That's interesting to say the least. I thought Dave Castro came off like a complete asshole in "every second counts" and I have never been impressed with him. It's times like this and the whole Gym Jones deal that makes CrossFit look really bad. What's worse is that the negativity and closed mindedness isn't coming from some crazy rogue affiliate who's goal is to manipulate CrossFit and ruin it's image and all that it stands for; it's coming from CrossFit's founder and current leadership.
To me there seems to be a good number of professionally run affiliates out there whose goal is to improve themselves and their members on a daily basis. They are open to change and embrace the chance to learn something new while at the same time backing up what they have seen work. They are interested in self improvement of any kind, not just physical. It's affiliates like this that have played an instrumental role in the successes we have experienced at THE SHOP and I am forever thankful for their existance. That is my idea of what "CrossFit" is.
I have also received priceless information from emails with Rob Shaul of Mountain Athlete and Mark Twight of Gym Jones. My turn down this road may have came a lot later or never happened at all had I not googled "300 workout gym jones" a couple years back. So, depending on how you look at it, I owe a fairly large community of teachers for gettin me started.
Because of this strong and positive community, and it's members attitudes of going out of there way to help, there are many many times that I wish we were an affiliate ourselves. I think it would allow us to be more involved in spreading what we and others believe in, and add to the overall experience. I once asked CR his thoughts on affiliation and the pros and cons. His answer to me was as follows "what we do is because of CrossFit, it will always be synonymous with it, so we might has well BE it" I agree with this and not only was it true for me and THE SHOP but the more and more I thought about it the more it made sense. There was a level of respect and appreciation to "CrossFit" and by affiliating those two things could be shown. Not to mention the lack "policing" allows one to be creative while taking full advantage of the marketing and tools.
I owe the "CrossFit" community a lot for inspiring me to get up and take responsibility for my own fitness. I am grateful for various sources of motivation that let me to doing and accomplishing things I would have never done before, and I won't forget that.
That being said I don't know how much longer I'll continue to have a desire to be "affiliated" with CrossFit if "HQ" doesn't get it's crap together. I think there comes a point where one has to say "yes, things are forever changed because of CrossFit and I'm grateful for that but in the end it's up to me to be responsible for the future of my fitness" At this point, in regards to my personal situation, while certain affiliates play a central role sometimes I wonder if CrossFit HQ has very much to do with it at all. Besides, nutrition is where it's really at and they seem to have a problem keeping good people in that department anyhow.
Capitalism at its finest. CF has evolved into a financial “juggernaut,” a portly cash cow out to pasture, clearly evidenced by points Wolf mentioned in his piece. The problem that arises in these situations: complacency. Ignoring the need for change or even slight progression will eventually erode your value in any market. Instead of attempting to identify potential deficiencies, it seems the controlling entity here has decided to arrogantly brand all aspects of their product superior. Any contention, developing philosophy, or differing option is crushed under the weight of HQ. Prolonged operation under this mentality is destructive.
The fitness community is advancing rapidly. I still consider CF at the tip of the creative and progressive spear in this realm. However, the associated success has produced a truly inflated ego and obvious insecurities. To the extent, they’ve initiated infiltrating their own affiliates’ seminars to monitor the information disseminated. This alone should be enough to make you wonder how confident they are in their own teachings.
