We are many now. We used to be few.
Does that matter? These growing legions of people doing CrossFit: Are they CrossFitters? Or are they dilettantes? Dabbling here, trying there, just passing through, sampling our wares like CrossFit was small, tasty bits of cheese on a tray in an open-air market?
There are rumblings of annoyance in our community, posts here and there on these smedia sites that permeate — and seemingly dictate — our lives now. “Too many people doing it.” “It’s not the same.” “I was CrossFit pre-Bok.”
What does any of it matter?
There is an entity in the human experience: progress. Things change. Advance, retreat, morph. You and I really have very little control over most of the events in our lives. We can be upset about that reality and chase every illusion of control we see … or we can concentrate on the few things we can change or control. Our behavior. The depth of our own squat. How hard we fight to rise with the weight on the bar. How hard we fight for the people in our lives. The course of events in our own house. The way we treat others. How well, and deep, we love.
I’m not saying all change is good. I’m just saying change is. You can fight against the things you cannot control, or you can fight for the things you can control. But don’t get confused here and think that choosing your battles is the same thing as surrender. It’s not even close to surrender. What is it, exactly? Intelligence. It’s learning to pick your battles wisely. Deciding that upon which you will expend your energy. Deciding that upon which you are willing to give moments, minutes, hours of your one and only life. And, often, it’s deciding that an open hand really does beat a closed fist in numerous encounters, mental and physical.
The heart of CrossFit is the same as it ever was: go hard. Change happens, but that fact about CrossFit always wonderfully, gloriously stays the same. So, enjoy the spectacle of the Regionals, the Games, the influx of many new people to our sport, our home, our way of life — but, remember this: CrossFit was always about you and your workout. You and your workout. If you let other people or things get in the middle of that, well, then it’s really no one’s fault but your own, isn’t it?
