You hit the nail on the head for me. Lack of focus on the actual athletes has made me lose interest in the sport all together. I miss seeing the growth and building relationships with athletes like Tia, Royce, Khan, etc and would love to see that happen with new athletes
I also think the event coverage is a problem. There were so many errors this year with both video and sound that made it so annoying (I still tried to watch everything). Also the commentary is just wrong quite often and I particularly noticed that the coverage only very often focuses on showing 2-3 athletes rather than the field. Sometimes that meant you did not even see the main leader on the floor. CrossFit seems to focus on certain athletes which I think is sad.
The single most important reason I started crossfit was because of the documentaries they used to have on Netflix, those were AMAZING. It baffles me they dont push stuff like that more
I know why Crossfit is Dying. Couple points - 1st point, my Crossfit gym here in Buffalo actually disassociated itself with actual Crossfit. They no longer have to pay the Crossfit fee and therefore their members are not hearing constantly about Crossfit. It is now a gym with functional gym classes, which people like but the owner is not long fully associated with Crossfit. When Kalipa did this with NCFits, a lot of other Crossfit gyms saw this as a way to keep the money for themselves and move on from Crossfit. 2nd point, the structure of getting to the Crossfit games has totally ruled out the everyday gym goer, Im not saying that the random joe ever has had a chance to make it to the games, but in their own mind they did. So it kept a lot more people engaged, Rich Fronings story with "he came out of no where to be the fittest on earth". So many people dove into that saying "omg if he can do it maybe I have a chance" , with that being said, Crossfit tried to make itself into an actual sport with a league like platform and it ruined a lot of viewing. Its hard to become a "fan" and invest when people are constantly going in an out of Crossfit, and there are not real teams to cheer for, that marketing platform can only last so long. I can guarantee if Crossfit reverted back to its original Open / Regionals / Games the world would start watching again, unfortunately in trying to make it better they made it worse and pushed out the everyday gym goer.
From a coaches point of view (in London, Sydney and Abu Dhabi so far) There are soooo many options for people looking to improve their fitness, and these 'functional fitness' gyms are the perfect solution for people who don't want to do the sometimes cary gymnastics and CrossFit. If you're looking to drop some weight and get healthier, a slick looking gym that focuses on its clients. Crossfit has not done a good job of highlighting how it can help people in everyday life. There needs to be a CrossFit and CrossFit 'Pro' separation almost to showcase what we're primarily here to do as coaches. Also those peaks of interest in CrossFit would correlate to the documentaries no? Which were incredible and bring so many eyes to the sport. F1 peaked after Netflix, Football teams are seeing fan engagement after documentaries. Bring back the classic Docs and make them FREE to access. I agree that media needs to improve MASSIVELY to help the sport.
I think the separation you mention was what Greg Glassman was trying to achieve. I felt he was trying to show crossfit was for everyone and it was not just about the Crossfit Games... Tricky balance though if its the Games that brings all the promotion and attention.
@@rw1481 affiliates need more help with marketing. Pay £3000 a year and then market on top of that, when CrossFit don’t put out any real marketing campaign to drive members into the gym. How often do you see/hear about f45 etc? Whilst they’re a franchise model so it is different, CrossFit need to promote itself to drive people into affiliates. Get exposure from the games, drive numbers into gyms should be the formula
Our little town functional fitness gym does a great job of advertising how functional fitness will be good in everyday life. I started as a completely out of shape really overweight Middle Aged guy and after a couple years I am now less over weight and stronger than ever in my life. Big shout out to my class coaches here in Neepawa Manitoba Canada!
CF open is not enough for an average CrossFitter, It needs to be a CF league where a workout is released every month and people are doing it and submitting the scores online to see how fit they are against other Crossfitters. Registration fee around £5 for the whole year/season. Age and gender groups just like in CF Open.
Thanks for this video. My comments 1 - Hire the media team back 2 - Explain the difference between the sport and the lifestyle. Meaning the pros vs the everyday crossfitter and what that means 3 - More events between the games and the open season 4- Highlight affiliates more and the stories of everyday people
No one cares about everyday people. There were times when the athletes were everyday people. I miss those times. I had the feeling, I can reach the goal to make it to the Games besides working fulltime, because a lot of people did. Impossible nowadays.
You mentioned the word community. I go back to your videos from 2017/2018 when you guys were a channel of nothing but CrossFit. Vlogging the local box, your own personal growth in the sport and all the support and love the community had for CrossFit. The vibes were just different. CrossFit has gone from community focused to purely business focused. You don’t see a lot of local comps anymore. Semi popular athletes have their noses to the sky and show fans no love. CrossFit has lost its identity. Until they find it again; the trend will continue down.