Very good points to consider. This is not only capitalism at its finest but also despotism at its finest. I agree that we should all be thankful for the prime mover, i.e. Greg Glassman. Unfortunately the fight for making it to the top of such a formidable mountain is now over. It is only natural that the champ get beat by someone who is hungrier. Right now there are some hungry affiliates who are programming better wods than what the main site has to offer. It is these affiliates who are responsible for CF progressing and evolving to the next level, not CFHQ. Their wods have been around for years and lack the extra edge that one might need to get to the games or elsewhere. It's important to remember that the wods are the product, not the building or the people. This is an industry based on results and nothing else. If my needs aren't being met then I'm going somewhere else and this is what so many affiliates have done. Initially, many affiliates followed HQ programming. Now it would be difficult to find such a faithful follower. The summit was one such example of saying thanks for teaching me to walk but now I'm ready to run. Any good teacher would equip his or her students to be better than they are. This is the nature of evolution. Anything less is tyranny. In considering many of the principles (open source etc.) and the political mumbo jumbo that lurks between the lines I can only conclude that hypocracy and insecurity are at the root of these issues. The only consolation is that, barring any surprise visits by hired goons, the community is relatively free to operate with impunity. I think these events will strengthen the community by inspriring a more self-sufficent attitude. Affiliate-based seminars will probably trump anything HQ has to offer. If I were a business-based affiliate I would certainly jump on the summit bandwagon and exploit this from every different angle possible. Affiliates are hungry to take the conventional fitness industry by storm and need to be fed. If CFHQ were to dissolve today I think all of the affiliates would proudly stand on their own two feet. It's a natural process to cut the umbilical, that is, an opportunity to stand on your own two feet and strengthen your identity. This and other events were inevitable. It should be seen as an opportunity to grow. Everyone stands to benefit (except HQ). This community is so tightly connected now that the paultry exposure that affiliates get from the HQ site is hardly worth the 2K or whatever the price is now. The martial arts community has been connected this way for years and they have never had a central database like the affiliate blog. The best that can come of this is that it serve as an example of what not to do (just like all bad leadership). Stay strong and don't be afraid to have a little confidence in your own leadership. Get off the fence Clint. No one will turn you away because you are not an affiliate (at least I hope not; I admire the fact that you are doing it on your own) If you have a good product in a free market you will eventually succeed.
Have you read the thread on the affiliate message board about this whole discussion? If you only look at Rob wolf's site, then you're only getting one side of the story.
Can you send me the link? I've read other accounts of it and there are two sides to the story. Some of what has happened in this community was easily predictable. I think a few mistakes made in the beginning are now coming to fruition and there may be more to come. There are pros and cons to running a loose ship. I think it worked well in the beginning but it couldn't keep up with the growth and now we are seeing the discrepancies. Send me the link if you will and I'll post it.
Mike, Thanks for the vote of confidence and your comments on our site. We will continue to march forward and see where this path takes us. In the end I think the following comments of yours sums up my current position the best... "Unfortunately the fight for making it to the top of such a formidable mountain is now over." A lot has been learned and now, for us anywhay, I think the time has come to follow this advice "... stand on your own two feet and strengthen your identity."
That's interesting to say the least. I thought Dave Castro came off like a complete asshole in "every second counts" and I have never been impressed with him. It's times like this and the whole Gym Jones deal that makes CrossFit look really bad. What's worse is that the negativity and closed mindedness isn't coming from some crazy rogue affiliate who's goal is to manipulate CrossFit and ruin it's image and all that it stands for; it's coming from CrossFit's founder and current leadership.
ReplyDeleteTo me there seems to be a good number of professionally run affiliates out there whose goal is to improve themselves and their members on a daily basis. They are open to change and embrace the chance to learn something new while at the same time backing up what they have seen work. They are interested in self improvement of any kind, not just physical. It's affiliates like this that have played an instrumental role in the successes we have experienced at THE SHOP and I am forever thankful for their existance. That is my idea of what "CrossFit" is.
I have also received priceless information from emails with Rob Shaul of Mountain Athlete and Mark Twight of Gym Jones. My turn down this road may have came a lot later or never happened at all had I not googled "300 workout gym jones" a couple years back. So, depending on how you look at it, I owe a fairly large community of teachers for gettin me started.
Because of this strong and positive community, and it's members attitudes of going out of there way to help, there are many many times that I wish we were an affiliate ourselves. I think it would allow us to be more involved in spreading what we and others believe in, and add to the overall experience. I once asked CR his thoughts on affiliation and the pros and cons. His answer to me was as follows "what we do is because of CrossFit, it will always be synonymous with it, so we might has well BE it"
I agree with this and not only was it true for me and THE SHOP but the more and more I thought about it the more it made sense. There was a level of respect and appreciation to "CrossFit" and by affiliating those two things could be shown. Not to mention the lack "policing" allows one to be creative while taking full advantage of the marketing and tools.
I owe the "CrossFit" community a lot for inspiring me to get up and take responsibility for my own fitness. I am grateful for various sources of motivation that let me to doing and accomplishing things I would have never done before, and I won't forget that.
That being said I don't know how much longer I'll continue to have a desire to be "affiliated" with CrossFit if "HQ" doesn't get it's crap together. I think there comes a point where one has to say "yes, things are forever changed because of CrossFit and I'm grateful for that but in the end it's up to me to be responsible for the future of my fitness" At this point, in regards to my personal situation, while certain affiliates play a central role sometimes I wonder if CrossFit HQ has very much to do with it at all. Besides, nutrition is where it's really at and they seem to have a problem keeping good people in that department anyhow.
