Introduction
“The end of history will be a very sad time…” (1)
I have been thinking about writing on this topic for some time now. In fact, the idea sprung to me as we were recording a series for our podcast last year. The series was about the foundational articles of CrossFit, each written by Greg Glassman. In these articles, Glassman explains what CrossFit is, what he believes Fitness is and how to achieve it.
Of all the things we discussed in those episodes, the topic that continued to reverberate in me was that of a stalled evolution. Arrested development. This idea came up on several occasions.
Since the initial development of CrossFit and its subsequent rapid growth, what upgrades have been made to the CrossFit method? Since those foundational articles written by Greg Glassman in the early 2000’s what has changed? Or more specifically, how have these ideas incorporated new information? Information and knowledge that is now known and available as compared to the early 2000’s. Has any of this information been used to update the ideas? For instance, the importance of the “Neuroendocrine Response” in terms of the adaption process to training. Have those sections been revised?
The fundamental question for me is… does anyone inside CrossFit HQ have the ability to move the ball forward with regards to ideas and philosophy? In all honesty, this isn’t a rhetorical question. I am serious. Because, I have no idea what goes on at CrossFit HQ. What I do know is I don’t see many ideas coming from them. At least not ones that answer any of the important questions with regard to “What is Fitness” and How to Improve It.
Since Greg Glassman left the company many years ago, there has not been much progress made in this regard. I certainly may be mistaken, but from conversations and study, I don’t believe I am. Sure things have changed with affiliates, with the CrossFit Games, with <fill in the blank>, but have any of the major pillars of CrossFit been improved? With the issue of stagnation, this problem seems most concerning within the head of the organization itself. Not at the affiliate or at the Coaching level. I personally know many Coaches and Affiliates that are anything but content with the knowledge presented in those articles by Glassman from 20 years ago or from the Level 1 Handbook. They are trying to make leaps. Is CrossFit trying to do that?
The End of Fitness
If anyone reading this article is interested in political philosophy, they will know where I got the title for my article from. The title is a play on a very famous article by Francis Fukuyama, titled The End of History? (1). “What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the endpoint of mankind’s ideological evolution, and the universalization of western liberal democracy as the final form of human government… the victory of liberalism has occurred, primarily in the realm of ideas or consciousness, and is as yet incomplete in the real or material world” (1).
In this article, Fukuyama describes his idea that history has ended. Written in 1989, he is discussing current world events, and he sees the major countries at large settling into the same governing and economic structures. Meaning, the idea of liberal democracy and free market economics had won the day. The fascist regimes in Germany and Italy had lost. And, as of the writing of his article, all signs were pointing to the end of the USSR, spelling defeat for communism. He viewed communism and fascism as competitive ideologies to liberalism. Over the course of time, liberalism had won and would continue to win. To him, the ideas were better, and therefore all major countries would end up at this state of affairs. Which he termed “the end of history”.
At the time of his article, and as he predicted in the years after, not all countries on earth would be liberal democracies operating with free market economics. His argument was that most all countries would be heading in that direction in one way or another. Again, history had ended, so it was just a matter of time until all other nations, regardless of their current status, made their inevitable ideological progression towards this end state.
The question you should be asking is what the hell does this have to do with CrossFit? Fair question. To me, I feel a similar thing has happened in the fitness industry, and specifically in the CrossFit ecosystem. Here are 2 main ideas offered by Greg Glassman that were so profound, they ended up changing most of the gyms you will ever walk into to in one way or another:
1 – Fitness can be defined as work capacity across broad time and modal demands.
2 – Fitness is best achieved by constantly varied, functional movements, executed at high intensity.
I’m not gonna spend any time dwelling on these statements, or trying to nitpick them. Suffice to say, to me these two observations were extremely profound at the time of their appearance. Hyrox exists because those two statements are correct. The World Fitness Project exists because those two statements are correct. The International Functional Fitness Federation exists because those two statements are correct. Rogue Fitness exists because those two statements are correct. And on and on and on.