Hard to find the community when they price 75% of them out of it. CrossFit gyms used to be packed because it was fun, you met people, & most importantly it was affordable when compared to your average nice gym.
@@TooDaft That’s why nobody I know ever wants to join, i’m one of the youngest people in my box because everybody else in the box is older and has more money
@@P1995. I have the money, but for me I have space to just buy my own equipment and setup a gym. It makes no sense unless I wanted more of a community vibe to join one.
I sometimes wonder if the fact that Crossfit is still trying to test the untested/unexpected has made competition a bit more circus like, and a bit harder to take serious. Like where's it gonna end?
You are right !!! It’s killing the identity people has no reference anymore. Suddenly your scores from the girls has no meaning your CrossFit total is regardless and your 1 RM and adaptation to whatever they through to you is what matters
When I first got into CrossFit, it was the fact that the games did the same workouts I was doing, I watched some of those workouts, and I want to do it to, now there is all of these special rigs, equipment and nonsense that i have no desire to get/learn/do. Its not motivating to watch to keep me working out
I totally agree. For me, CrossFit in its core is a functional training program, which can be done at a typical crossfit gym, and is supposed to make you fitter overall. This does not mean that you need to include cycling, obstacle courses, swimming, etc. Nothing wrong with that in general, but if you start bringing in tennis, climbing, golf and whatever, you are very far away from what crossfit as a sport in the affiliates is. I remember watching workouts like 30 g2o for time, DT, Murph or tge marathon row and tried all of them. Those are workouts we all can do and can relate to. Also the frantasyland video with froning and hobart. I hope that the direction eventually reverses and goes back to the roots a bit.
Thats total right. For me the games lost the crossfit charakter. I also hated it when they killed the regionals events. That was when I stopped doing the open. But i am still doing crossfit.
There's NOT ENOUGH Crossfit related content on here imo. But by that I mean, real and grounded CrossFit content. Most of the Crossfit content on RU-vid is over-produced and/or unrelatable to the everyday athlete. It's great watching the top of the iceberg when it comes to fitness, but it's just so far removed from what the majority of people are actually going to achieve in a crossfit box (and personally that kind of turns me off watching it). Away from RU-vid, I used to follow all of the CrossFit athletes on Instagram too, but it's just so many ads! (No I don't want to buy your CBD drops).
Behind the scenes with Sevan really helped you to get to know the Athletes and in an interesting way. At the same time Rich, Dan, and Josh were putting out content of them getting together working out etc. There were the documentaries highlighting the sport. Then the various videos with Dave and the athletes. I agree CrossFit needs to put more into media and personalize it. Rich Froning does a great Job of that with his media team and his recent video bringing attention to the everyday member was smart.
Craig, I am sorry you both lost money on the CrossFit games this content was some of the best you have produced and I could really see you both stepping into that “behind the scenes “ and “road to the games” production. Keep at it dude as you both are amazing
Excellent points! You briefly touched on the media team being fired in 2018 but that's definitely a huge driver, as the documentaries made by the media team were what brought my interest to CrossFit originally. The docs for 2018 and Next Gen were so much worse in comparison that I'm not ever interested in Retro/Active. It also feels like CrossFit is feeding their own collapse with reducing the events. I know the Granite Games in Minnesota didn't have great attendance in 2022, and likely cost money to the organizers rather than making money but as there wasn't a big local event I'm sure the engagement in Minnesota and the Midwest was significantly lower this year than in previous years. Especially with the Games moving from Madison - the entirety of the Midwest is now ripe for competing fitness methods to convert CrossFit boxes which will just drive CrossFit lower in this region.
You, Mayhem, HWPO, and Buttery Bros put out EXCELLENT content. If Crossfit isnt going to have a media team, they need to support and promote the bloggers. I think your fans are loyal, but how do we get new fans to fins and follow you all?
Weightlifting is far further along in the death spiral, but there are some similarities. They hired Weightlifting House to handle some streaming and let them push media. Dont think it really helped, but its pretty nice.
CrossFit need to go back to basics. Put on an event that the majority of people can complete but show how fit the athletes are! The ordinary person don't understand the skills involved so can't relate. for example, make the athletes do a 5k run, 50 burpees, 50 b/w squats (short/simple/relatable). Then an ordinary joe can attempt it with no cost of gyms/equipment etc and it will show a fan how fit they are. The idea of a 1 day competition is ideal, on a Saturday in a big city but let them show off there fitness. A lot of the handstand walking or double under crossovers just turn off the ordinary joe as they see it as stupid.