Capitalism at its finest. CF has evolved into a financial “juggernaut,” a portly cash cow out to pasture, clearly evidenced by points Wolf mentioned in his piece. The problem that arises in these situations: complacency. Ignoring the need for change or even slight progression will eventually erode your value in any market. Instead of attempting to identify potential deficiencies, it seems the controlling entity here has decided to arrogantly brand all aspects of their product superior. Any contention, developing philosophy, or differing option is crushed under the weight of HQ. Prolonged operation under this mentality is destructive.
ReplyDeleteThe fitness community is advancing rapidly. I still consider CF at the tip of the creative and progressive spear in this realm. However, the associated success has produced a truly inflated ego and obvious insecurities. To the extent, they’ve initiated infiltrating their own affiliates’ seminars to monitor the information disseminated. This alone should be enough to make you wonder how confident they are in their own teachings.
Very good points to consider. This is not only capitalism at its finest but also despotism at its finest. I agree that we should all be thankful for the prime mover, i.e. Greg Glassman. Unfortunately the fight for making it to the top of such a formidable mountain is now over. It is only natural that the champ get beat by someone who is hungrier. Right now there are some hungry affiliates who are programming better wods than what the main site has to offer. It is these affiliates who are responsible for CF progressing and evolving to the next level, not CFHQ. Their wods have been around for years and lack the extra edge that one might need to get to the games or elsewhere. It's important to remember that the wods are the product, not the building or the people. This is an industry based on results and nothing else. If my needs aren't being met then I'm going somewhere else and this is what so many affiliates have done. Initially, many affiliates followed HQ programming. Now it would be difficult to find such a faithful follower. The summit was one such example of saying thanks for teaching me to walk but now I'm ready to run. Any good teacher would equip his or her students to be better than they are. This is the nature of evolution. Anything less is tyranny. In considering many of the principles (open source etc.) and the political mumbo jumbo that lurks between the lines I can only conclude that hypocracy and insecurity are at the root of these issues. The only consolation is that, barring any surprise visits by hired goons, the community is relatively free to operate with impunity. I think these events will strengthen the community by inspriring a more self-sufficent attitude. Affiliate-based seminars will probably trump anything HQ has to offer. If I were a business-based affiliate I would certainly jump on the summit bandwagon and exploit this from every different angle possible. Affiliates are hungry to take the conventional fitness industry by storm and need to be fed. If CFHQ were to dissolve today I think all of the affiliates would proudly stand on their own two feet. It's a natural process to cut the umbilical, that is, an opportunity to stand on your own two feet and strengthen your identity.
ReplyDeleteThis and other events were inevitable. It should be seen as an opportunity to grow. Everyone stands to benefit (except HQ). This community is so tightly connected now that the paultry exposure that affiliates get from the HQ site is hardly worth the 2K or whatever the price is now. The martial arts community has been connected this way for years and they have never had a central database like the affiliate blog. The best that can come of this is that it serve as an example of what not to do (just like all bad leadership). Stay strong and don't be afraid to have a little confidence in your own leadership. Get off the fence Clint. No one will turn you away because you are not an affiliate (at least I hope not; I admire the fact that you are doing it on your own) If you have a good product in a free market you will eventually succeed.
Forgot to mention that your site is looking good!
ReplyDeleteMike
ReplyDeleteHave you read the thread on the affiliate message board about this whole discussion? If you only look at Rob wolf's site, then you're only getting one side of the story.
Can you send me the link? I've read other accounts of it and there are two sides to the story. Some of what has happened in this community was easily predictable. I think a few mistakes made in the beginning are now coming to fruition and there may be more to come. There are pros and cons to running a loose ship. I think it worked well in the beginning but it couldn't keep up with the growth and now we are seeing the discrepancies. Send me the link if you will and I'll post it.
ReplyDeleteMike,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the vote of confidence and your comments on our site. We will continue to march forward and see where this path takes us.
In the end I think the following comments of yours sums up my current position the best...
"Unfortunately the fight for making it to the top of such a formidable mountain is now over."
A lot has been learned and now, for us anywhay, I think the time has come to follow this advice "... stand on your own two feet and strengthen your identity."