interesting….although i am pretty new to CF community i feel like CFVB does not cater to the mainstream “Bally’s total fitness” crowd. On occasion i’ve heard Thomi mention firing clients as well as Rob saying things like, “Do ___ this way or i’m not counting it.” It’s that type of adherence to the standard that will make CFVB a cut above any wanna-be affiliate. It may not make the trainers alot of money, but it will make for some damn fine athletes. In summation, keep doin whatcha doin…

8:27 boots and ut’s.

Very well put, apart from the fact that all extremes are to be judged carefully, I do fully agree that the bad affiliates do bring down the name of CrossFit and the good affiliates reputation. While, undoubtedly, there are affiliates who don’t program effectively, have inexperienced coaches and subscribe to “masses mentality” etc., there are many of those that still subscribe to an “underground counter culture CrossFit”, in my biased opinion – CFVB is one.

I am still fairly new to CrossFit (going on one year), but have witnessed many of these same characteristics while with the program. Traveling and participating in different WODs at various affiliates it hits home over and over again that I’m lucky to have stumbled on the Real CF facility. To many affiliates its nothing more then business, to others its passion and love. CFVB chick will stick with the latter. Having been involved in sports at the pretty high level (past tense) I can say that I know a good coach when I train with one. My enthusiasm stems from my experiences, and my belief that it improves my live and can improve the lives of others. I will reiterate, that while the overtone of this article carries resentment, it also voices a huge problem that should be carefully examined with an attempt to be addressed. Moral to the story, do some homework and due diligence when choosing to join CF affiliate!

As a resident nerd I think I see some parallels with other movements. It’s just my opinion- feel free to ignore it.

CrossFit is touted as “Open Source”. To consider that more fully you have to realize that other “Open Source” systems have been though several generations of growth already and there is a bit of a pattern.

If you can’t sleep at night I recommend this book on the topic:

http://tinyurl.com/yefwhhg

If you look up the authors website you can find the book there online for free.

How do I think the book relates? CrossFit is subversive. It’s a break from the norms of the fitness industry. The core components are given away freely. Go out and prosper with your own study of Fitness. If you call it CrossFit you need to affiliate but otherwise we’re told it’s good for all people, right? That leads to a bazaar style of market place instead of a cathedral style. (top down vs. survival of the fittest)

Ballys will be there. So will Golds and god help us P-90X. The difference is that CrossFit tends to be more adaptable to a given market.

Other fun parallels: He mentions “Good programmers know what to write. Great programmers know what to rewrite (and reuse)”- Again, that parallels with CrossFit boxes in my opinion. Anybody can make a WOD but good WODs come from people who understand them in a larger context.

The bazaar of CrossFit will continue but it’s hard to say where it will end up. There’s another concept in open source software people haven’t applied to CrossFit yet but I think it’s coming. It’s called a Fork. You take that great stuff and make your own, calling it something else. It tends to happen as a Fork in the road when two groups realize they have very different paths to follow.

I heard these are paleo:

http://tinyurl.com/m4mxbx

First day doing cross fit ever….

8:06

The workout rocked…..

14:12 rxd I hate pullups

5:28 rxd. That hurt

6.14 i think… Wow..I didn’t realize how bad the last two days smoked me until I started that WOD.

Welcome to the funhouse Drew!!

7:34 rx’d

8:09 eeeaaarrrly this am!

7:52 as Rx’D! Excellent Job Shay!!! PM Crew you guys smoked it

Dang Rob. Lisa wants to know it was possible that I managed a 5:45 to your 6:14.

What’s the world coming to?

A much needed rest day tomorrow…

Good job today 6pm! I hope your hands heal okay Rita!

6:03 rx’d

Pardon my french, but Andrew you’re such a smart a$$$ LOL, thank you very much my pansy hands are doing great

8:15 not a good day

5:31

That’s a sweet haircut, John…GET SOME, DEVIL!