I’ve been a fan of CrossFit since 2014.. started crossfit myself in 2016.. I’m nearly 57 now and I still love it. The average person finds crossfit terrifying.. they don’t realize that all ages, all capabilities, how scalable crossfit is…. Seeing the age, the adaptive divisions, especially, in competition shows you do not need to be the perfect specimen of an athlete to be amazing! I agree that media needs to put it out there more and doing stories on average people over coming struggles with the help of crossfit and their amazing coaches/trainers… so many stories out there! Most believe crossfit will put you into the ground with injuries and that it is for the super fit only… it has helped so many people physically, mentally but that is never shown… we need to change this!!!
You bring up CrossFit’s biggest Achilles’ heel, Ive never seen CrossFit address or try to get right. Most people think its a high injury rate, the other is the pull ups… people outside of CrossFit are very prone to despising butterfly and kipping pull ups
Sevan's behind the scenes back in the day really made it interesting to follow an athlete and then you'd have some favourties which then made you want to see how well they do. You can't have any favourites if we don't know a bit about them and nobody watches a sport without having someone to root for. Watching the games made me want to try CF so yeah, it's all down to that media...
HERE HERE!! Road to the games was amazing! This years games content from you was OUTSTANDING! I loved getting to know the athletes more when in the thick of the competition. Seeing the banter between them as well as support for eachother, makes me love the sport and athletes more! Over the last year i have lost 4st (22 \ 18) because i want to start crossfit, but I'm petrified of walking into a box and failing (thanks for the confidence boost covid 🤣) seeing more raw content is definitely needed in the sport! The more content out there the better! To help people find an awesome community even if they feel as though taking part is beyond them. I'm from Wales, if anyone would be willing to help me overcome anxiety of walking into a box please reach out 🤙🏻🏴 (i would even travel to crossfit lacemakers) Much love
Don’t wait, I started when I needed to lose 4 stone and it was the best decision I made. CrossFit is tailor made for weight loss and you will find plenty of support when you walk in a CrossFit gym. I’m Welsh too and if your close enough I can recommend Celtic CrossFit but really any gym you choose will be great
In Aus, I’ve noticed a lot of affiliates have moved away from the ‘crossfit’ branding - however, the training methodology has remained & is actually gaining in popularity. There are so many ‘boutique’ class-based functional fitness / strength & conditioning gyms opening on every street corner. But I can only speak for what’s happening in Aus, we love our cafe culture and supporting local businesses, which is why big chain stores like Starbucks have miserably failed here. I’d say its the same principle, once something becomes almost ‘too popular’ ie. F45, Crossfit ETC, these sort of chain businesses start to decline rapidly in popularity - because they are popular. But thats just my observation.
@nnikkiiiii from what I have notcied at least in Southern Sydney way, f45 training people are over that because they are hitting ceilings in progress and coaching hasn't been enough to back it up. And crossfit is still too extreme and expensive and "messy". Say like Yard gym it is gaining alot of momentum opening up many branches now in Sydney and trialing LA as its got that boujee feel, all black, clean, more intense then f45 but not as intense as crossfit feel as there is no gymnaatics or olympic lifting that people are "scared" of that they can't do it. I think Crossfit still has the mentallity that you have to be really fit (which is false), you can get injured easily (which is also false unless you have bad coaches and go too hard all the time etc), and there isn't enough money in affliates or investment e.g. simple things like a creche for mums is killing crossfut gyms as that is like your midday income gone if you don't have one.
I watched a couple episodes of The Voice the other night, specifically what they call the blind auditions. Before each contestant they take 1-2 minutes and profile their back story and tell about how they got to this point in their lives. THIS MATTERS. I am instantly more interested in how they do in the audition itself. Great analysis, Craig, keep up the good work 👍
CrossFit was sold as something anyone could do at home with minimal equipment. It is now viewed as a sport for professionals that require an expensive membership. CF has lost its roots.
Good analysis of the situation. With regards the present stars of CF they do seem a bit characterless or at least their character is not being projected. If you look at Josh Bridges he is a man with a back story, Matt Fraser similar. If you couple that with poor quality coverage and some poor quality events such as the cycling event at the Games, which was abject, then it not much of a spectacle.
I imagine the emergence of hyrox had made an impact, it’s a lower barrier to entry without the oly lifting and gymnastics. Personally the games has never been a driver for me, but I did tend to tune in when you had more heavyweights in contention, Rich, Jason, and Matt being the obvious examples. Other things, CrossFit has always been expensive to do, and the range of gear (which feels necessary) increases every year, and finally, CrossFit still has a PR problem. Rugby people have always slagged football for example, but I feel like lots of people from other sports (or no sport at all) have an axe to grind with CrossFit. Unsure why this is.
In term of CrossFit gyms closing, for regular people, those type of gyms are very expensive ; the subscription const is generally about 4 times the price for a regular gym. I think it's one of the reasons, people dont stay and go to cheaper gyms.
