You hit the nail on the head for me. Lack of focus on the actual athletes has made me lose interest in the sport all together. I miss seeing the growth and building relationships with athletes like Tia, Royce, Khan, etc and would love to see that happen with new athletes
The single most important reason I started crossfit was because of the documentaries they used to have on Netflix, those were AMAZING. It baffles me they dont push stuff like that more
I know why Crossfit is Dying. Couple points - 1st point, my Crossfit gym here in Buffalo actually disassociated itself with actual Crossfit. They no longer have to pay the Crossfit fee and therefore their members are not hearing constantly about Crossfit. It is now a gym with functional gym classes, which people like but the owner is not long fully associated with Crossfit. When Kalipa did this with NCFits, a lot of other Crossfit gyms saw this as a way to keep the money for themselves and move on from Crossfit. 2nd point, the structure of getting to the Crossfit games has totally ruled out the everyday gym goer, Im not saying that the random joe ever has had a chance to make it to the games, but in their own mind they did. So it kept a lot more people engaged, Rich Fronings story with "he came out of no where to be the fittest on earth". So many people dove into that saying "omg if he can do it maybe I have a chance" , with that being said, Crossfit tried to make itself into an actual sport with a league like platform and it ruined a lot of viewing. Its hard to become a "fan" and invest when people are constantly going in an out of Crossfit, and there are not real teams to cheer for, that marketing platform can only last so long. I can guarantee if Crossfit reverted back to its original Open / Regionals / Games the world would start watching again, unfortunately in trying to make it better they made it worse and pushed out the everyday gym goer.
Thanks for this video. My comments 1 - Hire the media team back 2 - Explain the difference between the sport and the lifestyle. Meaning the pros vs the everyday crossfitter and what that means 3 - More events between the games and the open season 4- Highlight affiliates more and the stories of everyday people
No one cares about everyday people. There were times when the athletes were everyday people. I miss those times. I had the feeling, I can reach the goal to make it to the Games besides working fulltime, because a lot of people did. Impossible nowadays.
From a coaches point of view (in London, Sydney and Abu Dhabi so far) There are soooo many options for people looking to improve their fitness, and these 'functional fitness' gyms are the perfect solution for people who don't want to do the sometimes cary gymnastics and CrossFit. If you're looking to drop some weight and get healthier, a slick looking gym that focuses on its clients. Crossfit has not done a good job of highlighting how it can help people in everyday life. There needs to be a CrossFit and CrossFit 'Pro' separation almost to showcase what we're primarily here to do as coaches. Also those peaks of interest in CrossFit would correlate to the documentaries no? Which were incredible and bring so many eyes to the sport. F1 peaked after Netflix, Football teams are seeing fan engagement after documentaries. Bring back the classic Docs and make them FREE to access. I agree that media needs to improve MASSIVELY to help the sport.
I think the separation you mention was what Greg Glassman was trying to achieve. I felt he was trying to show crossfit was for everyone and it was not just about the Crossfit Games... Tricky balance though if its the Games that brings all the promotion and attention.
@@rw1481 affiliates need more help with marketing. Pay £3000 a year and then market on top of that, when CrossFit don’t put out any real marketing campaign to drive members into the gym. How often do you see/hear about f45 etc? Whilst they’re a franchise model so it is different, CrossFit need to promote itself to drive people into affiliates. Get exposure from the games, drive numbers into gyms should be the formula
Our little town functional fitness gym does a great job of advertising how functional fitness will be good in everyday life. I started as a completely out of shape really overweight Middle Aged guy and after a couple years I am now less over weight and stronger than ever in my life. Big shout out to my class coaches here in Neepawa Manitoba Canada!
I’ve been a fan of CrossFit since 2014.. started crossfit myself in 2016.. I’m nearly 57 now and I still love it. The average person finds crossfit terrifying.. they don’t realize that all ages, all capabilities, how scalable crossfit is…. Seeing the age, the adaptive divisions, especially, in competition shows you do not need to be the perfect specimen of an athlete to be amazing! I agree that media needs to put it out there more and doing stories on average people over coming struggles with the help of crossfit and their amazing coaches/trainers… so many stories out there! Most believe crossfit will put you into the ground with injuries and that it is for the super fit only… it has helped so many people physically, mentally but that is never shown… we need to change this!!!
You bring up CrossFit’s biggest Achilles’ heel, Ive never seen CrossFit address or try to get right. Most people think its a high injury rate, the other is the pull ups… people outside of CrossFit are very prone to despising butterfly and kipping pull ups
I also think the event coverage is a problem. There were so many errors this year with both video and sound that made it so annoying (I still tried to watch everything). Also the commentary is just wrong quite often and I particularly noticed that the coverage only very often focuses on showing 2-3 athletes rather than the field. Sometimes that meant you did not even see the main leader on the floor. CrossFit seems to focus on certain athletes which I think is sad.
I sometimes wonder if the fact that Crossfit is still trying to test the untested/unexpected has made competition a bit more circus like, and a bit harder to take serious. Like where's it gonna end?
You are right !!! It’s killing the identity people has no reference anymore. Suddenly your scores from the girls has no meaning your CrossFit total is regardless and your 1 RM and adaptation to whatever they through to you is what matters
When I first got into CrossFit, it was the fact that the games did the same workouts I was doing, I watched some of those workouts, and I want to do it to, now there is all of these special rigs, equipment and nonsense that i have no desire to get/learn/do. Its not motivating to watch to keep me working out
I totally agree. For me, CrossFit in its core is a functional training program, which can be done at a typical crossfit gym, and is supposed to make you fitter overall. This does not mean that you need to include cycling, obstacle courses, swimming, etc. Nothing wrong with that in general, but if you start bringing in tennis, climbing, golf and whatever, you are very far away from what crossfit as a sport in the affiliates is. I remember watching workouts like 30 g2o for time, DT, Murph or tge marathon row and tried all of them. Those are workouts we all can do and can relate to. Also the frantasyland video with froning and hobart. I hope that the direction eventually reverses and goes back to the roots a bit.
Thats total right. For me the games lost the crossfit charakter. I also hated it when they killed the regionals events. That was when I stopped doing the open. But i am still doing crossfit.
Craig, I am sorry you both lost money on the CrossFit games this content was some of the best you have produced and I could really see you both stepping into that “behind the scenes “ and “road to the games” production. Keep at it dude as you both are amazing
Behind the scenes with Sevan really helped you to get to know the Athletes and in an interesting way. At the same time Rich, Dan, and Josh were putting out content of them getting together working out etc. There were the documentaries highlighting the sport. Then the various videos with Dave and the athletes. I agree CrossFit needs to put more into media and personalize it. Rich Froning does a great Job of that with his media team and his recent video bringing attention to the everyday member was smart.
CF open is not enough for an average CrossFitter, It needs to be a CF league where a workout is released every month and people are doing it and submitting the scores online to see how fit they are against other Crossfitters. Registration fee around £5 for the whole year/season. Age and gender groups just like in CF Open.
HERE HERE!! Road to the games was amazing! This years games content from you was OUTSTANDING! I loved getting to know the athletes more when in the thick of the competition. Seeing the banter between them as well as support for eachother, makes me love the sport and athletes more! Over the last year i have lost 4st (22 \ 18) because i want to start crossfit, but I'm petrified of walking into a box and failing (thanks for the confidence boost covid 🤣) seeing more raw content is definitely needed in the sport! The more content out there the better! To help people find an awesome community even if they feel as though taking part is beyond them. I'm from Wales, if anyone would be willing to help me overcome anxiety of walking into a box please reach out 🤙🏻🏴 (i would even travel to crossfit lacemakers) Much love
Don’t wait, I started when I needed to lose 4 stone and it was the best decision I made. CrossFit is tailor made for weight loss and you will find plenty of support when you walk in a CrossFit gym. I’m Welsh too and if your close enough I can recommend Celtic CrossFit but really any gym you choose will be great
You mentioned the word community. I go back to your videos from 2017/2018 when you guys were a channel of nothing but CrossFit. Vlogging the local box, your own personal growth in the sport and all the support and love the community had for CrossFit. The vibes were just different. CrossFit has gone from community focused to purely business focused. You don’t see a lot of local comps anymore. Semi popular athletes have their noses to the sky and show fans no love. CrossFit has lost its identity. Until they find it again; the trend will continue down.
Hard to find the community when they price 75% of them out of it. CrossFit gyms used to be packed because it was fun, you met people, & most importantly it was affordable when compared to your average nice gym.
@@TooDaft That’s why nobody I know ever wants to join, i’m one of the youngest people in my box because everybody else in the box is older and has more money
@@P1995. I have the money, but for me I have space to just buy my own equipment and setup a gym. It makes no sense unless I wanted more of a community vibe to join one.
I watched a couple episodes of The Voice the other night, specifically what they call the blind auditions. Before each contestant they take 1-2 minutes and profile their back story and tell about how they got to this point in their lives. THIS MATTERS. I am instantly more interested in how they do in the audition itself. Great analysis, Craig, keep up the good work 👍
Sevan's behind the scenes back in the day really made it interesting to follow an athlete and then you'd have some favourties which then made you want to see how well they do. You can't have any favourites if we don't know a bit about them and nobody watches a sport without having someone to root for. Watching the games made me want to try CF so yeah, it's all down to that media...
