Rant: June 2008 Archives
From the CrossFit message board 6-22-08:
Great response from Coach to a message board comment. Original comment is first:
Lee #128- youre (sic) right on- except that alot (sic) of this success is due to great marketing as well as efficacy - and those strategies could be replicated if anyone cared to- and someone will. You downplay the importance of marketing - but remember the biggest criticism of crossfit (sic) by people who are presumably jealous of its success is that none of this is particularly new- a few elements- but its basically sourcing the extant knowledge with a few twists and the rest is in presentation.
Im (sic) just saying that marketing has a bigger role in this than youll (sic) allow. Ever heard of Ross training? Well- he isnt (sic) great at marketing-maybe thats why.
The acid test will be when a major competitor comes to the table with a new twist on the presentation- they can easily adopt the principles without acknowledging much.
Basically, aside from the name- none of this technique is propritary (sic) - and eventually youll (sic) see more, rather than less of the people like the guy in SA - who only said that he used techniques based on Crossfit (sic) - he was riding on name recognition- but someone at some point will come out with something very similar under a different name and with a new angle-then the competition with Crossfit (sic) will begin. And that isnt necesarily a bad thing- for Crossfit (sic) or the consumer- its just the way of the market. The way I see it; Crossfit (sic) hasnt (sic) reached its tipping point- but it will and trademarked names or not- there will be meaningful competition within five years.
Globo gyms capture market share by being amentiy (sic) rich- their appeal is with day care and spa services and laundry valets- the smaller globo models will figure out that to compete they will either have to ramp up facilities or jump on the old skool bandwagon. Thats (sic) when youll (sic) see new names come out and see this model imitated more widely. They may be starting a grassroots fitness revolution- but market share is the principle behind thousands of affiliates under one name- thats (sic) the best way to keep your version of a great idea on top-its working for you isnt (sic) it?
Remember how AOL won the case against the phone companies- the ubiquity of the dial tone.
The best thing for Crossfit (sic) is to have the word turned into a verb- and surprise surprise- at my certs I dont (sic) hear the word exercise - I heard the word- "crossfitting"
Smart move.
Notice the reaction to the guy in SA- all he said was that he imitated Crossfit- he stated that he wasnt affiliated.
one day Crossfit (sic) will be so big and the competition will be sophisticated enough to the point that that very assertion would be more helpful rather than a threat.
All businesses mature- Crossfit (sic) is not only borrowing from many fitness traditions- they are utilising (sic) marketing principles well known in the entertainment industry for years now- and youll (sic) note that they offer media seminars and affiliate seminars as well now- so Im sure they are aware that growth phases only last for so long. . For my money- it works and like you and most others- thats (sic) all I need to know- I dont (sic) have a dog in this fight.
Comment #240 - Posted by: james at June 21, 2008 3:28 PM
James,
The problem with Ross Training (which is great training) is that Ross hung out on our msg board for a couple of years before launching his program and was at first every bit as much a newbie as anyone has ever been. This is the same problem Mark Twight has compounded with his illegal copyright theft and unethical plagiarism.
Ross is guilty of nothing. He's reinvented the wheel while this community watched. He's reaching people we might not have, and it doesn't take much exposure to find your way back to the source. (Derivative is praiseworthy ONLY when accompanied by improvement. Improvement will be recognized by data. Those are the world's rules.)
The line of reasoning that "the elements of CrossFit were well known and that therefor the program is not original" is factually and logically untenable. Beethoven invented nothing - the notes were each known to all. Shakespeare did nothing original in Hamlet - the words were common place. Andrew Wyeth bought his tempera from readily available sources - colors we've all seen before, so no original works there. Wofgang Puck is no chef - he's using ingredients I can find in my local grocery store. Absurd utterances each, stupid to repeat, and dangerous if believed.
CrossFit is as original as any novel, poem, musical score, recipe OR software (always ones and zeros, therefor never original). The argument you describe is, Sir, stupid, indefensible, and shocking. I don't fault you for it, however. You didn't think it through.
This argument/observation, used sadly by our dear friend Phil Mancini last week, is so weak that when it was offered by one of the Queen's JAG's in Canada during meetings to formally decide whether Canadian Forces needed to attribute/compensate CrossFit for their use of our program, immediately on hearing this week line of argument, the majority quickly decided that this, CrossFit, was IP and that attribution, compensation, and licensing was morally, ethically, and legally required. Good, good, people Canadians. Neither stupid nor dishonest. Great combination of attributes.
And, as for your comment about this, CrossFit, being "extant knowledge", on this point you're 100% wrong.
We've weathered attacks against every single facet of this concept from academia, commercial fitness, athletic training, and Internet turds with no athletic training or experience beyond Internet posting (DD, IronGarm, T-Nation). Truth is CrossFit is "Bizarro World" different from what is going on at every university sports program (except the ones we've infected), commercial gyms (except for the ones we've infected), and among exercise physiologists (except for the ones we've infected).
Our problem, your problem, James, is that you came in during the third stage of Arthur Schopenhauer's dictum that "every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized. In the first it is ridiculed; in the second it is opposed; in the third it is regarded as self-evident." I actually enjoyed the first and second phases best!
Your comments about marketing are spot on. I mentioned unreplicatable methods only to describe the failure in using ineffective programming with the same marketing efforts, or slightly altered or indistinguishable programming to identical marketing efforts.
Let me be clear. Anyone that does for plumbing, architecture, or lawyering what we've done for fitness - create something uniquely effective, and then couple that with our open source, community developing, methods-results-criticisms held to light methodology, will find themselves significantly more successful than businesses as usual.