But then they get a membership at a cheaper gym and often don’t go because it’s not the same community environment either. Then they are paying a membership they never use. CF gyms are a more expensive membership, but is like having a personal trainer each time. The gym I used to go to, I could get coaching advice in class as well as nutritional info for my membership. I don’t go to an affiliate anymore because I have a home gyms. It really is relative to what people put as priority. People will spend money on expensive things if that’s where their priority is at the time. I definitely feel like CF has lost its roots for sure. Prior to Covid, especially in early CF years, You didn’t care what it cost almost, you just wanted to be part of something great. It’s lost it’s luster and so people don’t feel it’s a priority to spend on.
I believe the coverage of semifinals & the games is what is doing this.. having people switch to the podcast channel & not showing it on the main page just had me personally not even want to tune into semifinals. Talked about it w/ my guys the other day & i catch myself going back to watch 2015,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022 games
I didn’t even know this. This felt like the least intuitive year to watch. I skipped most of it. I also didn’t watch Richey’s videos because of this. Why tune in to BTS for events I couldn’t even watch. Tough all around and sad as I haven’t missed one since 2011.
The sport itself is evolving. The PGA & F1 racing have been around for decades, so hard comparison. I liked your mention of Hyrox - how does that compare on the graph? What other "new" sports have come up recently? Disc Golf? Pickleball? I guess what I am getting at is that CrossFit is young. But it's shifting to be CrossFit the sport vs. CrossFit the methodology (aka CF boxes). CF needs to account for that or it will be over. With that said, Instagram is a good barometer to test, but the age demographic of of Instagram is getting older, so we are more inclined to follow the OGs. Someone also commented about this, but I think it is worth repeating... I can't stand all the ads the athletes have to do. Between Beam, Whoop, supplements... it's terrible and I tend to unfollow rather quickly if it becomes too much. I am curious what happens to those graphs once Sevan releases all of his BTS content. He mentioned in a recent episode that they decided to cut the videos in half because they were too long (1 hour +). So more videos... more views.... more clicks? Who knows? I do LOVE your style of content. And really appreciate the candid interviews. Maybe you can do more zoom style interviews with athletes? I also appreciate seeing the weightlifting content. Anything more you can do there? Local meets? Bringing more awareness to that sport as we head into the Olympics next year. HSTL Fan. 🤩 Keep on being a Legend, too.
I want to see more navy seals and more fire fighters using crossfit. Real world application. Doesn't have to be military. Maybe even application in other sports. I want to see a documentary on how Crossfit paved way for Influencers such as "squatuniversity" all these recovery gurus and Olympic lifting coaches and athletes getting much needed limelight coz of crossfit.
you also nailed it with 'its not financially viable' this counts across a lot of what you said, but with the cost of living, the rising bills, people having to work more to offset all this, people generally don't have time or money to afford this. I had to stop crossfit due to my wife losing her job at the start of crossfit, and then we moved. So all bills went up. and i just couldn't afford it anymore. I know you pay for a service, etc, but its crazy. I do miss how fit i was when i was crossfitting but i just can't justify the cost anymore.
Agreed, local Boxes costing £90pmonth it’s unattainable for a lot of people these days. It’s became exclusive - to be exclusive you have to exclude people
@@KVjourneyaround near me it’s at least £90pm and that’s the bare minimum. When I first started doing CF years ago, it was still expensive then but it was only 1 type of membership. But then they expanded, they introduced different levels of membership to get as much money as possible out of us. But only gave the bare minimum in return. So may as well of only offered the one membership still.
I love this sport so much and honestly you’re right about everything you’re saying. Content is king in this game. I’m a videographer based in Trinidad and Tobago and I would absolutely love to fly to the states and work with CrossFit. 😢
I had never come across Crossfit until the documentary Fittest on Earth got suggested to me (the games where Katrin won her 2nd straight title and Tia got 2nd again) even without knowing any previous battles, the doc did SUCH a good job of recapping the previous games, going into depth into the competitors that I INSTANTLY fell in love with the people behind the sport. I've never so much as touched a barbell in my life (nor had any passion to)! That doc made me go back and watch the previous years documentary, loved it as well. And then I found the redeemed and dominant documentary (which I think had just come out and in my opinion is the best one ever made featuring Tia and Kara's INSANE finish on Fibonacci) and that was it. I was hooked. I was hooked on the people, the stories, the training and plus the games themselves. I've been following religiously since then and even though Mat's now retired and obviously with Tia taking the year out, I've still come back and watched it but, being brutally honest, I'm not as hooked as I once was. I don't know much about Jeff Adler so I wasn't that stoked when he won (will always secretly be rooting for my absolute fav Mr. Vellner to get that gold one day!) Even watching your videos this year, which were amazingly shot and of such high quality, when it came to you interviewing some of the athletes behind the scenes I would zone out, check my phone, sometimes even fast forward those bits as I just don't know who that person is/have no emotional connection to them.