In Aus, I’ve noticed a lot of affiliates have moved away from the ‘crossfit’ branding - however, the training methodology has remained & is actually gaining in popularity. There are so many ‘boutique’ class-based functional fitness / strength & conditioning gyms opening on every street corner. But I can only speak for what’s happening in Aus, we love our cafe culture and supporting local businesses, which is why big chain stores like Starbucks have miserably failed here. I’d say its the same principle, once something becomes almost ‘too popular’ ie. F45, Crossfit ETC, these sort of chain businesses start to decline rapidly in popularity - because they are popular. But thats just my observation.
@nnikkiiiii from what I have notcied at least in Southern Sydney way, f45 training people are over that because they are hitting ceilings in progress and coaching hasn't been enough to back it up. And crossfit is still too extreme and expensive and "messy". Say like Yard gym it is gaining alot of momentum opening up many branches now in Sydney and trialing LA as its got that boujee feel, all black, clean, more intense then f45 but not as intense as crossfit feel as there is no gymnaatics or olympic lifting that people are "scared" of that they can't do it. I think Crossfit still has the mentallity that you have to be really fit (which is false), you can get injured easily (which is also false unless you have bad coaches and go too hard all the time etc), and there isn't enough money in affliates or investment e.g. simple things like a creche for mums is killing crossfut gyms as that is like your midday income gone if you don't have one.
There's NOT ENOUGH Crossfit related content on here imo. But by that I mean, real and grounded CrossFit content. Most of the Crossfit content on UA-cam is over-produced and/or unrelatable to the everyday athlete. It's great watching the top of the iceberg when it comes to fitness, but it's just so far removed from what the majority of people are actually going to achieve in a crossfit box (and personally that kind of turns me off watching it). Away from UA-cam, I used to follow all of the CrossFit athletes on Instagram too, but it's just so many ads! (No I don't want to buy your CBD drops).
Excellent points! You briefly touched on the media team being fired in 2018 but that's definitely a huge driver, as the documentaries made by the media team were what brought my interest to CrossFit originally. The docs for 2018 and Next Gen were so much worse in comparison that I'm not ever interested in Retro/Active. It also feels like CrossFit is feeding their own collapse with reducing the events. I know the Granite Games in Minnesota didn't have great attendance in 2022, and likely cost money to the organizers rather than making money but as there wasn't a big local event I'm sure the engagement in Minnesota and the Midwest was significantly lower this year than in previous years. Especially with the Games moving from Madison - the entirety of the Midwest is now ripe for competing fitness methods to convert CrossFit boxes which will just drive CrossFit lower in this region.
You, Mayhem, HWPO, and Buttery Bros put out EXCELLENT content. If Crossfit isnt going to have a media team, they need to support and promote the bloggers. I think your fans are loyal, but how do we get new fans to fins and follow you all?
Weightlifting is far further along in the death spiral, but there are some similarities. They hired Weightlifting House to handle some streaming and let them push media. Dont think it really helped, but its pretty nice.
you also nailed it with 'its not financially viable' this counts across a lot of what you said, but with the cost of living, the rising bills, people having to work more to offset all this, people generally don't have time or money to afford this. I had to stop crossfit due to my wife losing her job at the start of crossfit, and then we moved. So all bills went up. and i just couldn't afford it anymore. I know you pay for a service, etc, but its crazy. I do miss how fit i was when i was crossfitting but i just can't justify the cost anymore.
Agreed, local Boxes costing £90pmonth it’s unattainable for a lot of people these days. It’s became exclusive - to be exclusive you have to exclude people
@@KaysFitnessaround near me it’s at least £90pm and that’s the bare minimum. When I first started doing CF years ago, it was still expensive then but it was only 1 type of membership. But then they expanded, they introduced different levels of membership to get as much money as possible out of us. But only gave the bare minimum in return. So may as well of only offered the one membership still.
Great content! I am constantly looking for more content on athletes, games prep and crossfit anything. Mayhem just put out a short film on a local everyday member. Gold! It was wonderful to see something else in the off season about crossfit. Crossfit is so much more than the pro athletes and games. Although I love this the pro side of crossfit, it's nice to see stories about regular people like me. Keep slaying Craig! Keep crossfit alive!
I had never come across Crossfit until the documentary Fittest on Earth got suggested to me (the games where Katrin won her 2nd straight title and Tia got 2nd again) even without knowing any previous battles, the doc did SUCH a good job of recapping the previous games, going into depth into the competitors that I INSTANTLY fell in love with the people behind the sport. I've never so much as touched a barbell in my life (nor had any passion to)! That doc made me go back and watch the previous years documentary, loved it as well. And then I found the redeemed and dominant documentary (which I think had just come out and in my opinion is the best one ever made featuring Tia and Kara's INSANE finish on Fibonacci) and that was it. I was hooked. I was hooked on the people, the stories, the training and plus the games themselves. I've been following religiously since then and even though Mat's now retired and obviously with Tia taking the year out, I've still come back and watched it but, being brutally honest, I'm not as hooked as I once was. I don't know much about Jeff Adler so I wasn't that stoked when he won (will always secretly be rooting for my absolute fav Mr. Vellner to get that gold one day!) Even watching your videos this year, which were amazingly shot and of such high quality, when it came to you interviewing some of the athletes behind the scenes I would zone out, check my phone, sometimes even fast forward those bits as I just don't know who that person is/have no emotional connection to them.
i think the stuff that mitch hooper did with the CrossFit guys is exactly what we need. getting other top athletes to workout with top CrossFit athletes and showcasing the level of fitness is key. oh and highlight some local comps and gyms.
CrossFit was sold as something anyone could do at home with minimal equipment. It is now viewed as a sport for professionals that require an expensive membership. CF has lost its roots.
I believe the coverage of semifinals & the games is what is doing this.. having people switch to the podcast channel & not showing it on the main page just had me personally not even want to tune into semifinals. Talked about it w/ my guys the other day & i catch myself going back to watch 2015,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022 games
I didn’t even know this. This felt like the least intuitive year to watch. I skipped most of it. I also didn’t watch Richey’s videos because of this. Why tune in to BTS for events I couldn’t even watch. Tough all around and sad as I haven’t missed one since 2011.
I used to watch every road to the games, I only watched the games because I knew Matt and everyone’s story and how hard they worked. My guy lifted in his parents basement until he was the champ. How would anyone know that without road to the games. Bring it back.
Your videos from the games (and in general) have been excellent this year! I love the longer content. Enjoying watching you improve with the squat program too. Hopefully we can build interest in the sport again, but your team appreciates what you are doing still. Thanks, legends!
Love the content you put out! Been following since you did your road to the open series way back when. Definitely don't get bored of you and loved the BTS series. To me, when I see the peak of CrossFit interest in 2013, it was when they were on ESPN. People come across that while scrolling channels, wonder what this sport is, and Google it to learn. Now there's zero exposure. You can't find the Games coverage unless you specifically seek it so it's just catering to the same audience. And you nailed it - all the interest from there was driven by UA-cam searches and seeing what the CF Media team put out with Sevan's behind the scenes, athlete profiles and videos. I couldn't get enough of it and came to love the different personalities. They lost that when they got rid of the media team and it hasn't been the same since.
I imagine the emergence of hyrox had made an impact, it’s a lower barrier to entry without the oly lifting and gymnastics. Personally the games has never been a driver for me, but I did tend to tune in when you had more heavyweights in contention, Rich, Jason, and Matt being the obvious examples. Other things, CrossFit has always been expensive to do, and the range of gear (which feels necessary) increases every year, and finally, CrossFit still has a PR problem. Rugby people have always slagged football for example, but I feel like lots of people from other sports (or no sport at all) have an axe to grind with CrossFit. Unsure why this is.
You can see what is missing, Craig, so go make it happen. Partner with whoever you need to partner with e.g. Rogue, Wodapalooza, Dubai Fitness Championships etc to raise the capital you need to make the "Drive to Survive of Crossfit" and build the media company that Crossfit itself should be building. You're already halfway there with this YT channel, and we're all behind you 💪.
Hi Richy, personally, my interest in the sport started pre-covid, and pre- the new management/owners of Crossfit. The stories of the "OGs" and how they presented it was brilliant! I think you hit the nail on the head here. I havnt been in a box for a while now. I need the inspiration, and these channels were great. Crossfit needs to bring back character, and maybe promote the characters more. It started to feel a little to genetic. Good luck ! It's a to great a sport to die, it just lost some momentum in a crucial time of its evolution .
I love this sport so much and honestly you’re right about everything you’re saying. Content is king in this game. I’m a videographer based in Trinidad and Tobago and I would absolutely love to fly to the states and work with CrossFit. 😢
I would like to see more videos on Masters Level athletes. As someone who is turning 44 later this month, and trying to qualify for the Games for the first time, it would be great to get inspired by guys my age; kind of like the way the PGA and Senior Tour split.
There are TWO CrossFits now. The professional one where we see the top athletes at the games and rouge and the everyday person at their local gym building their community. The other big issue is cost. Most gyms around my city cost well over $1000 a year, that's just insane.
