What is CrossFit culture?
Recreational athletes find new way to compete, improve overall health and build community.
By Marshal Lortie and Derek McGaffey | Sports Reporters
Jesse Hill hears his name over the speaker as the state fairgrounds crowd roars. Chills run through his body as he is about to embark on his first CrossFit tournament. The raucous cheers bring back memories of his days playing baseball, the last time he experienced the nerves and adrenaline of a competitive environment.
Hill and his teammate, Ben Schullo, are one of 20 teams at this particular competition in New Ulm, where athletes test their training in the fitness world’s newest craze. What started from an internet blog and a single gym in Santa Cruz, Calif., CrossFit has grown into a company that has established a community of fitness enthusiasts.
“Before, working out used to be all about aesthetics and how I looked but I didn’t think that was a healthy focus so I wanted to turn it into more of a performance based focus” — Jesse Hill, athlete
The upstart fitness regimen originally established by company-certified coach Greg Glassman has attracted a wide range of individuals across the world, each with their own motivations. In CrossFit, competitors, or teams, perform various tasks while trying to get the best time, such as mile runs, burpees and Olympic lifts. The sport converts working out in a gym to a new platform for athletic achievement. This development changed the way many, such as Hill, look at the concept of fitness as a sport.
“Before, working out used to be all about aesthetics and how I looked, but I didn’t think that was a healthy focus so I wanted to turn it into more of a performance based focus,” Hill said.
While many share Hill’s sentiments, others, such as fellow Bethel senior Josh Freitas, have a slightly different perspective, a more long-term approach.
Freitas has a love-hate relationship with CrossFit. A friend from his New England boarding school introduced him to CrossFit at a nearby gym. He knew a little about CrossFit in high school, but got hooked to CrossFit his freshman year at Bethel. His cousin took him to a class in St. Louis Park. Freitas continued to attend classes that summer following his freshman year.
“[There’s] no workout where you’re gonna finish it and say ‘I’m not gassed.’ You’ll be outta breath and muscles will be screamin’ at ya.” — Josh Freitas, coach
At first, Freitas, captain of the hockey team, did the workouts to get into shape. Now? He works on getting better at various everyday movements.
“I will always be deadlifting,” Freitas said. He may not always be moving heavy weight, but doing the workouts now will help him pick things up from the ground later on in life.
Freitas appreciates how humbling his experiences with CrossFit have been and how he feels driven to improve. CrossFit focuses on fitness as a whole. According to Freitas, he must understand he’s never going to be perfect.
“[There’s] no workout where you’re gonna finish it and say ‘I’m not gassed,’” Freitas said. “You’ll be outta breath and muscles will be screamin’ at ya.”
Freitas has used the skills acquired through the Bethel’s biokinetics program to begin working as a coach at three CrossFit SISU gyms in the Twins Cities. The community that develops, the people he never sees outside of the gym, keep him coming back. They hold each other accountable.
A 2014 study about what motivates CrossFit participants found women were more likely to be motivated by a desire to master the movements in the workouts, while men were more performance-driven. In Freitas’ experience, men and women are equally competitive, although women may be more fiery and show more competitive emotion.
The study also found that new members, within six months, tend to have more mastery-driven goals with CrossFit. More experienced athletes would have goals that tended to be based on performance.
One of the appeals of CrossFit, then, is that the company values functional movement within their 10 pillars of fitness, while also allowing more competitive types to compete at the CrossFit Games.
“People prepare as if it’s a sport,” Frietas said.
