The Tenuous Sport. PARTY IN THE USA. Kill Cancer & Reverse Heart Aging. James is in the Open! 70yo Ass Kicker TWA 3.10.25

THE TENUOUS FUTURE OF THE SPORT OF FITNESS  There’s been a lot of discussion surrounding the Sport of CrossFit and its future with several pundits predicting the demise of the “Fittest on Earth” competition. Hyrox events, which combine several functional movements with endurance have become quite popular within the fitness community, especially among CrossFitters. The brand new World Fitness Project (WFP) also has hit social media with several multi-day competition events planned for the year and many top CrossFit athletes on their payroll. If you follow CrossFit or the sport on social media, it’s hard to avoid the discussions and debates. So, I’ll throw in my two cents based on my long experience with the sport, the methodology and affiliation. 

First, in my opinion, Hyrox is not a competitor. It is a very well run fitness event that is a lot of fun for participants and a great way to test one’s fitness.  Hyrox is similar to Spartan and other obstacle course races, but mostly indoors. Many participants workout at CrossFit gyms. Many CrossFit gyms have added Hyrox affiliation to attract new members while offering specialty classes for existing members. We’ve had a dozen or more members travel to Hyrox events – and they loved the experience. And, they’re not abandoning their CrossFit memberships to pursue the sport. Keep in mind that Hyrox events cost $130+ to participate, not including travel & hotels. That said, I love that there are events like Hyrox for our community to come together to test their fitness outside of the gym.

On the other hand, the WFP seems to want to supplant the CrossFit Games by creating a “season” and putting athletes under paid contract to participate. Similar to other large CrossFit licensed events, the WFP allows for the public to participate via online qualifiers and regional tour events. At the end of the season, the WFP will host a “Finals” competition to determine their champion. Prize purses are not yet published. In my opinion, it’s going to take several years to grow a profitable fitness competition sporting business. Crucial to the success of the WFP is support from fans, sponsors and amateur participants. The WFP is also relying on volunteers from the community to help with events. Without the support of the CrossFit community, especially affiliates, volunteers will be hard to come by. 

Competition is healthy for growth. But, in the world of professional sports, upending the established leader is a monumental and expensive task and usually ends in failure. All you have to do is look to the NFL for a lesson on the dominance of tradition. Many investors have tried to compete, the USFL, Arena Football, the XFL and the UFL. All have fallen short. In 2014 I helped launch the National Pro Grid League – a well-funded professional sports league based upon the team competitions model in CrossFit. We had a TV contract, brilliant media producers, awesome uniforms, Eleiko equipment, many top CrossFit athletes and several million dollars in funding. The league folded in 2016 after failing to attract sufficient fans and sponsors. And, we very directly scheduled our season and training camps to avoid competiting with the CrossFit Games calendar of events. 

I’d love to see the sport of fitness thrive in many formats – it is the ultimate manifestation of what we do in the gym. The bigger the sport, the more people will be drawn to CrossFit and CrossFit affiliates. And the more popular the sport, we’ll likely see more local competition events for our community to participate. Hopefully, the WFP is able to succeed AND work with CrossFit to make the sport bigger and better than ever.  

Meanwhile, CrossFit affiliates will l be doing what WE do best: changing lives for the better and curing chronic disease. 

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