Agree with your points mate. Overall it’s lacking a clear and comprehensive communication strategy focused around the various “levels” of athletes. Media focused around the games is an aspect but there is also so much false perception that people think it’s inaccessible. Winning over the grassroots everyday gym goer is vital. Tailored comms in each country, more support to drive consistency between affiliates and a general improvement in professionalisation
CrossFit need to go back to basics. Put on an event that the majority of people can complete but show how fit the athletes are! The ordinary person don't understand the skills involved so can't relate. for example, make the athletes do a 5k run, 50 burpees, 50 b/w squats (short/simple/relatable). Then an ordinary joe can attempt it with no cost of gyms/equipment etc and it will show a fan how fit they are. The idea of a 1 day competition is ideal, on a Saturday in a big city but let them show off there fitness. A lot of the handstand walking or double under crossovers just turn off the ordinary joe as they see it as stupid.
This is sooo funny. Richey, you hit it head-on. My husband and I spoke about our own experience recently. We got into Crossfit BECAUSE of the road to the games. Now, most of those athletes aren't really competing and we feel like we don't know these new athletes. We don't know who these guys and girls are, how they training, where they coming from and the challenges that they face. Sadly, we ourselves have lost interest. And we laughed because we started watching the UFC. So your research is so accurate. Well, at least in our experience. Bring back road to the games! Sorry that you haven't been receiving the support that you deserve on your channel. I hope it gets better! Much love from South Africa.
I got into Crossfit after seeing Dan Bailey vs Rich doing 12.2. It was a random video that came up and as a gym rat at the time, I wanted to know more. I remember the little vignettes that used to be posted. The Crossfit Rap was my favorite, fun. Castles in the sky, that Lauren Fisher promo was inspiring af. That one Sam Briggs that I swear was only shown once, Team series BTS, That stuff kept me pumped and understood I was in a community. You can get some of this now but not like before.
In term of CrossFit gyms closing, for regular people, those type of gyms are very expensive ; the subscription const is generally about 4 times the price for a regular gym. I think it's one of the reasons, people dont stay and go to cheaper gyms.
But then they get a membership at a cheaper gym and often don’t go because it’s not the same community environment either. Then they are paying a membership they never use. CF gyms are a more expensive membership, but is like having a personal trainer each time. The gym I used to go to, I could get coaching advice in class as well as nutritional info for my membership. I don’t go to an affiliate anymore because I have a home gyms. It really is relative to what people put as priority. People will spend money on expensive things if that’s where their priority is at the time. I definitely feel like CF has lost its roots for sure. Prior to Covid, especially in early CF years, You didn’t care what it cost almost, you just wanted to be part of something great. It’s lost it’s luster and so people don’t feel it’s a priority to spend on.
The sport itself is evolving. The PGA & F1 racing have been around for decades, so hard comparison. I liked your mention of Hyrox - how does that compare on the graph? What other "new" sports have come up recently? Disc Golf? Pickleball? I guess what I am getting at is that CrossFit is young. But it's shifting to be CrossFit the sport vs. CrossFit the methodology (aka CF boxes). CF needs to account for that or it will be over. With that said, Instagram is a good barometer to test, but the age demographic of of Instagram is getting older, so we are more inclined to follow the OGs. Someone also commented about this, but I think it is worth repeating... I can't stand all the ads the athletes have to do. Between Beam, Whoop, supplements... it's terrible and I tend to unfollow rather quickly if it becomes too much. I am curious what happens to those graphs once Sevan releases all of his BTS content. He mentioned in a recent episode that they decided to cut the videos in half because they were too long (1 hour +). So more videos... more views.... more clicks? Who knows? I do LOVE your style of content. And really appreciate the candid interviews. Maybe you can do more zoom style interviews with athletes? I also appreciate seeing the weightlifting content. Anything more you can do there? Local meets? Bringing more awareness to that sport as we head into the Olympics next year. HSTL Fan. 🤩 Keep on being a Legend, too.
Your crossfit coverage this year was CLASS. I was almost more excited to see your vids than the events themselves….. so I hope that helps. If it all contributes to the point you’re making, I agree, the behind the scenes athlete stuff is what makes the sport exciting.
CrossFit athletes need to compete more. They train for months and months and compete 2-3 times a year. There needs to be a bigger season where people can see the athletes compete more. That leads to more opportunities to create story lines and content about what happens at an event - like Drive to Survive does. No “major” sport only has its athletes compete less than they train and only be able to be watched twice a year. Bring on a world tour.
I agree, in football you can see your favorite team every week for what like 6 months+?? And you have the World Cup, Champions League, Europe Cup etc. So you never fall off and forget about the sport, teams or players
From an outsider’s perspective- I recall joining a mixed CrossFit/standard gym in highschool around 2012. CrossFit was beginning to really take off in popularity because it was the new hot thing in the burgeoning age of social media based fitness. I believe the following 5-6 years after that were crossfits heyday. Everyone knew of it at least somewhat because it was being talked about a lot. Heck, I remember everyone getting worked up over Rick Ross doing CrossFit. Having been established for more than a decade now, the new hype has passed. CrossFit has firmly settled into the fringe sport it was always destined to be. People who were avid CrossFit participants for years end up leaving their gyms for other disciplines (street parking, etc) or just lose interest all together. CrossFit just now exists, it has its fans, and most folks outside the sport know of the word and that’s been around for a while and care little beyond that. I believe the reason the UFC has become so popular is Because it’s embraced becoming a glamor sport of sorts for the top athletes at least. CrossFit has really gotten stuck back in that niche sport lane that has its core fanbase, yet doesn’t appeal as much to outsiders as it’s been around for decade and is well past its “ new and exciting” phase.
I think these are really good insights. I really like your idea to host events in different cities with specific events that athletes can know and trained for. This would be a good way to also give quarterfinals/semifinal level athletes more opportunities to showcase their skills and put them on the map
Good analysis of the situation. With regards the present stars of CF they do seem a bit characterless or at least their character is not being projected. If you look at Josh Bridges he is a man with a back story, Matt Fraser similar. If you couple that with poor quality coverage and some poor quality events such as the cycling event at the Games, which was abject, then it not much of a spectacle.
The documentaries of the CF games where key in making the sport interesting. I followed everyone seen in those movies but I don't know the new games athletes that well. I agree 100%, the media is key and they need to bring back the sanctionals.
I think you are right on. Definitely like the end where you were talking off the top of your head. I would watch those weekly. I would want to see who showed up or what town they were in. Love getting to know the athletes, it is why I am interested. I have never even been to a CrossFit gym. I work out by my self at home. I would watch any mayhem, hwpo, Mal O’Brien or Justin Medeiros video. Buttery bros is also amazing. Appreciate you and Jas. Thanks for the video!
I’ll admit. I’m one that was really into watching CrossFit content and now rarely check in. You hit the nail in the head. There needs to be more media to make us fall in love with a personality like they did with Mat, Tia and all the Dottiers. The Netflix shows were the best. It also was off putting when some of the top athletes did not participate in the Games for personal reasons this year. If the top athletes aren’t competing it’s hard to get excited to watch.
The behind the scenes of Rich,Jason,Dan,and,josh back in the day was more interesting than the games and made you want to pull for them, plus you fire your whole media department it’s gonna hurt
Love him or hate him, Sevan has been preaching everything in this video forever. As the years continue to go by it becomes more apparent how influencial he was in the growth of everything.
I think you made a lot of great points here Craig, the Behind the Scenes at The Games and Road to the Games documentaries were a huge part of what made me a fan of CrossFit. I remember the first videos of behind the scenes stuff was a competition between athletes of Rogue versus athletes of Again Faster. I like the format of Open, Regionals, Games but an idea of sanctioned events like Wodapolooza and Rogue get an automatic invite isn't a bad one. When there was an invite to the games I did find myself keeping up with those events more and CrossFit the sport in general. I agree too that they should have some consistency of workouts in the games season, it would might draw more interest. Like in Track in Field or Swimming in the Olympics, the events haven't changed in a very long time, everyone knows what they are but people still tune in to see them performed. I do because I want to see World records broken or just really amazing feats that might inspire me in my next workout. Thanks for you and Jas doing what y'all do, keep up the good work.
I think the notion of a CrossFit “community” is overhyped. Many gyms invite a certain type of person, many of which are toxic and too competitive. This ultimately makes people less likely to stick around and really makes the brand less appealing as a whole.
I really liked the idea of the community seen on many of the American affiliate videos. I would see the same people go in every day, even if they weren't training, just to hang out. In the UK when I started out, I really could have benefited from just that but, what I got was a bunch of self proclaimed 'athletes' and the rest of us were in the corner unable to do pistol squats at 160kg+ being told to "just try!" then ignored for an hour. I love the Games and other events as a sport, but I don't have a lot of interest in boxes.
From the outside looking in (I am a powerlifter) it seems to me that CrossFit Inc is not interested in their own community. For example this is the weekend of the marbellachampionship it I am not mistaken. Have you heard of it? Have you seen any coverage of it? Even the IPF makes an effort to show the major events or countries srteam their own comps online. Why not CrossFit?
