CrossFit ≠ Bootcamp or [Insert knock-off here]

I suppose this post could have equally been titled “Participation ≠ Progression”.

With the explosive growth of CrossFit around the world, there has been a marked shift in the fitness industry. The old model (fill a retail space with fancy equipment and a juice bar, then convince as many people as you can to sign-up for a contract and hope that they never actually show up) is broken. The big chains, known to the CrossFit world as GloboGyms, have started to notice their members flocking to the local industrial district to slog it out with real strength tools like ropes, rings, tires, and bumper plates (that you are actually allowed and encouraged to drop!).

Big Fitness, not one to just lay down and die, has begun a counter attack on the fitness industry that would make Sun Tzu proud. In an effort to keep friends close, but enemies closer, they have begun creating all sorts of CrossFit rip off programs. This is not just a trend exclusive to GloboGyms however, all types of bootcamps, and Tabata classes etc, have sprung up in fitness studios around the world, with some of their marketing efforts ranging from near trademark infringement to down right content theft.

A recent example comes from our brothers to the north at Catalyst Gym in Sault Ste. Marie. Not having any pictures of people working out in a group of their own (community can’t be faked), a local GloboGym decided to steal a picture off Catalyst’s website to use in the marketing material for a fitness challenge they were hosting.

While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the issue is that just because you call it something similar, does not make it the same. What these knock off group classes fail to understand is that real fitness requires you to administer acute high stress for short time periods. This type of stress usually requires the use of close to maximal efforts, and tests of strength as well as hands on coaching and drilling of proper technique. Does this sound like something you experienced the last time you did Zumba?

Dancing around for 40 mins, or using light weights so you don’t get bulky will definitely make you sweat, but does sweating = fitness or results? I’ve been in a sauna before, and it didn’t make my mile time faster, or my pull-ups stronger.

As I’m sure many have experienced, participation in a “fitness” class does not equal fitness. CrossFit is hard, because hard is what works (Google “physiological adaptation”) The right kind of hard, intelligently administered for the right period of time can cause your body to make monumental changes to both it’s form and function (Google “hormesis”)

While fun and social, these “fitness” programs ultimately prey on the fact that you think you’re getting fit, but never actually do. As a personal anecdote, we were recently at the CanFit Pro Show in Toronto where this fact was glaringly obvious, and humorously ironic. A show dedicated to the fitness industry, lacking basic understanding of how to create it… except of course for the CrossFit section (mildly biased opinion, but true).

Relegated to a small corner away from all the Cybex machines, bosu balls, and pyramid scheme meal replacement brands pimping BMWs, was the Sweat RX Magazine Canadian CrossFit Championships. Here were athletes testing fitness. Not caring about cellulite, total body cleanses or how to tone their inner thighs, but rather how much weight they could get overhead, or how fast they could run, or whether they could pull themselves up over a bar.

Now, don’t get me wrong, CrossFit is not the Holy Grail of fitness. It has it’s flaws, and in some cases is administered poorly or even dangerously (some CrossFit gyms think it’s okay to throw people straight into Group Classes with little to no training). The main difference is that CrossFit is based on a model that is ultimately focused on your health and fitness. We focus on community and personal growth. We know that cardio is just a function of strength, not a separate way to train. We know that words like cellulite , firming and toning are marketing myths created to make you feel insecure about your body so you’ll buy into the latest fad diet/Body by shake/fitness gimmick.

Deep down though, I think you know the truth. Nothing good comes from easy.

If you are being sold fitness as easy, you are being duped, had, scammed, conned, etc,.