EFFICACY

At 15 years old, Taylor Heim was the fittest she had ever been. By her 20's, she was fighting to take back control of her life after facing domestic abuse. But the community at Tarheel CrossFit helped lift Heim back up just when she felt she was at her lowest.

CrossFit is curing the world’s most vexing problem: chronic disease. But for law enforcement, it’s doing much more than that. It’s providing an essential source of total wellness to improve the safety of officers and their communities.

While attending the 2022 CrossFit Games, Steve Lovitt noticed a bumper sticker with the name of a CrossFit gym located just 15 minutes from his house. That was a sign he needed to take a leap of faith for his health.

Here’s why you should still do CrossFit, even while rehabbing an injury, and examples of scaling options to ensure a safe and speedy recovery.

After finding out she was two months pregnant in 2018, longtime Regional athlete Arielle Loewen retired from competitive CrossFit to focus on motherhood and take on a new set of challenges: recovering after giving birth and learning the ropes of parenthood. Unexpectedly in 2021, Loewen returned to the sport she loved, proving to herself she still had the strength and skills to be both an elite athlete and a great mother.

The number of women leaders working in sports has steadily increased over the years, but Samantha Rubin faced a number of challenges as she rose through the ranks. With stigmas still prevalent, Rubin looks forward to joining the ranks of role models for future generations of women and girls in sports and fitness.

While in his 50s, David McKay picked up CrossFit to help him train harder for Nordic ski races. But CrossFit wouldn’t just help McKay on the ski trail. A decade later, it would become a lifeline that helped him fight an aggressive form of cancer. 

Fifty-five-year-old Art Erickson was getting ready for the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games when he suddenly experienced a heart attack. CrossFit saved his life.

Jessica-Rose Clark, most popularly known as "Jessy Jess," is one of the most recognized MMA fighters in the world. With the help of CrossFit, she continues to dominate the MMA industry and inspire women all over the world through passion, strength, and perseverance.

Nine-time CrossFit Games athlete Scott Panchik may be known best for his prowess on the competition floor, but the 35-year-old says he’s an even better coach than he is a CrossFit athlete. 

Sara Wilkinson has chosen to honor her husband’s memory by sharing his story — and inviting others to show their support for service members on Veterans Day by completing the Hero workout Chad.

Scott Hanley was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at 52 in 2018. Doctors told him there was little to be done but wait for his inevitable decline. Instead, Hanley joined a CrossFit affiliate — three months later, he was 95% symptom free.

Chandler Smith is one of the best and most beloved athletes in the Sport of Fitness. And even he had something to gain from the CrossFit Level 1 Certificate Course. Find out what the Army veteran turned CrossFit Games vet learned when he traded the heavy barbell for a PVC.

“Everybody says, ‘OK, this is an old geezer and so he’s gotta go easy,’ and I’m in here shouting quietly, ‘No, I’m not going to put up with that. I’ve gotta get in shape,'" says Dick Ross. Ross suffered extreme injuries to his legs when they were crushed under the weight of boulders during a hiking trip in the Sawtooth Mountains. After more than 12 hours, Ross was taken to the nearest hospital by helicopter where doctors were able to successfully operate on his legs. Determined to get stronger, Ross began working with co-owner of Arbor CrossFit Maria Gonzales. 

For the past three years, the coaches and community members at CrossFit Crave have teamed up with Expanding Horizons, a government-funded program geared toward improving the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of probationary youth in the juvenile court system.

“I feel like there’s a lot of people that might be at their age and not willing to try,” she says, “and it’s that willingness at any age that allows us to experience new possibilities, new opportunities for growth.”

When teenager Luke Fletcher and his grandmother, Pat Derbyshire, walked into Dragon Athletic, they were both a little broken. Fletcher had been bullied relentlessly throughout school; meanwhile, Derbyshire was on a long and difficult road to recovery following a near-fatal brain bleed.

When Mike Stadshaug saw his mom, Lee, struggling to work through the grief of losing her husband, he knew from personal experience how he could help.

The Phoenix, a nonprofit founded in Boulder, Colorado, uses CrossFit for athletes who are recovering from addiction. Per Ignem CrossFit, the affiliate within The Phoenix, takes its name from the Latin for “through fire.” “Just like the story of the phoenix rising from the ashes, that’s what happens here for people in recovery,” says founder Scott Strode.

Since starting CrossFit two years ago, Pegg has lost 168 pounds and even found a way to combine CrossFit with her dream of becoming a personal trainer.