Completely agree. You're spot on with the athletes. Road to the CrossFit Games was a great series and it got me hyped for different athletes. Imagine them highlighting someone like Tia this year coming back after a year off and a new kiddo. Justin after an "off" year (he's still amazing, no shade here). Patrick living his dad life and training. Even highlighting some of the teams and definitely pulling in the newbies. If you look at Drive to Survive, Quarterbacks, Full Swing, these series helped their respective sport a ton and those individuals highlighted. I watched a few sessions of the games this year, but didn't know most of the athletes and checked out for the most part. Throwing a random idea out there: maybe there's a partnership with the IWF. That sport has grown recently, especially from people who left CrossFit (myself included). But, the IWF could use some help as we see weight classes getting cut from the Olympics even though at a local level, this sport is picking up steam, but the IWF is not capitalizing on it. I have many thoughts about this as I love weightlifting but feel it's underrepresented. Maybe some sort of crossover event? Maybe it's pulling some of the athletes in as an aside from following just CF athletes? As far as at a local level, I agree with some of the comments on functional fitness. It's no longer worth the massive CF fees just to have "CrossFit" in your name and be affiliated with it. For some, it's actually a hindrance. Plenty of CrossFit-like gyms still exist but ended their affiliation because the culture got super bro-y and "good ole boy." Plus, the obvious when it comes to lack of focus on form. I usually love the weightlifting portion of the Games, but it was pretty cringe watching some terrible form from elite athletes this year.
We are NOT tired if you! You are awesome and bring so much joy to the world!👐 I don’t believe the latest athletes in the sport have the same unique personalities that Noah, Mat and other have which is why I have lost some interest in the sport. I also believe that we’ve gotten used to these incredible lifts and workouts so we’re not as impressed and eager to tune in to the games. With that said, we are still impressed of course. I thought your games videos this year was the best ones yet!🤩👏 have a great Sunday!
I remember when you could watch this channel to learn the CrossFit movements we do at the box, as a long time viewer I still watch most episodes but not all because I feel the CrossFit content is much less now. Sad to see the trend heading in this direction.
I’d like to see like a CrossFit League just like football. You have the top gyms competing against each other 3 male, 3 female and 1 team. You have the Premier League of gyms. Then second and third league and so on. Gyms get promoted and demoted at the end of the season. All matches streamed online.
Yeah I think there needs to be more media coverage between events. The road to Madison was fantastic to watch last year and I really missed it this year. Just imagine what it could be like. They could follow people from all divisions and show how inclusive CrossFit can be! So much wastes potential.
You have a lot of brilliant ideas and CF should be doing more based on those numbers to draw people in. Not having a media team is clearly working against their brand. I've been watching your channel for years and your content continues to be fun to watch, entertaining, love the tips you share along the way, and you/Jazz are just great people. Plus you have cute pups so that adds to the channel of course! Keep up the great work and despite not coming out ahead on your recent trip to the Games I had a blast chatting with you guys and hope your own brand continues to grow.
It would help generate interest during the season to track the preparation for the games. In my opinion, seeing athletes do wod in the box is already widely seen. As Dave Castro commented in his live broadcast, perhaps a competition between programs in their preparation for the games could help people be more connected. Doing a couple of weekends of competition between teams of competitors who are going to be in the individual category would be something interesting to see. What is clear is that we must seek to attract the attention of the fans during the season and not just the week of the games.
I’m so glad you went over this topic because I also saw that email from Mayhem stating, is CrossFit over? I found that email very interesting. I did CrossFit for 3.5 years and currently don’t do it anymore. But I’m still a fan and most videos I watch on UA-cam is about CrossFit!
Great vision. I think they need the evolution of the CrossFit journal. Some of those old journal videos and articles totally bought me in to the world of CrossFit
As someone who works in Search Engine Optimization and Digital Marketing, I can add to this that Google Searches are also on the decline, and I don’t think those trend searches hold as much weight as they did 5 years ago. Most people nowadays use social media to keep up to date with news and events. I’m not saying CrossFit isn’t in decline, but I personally wouldn’t put much weight on Google search trends to determine popularity.
Agree, particularly around personalities this is the most important thing that is being overlooked. Your comparison to Hyrox was spot on too. Great video, I hope they listen, did love the 2015 to 2019 period.
Super great observations and analysis, the best thing was that you also analyzed your business and without being an athlete, how what happens to the HQ also influences you
Loved your take on how CF should be doing athlete profiles. Any possible way you guys will be able to create profiles on the athletes you support? Love what you guys do! Thanks for the positive content and fab clothes!!!
Makes sense Craig. Getting to know the athletes throughout the year, that's the best part for me. I follow the UA-cam channels of Tia, Justin, Pat etc because it's not all training, you see their lives, what they eat in a day, their friends and family. And we definitely need more competitions, the games, rogue and wodapalooza just cannot see you through and keep you interested for an entire year.
I found this video by accident, I'm not into crossfit but I thought I'd give it a look. Then I I browsed your UA-cam channel and one thing I noticed there wasn't anything on beginners, information on how to start, basic exercises and so on. Surely for any sport to grow it needs new blood . I've watched a couple of your videos and they are entertaining but a lot of it went over my head.
agreed bring on the content.. and i've been an affiliate owner for 10 years ... completely agree we need more ... love the idea of getting to know the other newer athletes. would also be great seeing regular people (crossfitters) smashing new movements ... used to love seeing the top athletes doing the daily WOD too, made you want to try things!
Moving the games around to a different location every couple of years will help. Madison was great but it lost its excitement the last couple of years.
Started CrossFit in 2012 around the time of the OGs (Khalipa, Camille, Annie , spealer , froning, Tovar, etc). Not only did CrossFit have the media to focus attention on them and do a lot of “day in the life” videos but the athletes themselves had vlogs so that helped. It was also the time of regionals which were smaller and more local. I think the online qualifier method of soooo many comps now makes it less of a community (WZA, FOTC, etc). That being said I feel like the local gyms also haven’t been able to keep up with the trends in cf. at this point we have so many experienced and knowledgeable people and local gyms are still hiring the 23 year old fresh outta college who’s been doing cf a year for $20 a class. That’s not a product. As a gym your products are YOUR COACHES. To stand out as the high caliber fitness regimen that it is we just need more quality on the local level. And also yes, MEDIA. But tbh the new athletes just don’t have the same charisma as the OGs 🤷🏻♀️
I completely agree, I miss the old videos when they would make athlete highlights of not just how they do in workouts, but what’s behind the scenes with their lives and how they’re all regular people at the end of the day. I still watch those old videos from 2015-18 to this day. But yes crossfit has changed and I want them to strive, just hoping for the best really.
100%. I loved the StoryHive 'All In Too' docs with Vellner and Fikowski. Massive fans of them both now from seeing them behind the scenes in those videos. Would love to see Crossfit making this sort of content themselves!
Crossfit could do more to support affiliates in creating affordable memberships for low socioeconomic communities who cannot afford $40 + aud per week. Given the high numbers of obesity and CVD in low socioeconomic populations, Crossfit would be a great help to those communities.
I still watch the 'old school' road to the games docs. There were so many characters back then and as you say you got to know them on a personal level. The other obvious change was getting rid of the awesome media team in CrossFit.
I agree with you. Getting to know the athletes helps a lot. I got to know Tia, Sarah Sig, Kat, Mat, Ben, all the OGs through road to the games. We don’t get that from CrossFit.
This is an interesting take on raising the visibility of the Games, and maybe it would work. But it doesn't address the drop in interest in Crossfit, or the declining number of gyms. Remember, the Games searches were much lower than the overall Crossfit searches. Games interest, and athlete following, will go up as the community of members grows, and will inevitably decline if bodies in boxes, and the number of boxes, continues to shrink. That is a larger concern for the sport, and more importantly the activity, in the long term.
You hit the nail on the head for me. Lack of focus on the actual athletes has made me lose interest in the sport all together. I miss seeing the growth and building relationships with athletes like Tia, Royce, Khan, etc and would love to see that happen with new athletes
100% @jordanalexander7177
It’s all the injury bills from average day cross fitters.
Hyrox bro
@@justtestingonceif they slowed down a bit and had correct form this wouldn’t be an issue
Agreed.
I started watching formula 1 after drive to survive came out, it's the personal stories of the athletes that got me interested.
The single most important reason I started crossfit was because of the documentaries they used to have on Netflix, those were AMAZING. It baffles me they dont push stuff like that more
They did continue pushing the docs....but you had to pay to watch them
HQ decided to make a shift and drop their media team and downsize. That was a horrible decision on their part.
@@nicknac787 Went downhill after Dave Castro decided to never bring back the cornrows
I know why Crossfit is Dying. Couple points - 1st point, my Crossfit gym here in Buffalo actually disassociated itself with actual Crossfit. They no longer have to pay the Crossfit fee and therefore their members are not hearing constantly about Crossfit. It is now a gym with functional gym classes, which people like but the owner is not long fully associated with Crossfit. When Kalipa did this with NCFits, a lot of other Crossfit gyms saw this as a way to keep the money for themselves and move on from Crossfit. 2nd point, the structure of getting to the Crossfit games has totally ruled out the everyday gym goer, Im not saying that the random joe ever has had a chance to make it to the games, but in their own mind they did. So it kept a lot more people engaged, Rich Fronings story with "he came out of no where to be the fittest on earth". So many people dove into that saying "omg if he can do it maybe I have a chance" , with that being said, Crossfit tried to make itself into an actual sport with a league like platform and it ruined a lot of viewing. Its hard to become a "fan" and invest when people are constantly going in an out of Crossfit, and there are not real teams to cheer for, that marketing platform can only last so long. I can guarantee if Crossfit reverted back to its original Open / Regionals / Games the world would start watching again, unfortunately in trying to make it better they made it worse and pushed out the everyday gym goer.
