Panic, Loss, Gratitude, and Sanity: The Impact of COVID-19 Gym Closures on the Experience of Community in CrossFit

Ornella, Alexander Darius

Abstract

“Welcome to CrossFit: Join the World’s leading platform for health, happiness, and performance” – the CrossFit.com website advertises in bold letters. The background image features a group of athletes running, working out together, smiling. Health, happiness, and performance, all these three promises radiate not only through the wording but also the visuals on the website. But why happiness? And why CrossFit? CrossFit is a high-intensity functional fitness activity founded in California almost two decades ago and has since enjoyed an increasing popularity, in particular since the mid/late 2000s. Initially, the novelty and strenuous nature of the fitness regime (high intensity workouts, bodyweight movements paired up with some gymnastics movements and Olympic lifting) attracted its first followers .
Since its inception, an elaborate set of narratives have developed out of and around CrossFit. These narratives often include the ideas that CrossFit is for everyone no matter their age or physical background; that it helps achieve a general yet unrivaled level of mental toughness and physical fitness; and that CrossFit classes are expertly coached to justify the membership fees which are higher than in a commercial gym where people follow their individual routines or might hop onto one of the many classes (e.g. spin, boxercise, Zumba) commercial gyms often offer today. At the core of what makes CrossFit CrossFit is situated the idea of community and that CrossFit brings people together from all walks of life. More than that: CrossFit is perceived and imagined as a community that is not merely shaped by the temporality of the 60 minutes coached classes, but a community that extends beyond the temporal and physical confines of the box, i.e. the CrossFit gym.
CrossFit narratives seem omnipresent in the world of CrossFit. They are narrated by athletes and are part of their rationale for why they do CrossFit; they feature among CrossFit coaches in their formal and informal conversations and communications with members; they are publicized in promotional videos produced by CrossFit, as well as by commentators during live broadcasts.
If, as the CrossFit narratives stipulate, community is a central element of the CrossFit experience, what happens when athletes are being cut off from these communities due to the COVID-19 gym closure? The notion of community in CrossFit serves as starting point for the exploration of this question in this paper. From there, I discuss how CrossFit athletes and coaches have experienced the closure of CrossFit boxes (gyms) due to COVID-19 lockdowns. I have interviewed coaches and athletes and the paper is structured based on themes that emerged in my conversation: community, panic, mental health, vulnerable groups, and obesity. Insights from this study suggest that a more nuanced understanding of public health and approach to policy is needed. The CrossFit communities people were part of before box closures and the social connections they were able to forge through CrossFit during lockdowns (albeit virtually) were key factors that helped people to both keep physically fit and stay mentally sane. Online Zoom classes some CrossFit boxes offered served as “anchor points” that helped people not only to stay physically fit but more importantly mentally sane, in particular those that were working from home, were single, or lived by themselves.

Citation

Ornella, A. D. (2025). Panic, Loss, Gratitude, and Sanity: The Impact of COVID-19 Gym Closures on the Experience of Community in CrossFit. In M. Quidu, B. Favier-Ambrosini, & M. Delalandre (Eds.), À la conquête de la forme: Regards sociologiques sur le marché du fitness (83-104). Presses universitaires de Grenoble

• Publication Date: Jan 16, 2025
• Deposit Date: Mar 22, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 20, 2025
• Pages: 83-104
• Series Title: Sports, cultures, sociétés
• Book Title: À la conquête de la forme: Regards sociologiques sur le marché du fitness
• Chapter Number: 4
• ISBN: 9782706154980
• Keywords: sports, CrossFit, community, sociology, recovery, COVID-19, lockdown
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3953309
• Publisher URL: https://www.pug.fr/produit/2155/9782706154980/a-la-conquete-de-la-forme
• Contract Date: Mar 22, 2022