I used to watch every road to the games, I only watched the games because I knew Matt and everyone’s story and how hard they worked. My guy lifted in his parents basement until he was the champ. How would anyone know that without road to the games. Bring it back.
i think the stuff that mitch hooper did with the CrossFit guys is exactly what we need. getting other top athletes to workout with top CrossFit athletes and showcasing the level of fitness is key. oh and highlight some local comps and gyms.
CrossFit athletes need to compete more. They train for months and months and compete 2-3 times a year. There needs to be a bigger season where people can see the athletes compete more. That leads to more opportunities to create story lines and content about what happens at an event - like Drive to Survive does. No “major” sport only has its athletes compete less than they train and only be able to be watched twice a year. Bring on a world tour.
I agree, in football you can see your favorite team every week for what like 6 months+?? And you have the World Cup, Champions League, Europe Cup etc. So you never fall off and forget about the sport, teams or players
The behind the scenes of Rich,Jason,Dan,and,josh back in the day was more interesting than the games and made you want to pull for them, plus you fire your whole media department it’s gonna hurt
From the outside looking in (I am a powerlifter) it seems to me that CrossFit Inc is not interested in their own community. For example this is the weekend of the marbellachampionship it I am not mistaken. Have you heard of it? Have you seen any coverage of it? Even the IPF makes an effort to show the major events or countries srteam their own comps online. Why not CrossFit?
CrossFit needs to bring back the “behind the scene” or “road to the games” and start to really listen the people who are making CrossFit media (like you for example) because you have the less separation between the fans and the content
Agree with your points mate. Overall it’s lacking a clear and comprehensive communication strategy focused around the various “levels” of athletes. Media focused around the games is an aspect but there is also so much false perception that people think it’s inaccessible. Winning over the grassroots everyday gym goer is vital. Tailored comms in each country, more support to drive consistency between affiliates and a general improvement in professionalisation
Maybe its becomming to professional wich create a distance with the avarage crossfitter? Where are the garage videos these days? Still love your videos and buttery bros, can relate myself to that
I would like to see more videos on Masters Level athletes. As someone who is turning 44 later this month, and trying to qualify for the Games for the first time, it would be great to get inspired by guys my age; kind of like the way the PGA and Senior Tour split.
The documentaries of the CF games where key in making the sport interesting. I followed everyone seen in those movies but I don't know the new games athletes that well. I agree 100%, the media is key and they need to bring back the sanctionals.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Crossfit completely downsize it's media team 2018-2019. Which, if my memory is accurate, would speak volumes to Craig's theory.
You can see what is missing, Craig, so go make it happen. Partner with whoever you need to partner with e.g. Rogue, Wodapalooza, Dubai Fitness Championships etc to raise the capital you need to make the "Drive to Survive of Crossfit" and build the media company that Crossfit itself should be building. You're already halfway there with this YT channel, and we're all behind you 💪.
IMHO, as a long time crossfitter who moved on. Here's what is killing crossfit. It has lost its functionality. 1) hand stand walks and butterfly pull ups (absolutely nothing functional about either) and it looks stupid. 2) Little to zero running 3) Airdyne, GHD, etc. The branded companies that push CF to push their products and get added to games. 4) The more you learn about periodized training the more you realize that CF may be hindering your progress.
I think the notion of a CrossFit “community” is overhyped. Many gyms invite a certain type of person, many of which are toxic and too competitive. This ultimately makes people less likely to stick around and really makes the brand less appealing as a whole.
I really liked the idea of the community seen on many of the American affiliate videos. I would see the same people go in every day, even if they weren't training, just to hang out. In the UK when I started out, I really could have benefited from just that but, what I got was a bunch of self proclaimed 'athletes' and the rest of us were in the corner unable to do pistol squats at 160kg+ being told to "just try!" then ignored for an hour. I love the Games and other events as a sport, but I don't have a lot of interest in boxes.
I’ve felt my own interest in CF dropping lately because I just struggle to take it seriously when the rules of the sport aren’t clear. The rules and judging needs to be a lot clearer and more consistent in my opinion. I skipped the open and judge course this year because it felt useless signing up and competing when it’s not a levelled playfield. I see so many no-reps not being called and fuzzy rules overall. And the coverage of the games has also bugged me for years :/ I much rather watch your coverage of the games than the actual games honestly.
Your videos from the games (and in general) have been excellent this year! I love the longer content. Enjoying watching you improve with the squat program too. Hopefully we can build interest in the sport again, but your team appreciates what you are doing still. Thanks, legends!