I 100% agree with this comment.
100% and the gym train at did the same. Crossfit style of workouts but it not actually affiliated with Crossfit.
Thanks for this video. My comments
1 - Hire the media team back
2 - Explain the difference between the sport and the lifestyle. Meaning the pros vs the everyday crossfitter and what that means
3 - More events between the games and the open season
4- Highlight affiliates more and the stories of everyday people
No one cares about everyday people. There were times when the athletes were everyday people. I miss those times. I had the feeling, I can reach the goal to make it to the Games besides working fulltime, because a lot of people did. Impossible nowadays.
A look into affiliates would be awesome!
Exactly! It should be focusing on the average CrossFitter ❤ and how Crossfit can change your life- not this Crossfit Atlethes Beasts.
From a coaches point of view (in London, Sydney and Abu Dhabi so far)
There are soooo many options for people looking to improve their fitness, and these 'functional fitness' gyms are the perfect solution for people who don't want to do the sometimes cary gymnastics and CrossFit. If you're looking to drop some weight and get healthier, a slick looking gym that focuses on its clients.
Crossfit has not done a good job of highlighting how it can help people in everyday life. There needs to be a CrossFit and CrossFit 'Pro' separation almost to showcase what we're primarily here to do as coaches.
Also those peaks of interest in CrossFit would correlate to the documentaries no? Which were incredible and bring so many eyes to the sport. F1 peaked after Netflix, Football teams are seeing fan engagement after documentaries. Bring back the classic Docs and make them FREE to access. I agree that media needs to improve MASSIVELY to help the sport.
I think the separation you mention was what Greg Glassman was trying to achieve. I felt he was trying to show crossfit was for everyone and it was not just about the Crossfit Games... Tricky balance though if its the Games that brings all the promotion and attention.
@@rw1481 affiliates need more help with marketing. Pay £3000 a year and then market on top of that, when CrossFit don’t put out any real marketing campaign to drive members into the gym.
How often do you see/hear about f45 etc? Whilst they’re a franchise model so it is different, CrossFit need to promote itself to drive people into affiliates.
Get exposure from the games, drive numbers into gyms should be the formula
Bit like Glassmans vision.
1000% with the documentaries. The whole reason why I got interested was watching Mat in 2015.
Our little town functional fitness gym does a great job of advertising how functional fitness will be good in everyday life. I started as a completely out of shape really overweight Middle Aged guy and after a couple years I am now less over weight and stronger than ever in my life. Big shout out to my class coaches here in Neepawa Manitoba Canada!
I’ve been a fan of CrossFit since 2014.. started crossfit myself in 2016.. I’m nearly 57 now and I still love it. The average person finds crossfit terrifying.. they don’t realize that all ages, all capabilities, how scalable crossfit is…. Seeing the age, the adaptive divisions, especially, in competition shows you do not need to be the perfect specimen of an athlete to be amazing! I agree that media needs to put it out there more and doing stories on average people over coming struggles with the help of crossfit and their amazing coaches/trainers… so many stories out there! Most believe crossfit will put you into the ground with injuries and that it is for the super fit only… it has helped so many people physically, mentally but that is never shown… we need to change this!!!
Also adaptive and the older classes weren’t highlighted at all to show more everyday people
You bring up CrossFit’s biggest Achilles’ heel, Ive never seen CrossFit address or try to get right. Most people think its a high injury rate, the other is the pull ups… people outside of CrossFit are very prone to despising butterfly and kipping pull ups
I also think the event coverage is a problem. There were so many errors this year with both video and sound that made it so annoying (I still tried to watch everything). Also the commentary is just wrong quite often and I particularly noticed that the coverage only very often focuses on showing 2-3 athletes rather than the field. Sometimes that meant you did not even see the main leader on the floor. CrossFit seems to focus on certain athletes which I think is sad.
I sometimes wonder if the fact that Crossfit is still trying to test the untested/unexpected has made competition a bit more circus like, and a bit harder to take serious. Like where's it gonna end?
You nailed it. Its starting to become like a circus. Not that it isnt entertaining, its just not really… crossfit.
You are right !!! It’s killing the identity people has no reference anymore. Suddenly your scores from the girls has no meaning your CrossFit total is regardless and your 1 RM and adaptation to whatever they through to you is what matters
When I first got into CrossFit, it was the fact that the games did the same workouts I was doing, I watched some of those workouts, and I want to do it to, now there is all of these special rigs, equipment and nonsense that i have no desire to get/learn/do. Its not motivating to watch to keep me working out
I totally agree. For me, CrossFit in its core is a functional training program, which can be done at a typical crossfit gym, and is supposed to make you fitter overall. This does not mean that you need to include cycling, obstacle courses, swimming, etc. Nothing wrong with that in general, but if you start bringing in tennis, climbing, golf and whatever, you are very far away from what crossfit as a sport in the affiliates is.
I remember watching workouts like 30 g2o for time, DT, Murph or tge marathon row and tried all of them. Those are workouts we all can do and can relate to. Also the frantasyland video with froning and hobart.
I hope that the direction eventually reverses and goes back to the roots a bit.
Thats total right. For me the games lost the crossfit charakter. I also hated it when they killed the regionals events. That was when I stopped doing the open. But i am still doing crossfit.
Craig, I am sorry you both lost money on the CrossFit games this content was some of the best you have produced and I could really see you both stepping into that “behind the scenes “ and “road to the games” production. Keep at it dude as you both are amazing
But we saw the same “behind the scenes” shots on the buttery bros page. Nothing individual about it.
If they take UA-cam folks out, they had almost no media there. Thank you for being there, and this is on point. All types of media use it
Behind the scenes with Sevan really helped you to get to know the Athletes and in an interesting way. At the same time Rich, Dan, and Josh were putting out content of them getting together working out etc. There were the documentaries highlighting the sport.
Then the various videos with Dave and the athletes. I agree CrossFit needs to put more into media and personalize it. Rich Froning does a great Job of that with his media team and his recent video bringing attention to the everyday member was smart.
CF open is not enough for an average CrossFitter, It needs to be a CF league where a workout is released every month and people are doing it and submitting the scores online to see how fit they are against other Crossfitters. Registration fee around £5 for the whole year/season. Age and gender groups just like in CF Open.
Remember grid league? Something like that would be awesome
@@damonmortley9703yes like grid but individual and no specialisation in movement so you stay a well rounded athlete.
HERE HERE!!
Road to the games was amazing! This years games content from you was OUTSTANDING! I loved getting to know the athletes more when in the thick of the competition. Seeing the banter between them as well as support for eachother, makes me love the sport and athletes more!
Over the last year i have lost 4st (22 \ 18) because i want to start crossfit, but I'm petrified of walking into a box and failing (thanks for the confidence boost covid 🤣) seeing more raw content is definitely needed in the sport! The more content out there the better! To help people find an awesome community even if they feel as though taking part is beyond them. I'm from Wales, if anyone would be willing to help me overcome anxiety of walking into a box please reach out 🤙🏻🏴 (i would even travel to crossfit lacemakers)
Much love
Go for it, brother! Take what you want, don't wait for someone to hold your hand.
Don’t wait, I started when I needed to lose 4 stone and it was the best decision I made. CrossFit is tailor made for weight loss and you will find plenty of support when you walk in a CrossFit gym. I’m Welsh too and if your close enough I can recommend Celtic CrossFit but really any gym you choose will be great
It's hear, hear akshually
You mentioned the word community. I go back to your videos from 2017/2018 when you guys were a channel of nothing but CrossFit. Vlogging the local box, your own personal growth in the sport and all the support and love the community had for CrossFit. The vibes were just different.
CrossFit has gone from community focused to purely business focused. You don’t see a lot of local comps anymore. Semi popular athletes have their noses to the sky and show fans no love.
CrossFit has lost its identity. Until they find it again; the trend will continue down.
Hard to find the community when they price 75% of them out of it. CrossFit gyms used to be packed because it was fun, you met people, & most importantly it was affordable when compared to your average nice gym.
@@TooDafttotally agree.
@@TooDaft That’s why nobody I know ever wants to join, i’m one of the youngest people in my box because everybody else in the box is older and has more money
I find now people in crossfit gyms act like superstars you can't say " hi" to.
@@P1995. I have the money, but for me I have space to just buy my own equipment and setup a gym. It makes no sense unless I wanted more of a community vibe to join one.
I watched a couple episodes of The Voice the other night, specifically what they call the blind auditions. Before each contestant they take 1-2 minutes and profile their back story and tell about how they got to this point in their lives. THIS MATTERS. I am instantly more interested in how they do in the audition itself. Great analysis, Craig, keep up the good work 👍
Sevan's behind the scenes back in the day really made it interesting to follow an athlete and then you'd have some favourties which then made you want to see how well they do. You can't have any favourites if we don't know a bit about them and nobody watches a sport without having someone to root for. Watching the games made me want to try CF so yeah, it's all down to that media...
