“Hey you kids… Get off my lawn!!” ~cpj – 151022

The infamous "grumpy old man" who lives on your block… you know the guy… he sits on his front porch and just waits for someone to intrude upon his meticulously kept landscaping!  He just sits there and waits for the leaves to fall so he can clean them up… and God forbid your ball or Frisbee goes in his yard!!  Time for a new one because you ain't getting it back!  (dating myself with that Frisbee reference!)

Recently, a very close friend of mine lost his father.  Chris and I have been close since our high school football days in Jtown, but as we grew into our adult years and started our families, we just didn't keep in touch as often as we would like.  With that said though, we are still great friends who share much love, respect and admiration for each other.  While attending the wake and funeral, I was blessed with the reunion of many high school friends… people I haven't seen in many, many years.  Back in 2007-2008 however, these guys and girls were still trickled into my life here and there; and all were aware of the start of my CrossFit gym in my garage.

Fast forward to October 2015… with the onslaught of CrossFit into the mainstream, these guys and girls had a lot of questions and comments for me.  "Are you still doing CrossFit?"… "I remember when you started CrossFit and nobody knew what the hell it was!"… "My co-workers do CrossFit, and I always tell them how you were the first one around."… "Can I do CrossFit, or will I get hurt?"

… you know… the usual questions stemmed by social media!

But what struck me the most was the time lapse, and all that has become of CrossFit in our area since 2008.

When I hear people say "RedShed is unfriendly"… or "RedShed is too serious"… or "RedShed is intense"… it kind of makes sense to me.  Not because it's true!  Just the opposite actually!! 

The truth is that we are that grumpy old man on the block… (and by we, I mean ME… I am by no means associating this opinion with anyone else but me!).

Competitions… I probably have participated or attended 50 or more in the past 7 years, and each year there are more and more people… more and more new affiliates, and more and more ammunition for negative social media.  So, being the old man on the block, perhaps I come off with a snobbish disposition and would seemingly yell, "hey you kids, get off of my CrossFit lawn before I call the cops!".

Programming… one of the reasons I went on tour over the summer was to get a clearer vision of what really works.  My few visits offered up some validation regarding our path and vision to use fitness to positively influence health metrics.  So, again I have a confident swagger among my peers that may be observed as snobbery or unfriendly… unfortunate I say!  "Hey you kids… get off my programming lawn!  Go home and study before I call your parents!"

Community… did you read my last two posts… or any of my posts??  (this is me dialing the telephone) "Umm, hello… Mr. and Mrs. CrossFit, I saw your kids drinking alcohol on my CrossFit front lawn… I think you should have a talk with them!"  Our community is about love, encouragement, support, friendship, strength & integrity, all revolving around fitness positively influencing your health and wellness… it's not about getting wasted together or doing shots after WODs!!  Is there alcohol at shed events??  Of course there is… but there is way more love than lush!!

So I write this today as an observation… truth of the matter is simple, RedShed was one of the first around.  That experience affords us many things, both good and bad.  We make every effort to evolve with the sport so as not to become irrelevant, but at the same time never lose sight of our vision and the roots we planted firmly in that tiny red shed.

This observation was not as much an epiphany for me, but more of enlightenment… awareness, so to speak.  Makes me laugh… Makes me feel happy and accomplished… and offers up much love for each of you! 

Love makes a difference!