Cross Fit Ripple_Effect

7/29/2019 Cross Fit Ripple_Effect

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THE

JOURNAL

CROSSFIT INC. HAS REVOLUTIONIZED THE BUSINESS OF FITNESS, AND

NOW HOSTS OF OTHERS ARE RIDING THE WAVE. CHRIS COOPER REPORTS.

BY CHRIS COOPER

THE RIPPLEEFFECT

1 CROSSFIT JOURNAL SEPTEM


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GREG GLASSMANINTRODUCED A NEW WAY TO

MEASURE FITNESS OBJECTIVELY.

WHEN YOUR FRAN TIME DROPS

OR YOUR FRONT SQUAT GOES UP,

YOURE GETTING FITTER.

Harder to measure is the effect that Glassmans ideas

have had on the broader tness community since helaunched CrossFit.com in 2001. CrossFit has changed the

landscape: powerlifters who have never heard of or done

Murph can buy better barbells cheaper than they couldhave 10 years ago, USA Weightliftings membership hastripled, and grandma has learned to deadlift. Hundreds of

thousands have been introduced to kettlebells, snatches

and Tabata intervals thanks to CrossFit.com programming.

CrossFits open-source business model has produced

success in a manner similar to its workouts. Even as the

global economy continues to struggle in the aftermath ofthe worst nancial crisis since the Great Depression, thenumber of CrossFit gyms has swelled, growing to morethan 7,000 from 1,500 just three years ago. But the rippleeffectthe jobs, innovation, technology, small businessesand hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue not generated

directly by CrossFit Inc.is much tougher to tally than reps.

NO WAY TO RUN A BUSINESSTrying to make money is no way to run a business,Glassman told the audience at the State Policy Network20th Annual Meeting in Florida in November 2012.

Money is essential to run a business, but its not why yourun a business; its not what makes a business grow. Busi-

nesses grow on dreams.

Glassman estimates that the total CrossFit economic

ecosystem is worth close to a billion dollars. That numberincludes the total nancial take of all the trainers at all theafliate gyms around the world.

And our chunk of this is about 24 degrees of 360, or about

$50 million, he continued, and that small percentagekept by CrossFit Inc. will only grow smaller as the CrossFitcommunity grows.

This slice of the pie thats within our control is narrowing,

and by design, because the circle is growing, Glassmansaid. We call this the least-rents model.

How is the pie expanding? Through independent compa-

nies that bolster the value of the CrossFit brand but dont

directly bolster CrossFit Inc.s bottom line.

Equipment manufacturers and suppliers, such as Rogue

and Again Faster; software developers who help athletes

monitor their progress; business mentors who help gymowners overcome initial hurdles; and sponsorship partners,such as Reebok, all benet by helping CrossFit athletes.

Im not trying to make money; Im trying to grow a commu-nity, Glassman said. I understand now that what werechasing is value. I have a real problem with any businessactivity that isnt about value creation.

Staff/CrossFitJournal

IM NOT TRYING TO MAKEMONEY; IM TRYING TO GROW

A COMMUNITY.GREG GLASSMAN

Glassman is thrilled companies like Rogue (above) are proting from CrossFit's growth.



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ROGUEThough each CrossFit athlete begins his or her journey byidentifying and correcting decits within, many soon lookoutward and nd themselves building new gyms, seekingmore knowledge, buying better equipment and ndingnew ways to track their own progress both as athletes andentrepreneurs.

Bill Henniger knows an opportunity when he sees one, andhe saw one in 2006.

He took his Level 1 Certicate Course in Santa Cruz,Calif., that year. It was one of the last three-day seminarsat Glassmans original CrossFit gym. By the end of theweekend, he knew what he had to do.

I couldnt decide where to open an afliate, so I boughttwo: one for CrossFit Toledo, which was my garage, andone for CrossFit Columbus, Henniger said.

I was buying equipment for my garage and realized thatthe niche was disconnected; CrossFit athletes were buyingfrom different places all around the countr y, he said. The

equipment wasnt perfect, but it kinda worked. When I

launched my gym in Columbus, I put an e-commerce storeon the website.

At rst, we were just drop-shipping everything. Butsome of the vendors werent good at fullling orders,so wed warehouse some items. I had a manufacturing

background, and when I met Ian McLean we decided

to try making the metal rings, Henniger said. Theyworked.