In Aus, I’ve noticed a lot of affiliates have moved away from the ‘crossfit’ branding - however, the training methodology has remained & is actually gaining in popularity. There are so many ‘boutique’ class-based functional fitness / strength & conditioning gyms opening on every street corner. But I can only speak for what’s happening in Aus, we love our cafe culture and supporting local businesses, which is why big chain stores like Starbucks have miserably failed here. I’d say its the same principle, once something becomes almost ‘too popular’ ie. F45, Crossfit ETC, these sort of chain businesses start to decline rapidly in popularity - because they are popular. But thats just my observation.
spot on
Yeah spot on
Siniliar in London in terms of boutique class based gyms
@nnikkiiiii from what I have notcied at least in Southern Sydney way, f45 training people are over that because they are hitting ceilings in progress and coaching hasn't been enough to back it up. And crossfit is still too extreme and expensive and "messy".
Say like Yard gym it is gaining alot of momentum opening up many branches now in Sydney and trialing LA as its got that boujee feel, all black, clean, more intense then f45 but not as intense as crossfit feel as there is no gymnaatics or olympic lifting that people are "scared" of that they can't do it.
I think Crossfit still has the mentallity that you have to be really fit (which is false), you can get injured easily (which is also false unless you have bad coaches and go too hard all the time etc), and there isn't enough money in affliates or investment e.g. simple things like a creche for mums is killing crossfut gyms as that is like your midday income gone if you don't have one.
See the same thing happening in the Netherlands and Germany!
Definitely not bored of you guys - even when the content isn’t CrossFit related, you never fail to make us smile!
There's NOT ENOUGH Crossfit related content on here imo. But by that I mean, real and grounded CrossFit content.
Most of the Crossfit content on UA-cam is over-produced and/or unrelatable to the everyday athlete.
It's great watching the top of the iceberg when it comes to fitness, but it's just so far removed from what the majority of people are actually going to achieve in a crossfit box (and personally that kind of turns me off watching it).
Away from UA-cam, I used to follow all of the CrossFit athletes on Instagram too, but it's just so many ads! (No I don't want to buy your CBD drops).
It's probably worth noting that this channel is absolutely the exception to this
Hey! If you like CrossFit content of everyday athletes I do box tours, hope you like it!@@kevinrichmond236
Excellent points! You briefly touched on the media team being fired in 2018 but that's definitely a huge driver, as the documentaries made by the media team were what brought my interest to CrossFit originally. The docs for 2018 and Next Gen were so much worse in comparison that I'm not ever interested in Retro/Active. It also feels like CrossFit is feeding their own collapse with reducing the events. I know the Granite Games in Minnesota didn't have great attendance in 2022, and likely cost money to the organizers rather than making money but as there wasn't a big local event I'm sure the engagement in Minnesota and the Midwest was significantly lower this year than in previous years. Especially with the Games moving from Madison - the entirety of the Midwest is now ripe for competing fitness methods to convert CrossFit boxes which will just drive CrossFit lower in this region.
You, Mayhem, HWPO, and Buttery Bros put out EXCELLENT content. If Crossfit isnt going to have a media team, they need to support and promote the bloggers. I think your fans are loyal, but how do we get new fans to fins and follow you all?
Weightlifting is far further along in the death spiral, but there are some similarities. They hired Weightlifting House to handle some streaming and let them push media. Dont think it really helped, but its pretty nice.
you also nailed it with 'its not financially viable' this counts across a lot of what you said, but with the cost of living, the rising bills, people having to work more to offset all this, people generally don't have time or money to afford this. I had to stop crossfit due to my wife losing her job at the start of crossfit, and then we moved. So all bills went up. and i just couldn't afford it anymore. I know you pay for a service, etc, but its crazy. I do miss how fit i was when i was crossfitting but i just can't justify the cost anymore.
Agreed, local Boxes costing £90pmonth it’s unattainable for a lot of people these days. It’s became exclusive - to be exclusive you have to exclude people
@@KaysFitnessaround near me it’s at least £90pm and that’s the bare minimum. When I first started doing CF years ago, it was still expensive then but it was only 1 type of membership. But then they expanded, they introduced different levels of membership to get as much money as possible out of us. But only gave the bare minimum in return. So may as well of only offered the one membership still.
Great content! I am constantly looking for more content on athletes, games prep and crossfit anything. Mayhem just put out a short film on a local everyday member. Gold! It was wonderful to see something else in the off season about crossfit. Crossfit is so much more than the pro athletes and games. Although I love this the pro side of crossfit, it's nice to see stories about regular people like me. Keep slaying Craig! Keep crossfit alive!
I had never come across Crossfit until the documentary Fittest on Earth got suggested to me (the games where Katrin won her 2nd straight title and Tia got 2nd again) even without knowing any previous battles, the doc did SUCH a good job of recapping the previous games, going into depth into the competitors that I INSTANTLY fell in love with the people behind the sport. I've never so much as touched a barbell in my life (nor had any passion to)!
That doc made me go back and watch the previous years documentary, loved it as well. And then I found the redeemed and dominant documentary (which I think had just come out and in my opinion is the best one ever made featuring Tia and Kara's INSANE finish on Fibonacci) and that was it. I was hooked. I was hooked on the people, the stories, the training and plus the games themselves.
I've been following religiously since then and even though Mat's now retired and obviously with Tia taking the year out, I've still come back and watched it but, being brutally honest, I'm not as hooked as I once was. I don't know much about Jeff Adler so I wasn't that stoked when he won (will always secretly be rooting for my absolute fav Mr. Vellner to get that gold one day!)
Even watching your videos this year, which were amazingly shot and of such high quality, when it came to you interviewing some of the athletes behind the scenes I would zone out, check my phone, sometimes even fast forward those bits as I just don't know who that person is/have no emotional connection to them.
i think the stuff that mitch hooper did with the CrossFit guys is exactly what we need. getting other top athletes to workout with top CrossFit athletes and showcasing the level of fitness is key. oh and highlight some local comps and gyms.
CrossFit was sold as something anyone could do at home with minimal equipment. It is now viewed as a sport for professionals that require an expensive membership. CF has lost its roots.
Street Parking exemplifies the simple OG CrossFit spirit, minimal equipment at home and to a certain stimulus.
Spot on.
Love your videos! We need more people in the CrossFit space that are as passionate as you. Your passion comes through in your vlogs!
I believe the coverage of semifinals & the games is what is doing this.. having people switch to the podcast channel & not showing it on the main page just had me personally not even want to tune into semifinals. Talked about it w/ my guys the other day & i catch myself going back to watch 2015,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022 games
I didn’t even know this. This felt like the least intuitive year to watch. I skipped most of it. I also didn’t watch Richey’s videos because of this. Why tune in to BTS for events I couldn’t even watch. Tough all around and sad as I haven’t missed one since 2011.
I used to watch every road to the games, I only watched the games because I knew Matt and everyone’s story and how hard they worked. My guy lifted in his parents basement until he was the champ. How would anyone know that without road to the games. Bring it back.
Your videos from the games (and in general) have been excellent this year! I love the longer content. Enjoying watching you improve with the squat program too. Hopefully we can build interest in the sport again, but your team appreciates what you are doing still. Thanks, legends!
Love the content you put out! Been following since you did your road to the open series way back when. Definitely don't get bored of you and loved the BTS series.
To me, when I see the peak of CrossFit interest in 2013, it was when they were on ESPN. People come across that while scrolling channels, wonder what this sport is, and Google it to learn. Now there's zero exposure. You can't find the Games coverage unless you specifically seek it so it's just catering to the same audience. And you nailed it - all the interest from there was driven by UA-cam searches and seeing what the CF Media team put out with Sevan's behind the scenes, athlete profiles and videos. I couldn't get enough of it and came to love the different personalities. They lost that when they got rid of the media team and it hasn't been the same since.
Netflix, please “Snatch to Survive”. Do it. Please!
😂😂😂
I imagine the emergence of hyrox had made an impact, it’s a lower barrier to entry without the oly lifting and gymnastics. Personally the games has never been a driver for me, but I did tend to tune in when you had more heavyweights in contention, Rich, Jason, and Matt being the obvious examples. Other things, CrossFit has always been expensive to do, and the range of gear (which feels necessary) increases every year, and finally, CrossFit still has a PR problem. Rugby people have always slagged football for example, but I feel like lots of people from other sports (or no sport at all) have an axe to grind with CrossFit. Unsure why this is.
You can see what is missing, Craig, so go make it happen.
Partner with whoever you need to partner with e.g. Rogue, Wodapalooza, Dubai Fitness Championships etc to raise the capital you need to make the "Drive to Survive of Crossfit" and build the media company that Crossfit itself should be building. You're already halfway there with this YT channel, and we're all behind you 💪.
Hi Richy, personally, my interest in the sport started pre-covid, and pre- the new management/owners of Crossfit.
The stories of the "OGs" and how they presented it was brilliant! I think you hit the nail on the head here. I havnt been in a box for a while now.
I need the inspiration, and these channels were great.
Crossfit needs to bring back character, and maybe promote the characters more. It started to feel a little to genetic.
Good luck ! It's a to great a sport to die, it just lost some momentum in a crucial time of its evolution .
Very interesting video with some great ideas. Definitely I would like to see more crosfit events throughout the year
I love this sport so much and honestly you’re right about everything you’re saying. Content is king in this game.
I’m a videographer based in Trinidad and Tobago and I would absolutely love to fly to the states and work with CrossFit. 😢
I would like to see more videos on Masters Level athletes. As someone who is turning 44 later this month, and trying to qualify for the Games for the first time, it would be great to get inspired by guys my age; kind of like the way the PGA and Senior Tour split.
