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IN THIS EMAIL
- Hiller’d
- A Dumb Challenge
- Athena is BACK!
- Skateboards, Alcohol & Cardio
HILLER’D On our weekly podcast last Wednesday, my good friend and CF Palo Alto affiliate owner, Tim Dymmel joined me and Jamie Lee to talk about the “CrossFit is for Sale” rumor, CrossFit brand management and the Games. Our intent, as always, was to share our positive perspective on CrossFit HQ, CF marketing and the Games. CF Palo Alto, Diablo and many other affiliates around the world are experiencing meaningful growth and success over the last year and much of that success is due to CrossFit’s efforts. We talk about: managing your affiliate like you want to sell it or transition it to a new owner (create processes, etc); handling drop-ins and prospective members that demand immediate attention; and the importance of the CrossFit Games (& the Open) for Affiliates. You can listen to the full podcast here. It was a fun discussion.
Apparently our video captured people’s attention, because a popular YouTube influencer/antagonist in the CrossFit space, Andrew Hiller, decided to produce a sensational, carefully edited 1-hour video arguing against most of the points we made in our podcast. While I’m not sure why he chose our podcast (we’re small time compared to many others), he put in a lot of effort to produce the piece which included 3 yrs old, unpublished podcast content from another affiliate owner. Andrew’s video was entertaining, but his personal attacks were unnecessarily harsh. Admittedly, its not easy to see & hear strong, negative commentary about yourself and your friends, especially when it’s taken out of context. You can watch Hiller’s video here.
Ironically, Andrew and I have known each other personally for a few years. Last year, Jamie Lee, Yvonne and I hung out with him a few times at our RV at the Games. In person, he is charming, respectful and kind. I consider him a friend. However, I had no knowledge his video was going to be produced. After it’s release, I texted him to ask about it and he quickly replied indicating essentially, that it wasn’t personal, he simply wanted to counter our “arguments” in his style. In our text exchange he was conciliatory.
For me, Tim and Jamie, it’s water under the bridge. Hostility has become a mainstay in social media. If you put yourself out there, you must be prepared that not everyone is going to like you and agree with you. And some people (& bots) simply thrive on extremely provocative commentary. The upside is that we now have more subscribers to our podcast.
Most CrossFitters are passionate about the methodology, their affiliates, their communities, the history and legacy. But that passion sometimes results in conflict, especially when opinions differ. How we resolve our conflicts (or, how we move on), determines our character and sets an example for the rest of the community.
For me, I’d prefer to do a CrossFit workout together, fist bump and move on.
ABSURD CHALLENGE – DON’T DO IT! At the beginning of May, I sent an Instagram challenge to my friend Dean and said “let’s do this!” Dean gave me the thumbs up. We both failed (Dean made it 10 more days than I did). Here’s the challenge: “10 push-ups for each day of the month”. Sounds easy enough, except: you multiple the day of the month by 10. So, its 10, 20, 30, 40… etc. By the time you get to the teens, you are doing some big daily numbers, every damn day until you hit 300 on the 30th. It becomes critical to break them up throughout the day.
So, I’m retrying again this month! And, I added squats.. for some stupid reason. Today, I have 160 of each on the docket. I did 80 in the early morning when I walked the dogs, and I’ll do another 80 this evening. I’m dreading June 20-30! I will admit that my push-ups have improved significantly and my squats feel way more efficient. I’ll post an update next week… if I make it.
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