Holidays force many CrossFit athletes to leave the comfort of their boxes and face questions about their workouts, eating habits and bloody shins from friends and family who think they’re completely insane.
In the classic ’80s movie Say Anything, John Cusack’s character, Lloyd Dobler, is sitting at the dinner table and trying to explain his commitment to a sport nobody has heard of.
It doesn’t go well.
“What I’ve been doing lately is kickboxing, which is, uh, a new sport, but I think it’s got a good future,” Dobler says.
Each time I try to explain CrossFit to a confused relative, I think of Dobler, who flounders while John Mahoney’s eyes bore into him.
CrossFit is growing by leaps and bounds, and even though it’s appeared on ESPN outlets, CrossFit is still an unknown to many people. More mysterious still can be the eating habits, clothing choices and workouts of CrossFit athletes. Our antics appear strange and cult-like to the uninitiated, which is why we surround ourselves with like-minded people or at least spouses, family and friends who tolerate our obsession. However, life cannot—and should not—be lived inside a CrossFit bubble. Sometimes we have to take our coconut oil and knee socks into the great, wide world.
Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season in the United States, and all over the country, CrossFit athletes are leaving the comfort of their boxes and venturing out into the wide world.
And it doesn't always go well.