Working for General Motors Co., travelling once a month

to Michigan to complete his MBA, opening a new gym inColumbus, and coaching free workouts in a park: this was

Bill Hennigers life in early 2007.

Then he started manufacturing.

In 2008, Rogue went to the CrossFit Games at the Ranch

in Aromas, Calif., as a vendor. The company also spon-sored Caity Matternow Bills spouseand two otherathletes for the competition.

We took some shoes, our new rings and some jump ropes,he said. CrossFit bought some bars from us, and Caitywon the Games.

It was a good trip for Rogue.

In 2009, I asked Jimi (Letchford) and Dave (Castro) if

we could be the ofcial Games supplier, and they agreed,says Henniger. Weve provided every single piece ofequipment since.

Beginning in Hennigers garage, Rogue grew from one

employee to three in 2007. During 2009, that numberrose to 15, then surged to 40 when the company got more

involved in manufacturing in 2010.Rogue now employs 220 people in three facilities inColumbus, Ohio. Ten more Rogue employees work betweenEurope and Canada. Close to the epicenter of CrossFit in

spirit, if not location, Rogue shipped nearly 80,000 lb. ofproduct to 17 different Regional venues this year. And thatkind of demand creates a ripple of its own, says Henniger.

I

"Look at the brands we touchlike Hi-Temp,

RopesAsRx, Dynamax it goes way out thereHi-Temp has 50 or 60 guys making bumpers. 10 guys in Logan, Ohio, sewing straps for our making sandbags. The company that makes our boxes employs another 10 to 15, he says.

The landlords in Columbus, the restaurants in

they know Rogue. I cant fathom how many owere creating, but in the auto industry its estimevery autoworker creates seven other jobs, anthats pretty accurate for us, too, Henniger sahave 200 people, were building jobs for 1,40

the guys making the steel, driving it around, paWe have a company that employs six people jusRogue stickers.

CourtesyofRogue

CourtesyofRogue

BEGINNING IN HENNIGER'SGARAGE, ROGUE GREW

FROM ONE EMPLOYEE TOTHREE IN 2007. ROGUE

NOW EMPLOYS 220 PEOPLEIN THREE FACILITIES.

Rogue had an auspicious start.

Its rst sponsored athlete,

Caity Matter, won the Games

in 2008 (top right).



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GRASSROOTS GROWTHIn 2005, a bank teller in Boston read an article in Men

that described Murph, one of the earliest CrossFit H

outs. Thinking that no workout could be all that toughCrossFit Boston online. Though he couldnt afford the

planned to take the proffered free class, learn all he

take that knowledge back to Golds Gym, where he wo

The bank tellers name was Jon Gilson, and that rCrossFit Boston planted the seed for Again Faster

multinational tness-equipment supplier that generatmillions in annual revenue.

Like Rogue, CrossFit Inc. doesnt own or operate Ag

Gilson launched the company to meet the equipmenthe growing CrossFit community.

After completing his Level 1 Seminar in 2006, Gilso

training clients Sundays in a Boston park.

We had to invent our rst productthe Again Fastepull-up barbecause we had 15 people out ther

couldnt do pull-ups, he explains.

I called Lynne Pittswho was moderating the fCrossFit.com at the timeand said, I think other peo

need this. She said, Sure, were all good capitalists. S

about the pull-up bar, Gilson remembers. I was sellin$100, and they had $60 in parts and took four hours of w

Within months of taking his Level 1, Gilson was a mem

Level 1 Seminar Staff. Hed also taken over as genera

of CrossFit Boston, he was working full time at the ban

had begun producing CrossFit-related videos with his

Pat Cummings. Gilson was also writing a popular b

CrossFit and building pull-up bars at night.

Id found my purpose in life. All I wanted since takiwas to be part of CrossFit, Gilson says. The dream at that point.

Gilson was suddenly on the CrossFit fast track but stilfoot in the banking world until a phone call in mid-20

Fitness gear-maker PowerMax Equipment was in Bos

up an indoor track-and-eld event. They needed help utruck, and when they were unable to locate the owner

Boston for a hand, they called Gilson.They offered to give me a kettlebell and a barbell fo

Gilson says. I said, I dont want any of that; just mdealer. They did.

