The second miracle of CrossFit.

The other day while doing some shopping at the commissary on Edwards AFB, I glanced at my phone while pushing a cart in the vegetable isle. I caught a post on Facebook, which detailed a lawsuit between the Sportsgrants (Fight Gone Bad) folks and CrossFit. I read the entire lawsuit while my wife shopped and when finished, instantly formulated my own opinion (of course).

During the drive home that evening, I thought about the lawsuit and all the good CrossFit has done. I’m not talking about the fitness craze that it started, or the countless lives that have been altered by it training philosophies, but rather the shear number of charities that CrossFit Affiliates have helped through events, and the lives forever changed by those charities.

When I thought back to the numbers given in the lawsuit (FGB 1-6 generated a whopping $5, 928,011.00 (You’ll have to add the number yourself, but that’s what I came up with. See the doc)) I was floored to say the least. The lawsuit alleges all kinds of stuff, but the fact remains that without CrossFit, it’s athletes and affiliates, FGB would have been just a dream not realized.

During that drive, I also started to think about the hundreds of fitness challenges that take place each week all over the world, most with a portion of the proceeds going to charity.

If one charity event like FGB had raised so much money over six events, what would the numbers look like if you added all money every affiliate had raised for charity worldwide during that same time frame?

This totally changed my outlook on CrossFit. While most see CrossFit as just a mere fitness program, I now look at it as a phenomenon that has transformed countless lives in a way no one could have expected.

Like I said, I read the lawsuit and have my own opinions, but opinions like they say are like assholes, and everyone’s got them, and that is not what this article is about. So instead of giving you my thoughts on that, I’d love to give credit where credit is due.

First off, my hats off to Greg Glassman, an obvious genius businessman, who’s drive and ambition for fitness created a phenomenon that has reached far beyond it’s original goal and has affected the lives of those most in need.

Second and of course not least, the CrossFit affiliates, who together with their athletes give more than just blood, sweat and yes sometimes puke to make the world a better place.

I think I can say that never before has such a diversified group of people anywhere been able to affect the lives of so many others, with so many different causes at one time.

While the Big Dogs fight out whatever they do in court, the fact remains that the second miracle of CrossFit is still happening.

Every once in a while I am reminded that there is still good in this world, thanks!

Way to go, modern day heroes.

See you in the hills.
Lance