“Understanding the underlying processes of history requires understanding developments in the realm of consciousness or ideas, since consciousness will ultimately remake the material world in its own image” (1). A simple example of the success of the ideas proposed by CrossFit is evidenced in the material changes seen in non-CrossFit gyms.
CrossFit won the battle of ideas so handedly. To them, all other options or competitors are seen as lesser than. Ideas and methods such as bodybuilding, Pilates, Orange Theory, F45, Hyrox, etc. are all incomplete in their practice. CrossFit is the winner of the historical battle of fitness ideas. To CrossFit, fitness had reached the end of its ideological evolution.
To them, “work capacity, across broad time and modal domains” is now the universally accepted definition of Fitness and constantly varied, functional movements, executed at high intensity“ is the university accepted method for achieving it.
“Even the former socialist regime in Burma, which for so many decades existed in dismal isolation from the larger trends dominating Asia, was buffeted in the past year by pressures to liberalize both its economy and political system. It is said that unhappiness with strongman Ne Win began when a senior Burmese officer went to Singapore for medical treatment and broke down crying when he saw how far socialist Burma had been left behind by its ASEAN (association of South East Asian Nations) neighbours” (1).
To relate this back to fitness, imagine you had a time machine where you could teleport the supposed fittest man or fittest woman on earth from the year 2000 to the year 2025 and have them compete at the CrossFit Games. Or stated another way, imagine how less fit the fittest person in the world would be in the year 2025 if CrossFit never existed. Much like that senior Burmese officer weeping at the sight of his country’s lack of progress, that person teleported into the 2025 CrossFit Games might weep as well.
So what? CrossFit HQ thinks they do have the right ideas, and that we are at the end of fitness. Glassman’s ideas achieved this. What’s the problem? I will try to explain from my own perspective.
I have told this story many times on different platforms, but I will tell the shortened version of it here. I was introduced to CrossFit by my brother, James FitzGerald. This was probably back in 2005 while I was attending university at St. Francis Xavier in Nova Scotia, Canada. Suffice to say, I became obsessed with CrossFit. I would read every CrossFit Journal article I could and would watch every video they released. I would try to do various CrossFit workouts in the ill-equipped gyms at the University. I annoyed people so much in the main gym that they allowed me to use the varsity training facility (which was only to get rid of me because I was not a varsity athlete). The first time I ever got rhabdo or something close to that was in that dingy basement gym. Good times.
I was likely the only person on the entire campus of a few thousand students engaging in CrossFit workouts. If I wasn’t the only one, there was maybe a handful more. I would incessantly explain and discuss these ideas and methods with all of my friends and professors. When possible, I would include them in projects and presentations during my classes. I would even include the idea of functional movements into my Honours thesis.
Fast forward a few years and I was doing the same thing to a group of friends in Calgary, Alberta, at a gym called Edgemont World Health Club (rest in peace). This was May 2008, when I had my first real training job. I was splitting my time between OPT and this Globo gym. I wasn’t making any money really, but I was certainly in love with what I was doing. When I first entered Edgemont World Heath Club, it probably looked and felt the same as it had for quite some time. If you went to the gym a couple years later many people (Coaches included) in the facility were either extremely experienced with CrossFit, were including that type of training into their programs, or we’re heading that direction in one way or another. The hive mind was shifting, and in time the equipment would change to accommodate their collective ideological shift. Kind of like Fukuyama mentioned. Moving that direction was inevitable. The magnitude is kind of a relevant, but the direction is what matters.
Those early days had a lot of energy. CrossFit itself felt extremely energetic. It felt like I was part of a fitness revolution. It felt like that because it was a revolution.
Over the course a few short years, I watched my brothers coaching practice change dramatically. I first visited him in Calgary in 2002. I then lived with him and his family in Calgary for a few months in 2006. I finally moved to there in 2008. Over the course of 6 years, the full revolution and taken hold at OPT. As he changed, so did I. You could never say the same thing about the years 2020 to 2025. Has anything at all changed in CrossFit or has CrossFit caused anything to change (beyond tinkering)? Or how about from 2015 to 2025? This is what I mean by the end of fitness. It doesn’t mean that fitness is ending, it means that progress is ending.