Within that same month, PowerMax signed up two oth

Eddie Lugo at GarageGym was one. The other was Ro

ID FOUND MY PURPOSE INLIFE. ALL I WANTED SINCETAKING MY L1 WAS TO BE

PART OF CROSSFIT.JON GILSON

Again Faster has moved beyond Gilson

assembling pull-up bars by himself; it now

distributes equipment in six continents.

CourtesyofAgain

Faster



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SUPPLYING THE SUPPLIERSConcept2 isnt a new rowing company, but it found newdirection through CrossFit.

Its the greatest, most fun community to work with, saysGreg Hammond of Concept2. The excitement that the

CrossFitters have for the rowers is much different than

what the on-the-water-rowers have for it.

In 1981, Peter and Dick Driessigacker were both training

for the Olympics as rowers. They had been making

composite oars since 1975 and were now looking for away to continue their own training during the winter. Theybolted an old bike to the oor, put a sliding seat on a frameand added plastic cards to the front wheel for drag. This

was the Concept2 Model A rower, or ergometer.

The employees would show up at their barn in the morningand feed the cows, stoke the re, and then go upstairs

and make oars, Hammond says. They couldnt give theModel A machine away, but some of the guys started usingthem at lunchtime.

Twenty years later, Concept2 met CrossFit.

One of our reps, Tracy, was at a trade show, and GregGlassman came up out of the blue, Hammond recalls.

He said, You dont know me, but Im sure youll hear fromme.

Soon after, Glassman did call. He needed someone toprovide rowing instruction for aspiring Navy SEALs duringtheir Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, or

BUD/S School.

I was in the Air Guard for eight years, and I jumped up andsaid, Ill go! Hammond says.

That was 2006. When he arrived to teach, Hammond was

invited to try his rst CrossFit workout.

I got wrecked, just wrecked. I came home and went straight

to CrossFit.com and started doing it. I got my friends to doit, Hammond remembers. Vermont eventually got its rstafliate, and I still drive 45 minutes each way twice perweek to train there. We have Rogue and Again Faster bars

at Concept2 headquarters now.

Concept2 is the worlds largest indoor-erg company, and it

sells the most popular rowing oar in the world. Of its 50employees, 30 do CrossFit.

Its changed Concept2, Hammond says. One of thefounders wives said that the companys never been soclose as it has become since we started working out

together.

Courtesyo

fAgain

Faster

CourtesyofConcept2

WE HAVE ROGUE AND AGAINFASTER BARS AT CONCEPT2

HEADQUARTERS NOW.GREG HAMMOND

CourtesyofConcept2

Concept2: from humble b

CrossFit Games.

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CROSSFITS ONLINE PRESENCEThough CrossFit.com has been online for little more than adecade, dozens of other website providers, app developers,programmers, statisticians, graphic artists and other onlineprofessionals depend on CrossFit for their livelihood.

CrossFit Kinnick was an early afliate, and its famousfor spawning multi-year Games athlete Jeremy Kinnickand BeyondTheWhiteboard.com. The latter is an onlinelogbook for tracking workouts.

We launched a beta version in 2007, says Moe Naqvi,BeyondTheWhiteboard.coms co-founder. We were alljust working out in Kinnicks garage. We thought, It would

be cool to track these workouts' and posted on the CrossFit

Message Board that we had this website. We didnt want

to spam anybody. To date thats been all of our marketing.And weve grown every month since.

In its rst year, BeyondTheWhiteboard.com had a millionworkout results posted. They expect to soon hit a pace ofone million workouts posted every three months.

People are working out more. Every time I talk to Coach(Glassman), I tell him we grow with CrossFit. Every timeCrossFit adds 10 afliates, were going to get one or two,Naqvi says.

EVERY TIME I TALK TO COACH(GLASSMAN), I TELL HIM WE

GROW WITH CROSSFIT.MOE NAQVI

Staff/CrossFitJ

ournal

Staff/CrossFitJournal

Walk around vendor village at

Regional competitions or the

CrossFit Games and you'll

see rows of businesses that

exist because of CrossFit.

11 CROSSFIT JOURNAL SEPTEMB


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Naqvi believes the companys growth follows the modelsof value and excellence espoused by Glassman.

