CrossFit is all about Community, right? Well not in our City!

DISCLAIMER: The opinions discussed here are my own and do not reflect those with whom I work, nor are they intended to be defaming.

In many crowds, CrossFit is often synonymous with Community. I think that it's fair to say that many CrossFit participants #1 reason for sticking with the effort to "increase work capacity over broad time and modal domains" is the CrossFit Community. In my experience, every time I have traveled to a new gym, I have encountered nothing but positivity and camaraderie - and this is something that I absolutely LOVE about the CrossFit. Now just because CrossFit propagates strong communities doesn't mean that everyone will always get along, which is expected. However, there is a difference between not getting along and creating barriers.

Recently, it was announced that there was going to be a local CrossFit competition hosted by one of the three CrossFit gyms in our city. This competition was advertised as a male/female partner competition with both Rx'd and Scaled divisions. I thought this sounded like a fun way to spend a Saturday with my husband. So I registered us for the event, not realizing the shit-storm that was about to ensue.

Not long after registering, the event organizer contacted me to inquire about my registration. Specifically, they wanted to know who my partner was and why we were registered in the Scaled division. So I responded and advised that there were certain movements, specifically heavy, high-rep deadlifts and muscle ups, which I absolutely knew that I could not achieve. In the interest of (a) completing the workouts and (b) protecting myself from injury, there Scaled division was the clear choice for me.

Now I could go on to explain why I am not an Rx'd athlete, but realistically, I shouldn't have to explain myself to anyone - but for the record, here it is:

I am not a CrossFitter. I have been exclusively training for Olympic lifting for the majority of this year. As a result, my lower body has become larger, stronger and heavier - which is great for lifting, but not so great for the gymnastics movements found in CrossFit.  In addition, a number of years ago I sustained a back injury while preforming high rep heavy deadliest at a CrossFit gym. My back has never and will never be the same. 

For example, here is a list of Rx'd exercises that I can't do:

- Chest to bar pull ups

- Handstand push ups

- Ring dips

- Muscle ups

- Pistols

- Knees to elbows

- Toes to bar

- Heavy loads for high reps

- Heavy deadifts

Now some of these movements I can get occasionally like a single HSPU (kipping) but I certainly can't string them together to finish a WOD. I can however, rock heavy singles on squats, cleans and snatches, because THAT is what I train for. Also, these movements require me to maintain an active lumbar spine and therefore, my back injury is not aggravated (when preformed in a controlled manner).

A few weeks went by and I heard nothing more from the event organizer, until I received the following email message:

“I have given this a lot of thought,

There is one workout that has the movements you are wanting to avoid by being in the scaled division. The wod is structured in a way that it will be very difficult to even make it to the movements that you can’t do. The other workouts are all ones you can manage.

I suggest that you participate in the Rx’d division where you belong. It is unfair to have you in the scaled division alongside men and women in their 50’s and 60’s, and beginners, don’t you think?”

So I did give this some thought. I talked it over with my partner and my coach, and we still came to the same conclusion, that because I am unable to perform everything Rx'd and because I have a chronic back injury, the Scaled division is the appropriate place for us. Not to mention that my husband, who is employed in a career which requires that he be physically fit, also wanted to compete in the Scale division to avoid heavy loads. It is important that he avoids injury as to not be sidelined from his career. We responded a second time and advised, that although we can appreciate the concern, we want to remain in the Scaled division.

To be honest, that was a lie because I CAN'T appreciate the concern. I have participated in a number of CrossFit competitions and I have always been a Scaled competitor. In those competitions, the Scaled division has been fiercely competitive and the majority of participants are people like me (not 50 & 60 year olds). I have never placed better than top 20 in CrossFit, so I am clearly not a threat to knocking any deserving person off the podium.

Five days before the competition, we received a message explaining the details, such as what time to show up, what to expect at registration, etc. The very last statement in this message was the following:

“In the interest of fairness _______ (name removed to protect the identity of the parties involved) reserves the right to move you into the division we feel best suits you and is fair to everyone else.”

Clearly, this statement was referencing myself and my partner.  It seemed to us that regardless of what we had signed up for, that this person felt that they were qualified to make decisions about our athletic capacity for us - when in fact, they have no qualifications to do so. All the fun I had been hoping to have, the idea of participating in a partner competition with my husband, had been crushed.

So I responded to the event organizer and asked that we be removed from the competitive roster. I said that I strongly believe that when you offer a service for which money is exchanged, that service should be provided and the customer should be able to choose what service they are willing to pay for. We registered for the Scaled division because that's the service which we were willing to pay for. We should not have to justify our choice to anyone. The only reason why this has become such an issue is because we have a past history of acquaintance with this person.

I also pointed out that legally, you are unable to claim that "______ reserves the right to move you into the division we feel best suits you", especially after registration has closed. Primarily, this statement was not advertised or communicated to the participants during the registration period. Therefore, participants were unable to decide if they were willing to accept this term before committing and investing financially. Secondly, you cannot force people to participate in a division they do not feel comfortable in, especially when competitions require the participants to sign liability-release waivers. And thirdly, unless you personally coach the participants in question, it seems unlikely that you are qualified to judge the athletic capacity of people whom you do not train.

As I see it, CrossFit is about community and inclusiveness. All of this posturing regarding this upcoming local (meaningless) competition does not make us feel included in the local CrossFit community. We were looking forward to having a fun day of jovial competition among our peers from the Tri-Cities area. We did not register to win, we did not even register to be competitive, we simply registered to have a day of athletic fun in a partner setting. So what I have come to learn is, not all CrossFit gyms are about community, there are a small few that prefer dictatorship.