Fast forward a few decades and now things are stale. I don’t mean lack of business growth. I mean a lack of intellectual growth. Complacency and lack of inspiration are common. Before, the revolutionary spirit was igniting us because we were truly doing something new, we felt like trailblazers. Now that we “have all the answers” we no longer need all this energy for exploration. We need to now just follow the recipe.
The point is not to engage in constructive debate and criticism anymore in order to refine our system…the point is to understand we have reached the zenith of the Fitness evolution and it is now all about maintaince. John Stuart Mill’s famous quote, “he who knows only his own side of the argument, knows little at that” falls flat. They (CrossFit) don’t seem to want to know the other sides point of view. This is the end of Fitness.
The Last Man
The article “The End of History” by Francis Fukuyama, is indeed a landmark work. Yet, it pales in comparison to how influential his subsequent book titled “The End of History and The Last Man” was. Added to the title is “the last man”. He gives an introduction to this concept at the end of the article I have cited here.
He writes, “the end of history will be a very sad time. The struggle for recognition, the willingness to risk one’s life for a purely abstract goal, the worldwide ideological struggle that called forth daring, courage, imagination, and idealism, will be replaced by economic calculation, the endless solving of technical problems, environmental concerns, and the satisfaction of sophisticated consumer demands. In the post historical era there will be neither art nor philosophy, just the perpetual caretaking of the museum of human history” (1). When dominion is achieved, the energy and drive that was previously necessary begins to dissipate. Success can create comfort, lack of drive, waning inspiration.
“The Last Man” is actually a character developed by Friedrich Nietzsche. He outlines what he means quite elegantly in his influential 1883 philosophical work, Thus Spake Zarathustra. The character in the book, Zarathustra, is trying to guide humanity to new heights, something he refers to as the Superman. The one who achieves, the one who is driven, the one who is never satisfied, the one who aspires. To help the crowds understand this message, Zarathustra contrasts this vision of the Superman with the opposite, the last man.
“It is time for man to fix his goal. It is time for man to plant the germ of his highest hope.
Still is his soil rich enough for it. But that soil will one day be poor and exhausted, and no lofty tree will any longer be able to grow there on.
Alas! There cometh the time when man will no longer launch the arrow of his longing beyond man – and the string of his bow will have unlearned to whiz!
I tell you: one must still have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star. I tell you: ye still have chaos in you.
Alas! There cometh the time when man will no longer give birth to any star.
Alas! There cometh the time of the most despicable man, who can no longer despise himself.
Lo! I show you the last man” (2).
Does CrossFit still have any chaos in it?
In the before times, there was a wide array of options for understanding what fitness is. Now that things seem to have coalesced under the banner of CrossFit, searching can seem pointless. Yet, for many, the yearning for knowledge has not ceased. To seek, to build, to grow.
As comforting and reassuring as it may be to base our main assumptions on the frameworks provided by Greg Glassman, I can assure you that they not perfect. If you believe they are perfect, then it will be unlikely you will be able to observe their imperfections. All human creations are imperfect by their very nature. It is upon us to inspect them, to interrogate them, trying to improve upon them. If you are in the camp of wanting to honour all that Greg Glassman has accomplished, it is your duty to do this work.
That doesn’t mean to make things more complex. Things only need to be as complex as are necessary. But, there must be a desire for evolution.
What might this imply?
The last coach simply recycles methodologies and philosophies, without daring to question their underlying assumptions. They implement what they are told, not daring to think outside the box. They prefer the comfort of the 4 walls to the chaos present in the wild.
The last man doesn’t dream, only remembers. Doesn’t aspire, only repeats. Doesn’t concern themselves with contradictions or inefficiencies, only focusses on maintaining the status quo.
It appears to me CrossFit HQ has been frozen in time. Again, from their perspective, history seems to have ended. However, everyone outside their castle understands this is indeed not the case.
The spirit of exploration must continue. Otherwise, the initial goal of redefining fitness which catapulted CrossFit into the mainstream will be replaced by something much less virtuous. Just the perpetual caretaking of the museum of human fitness.
–Michael
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