“What is CrossFit?” That is a link you will most likely see on
just about all of the Affiliate sites you visit… and most of the good
ones will copy and paste the answer directly from the CF mainsite…
smart, right??
But what about the rest of the content out there?
Self promotion… “you need to train with us because blah, blah, blah.”
Coach
biographies that are written in the third person, with bad grammar and
spelling errors, and a laundry list of accomplishments and
qualifications… some can be consider short novels!
Videos of packed gyms full of people
doing a million different things with no coach visible and photos of an
exceptional athlete with a coach strategically placed in the photo,
pointing and yelling (or I guess coaching).
The infamous “What is
CrossFit” and “Tell me about CrossFit” videos… (and it hurts my heart,
because they are very good videos!!) I guess if you post them on your
blog, it adds a level of credibility? (not sure what that has to do with creating greater work capacity across broad time and modal domains?)
I have read the articles about the “bastardization” of CrossFit, I have listened to the concerned L1 Certificate Holders who are not affiliated defend themselves, and more recently… we have been forced to accept Bob Harper as a CrossFitter. Drama. In my opinion, those who are overly concerned about the bastardization of CrossFit are either hiding something, or knowingly deficient in their own CrossFit expertise or business plan.
It’s window dressing. It’s an attitude of getting all the clients before the next Affiliate opens down the street, or the next person who did a WOD and has $1000 decides they should be a “coach”. Let me fill you in on something… that title is earned… it cannot be purchased for a grand and two days of intense training.
All of that window dressing did not draw me to CrossFit (and you either!)
What
did it for me were the workouts, the training, the forced perseverance,
the brother and sisterhood, the beauty of the movements, the magic and community… and it was difficult to
find an Affiliate… there were only a select few.
Things are different
now… but not at the shed.
We are no longer training out of a garage,
and we have out-grown our second box, but all of that happened
because of our values and what we value… which is you and the essence of CrossFit.
We don’t self-promote…, never did.
We
don’t need to sell you on why you should train with us, and we don’t
care what the Affiliate down the street is doing, or what the non affiliated L1
Certificate Holders are trying to sell to you…
We are CrossFit, period!
no battle ropes
no sledge hammers
just CrossFit
no mountain climbers, russian twists or silly names for movements you will never see in a CrossFit competition
just CrossFit
no judgement, just CrossFit.
Our
collection of Coaches posses years of experience, and each of us value
the essence of CrossFit. We are in this reasons that go beyond business
and self promotion… it’s about creating awesomeness, and that takes
forced perseverance, hard work and brother and sisterhood. It is something that is just understood among our Coaches.
Whether
I like it or not, CrossFit is entering into the mainstream… and I
guess that is ultimately a good thing for us… I just hope that what
was once grass-roots can remain as such among the original Affiliates, as well as the new ones.
I know the shed will hold the shield and protect the brand, always!
Rock on ShedHeads!!
Yours in Fitness,
cpj