The vast majority of people are doing it tough financially. CrossFit gyms are ridiculously expensive. It doesn't take a genius to work out how to make it more popular, make it affordable.
Love him or hate him, Sevan has been preaching everything in this video forever. As the years continue to go by it becomes more apparent how influencial he was in the growth of everything.
I see two ways to be a popular (in terms of public popularity) sport: 1. Top-Down: Global worldwide marketing and coverage through a single entity (Like F1 or UFC) - very expensive needs a deep pocket (most of these sports are billionaire owned?) - needs some sort of spectacle/athlete brand building ... 2. Bottom-Up: Local "clubs" then regional, national, international - more or less any "olympic" sport or the big team sports. Mostly non-profit oriented clubs at the lower levels that do it for the love of the sports, global organisations also organised in some "NGO" way (even though there's often big money involved). Local athletes make identification easier for the public which leads to higher popularity locally that then can be managed "upwards" Now the problem with crossfit is, that they are neither of the two. So maybe Crossfit as an organisation needs to decide or we as "athletes". Become one of the "fitness trends" like bodypump and the hundreds others or become a "real sport". Where I live, there's a "functional fitness" movement, that tries to get this established as an olympic discipline, which would open the way to structures and financing that would go into the bottom-up route. But it also means that there's no room for a franchise system that "Crossfit" is. It could also mean more community operated/oriented boxes that are non-profits and people do the sport for the sake of it...
I remember when you could watch this channel to learn the CrossFit movements we do at the box, as a long time viewer I still watch most episodes but not all because I feel the CrossFit content is much less now. Sad to see the trend heading in this direction.
Lets be honest, the answers aren't rocket science, especially for any sport with proficient governance and sufficient investment. CrossFit and it's growth has just been poorly managed. Facts.
Crossfit could do more to support affiliates in creating affordable memberships for low socioeconomic communities who cannot afford $40 + aud per week. Given the high numbers of obesity and CVD in low socioeconomic populations, Crossfit would be a great help to those communities.
I don't think comparisons to UFC, F1 and others are relevant as they only exist to generate revenue for the organization and their participants. The more closely related organization is the PGA since there are millions of regular golfers but only a few professional golfers. The only important metric here is whether the more individuals are participating in CrossFit. If the amount of people participating in CrossFit increased, but there were no Games or any media whatsoever, wouldn't you think it's doing well and not "over"? The sport grew rapidly at a time where social media wasn't that prevalent, and even though I enjoy this channel, I don't think less "views" has any bearing on the wonders of CrossFit.
There are TWO CrossFits now. The professional one where we see the top athletes at the games and rouge and the everyday person at their local gym building their community. The other big issue is cost. Most gyms around my city cost well over $1000 a year, that's just insane.
CF ideas • Games athletes sponsor an everyday athlete - idea seems to be in the air as Ben Smith and Rich Froning posting long, very high quality features of older, everyday members using CF to return to the world, to life - this is the problem that really exists everywhere - I see it in my mom and many people’s parents - they need to see someone like them being trained with the best • Bring those everyday athletes to compete in competitions that are NOT elite and use these events for the majority of published media • E.g we see everyone’s race horse(s) compete while focusing on how these people rose from disability or inactivity using CF - this is the media that inspires, not elite athletes talking about mindset or controllables for themselves - training for these types of comps could become a new training style • Saying “it’s for everyone” is not enough - show the guy who didn’t need to get a knee replacement training with Scott Panchick and people will see value - anything that gets someone back to activity is valuable in preventing ortho injuries and reducing mortality. • Orthopaedic centers + CF + rural communities = huge potential outreach For every games athlete, there are potentially dozens of every day athletes they interact with - the more people see these people, the more they will empathize - CF has always been built on empathizing with the competitor because we’ve suffered in workouts too - imagine more people being able to see themselves in competition with high quality media about the lives of these every day athletes? More memberships, more comps, less stigma?
I’d like to see like a CrossFit League just like football. You have the top gyms competing against each other 3 male, 3 female and 1 team. You have the Premier League of gyms. Then second and third league and so on. Gyms get promoted and demoted at the end of the season. All matches streamed online.
I believe the best single production about crossfit was the 2015 games. Why? Because it was not tailored for crossfit fans and athletes, but it was meant for everyone. That's what's missing now. I agree that the answer is media, but it's useless to keep doing the same videos for the crossfit community and not invite new people to the sport.
I think there is a very negative stigma from outsiders about CrossFit. I think the sport of CrossFit has plateaued already. They are not doing enough over a lot of years to increase eyeballs on the sport. Memberships are expensive compared to other gyms. It makes it hard to grow cause people don’t want to pay the money for something with a negative stigma. Dying? Maybe. but for sure it is struggling in every aspect.
