was pitting gym members against gym members—a middle-aged mother against a teenager against an ex-football player—in an intense workout.
The result of this heated competition? Roaring cheers and a chorus of clapping as competitors and fellow gym-goers rallied around their opponents and encouraged them to push forward, even after they themselves had been unable continue.
This kind of community support can be found in CrossFit, a workout regimen that is increasing in popularity. An intense method of physical fitness training, CrossFit adheres to the ideal of the well-rounded athlete and “aims to forge a broad, general and inclusive fitness,” according to the company’s website. It focuses on all components of fitness, rather than one component or isolated muscle group.
“Everyone is working out and everyone is trying to get better,” former CrossFit participant Mitch Walker said. When you compete together you work harder together.”
Walker is a current college student who trained in CrossFit for over a year in high school. While the program attracts many like him, it is practiced by all ages.
“CrossFit works all boundaries of physical fitness,” said gym member and former professional football player Bamidele Ali, 38. “It helped me master myself, and I can’t find that in any other sport.”
Developed in the 1990s by Greg Glassman, CEO of CrossFit, Inc., CrossFit as a fitness method has become widespread in the past two decades. CrossFit E-Town is just one of over 11,000 affiliate gyms worldwide- up from 5,000 last year and a mere 13 in 2003, according to the CrossFit webpage.
“CrossFit is blowing up. Back in 2010 when I first started CrossFit there were only six gyms in the Chicago area. Now there is probably 25 or 30,” said Kevin Teborek, 37, owner of CrossFit E-Town.
Some of this growth can be attributed to the community and positive atmosphere created through a competition-friendly and supportive working environment.
“It’s the highlight of my day,” said gym member Marie Ramirez said. “There is always something to laugh about here, even if I am in a bad mood. I would kill my kids if I didn’t get to come here every day.”
“I got hooked,” student and CrossFit athlete Alicia Johnson said. “I really liked it, it was a competition setting, and I was able to progress.” 22-year-old Johnson has been a member of CrossFit E-Town for over two years.
Competition is a daily aspect of any CrossFit participant. Each gym, or “box,” as CrossFit members call them, has a scoreboard that announces the day’s leaders and serves as a goal for those who fall below. Every day there is a specific workout which everyone at the gym completes.
For example, Friday’s “Friday Night Lights” workout of the day, called WOD for short, involved a set number of pull-ups and squat lifting within three minutes. Each three- minute block called for an increased number of repetitions for those that successfully completed the previous three-minute block.
That WOD was planned in accordance with the schedule of the CrossFit Games. An international competition inaugurated in 2007, the CrossFit Games are currently in the “open” stage- where athletes from smaller regions can compete to move on to Regionals and then to the final, where if they win, they will be dubbed the “fittest on Earth.” Friday’s open featured the same workout that CrossFit E-Town did in its class.
Last year’s 209,000 participants are another indication of CrossFit’s increasing popularity. In 2011, it attracted 26,000 athletes, according to the CrossFit Games’ webpage.
“I am going to use the games this year as a way to compare myself to everyone in the CrossFit world, not just people at my gym,” said Johnson.
By Sam Spengler
March 9, 2015
The games’—and the sport’s—appeal, however, comes with some drawbacks. The intense exercises can be dangerous if not done correctly. A recent study by the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research and published in 2013, found that the injury rate of 132 CrossFit participants was 3.1 per 1,000 hours—an injury statistic similar to that of Olympic weightlifting, power lifting, and gymnastics.
“I wouldn’t suggest starting at CrossFit,” said Walker. “The workouts are hard and if you are inexperienced you could drop something on yourself. However I have never gotten injured and I don’t know anyone who has been injured.”
With proper safety training and awareness, both coach and participant can stay safe.
“A big part of remaining healthy and uninjured rests on us as coaches to make sure that people are moving safely,” CrossFit trainer Lyle Kuykendall said.
In addition to injury, the cost of training at a CrossFit gym—the safest option when choosing to start training—is high.
“Membership can definitely be expensive,” student Marcus Traynor, 18, said. Traynor stopped training in CrossFit after arriving at school last year.
Both CrossFit gyms, the other called CrossFit Shoreside, in the Evanston area have monthly memberships greater than $100, according to their webpages. A CrossFit E- Town membership, for example, starts at $129 per month for two weekly visits.
However, a traditional workout facility such as Planet Fitness starts at a $10 monthly membership fee for unlimited visits, as stated on the Planet Fitness webpage.
Some argue that the price tag is worth the sense of community that comes with being a member of a close-knit box.
“People don’t care who you are,” said Teborek. “What you are, where you have been, whether you’re a student or a CEO, doesn’t matter. If you come here to work you earn respect and that’s pretty powerful.”