We "get" blogging, open-source, the Internet, and the new "peer review", like few people anywhere in business. The blogging community doesn't even recognize us as a blog - we're an experiential blog not a self-indulgent teenager's diary so they don't see us. True for folks at MoveableType, amazingly!
Comment #309 - Posted by: Coach at June 22, 2008 7:32 AM
And another great reply from Coach:
SheepDawg007 #106,
You make some good points but miss more than you make.
CrossFit never took off in Santa Cruz. It took off on the Net. From arriving in 95 to launching the website in '01 we had near zero growth. From launching the website in '01 to leaving Santa Cruz in '06 we saw several thousand percent growth!!
Work capacity across broad time and modal domains, CrossFit, is hugely more correlative of athletic potential than anything except athletic fame mentioned in the WSJ article. (This is part of the absurdity of the article.) This is why we've been able to improve the level of athletic performance substantially where substantial improvements are exceedingly rare - where the margins of improved performance are tight. You want to move quickly from Bronze Medal to Gold then CrossFit holds a potential that we can find by no other means.
The question as to whether a CrossFitter is a better basketball player than Larry Bird is fruitless - even misdirected. Would Larry Bird have been a better basketball player with CrossFit? Would two players of Bird's potential remain equal in basketball capacity if one CF'd and the other did not? The first answer is, "hell yes". The second, "hell no". No one who has worked with world class sport athletes in conjunction with CrossFit have any doubt whatsoever. BJ Penn: "CrossFit is like cheating". There are 100's of his caliber who feel the same.
Sport oprtimally develops sport prowess. CrossFit is unrivaled at developing fitness. Fitness is an essential/critical component of sport and athletics. Fitness is the most important component of athleticism. NOT ONE WORLD CLASS ATHLETE OF THOUSANDS WE'VE TRAINED HAS APPROACHED THE FITNESS LEVEL OF A GOOD CROSSFITTER. Not one. (That will change - probably next year.)
No non-CrossFitting sport athlete has demonstrated work capacity like a CrossFitter for the same reason that no non football playing CrossFitter has ever demonstrated the football capacity of football player. It's not their game. We're fitter than non CrossFitting athletes because CrossFit has refined, defined, and focused on fitness far beyond what is being done for sport. The S&C training for most professional sports is....well...frankly...demonstrably ineffective, and fundamentally stupid. We prove that for a living.
We are unique in having defined fitness, first, and and in mathematical terms, second. We've given fitness a scientific footing where none existed before. That is the reason for our successes and popularity (entirely different measures).
Your claims about the mental toughness CrossFit develops are diametrically opposed to the testimony of soldiers engaged in combat, cops in gunfights, and Olympic and professional ball-sport athletes. They'd disagree with you 100%. You use the fighting example, BJ and Chuck Lidell and others, it's quite typical, will tell you they fear nothing like CF. I use those two as examples because they fight for fun and both absolutely positively DREAD CrossFit. Chuck told John Hackelman he'd rather fight Rampage everyday than do the WOD. (On a humorous but instructive note: Chuck told John Hackleman that he wanted to beat my ass more than anyone else's in the world. I actually puckered up a bit. I sent Greg Amundson to go train with him, and Greg came back and said, "great guy, so nice; he wants a piece of you!")
There are legions of NFL, NBA, NHL, Olympic, MMA mega-champions CrossFitting. None has a CrossFit WOD record. I was made privy to Fran and Helen times for starters on a decade long dominant NFL franchise. The times look much more like Brad Pitt's (yep, I just outed him and his trainer) than OPT's or Amundson's. Much closer.
The winner of the CrossFit Games will be the world champion of the "Sport of Fitness" and will have reasonable, supportable, accurate, and precise claim to being a) one of the best athletes on earth, and b) the fittest man/woman/beast alive.
I'd hate to have to argue against that. I'd lose.
Sir, with deep respect, you're very, very wrong.
Comment #114 - Posted by: Coach at June 22, 2008 1:07 PM
WOD 6-12-08:
Deadlift 5-5-5-5-5
From CrossFit.com, 6-11-08
Darryl Faught has applied to trademark the term "CrossFit" in South Africa. He has a gym he calls CrossFit and is running what he calls CrossFit training. He is not an affiliate, and neither he nor any of his trainers have any CrossFit® certifications.
From the comments:
That is exactly my concern. It's also at the core of my moral, ethical, and legal obligation to all of the affiliates.
My friend Phil Mancini would more quickly understand were it expressed in terms of someone stealing my name, DOB, and SS#. There is no moral, ethical, or legal difference. Had I a choice of having my name/DOB/SS# taken or "CrossFit" the choice would be very, very easy. Take my personal identity not my business identity. One theft creates contestable debt the other takes food out of affiliates' mouths.
I want to share with you all that the pressure you've brought to bear and the resultant search engine "awareness" of this man's larceny saves this small mom and pop a fortune in legal fees, and in the final analysis you're more effective and efficient than high priced lawyers who are fundamentally paralyzed when a miscreant like "The Man" thumbs his nose at them and hides behind a legal system awash in corruption and at risk of collapse.
Not pursuing this matter has been interpreted by courts as evidence for a de facto quit claim on the trademark. Inadequate defense of license has been grounds for loss of licensing rights. We fight for this thing or we're giving it away. There are 600 good men and women and thousands of trainers who have committed their resources, time, and lives to this movement. I'll not look the other way while someone takes it from them. Not anywhere. Not ever.
Thank You, everyone. I'll spend my entire life trying to earn and keep your friendship and support.
Comment #142 - Posted by: Coach at June 11, 2008 11:18 PM
Please do your part to increase "search engine awareness" and let Mr. Faught AKA "The Man" AKA "The Douche" know of your displeasure with his theft of our trademark and his pathetic attempts at copying our system. His email is tracey@crossfit.co.za