They need more real content on Netflix, Amazon, or something else to bring in new people. Documentary series? They have done a horrible job of marketing themselves to a new generation of people.
from a viewers perspective and a former box owner CF does a trash job of making it viewer friendly. It borders on a circus act at some point with the movements. They also don't give much focus on the athletes themselves and build them up to be likeable people you want to follow
As soon as Castro was sacked I lost all interest in the open. From there I stopped competing in the open and my interest in CrossFit declined. Plus I find it quite boring nowadays. They need to stop all the circus acrobatic workouts and stick to what works.
What needs to happen that all Crossfit documentaries should be free. It will allow more to appreciate and see the world of Crossfit. When Crossfit continues to charge arms and legs for videos is silly. Videos should be free.
As someone who works in Search Engine Optimization and Digital Marketing, I can add to this that Google Searches are also on the decline, and I don’t think those trend searches hold as much weight as they did 5 years ago. Most people nowadays use social media to keep up to date with news and events. I’m not saying CrossFit isn’t in decline, but I personally wouldn’t put much weight on Google search trends to determine popularity.
Moving the games around to a different location every couple of years will help. Madison was great but it lost its excitement the last couple of years.
I watch most of your videos but didn’t watch your games videos this year. Finding an extra 50mins each day to keep up is a lot. If they were 10mins update of the day, then add a long episode at the end or when you are home to get all the behind the scenes
From an outsider’s perspective- I recall joining a mixed CrossFit/standard gym in highschool around 2012. CrossFit was beginning to really take off in popularity because it was the new hot thing in the burgeoning age of social media based fitness. I believe the following 5-6 years after that were crossfits heyday. Everyone knew of it at least somewhat because it was being talked about a lot. Heck, I remember everyone getting worked up over Rick Ross doing CrossFit. Having been established for more than a decade now, the new hype has passed. CrossFit has firmly settled into the fringe sport it was always destined to be. People who were avid CrossFit participants for years end up leaving their gyms for other disciplines (street parking, etc) or just lose interest all together. CrossFit just now exists, it has its fans, and most folks outside the sport know of the word and that’s been around for a while and care little beyond that. I believe the reason the UFC has become so popular is Because it’s embraced becoming a glamor sport of sorts for the top athletes at least. CrossFit has really gotten stuck back in that niche sport lane that has its core fanbase, yet doesn’t appeal as much to outsiders as it’s been around for decade and is well past its “ new and exciting” phase.
I want crossfit to show the reach it has. There is a crossfit box in nepal of all places. Why is there no documentary on that? Its not just a white people thing.. that stigma still exists
I mean lets be honest, watching the crossfit broadcasts sucks, they are so stingy about watching just the events. You have to sift through so much content just to get the events you want to watch . It used to be so much easier so see the events, they are not doing enough to push the sport.
Road to rhe Games were my favourite videos - 10-15 mins of good content and got me excited and interested in the athletes competing. CrossFit firing their media team i think is showing it's impact ....
Great content! I am constantly looking for more content on athletes, games prep and crossfit anything. Mayhem just put out a short film on a local everyday member. Gold! It was wonderful to see something else in the off season about crossfit. Crossfit is so much more than the pro athletes and games. Although I love this the pro side of crossfit, it's nice to see stories about regular people like me. Keep slaying Craig! Keep crossfit alive!
This is an interesting take on raising the visibility of the Games, and maybe it would work. But it doesn't address the drop in interest in Crossfit, or the declining number of gyms. Remember, the Games searches were much lower than the overall Crossfit searches. Games interest, and athlete following, will go up as the community of members grows, and will inevitably decline if bodies in boxes, and the number of boxes, continues to shrink. That is a larger concern for the sport, and more importantly the activity, in the long term.
I agree with you. Getting to know the athletes helps a lot. I got to know Tia, Sarah Sig, Kat, Mat, Ben, all the OGs through road to the games. We don’t get that from CrossFit.
I’ll admit. I’m one that was really into watching CrossFit content and now rarely check in. You hit the nail in the head. There needs to be more media to make us fall in love with a personality like they did with Mat, Tia and all the Dottiers. The Netflix shows were the best. It also was off putting when some of the top athletes did not participate in the Games for personal reasons this year. If the top athletes aren’t competing it’s hard to get excited to watch.
There is nothing wrong with the training methodology of CF. But I have to agree. There needs to be more media that adds value like the old days. Still love the old rich froning and dan Bailey videos with the training and blowing shit up.
Yeah I think there needs to be more media coverage between events. The road to Madison was fantastic to watch last year and I really missed it this year. Just imagine what it could be like. They could follow people from all divisions and show how inclusive CrossFit can be! So much wastes potential.
