I accept it, we’re are a cult
We have, on countless occasions, not allowed ourselves
to be pulled into the debate. We have
walked away from conversations with a chuckle and a smile. We’ve played dumb. We’ve
typed scathing wall posts only to hit delete. We have convinced ourselves that
other people just don’t know enough. We have even gone as far as to stick our
fingers in our ears and say “I can’t hear you”.
The debate we have so carefully tried to circumvent
for the last few years, mostly because we were so aggravated by it, is the
“Crossfit, oh that’s a cult where you spend too much money to injure yourself”.
Today however, our silence ends. Not because I am about to go off and lambaste
all of you who have told us this. Nope, I am here to graciously accept your
expertly imposed label on behalf of all of us. Not only that, but I’m going to
give you more ammunition for your ferocious hatred. Ready, take notes.
cult
noun, often attributive \ˈkəlt\
: a small religious group that is not part of a larger and
more accepted religion and that has beliefs regarded by many people as extreme
or dangerous
: a situation in which people admire and care about
something or someone very much or too much
: a small
group of very devoted supporters or fans
Although I
cannot say we are a religion, I fully accept and take ownership of the rest of
this definition.
We are a
cult. We can be easily spotted by our weird high socks, slightly offensive tee
shirts, good posture and obsession with bacon. So what? The socks serve an
actual purpose, bacon is yummy and the good posture just happens here. Eh, the
tees shirts, you got us. To us these things are just outward identifiers. No
different than hipsters, skaters, yuppies, sorority girls / frat guys, bikers,
swimmers, surfers, politicians, hunters, goth chics…. the list goes on. You
see, we all express who we are in different ways and I am no longer going to
argue that we are not putting it out there that we are into a true sense of
community and improving the lives of ourselves and others. That’s what our stupid
socks say about us. You’re right, we dress funny.
We are a
cult. We care about it too much, and we talk about it all the time. I make no
apologies for this anymore. However, the next time you go off about how your
friends only talk about Crossfit take a moment and really pay attention to what
is being said. Notice this; when we talk your ear off about Crossfit the words
“we” and “you” are in constant rotation. When you talk to us about how much you
hate your life all we hear is “I” and “me”. For this, an apology is due; sorry
we like something so much we can’t shut up about it. So once again, you are
absolutely correct; it’s all we talk about.
We are a
cult. We support each other in all aspects, we travel in packs (or tribes), we
go out of our way to help each and we are devoted to seeing each other become
healthy and happy. When a helping hand is needed we have dozens of people ready
to pitch in. When one of our own is in need, we do what we can to help. There
are more than 150 friends at our box and we all know each other by name. Our
kids hang out together. Our parents have met each other. We take vacations
together. Sounds just like your gym right? You tell me it’s fake and that we
all secretly are competitive and want to beat each other…. We say your half
right. The love and devotion to
community is not fake, but you are dead right that we all want to win and be
one second faster or one rep better. What you fail to see, or more accurately,
fail to understand is that the competition is not so much with each other but
that is lies beating our own previous best. We, and you, should constantly be
striving to be a little better every day. You say we are too competitive, we
say you have been doing the same hour on the elliptical for five years. Dang,
you are right again. I’m devoted to a group of likeminded individuals who
support each other in the quest to be the best possible person inside and out
while becoming stronger and faster.
We are a
cult. We spend all of our extra money on membership dues, competitions and
gear. No argument here at all. The average Crossfit member is spend 5 bucks a
day on membership. Is it worth it?
That’s a personal choice. But really?
You’re going to try and discredit what we are doing over 5 bucks a day
while you sip a 7 dollar coffee. Being the cult that we are I guess we need to
work on our priorities. Guilty again.
We are a
cult. We do weird things at our boxes. First off, we call them boxes. We allow
our kids to try (my old gym told me I had to leave because my 11 year old
daughter was with me once …… great message), we buy whole cows. Even stranger, we have our own lingo, women
freely disclose their weight and age, boys consult girls on lifting techniques,
grandmas high five college rugby players, and OMG – no one wears
headphones! How can this possibly be
happening all under one roof? It has to be a cult.
We are a
cult. The next time you tell me this I will reply with a smile and a yep. I
will extend my hand and let you know that for 5 bucks a day, some really hard
work, desire, and a commitment to wearing hideous socks you too can become one
of us.
Brad
Yeckley is a coach and affiliate co-owner at CrossFit Nittany in State College
PA and owns 27 CrossFit tee shirts and is wearing socks with bacon on them
right now.
