Few things in the fitness industry are more popular than CrossFit lately.  It would seem the KoolAid only gets stronger with age.  I get emails all the time from people who’ve discovered a hatred of Fran, have learned to love kettlebells more than their their first born, or are now obsessed with Olympic weightlifting.  They can’t say enough about how much their bodies are changing, how strong they feel, and how far a cry this revolution has been from their everyday grind.  They grow to love their affiliate and the people in it with whom they train.  The process is like gravity… no one can resist. 

But, in the course of this new love affair, too many people miss the bigger picture of what this methodology offers them.  They’re so eager to slip into the familiar bedcovers of their old gym culture where time, date, and location define their fitness that they’re blind to the real prize.  They grow dependent on the walls, the weights, and the weekly routine when they should be raging against all such tepid structures.  The building means nothing without the ideology and the effort bracing it, but those things stand on their own.

CrossFit is Freedom.  The principles in its bible apply anywhere.  They’re meant to be practiced everywhere.  They don’t depend on specific apparatus, locations, or routines, so why should you?  Do it all. Train in the mornings at your box, on the stairs during your lunch break, then in the evenings at the park with your dog.  Climb, run, and swim.  Don’t be a barbell brat, lift whatever you can get your hands on.  Weakness doesn’t respect proper equipment or hours of operation, so don’t stand on ceremony while you get choked out. 

There’s nothing that burns me more than when I ask someone about a trip they took and they tell me, “It was great, but I couldn’t get to the gym.”  Wrong.  Nut up, go outside, and make your own gym.  The biggest obstacle is not a lack of resources, it’s a lack of drive and a crippling self-consciousness.  Get over it and your world becomes a playground.  Trust me, it’s fun and you’ll be better for it the next time you “get to the gym.” 




I’ve attached a link to a video of what I mean: an alternating c2b pullup and burpee progression ladder on some scaffolding.  It takes place in Oxford where I’m currently living, but the scaffolding is the same everywhere.  The pipes are thick, they rotate when you kip, and they make pullups a lot harder than a standard bar.  I made it to 17 minutes before failing.  It took place at 11 pm after a pitcher at the pub around the corner with a few friends.  Not that it makes much difference, I just like beer.