There are TWO CrossFits now. The professional one where we see the top athletes at the games and rouge and the everyday person at their local gym building their community. The other big issue is cost. Most gyms around my city cost well over $1000 a year, that's just insane.
Agree with your points mate. Overall it’s lacking a clear and comprehensive communication strategy focused around the various “levels” of athletes. Media focused around the games is an aspect but there is also so much false perception that people think it’s inaccessible. Winning over the grassroots everyday gym goer is vital. Tailored comms in each country, more support to drive consistency between affiliates and a general improvement in professionalisation
CrossFit need to go back to basics. Put on an event that the majority of people can complete but show how fit the athletes are! The ordinary person don't understand the skills involved so can't relate. for example, make the athletes do a 5k run, 50 burpees, 50 b/w squats (short/simple/relatable). Then an ordinary joe can attempt it with no cost of gyms/equipment etc and it will show a fan how fit they are.
The idea of a 1 day competition is ideal, on a Saturday in a big city but let them show off there fitness. A lot of the handstand walking or double under crossovers just turn off the ordinary joe as they see it as stupid.
This is sooo funny. Richey, you hit it head-on. My husband and I spoke about our own experience recently. We got into Crossfit BECAUSE of the road to the games. Now, most of those athletes aren't really competing and we feel like we don't know these new athletes. We don't know who these guys and girls are, how they training, where they coming from and the challenges that they face. Sadly, we ourselves have lost interest. And we laughed because we started watching the UFC. So your research is so accurate. Well, at least in our experience.
Bring back road to the games!
Sorry that you haven't been receiving the support that you deserve on your channel. I hope it gets better!
Much love from South Africa.
I got into Crossfit after seeing Dan Bailey vs Rich doing 12.2. It was a random video that came up and as a gym rat at the time, I wanted to know more. I remember the little vignettes that used to be posted. The Crossfit Rap was my favorite, fun. Castles in the sky, that Lauren Fisher promo was inspiring af. That one Sam Briggs that I swear was only shown once, Team series BTS, That stuff kept me pumped and understood I was in a community. You can get some of this now but not like before.
In term of CrossFit gyms closing, for regular people, those type of gyms are very expensive ; the subscription const is generally about 4 times the price for a regular gym. I think it's one of the reasons, people dont stay and go to cheaper gyms.
But then they get a membership at a cheaper gym and often don’t go because it’s not the same community environment either. Then they are paying a membership they never use. CF gyms are a more expensive membership, but is like having a personal trainer each time. The gym I used to go to, I could get coaching advice in class as well as nutritional info for my membership. I don’t go to an affiliate anymore because I have a home gyms. It really is relative to what people put as priority. People will spend money on expensive things if that’s where their priority is at the time. I definitely feel like CF has lost its roots for sure. Prior to Covid, especially in early CF years,
You didn’t care what it cost almost, you just wanted to be part of something great. It’s lost it’s luster and so people don’t feel it’s a priority to spend on.
The sport itself is evolving. The PGA & F1 racing have been around for decades, so hard comparison. I liked your mention of Hyrox - how does that compare on the graph? What other "new" sports have come up recently? Disc Golf? Pickleball? I guess what I am getting at is that CrossFit is young. But it's shifting to be CrossFit the sport vs. CrossFit the methodology (aka CF boxes). CF needs to account for that or it will be over.
With that said, Instagram is a good barometer to test, but the age demographic of of Instagram is getting older, so we are more inclined to follow the OGs. Someone also commented about this, but I think it is worth repeating... I can't stand all the ads the athletes have to do. Between Beam, Whoop, supplements... it's terrible and I tend to unfollow rather quickly if it becomes too much.
I am curious what happens to those graphs once Sevan releases all of his BTS content. He mentioned in a recent episode that they decided to cut the videos in half because they were too long (1 hour +). So more videos... more views.... more clicks? Who knows?
I do LOVE your style of content. And really appreciate the candid interviews. Maybe you can do more zoom style interviews with athletes?
I also appreciate seeing the weightlifting content. Anything more you can do there? Local meets? Bringing more awareness to that sport as we head into the Olympics next year.
HSTL Fan. 🤩 Keep on being a Legend, too.
The thing that got me hyped up was your road to the open series,.
Your crossfit coverage this year was CLASS. I was almost more excited to see your vids than the events themselves….. so I hope that helps. If it all contributes to the point you’re making, I agree, the behind the scenes athlete stuff is what makes the sport exciting.
I do agree that CrossFit, as a company, will eventually go bankrupt within the next 5-7 years.
CrossFit athletes need to compete more. They train for months and months and compete 2-3 times a year.
There needs to be a bigger season where people can see the athletes compete more. That leads to more opportunities to create story lines and content about what happens at an event - like Drive to Survive does.
No “major” sport only has its athletes compete less than they train and only be able to be watched twice a year.
Bring on a world tour.
I agree, in football you can see your favorite team every week for what like 6 months+?? And you have the World Cup, Champions League, Europe Cup etc. So you never fall off and forget about the sport, teams or players
From an outsider’s perspective-
I recall joining a mixed CrossFit/standard gym in highschool around 2012. CrossFit was beginning to really take off in popularity because it was the new hot thing in the burgeoning age of social media based fitness. I believe the following 5-6 years after that were crossfits heyday. Everyone knew of it at least somewhat because it was being talked about a lot. Heck, I remember everyone getting worked up over Rick Ross doing CrossFit.
Having been established for more than a decade now, the new hype has passed. CrossFit has firmly settled into the fringe sport it was always destined to be. People who were avid CrossFit participants for years end up leaving their gyms for other disciplines (street parking, etc) or just lose interest all together. CrossFit just now exists, it has its fans, and most folks outside the sport know of the word and that’s been around for a while and care little beyond that.
I believe the reason the UFC has become so popular is Because it’s embraced becoming a glamor sport of sorts for the top athletes at least. CrossFit has really gotten stuck back in that niche sport lane that has its core fanbase, yet doesn’t appeal as much to outsiders as it’s been around for decade and is well past its “ new and exciting” phase.
I think these are really good insights. I really like your idea to host events in different cities with specific events that athletes can know and trained for. This would be a good way to also give quarterfinals/semifinal level athletes more opportunities to showcase their skills and put them on the map
Good analysis of the situation. With regards the present stars of CF they do seem a bit characterless or at least their character is not being projected. If you look at Josh Bridges he is a man with a back story, Matt Fraser similar. If you couple that with poor quality coverage and some poor quality events such as the cycling event at the Games, which was abject, then it not much of a spectacle.
The documentaries of the CF games where key in making the sport interesting. I followed everyone seen in those movies but I don't know the new games athletes that well. I agree 100%, the media is key and they need to bring back the sanctionals.
I think you are right on.
Definitely like the end where you were talking off the top of your head. I would watch those weekly. I would want to see who showed up or what town they were in. Love getting to know the athletes, it is why I am interested. I have never even been to a CrossFit gym. I work out by my self at home.
I would watch any mayhem, hwpo, Mal O’Brien or Justin Medeiros video. Buttery bros is also amazing.
Appreciate you and Jas.
Thanks for the video!
I’ll admit. I’m one that was really into watching CrossFit content and now rarely check in. You hit the nail in the head. There needs to be more media to make us fall in love with a personality like they did with Mat, Tia and all the Dottiers. The Netflix shows were the best. It also was off putting when some of the top athletes did not participate in the Games for personal reasons this year. If the top athletes aren’t competing it’s hard to get excited to watch.
The behind the scenes of Rich,Jason,Dan,and,josh back in the day was more interesting than the games and made you want to pull for them, plus you fire your whole media department it’s gonna hurt
Love him or hate him, Sevan has been preaching everything in this video forever. As the years continue to go by it becomes more apparent how influencial he was in the growth of everything.
You are absolutely right , We need more events , bring back the invitationals .
I think you made a lot of great points here Craig, the Behind the Scenes at The Games and Road to the Games documentaries were a huge part of what made me a fan of CrossFit. I remember the first videos of behind the scenes stuff was a competition between athletes of Rogue versus athletes of Again Faster. I like the format of Open, Regionals, Games but an idea of sanctioned events like Wodapolooza and Rogue get an automatic invite isn't a bad one. When there was an invite to the games I did find myself keeping up with those events more and CrossFit the sport in general. I agree too that they should have some consistency of workouts in the games season, it would might draw more interest. Like in Track in Field or Swimming in the Olympics, the events haven't changed in a very long time, everyone knows what they are but people still tune in to see them performed. I do because I want to see World records broken or just really amazing feats that might inspire me in my next workout. Thanks for you and Jas doing what y'all do, keep up the good work.
I think the notion of a CrossFit “community” is overhyped. Many gyms invite a certain type of person, many of which are toxic and too competitive. This ultimately makes people less likely to stick around and really makes the brand less appealing as a whole.
Bellends is a good description.
Of the friends of mine who have tried to go to the local CrossFit, all have left for this reason
I really liked the idea of the community seen on many of the American affiliate videos. I would see the same people go in every day, even if they weren't training, just to hang out.
In the UK when I started out, I really could have benefited from just that but, what I got was a bunch of self proclaimed 'athletes' and the rest of us were in the corner unable to do pistol squats at 160kg+ being told to "just try!" then ignored for an hour.