The majority of people at CrossFit just do CrossFit which is great if that’s what you want but there is so many including myself that enjoy doing other things like running, swimming, cycling, hyrox, circuit training etc. With CrossFit being so expensive compared to other things it’s unfortunately the first direct debit to go. It needs to become more affordable and flexible to everyone. I’ve also noticed the ‘core’ CrossFit people claim they are like a big family but quickly turn their nose up when I mention I do any other form of exercise that isn’t CrossFit. I don’t get it but can’t help but think that this part of the problem.
Maybe start an Allstars weekend. Have two captains, and have them pick their top 4 or 5 people to be on their team. Then, have the events announced, and it could be individual, partner, or teams of 3 or 4. And the captain can pick who will compete in each event. Kind of like the Again Faster vs. Rogue thing they did way back in the day.
CrossFit is an exercise methodology before it is a sport. The closeness of these two points are simultaneously the things that make it so unique, but also make it difficult to grow. The brands increasing emphasis on the inclusivity of CrossFit as a methodology through its messaging and actions with all of their adaptive and age group categories over the last few years means well, but it hasn’t done a thing for the growth of the sport. Please understand I’m not saying this is a bad thing. I am a full time CrossFit coach and see and help people change their lives with it everyday. However, nobody that doesn’t do CrossFit gives a shit about the adaptive and age group athletes, plain and simple. Watching sports is about watching the best people in the world compete to win. The only eyes on the other categories are those that do CrossFit, and even within that population those that choose to tune into the other categories is a very small percentage. All of the news in the CrossFit space in regards to the sports over the last few years has been about the inclusion of the new divisions and athletes as well as the lack of professionalism in CrossFits negligence to broadcast them. However, CrossFit viewership is so low that we can barely get the elite divisions to show on ESPN, which we can’t even broadcast live. Here’s the answer: it is possible to believe that CrossFit is for everyone, because as a methodology it is. It is also possible to think that pushing the adaptive and age group categories is a waste of time if you actually want to grow the sport. We need eyeballs on CrossFit from people that don’t know anything about CrossFit, and the only way to get them interested is to show them the best of the best competing, encourage and showcase rivalries and controversial personalities and create better stories around the athletes that want to and can win.
Not that CrossFit is chasing validation from the outside world but adding more obscure movements seems to continually muddy the waters of outside perception. Crossfit is so great on it’s own but as time goes on it turns into the kid in school trying wayyyy to hard. I agree very much that what’s lacking is media coverage of the athletes. Road to the games, Rogue red vs. black, Rogue vs. Again Faster Tahoe throwdown; all of these series’ were epic and really let people get to know the athletes. You and Jas do a great job of bringing us similar coverage as far as depth but the general public as a whole would probably receive things more readily from CrossFit hq or Rogue directly. Just keep on shredding and the people who should stay involved will, just like rock and roll.
We are NOT tired if you! You are awesome and bring so much joy to the world!👐 I don’t believe the latest athletes in the sport have the same unique personalities that Noah, Mat and other have which is why I have lost some interest in the sport. I also believe that we’ve gotten used to these incredible lifts and workouts so we’re not as impressed and eager to tune in to the games. With that said, we are still impressed of course. I thought your games videos this year was the best ones yet!🤩👏 have a great Sunday!
Great vision. I think they need the evolution of the CrossFit journal. Some of those old journal videos and articles totally bought me in to the world of CrossFit
Basically they need Sevan to release the behind the scenes series from this year. What I think they need to do is actually look at setting up a series/season like grid league.. PRVN, MAYHEM, HWPO, TTT, UNDERDOGS.. (said this on other creators and I think here before??) But something like 6 Men 6 Women singles eve doubles, mixed doubles and a teams with all points going towards the team total. This could be countries and held like the Olympics or World Cup football/cricket etc.. Crossfit need to produce a professional series.. and they need it in mainstream media. Hell getting this onto the college sports program like gridiron and football? I also think the crossfit games needs to drop the unknown release the workouts when the semi's have been run.. so athletes can prepare like professionals should be able to??? Other than that O got nothing
Since starting CrossFit 2 years ago, it's been about community for me. Becoming stronger and fitter with my new friends has cemented the CrossFit concept for me. Being a masters athlete and CrossFit HQ's decision not to cover the Masters and adaptive at this year's games actually made me angry. It's like that side of the community actually wasn't important enough to cover. If I was CrossFit CEO for a day, I'd get people like Rich Froning, Mat Fraser, Pat Vellner, Josh Bridges, Tia Toomey, Annie Thorisdotter, Katrin Davidsdotter, Arielle Loewen in the same room to brainstorm the future of CrossFit.
