BATTLES

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.

Starting in March 2020 and extending through 2022, roughly 1 in 4 gyms and fitness facilities in the United States closed permanently. Initially ordered closed by governors across the country in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many affiliates were unable to stay in business after being closed for months. We know that constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity and proper nutrition push us on the continuum from sickness to wellness to fitness. That’s why CrossFit, as a member of the Community Gyms Coalition, is taking part in the CGC’s new campaign, “Fitness is Essential.”

At a recent CrossFit HQ gathering, nearly 150 staff members tested the upcoming Hope for Refugees workout.

A recently introduced bill would prevent CrossFit trainers in Nebraska from discussing nutrition with obese clients. CrossFit is fighting back.

The Navajo Nation has a population of just 330,000 people, about 47 percent of whom live on the reservation. One in five adults on the reservation is diabetic, and it is estimated that 75,000 are prediabetic. Alleia King, the first first Navajo/Diné woman to become a CrossFit Level 1 Trainer, is leading the way in fighting chronic disease in her community.

Poaching is a major problem in the Serengeti in east Africa. As organized groups seek out animals not for food or survival but to trade in highly prized ivory and rhinoceros horn, poaching threatens the delicate balance of the ecosystem in the area. Enter CrossFit Faru, a nonprofit affiliate in Tanzania working with the Grumeti Fund to improve the general physical preparedness of a group of dedicated anti-poachers turned athletes.

Thousands of CrossFit athletes around the world will be performing Grace during the week of Oct. 1-8. Proceeds from the event support educational content emphasizing physical activity as the foundation for breast cancer risk reduction, treatment, and survivorship. To learn more about the event or start fundraising, visit Barbells for Boobs.

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

Congress is considering a bill to provide critical support to help gyms with the same kind of relief it has provided to other hard-hit industries, like restaurants and live event venues. The GYMS Act was recently introduced in the Senate, but it won’t pass without your help.

Today, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) introduced the GYMS Act in the U.S. Senate, bringing gyms one step closer to getting relief.

Local gyms have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, and unlike restaurants and other businesses, they have yet to be specifically included in the government’s relief packages. CrossFit and the Community Gyms Coalition are trying to change that with the GYMS Act. Here are three ways you can get involved to help save gyms.

Last June, CrossFit Games veteran and owner of CrossFit Unorthodox Elijah Muhammad received a call from Patrick Ford, a nearby physical therapist who was motivated to use his expertise in health and wellness to “help eliminate fitness and health disparities in the Black and Brown communities.” Muhammad jumped at the chance to support the cause while promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in CrossFit. Three months later, Project Onyx was born.

The Community Gyms Coalition, which represents 15,000 gyms struggling through the pandemic, endorsed the legislation. The coalition includes big-name fitness studios like CrossFit, SolidCore, Pure Barre, Orange Theory and ClassPass.

Urge Congress to provide COVID relief to help gyms survive.

Government actions around the COVID-19 pandemic have devastated local gyms, putting thousands of gyms at risk of closing forever. The Community Gyms Coalition, an alliance of more than 15,000 local fitness facilities, is urging Congress to provide up to $30 billion in direct relief to help local gyms survive and recover. To convince Congress to support this approach, we need your help. Please take five minutes to send an email to your members of Congress to urge them to include direct support for gyms in any upcoming relief legislation.

“We have such a great system in place to build these relationships," CrossFit Seminar Staff member Larry Thomas says of the CrossFit Scholarship Program. Participants are "now starting to see, through the relationships with us, that there’s an opportunity for them to potentially grow,” Thomas says, noting how the program increases awareness of career options, such as coaching and business ownership, by forging personal connections.

Thousands of local gyms have united to urge Congress to include direct support for the fitness industry in post-election relief packages. Stay tuned for more information later this week about how you can support the health of your local fitness community.

We have been working alongside our New Jersey affiliates to educate the governor's office about the importance of reopening CrossFit gyms to protect public health and the role of these vital businesses in the community.

The CrossFit Scholarship Program kicked off in Atlanta, Georgia, July 11-12, 2020, at CrossFit Downtown Atlanta. CrossFit partnered with local nonprofit the Atlanta Leadership Club to offer a free Level 1 Certificate Course for local youth in the community.