I love the Games and other events as a sport, but I don't have a lot of interest in boxes.
Toxic ? You must mean me.
From the outside looking in (I am a powerlifter) it seems to me that CrossFit Inc is not interested in their own community. For example this is the weekend of the marbellachampionship it I am not mistaken. Have you heard of it? Have you seen any coverage of it? Even the IPF makes an effort to show the major events or countries srteam their own comps online. Why not CrossFit?
Completely agree. You're spot on with the athletes. Road to the CrossFit Games was a great series and it got me hyped for different athletes. Imagine them highlighting someone like Tia this year coming back after a year off and a new kiddo. Justin after an "off" year (he's still amazing, no shade here). Patrick living his dad life and training. Even highlighting some of the teams and definitely pulling in the newbies. If you look at Drive to Survive, Quarterbacks, Full Swing, these series helped their respective sport a ton and those individuals highlighted. I watched a few sessions of the games this year, but didn't know most of the athletes and checked out for the most part.
Throwing a random idea out there: maybe there's a partnership with the IWF. That sport has grown recently, especially from people who left CrossFit (myself included). But, the IWF could use some help as we see weight classes getting cut from the Olympics even though at a local level, this sport is picking up steam, but the IWF is not capitalizing on it. I have many thoughts about this as I love weightlifting but feel it's underrepresented. Maybe some sort of crossover event? Maybe it's pulling some of the athletes in as an aside from following just CF athletes?
As far as at a local level, I agree with some of the comments on functional fitness. It's no longer worth the massive CF fees just to have "CrossFit" in your name and be affiliated with it. For some, it's actually a hindrance. Plenty of CrossFit-like gyms still exist but ended their affiliation because the culture got super bro-y and "good ole boy." Plus, the obvious when it comes to lack of focus on form. I usually love the weightlifting portion of the Games, but it was pretty cringe watching some terrible form from elite athletes this year.
We are NOT tired if you! You are awesome and bring so much joy to the world!👐 I don’t believe the latest athletes in the sport have the same unique personalities that Noah, Mat and other have which is why I have lost some interest in the sport. I also believe that we’ve gotten used to these incredible lifts and workouts so we’re not as impressed and eager to tune in to the games. With that said, we are still impressed of course. I thought your games videos this year was the best ones yet!🤩👏 have a great Sunday!
I remember when you could watch this channel to learn the CrossFit movements we do at the box, as a long time viewer I still watch most episodes but not all because I feel the CrossFit content is much less now. Sad to see the trend heading in this direction.
I’d like to see like a CrossFit League just like football. You have the top gyms competing against each other 3 male, 3 female and 1 team. You have the Premier League of gyms. Then second and third league and so on. Gyms get promoted and demoted at the end of the season. All matches streamed online.
Yeah I think there needs to be more media coverage between events. The road to Madison was fantastic to watch last year and I really missed it this year. Just imagine what it could be like. They could follow people from all divisions and show how inclusive CrossFit can be! So much wastes potential.
You have a lot of brilliant ideas and CF should be doing more based on those numbers to draw people in. Not having a media team is clearly working against their brand. I've been watching your channel for years and your content continues to be fun to watch, entertaining, love the tips you share along the way, and you/Jazz are just great people. Plus you have cute pups so that adds to the channel of course! Keep up the great work and despite not coming out ahead on your recent trip to the Games I had a blast chatting with you guys and hope your own brand continues to grow.
Best video you've done in a while and we aren't getting bored of ya mate
It would help generate interest during the season to track the preparation for the games. In my opinion, seeing athletes do wod in the box is already widely seen. As Dave Castro commented in his live broadcast, perhaps a competition between programs in their preparation for the games could help people be more connected. Doing a couple of weekends of competition between teams of competitors who are going to be in the individual category would be something interesting to see. What is clear is that we must seek to attract the attention of the fans during the season and not just the week of the games.
I’m so glad you went over this topic because I also saw that email from Mayhem stating, is CrossFit over? I found that email very interesting. I did CrossFit for 3.5 years and currently don’t do it anymore. But I’m still a fan and most videos I watch on UA-cam is about CrossFit!
Your coverage was so good!! i hope this doesn't discourage you from keeping it up. I found all the stats very interesting. Thank you!
I started taking podium because y’all had a product that y’all believe in and my energy an workouts have improved so much
I do enjoy the stories/mini docs about the athletes.
Not bored of you! Keep it up 💯
Great vision. I think they need the evolution of the CrossFit journal. Some of those old journal videos and articles totally bought me in to the world of CrossFit
Preach Craig, preach.... Best episode ever! Spot on - you LEGEND
As someone who works in Search Engine Optimization and Digital Marketing, I can add to this that Google Searches are also on the decline, and I don’t think those trend searches hold as much weight as they did 5 years ago.
Most people nowadays use social media to keep up to date with news and events.
I’m not saying CrossFit isn’t in decline, but I personally wouldn’t put much weight on Google search trends to determine popularity.
Agree, particularly around personalities this is the most important thing that is being overlooked. Your comparison to Hyrox was spot on too. Great video, I hope they listen, did love the 2015 to 2019 period.
Super great observations and analysis, the best thing was that you also analyzed your business and without being an athlete, how what happens to the HQ also influences you
Loved your take on how CF should be doing athlete profiles. Any possible way you guys will be able to create profiles on the athletes you support? Love what you guys do! Thanks for the positive content and fab clothes!!!
Makes sense Craig. Getting to know the athletes throughout the year, that's the best part for me. I follow the UA-cam channels of Tia, Justin, Pat etc because it's not all training, you see their lives, what they eat in a day, their friends and family. And we definitely need more competitions, the games, rogue and wodapalooza just cannot see you through and keep you interested for an entire year.
I found this video by accident, I'm not into crossfit but I thought I'd give it a look. Then I I browsed your UA-cam channel and one thing I noticed there wasn't anything on beginners, information on how to start, basic exercises and so on. Surely for any sport to grow it needs new blood . I've watched a couple of your videos and they are entertaining but a lot of it went over my head.
agreed bring on the content.. and i've been an affiliate owner for 10 years ... completely agree we need more ... love the idea of getting to know the other newer athletes. would also be great seeing regular people (crossfitters) smashing new movements ... used to love seeing the top athletes doing the daily WOD too, made you want to try things!
Love your idea of CrossFit Throwdowns with comparable workouts for the „offseason“… 🎉
Yes, yes yes! Spot on. They should hire you to do their promovideos.
MORE EVENTS!! That’s for real! Thanks for doing this Craig.
Oh I LOVED your videos from the Games!
This was a great vid and breakdown
Really nice and interesting video my friend 👍
Moving the games around to a different location every couple of years will help. Madison was great but it lost its excitement the last couple of years.
Started CrossFit in 2012 around the time of the OGs (Khalipa, Camille, Annie , spealer , froning, Tovar, etc). Not only did CrossFit have the media to focus attention on them and do a lot of “day in the life” videos but the athletes themselves had vlogs so that helped. It was also the time of regionals which were smaller and more local. I think the online qualifier method of soooo many comps now makes it less of a community (WZA, FOTC, etc). That being said I feel like the local gyms also haven’t been able to keep up with the trends in cf. at this point we have so many experienced and knowledgeable people and local gyms are still hiring the 23 year old fresh outta college who’s been doing cf a year for $20 a class. That’s not a product. As a gym your products are YOUR COACHES. To stand out as the high caliber fitness regimen that it is we just need more quality on the local level. And also yes, MEDIA. But tbh the new athletes just don’t have the same charisma as the OGs 🤷🏻♀️
I completely agree, I miss the old videos when they would make athlete highlights of not just how they do in workouts, but what’s behind the scenes with their lives and how they’re all regular people at the end of the day. I still watch those old videos from 2015-18 to this day. But yes crossfit has changed and I want them to strive, just hoping for the best really.
100%. I loved the StoryHive 'All In Too' docs with Vellner and Fikowski. Massive fans of them both now from seeing them behind the scenes in those videos. Would love to see Crossfit making this sort of content themselves!
Crossfit could do more to support affiliates in creating affordable memberships for low socioeconomic communities who cannot afford $40 + aud per week.
Given the high numbers of obesity and CVD in low socioeconomic populations, Crossfit would be a great help to those communities.
I still watch the 'old school' road to the games docs. There were so many characters back then and as you say you got to know them on a personal level. The other obvious change was getting rid of the awesome media team in CrossFit.
I agree with you. Getting to know the athletes helps a lot. I got to know Tia, Sarah Sig, Kat, Mat, Ben, all the OGs through road to the games. We don’t get that from CrossFit.
Spot on rivalry will get people emotional invested
I'm P. E. teacher and I have started doing CF as extrascolar activity and they really love it. CF in schools and formal federation would be essential
This is an interesting take on raising the visibility of the Games, and maybe it would work. But it doesn't address the drop in interest in Crossfit, or the declining number of gyms. Remember, the Games searches were much lower than the overall Crossfit searches. Games interest, and athlete following, will go up as the community of members grows, and will inevitably decline if bodies in boxes, and the number of boxes, continues to shrink. That is a larger concern for the sport, and more importantly the activity, in the long term.
"Road to the Games" was FANTASTIC