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Dan
Dan Sullivan holds a BA in Communications, Psychology, and Business Economics as well as a Masters Degree in Exercise Physiology. He is a certified Crossfit instructor in addition to being a Certified Personal Trainer by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, and has worked in the fitness industry since 1998.
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Crossfit: The Cult

by: Dan Sullivan

CrossFit is by definition, a cult. However, such a status is not inherently bad. While a cult typically carries a negative connotation associated with religious extremists, this is only one such definition. Another more appropriate definition may be found in the dictionary where a cult is also described as a group bound together by veneration of the same thing, person or ideal. From this angle you can see cults all over society and around the world – Yankees fans in baseball, Giants fans in football, any European soccer club, and political parties to name just a few examples.

It does not take Charles Manson to assure your cult-like status. It takes a common bond, be it mental, physical, emotional, or all of the above. It takes empathy and a shared experience, good or bad. Most important of all, it involves a communal quality with a shared purpose to make everyone better based upon their inclusion.

Back in 2004 CrossFit was so small that nobody paid it any mind. Today CrossFit boasts more than 4,000 affiliates with a million plus members. That growth, while phenomenal, has come with a price. Many within the fitness industry would rather malign this strength and conditioning program than embrace it. Why? Because CrossFit flies in the face of conventional norms, it challenges many of the prevailing mantras, and it does not conform to the predictable methodologies that have become the standards in fitness. In a nutshell, CrossFit is a loosely bound community of exercise enthusiasts. These people come together via the internet and local affiliates everyday all around the world. Their sole purpose is to make people look, feel, and live better, healthier lives. CrossFitters simply choose to do so through and emphasis on constantly varied functional movements delivered at a high intensity. Oh and guess what? CrossFitters do so while having fun and enjoying the camaraderie of their peers and fellow members. 



CrossFitters do not put on their headphones and walk around the gym with their head down. Instead they enthusiastically welcome, cheer for and support their friends, neighbors and family as they bond over their fitness. CrossFitters immediately bond over what some call “the suck” because they understand that they are in it together and no one will be left behind. While that may sound like soldier’s creed, it is not meant to imply any association between CrossFit and the military. It is meant merely to suggest that CrossFitters take care of one another. In that sense CrossFit is no more a cult then the U.S. military. I dare you to tell a service member he or she is part of a cult and let me know how that goes.

In the meantime, it is a nice problem for CrossFit to have all these detractors. It simply suggests that they are affecting people. Feel free to call it too dangerous, too general, too expensive and of course do not forget cult-like. Just make sure that your arguments are sound and ideologically consistent.





CATEGORY: Industry News