There are moments in history when all the stars align at precisely the right time, and something incredible and transformative emerges to change the world. CrossFit is an example of this — born from the experiences of a gymnast who had a rocket scientist for a father and a desire to make a living teaching others how to be spectacularly fit and healthy.
Coach Greg Glassman never forgot the lessons he learned during the off-season from competitive gymnastics. This was when he turned to dumbbells, barbells, and pulleys to build the strength and conditioning he needed to compete at a high level in his sport. He developed his own style of training that worked better than anything anyone else was doing for this purpose.
Glassman’s father, Jeff Glassman, was the head of internal research and development at Hughes Aircraft Company. He was an actual rocket scientist. The elder Glassman taught his son about how real science can be used to predict outcomes.
Fortunately, Glassman did not want to follow in his father’s footsteps as a researcher, work on Wall Street, or become a lawyer. Instead, he found he enjoyed working out, being in the gym, and the vocation of being a personal trainer.
By his late 30s, Glassman realized if he was going to continue on this career path, he’d “have to give it attention others haven’t or can’t.” This led Glassman to begin developing precise terms, giving definitions to them, taking observations, turning those observations into measurements, and, from those measurements, building models to test for their predictive strength. Ultimately, this spawned the revolutionary idea that implementing constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity results in increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains. The practical application of this was revealed when CrossFit athletes who experienced improved performance on standard workouts also noticed improved performance in their professions or sport.
Over the years, the work done at CrossFit affiliates, consisting of tens of millions of workouts with millions of athletes, continues to support the prediction that exposing people to the CrossFit stimulus results in dramatic fitness results.
Along the way, there have been several significant landmarks that highlight the evolution of CrossFit from an inspired idea to a revolutionary movement.
Feb. 10, 2001: The first workout of the day is posted on CrossFit.com. Rumor has it that this idea originated from a conversation between Glassman and a client who suggested, “You should really post these workouts we’re doing on the internet so everyone can try them out.” To which Coach responded, “Oh yeah? How do you do that?” Fortunately, someone figured it out, and the revolution began. Initially, it seemed like no one outside the Santa Cruz, California, gym was following the workouts. Then, comments began to trickle in as people from all over tried the workouts. It wasn’t long before hundreds of comments were posted under each workout. The popularity of the program spread like wildfire.
April 1, 2002: The first CrossFit Journal article, “Foundations,” is published. Glassman used the CrossFit Journal to share everything about implementing CrossFit. The Journal was where the definition of fitness and health was revealed, where programming was explained, and where nutrition principles were outlined. Eventually, the Journal became a publication where community members could share their experiences, lessons, and techniques, supporting CrossFit’s open-source model.
2004: The *first affiliate, CrossFit North, opens in Seattle. Glassman joked that maybe one day there could be five affiliates — North, South, East, West, and HQ. He did not realize that CrossFit was about to become the fastest-growing business ever (according to Harvard), reaching 15,000 affiliates in just 15 years.
2005: The first CrossFit Level 1 Certificate Course was held. Again, this was not something CrossFit developed to provide to the community. Instead, a police department in Jacksonville, Florida, contacted Glassman and asked about taking a CrossFit course, so they could train their SWAT officers with CrossFit. Glassman initially responded that there was no course. After the police department insisted they needed a course so they could use CrossFit, Glassman developed the Level 1 Course. The Level 1 has gone through multiple iterations over the years and continues to be the backbone of CrossFit education, along with the Level 2 Course and Level 3 exam. Hundreds of thousands of fitness enthusiasts and trainers have dug deeper into the CrossFit methodology by attending this course.
2011: CrossFit launched the online CrossFit Open. This allowed anyone in the world to compete against their peers in what has become the largest participatory sporting event in the world. Not only is the Open an amazing event, but it also gathers a tremendous amount of data on the results athletes obtain from CrossFit training.
2013-2018: In 2013, the NSCA released a study claiming those participating in CrossFit were at high risk for injury. CrossFit countered with a lawsuit in 2014, alleging that the study’s data was falsified in order to bring harm to one of the NSCA’s major competitors. In 2015, the NSCA admitted it had falsified data related to injury rates in the study. The court ruled in favor of CrossFit, and in 2018, a federal judge awarded CrossFit nearly $4 million in attorneys’ fees as sanctions against the NSCA.
Feb. 20, 2015: CrossFit hosted the hyponatremia conference, where 16 top scientists busted long-standing hydration lies. CrossFit vowed to take on Big Soda to expose their fabricated studies and dangerous hydration recommendations motivated by commercial interests.
These highlights in CrossFit’s history demonstrate the company’s commitment to truth and value, as well as its willingness to challenge the fitness establishment, which was selling lies to make more money.
Even more impressive is how CrossFit has fundamentally changed the way we all live, even for those who don’t participate in it. We were a considerable force behind the paleo movement and the focus on eating whole, unprocessed foods. Our community voted with their dollars, prompting restaurants and grocery stores to cater to CrossFit nutrition practices with more whole, unprocessed options.
Along with our partner Rogue Fitness, we changed the business of fitness equipment. Tools such as fan bikes, rowers, squat racks, bumper plates, Olympic bars, rings, and GHDs, previously reserved for the training of elite athletes, became mainstream due to CrossFit’s influence.
CrossFit also cultivated knowledge from experts in weightlifting, mobility, endurance, and gymnastics, and shared this expertise with the world.
We changed how military personnel and first responders train because our methods not only helped them perform better in battle and on the streets but also saved lives.
Of course, we are incredibly proud to have provided measurable, observable, and repeatable definitions of fitness and health, as well as a sound methodology for achieving elite levels in both. We also wear as a badge of honor our impact on strength training for women by providing them with the same stimulus and advantages offered to male athletes. The incredible results our female athletes have produced over the years are one of CrossFit’s most significant contributions to the health and fitness industry.
All of these milestones, advances, and victories not only shape our history but also form our legacy.
*The first CrossFit gym was CrossFit Santa Cruz, but CrossFit North was the first one to affiliate.
About the Author
Stephane Rochet is a Senior Content Writer for CrossFit. He has worked as a Flowmaster on the CrossFit Seminar Staff and has over 15 years of experience as a collegiate/tactical strength and conditioning coach. He is a Certified CrossFit Trainer (CF-L3) and enjoys training athletes in his garage gym.