We link to CrossFit Journal articles. We link to (seminar)

pageswe make it easy for people to learn more, Naqvisays. Why? Because if you know more about CrossFit, oursite becomes better for you. The more you know, the moreyoull CrossFit, and the more youll respect what wevedone here.

CHASING THE RIPPLELike Rogue, Again Faster grew quickly from providing asmall selection of products. It became a multimillion-dollar

business in 2010, tripled in size in 2011, and increased70 percent again in 2012, according to Gilson.

What was me screwing together pull-up bars by myselfbecame a global company. Were distributing on six conti -nents, and its all because of Gregs pursuit-of-excellence

idea, Gilson says.

In 2013, Gilson went to the CrossFit Games Africa Regional

event in South Africa.

There are 17 afliates in the whole country, Gilsonexplains. It doesnt make sense to go there as a business

move, but it makes a hell of a lot of sense to go there inthe pursuit of excellence.

Gilson does notice those on the fringe: business-minded

folks who recognize the potential to prot.

Were seeing the formation of business thats here because

of the ripple and not the rock thrown, he says. Theyrehere for the money. Thats not why Im here. Take it all

away, and Im going to get up tomorrow and do hand-stand push-ups because I wouldnt know what else to do.Id challenge the consumer to put their money in placesthat feed back into this movement. What the fuck are youdoing with your money?

Rogues Henniger says the CrossFit community takes careof its own.

Thats the way things go: if youre shing and catchinga lot of sh, people start standing next to you, Hennigersays. When you see companies that are value-added,thats great. Rob Orlando came up with the Hybrid stonemolds, which has a nichesomething cool we didnt

think of ourselves. We put in a large order so he could get

started. We do a lot with Louie Simmons; we make it theway he wants it. We work with Oly coaches, too.

He adds: CrossFit is really good at snifng out peoplewho are just in it for the money. If youre genuine, youresupported. If youre just trying to extract money from thecommunity, youre found out quickly. I havent seen thosecompanies thrive.

BeyondTheWhiteBoard.coms Naqvi takes his lead fromthe community and Glassmans principles as well.

Every gym is a research-and-development place, he says.People work stuff out, and it works its way up. If you stopthat independence, you stop that evolution.

He continues: Thats why Coach is against giving bestpractices to afliates. When he says it, they do it, andCrossFit will stop evolving. To push CrossFit forward, he

cant sell equipment, because then youll stop seeing

equipment evolve.

THE REAL RIPPLEIll tell you what the real ripple effect of CrossFit is: itchanges peoples bodies rst, and then their minds, Gilson

says. They can harness that change into the kthat if I try harder, the world will reward me. Iexcellence and virtuosity, the sky is the limit.

Its self-propagating. If you were going to pathogen, a virus, you couldnt do any betterlanguagethey dont matter. I can communCarlos in Guatemala because we have the sam

what Gregs created. Simultaneously, hes layeof it an economic system that is incredibly egali

Ive made a gorgeous living that supportsemployees and their families, and its because thopen-source economic system layered on top oftive tness program that transcends language. Asay, Me, too, Gilson argues.

As CrossFits percentage of the growing global C

lated economic pie decreases, its core values be

more transparent.

It shows that CrossFits more about helping oth

make moneyand growing the communitythamoney for itself, says Naqvi.

By focusing on its core values and allowing othperiphery to leverage their own expertise in neand protable ways, CrossFit presents a powerftent brand and message that have made the cbig sh in the tness pond. As the ripple effect pboundaries outward, hundreds now seek their providers to the CrossFit brand and its athletes.

ABOUT THE AUTHORChris Cooper is a writer for CrossFit. He own

Catalyst in Sault Sainte Marie, Ont.

CROSSFIT IS REALLY GOODAT SNIFFING OUT PEOPLE

WHO ARE JUST IN IT FOR THEMONEY. IF YOURE GENUINE,

YOURE SUPPORTED.BILL HENNIGER

AS CROSSFITS PERCENTAGESHARE OF THE GROWING

GLOBAL CROSSFIT-RELATEDECONOMIC PIE DECREASES,ITS CORE VALUES BECOME

EVER MORE TRANSPARENT.

CourtesyofAga

in

Faster

Like successful afliates, the best CrossFit-related

businesses value hard work and community above prot.

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