What Does a CrossFit Athlete Look Like?

I hear it from time to time.

“They don’t really look like a CrossFitter.”

And if I’m being completely fair, I’ve had that thought myself before.

Years ago, one of the first times I saw Brent Fikowski compete, I remember looking at him and thinking that he didn’t look like what I expected a top-level CrossFit athlete to look like. He was tall. He was lean. He didn’t have the stereotypical build I had pictured in my head. Yet he went on to become one of the most recognizable and accomplished athletes in the sport.

It made me think about a bigger question.

What is a CrossFit athlete supposed to look like?

Maybe the answer is that there isn’t one.

When people hear the word “CrossFit,” they sometimes picture the athletes they have seen competing at the CrossFit Games. They picture incredibly muscular men and women lifting huge weights, walking on their hands, doing muscle-ups, and performing movements that seem almost impossible. Those athletes are amazing, but they represent only a tiny fraction of the people who do CrossFit.

Most CrossFit athletes look a whole lot more like the people you pass at the grocery store, see dropping their kids off at school, work beside every day, or sit next to at a local basketball game.

They look like you.

They look like me.

They look like the 30-year-old who wants to have enough energy to keep up with their kids after work. They look like the 45-year-old who realizes they have spent the last twenty years taking care of everyone else and finally decides it is time to start taking care of themselves.

They look like the 60-year-old who wants to remain strong enough to travel, hike, garden, hunt, fish, or get down on the floor with their grandchildren and know they can get back up.

They look like the 75-year-old who understands that strength, balance, coordination, and independence matter more now than ever.

They look like someone who has never exercised before.

They look like someone who used to be an athlete but hasn’t trained in twenty years.

They look like someone carrying extra weight who finally decided they wanted something different for themselves.

They look like someone living with a disability who refuses to believe that disability means inability.

They look like someone walking into CrossFit Viroqua nervous, unsure, and wondering whether they belong.

That person is a CrossFit athlete too.

One of the biggest misunderstandings about CrossFit is that you somehow have to get in shape before you start. People will tell us, “I need to lose some weight first,” or “I need to get stronger before I come in.”

But that is like saying you need to learn how to swim before taking swimming lessons.

The entire reason we are here is to help you improve from wherever you are starting.

CrossFit was never meant to be about everyone doing the exact same workout with the exact same weight at the exact same speed. The movements can be adjusted. Loads can be changed. Repetitions can be changed. Range of motion can be modified. What matters is that the workout is appropriate for the person doing it.

The goal isn’t for everyone to become a CrossFit Games athlete.

The goal is to become more capable.

Can you carry groceries into the house more easily?

Can you climb a flight of stairs without getting winded?

Can you pick something heavy up from the ground safely?

Can you play with your kids longer?

Can you get yourself off the floor?

Can you maintain your balance?

Can you keep doing the things you love as you get older?

Those things might not make highlight reels, but they matter tremendously.

To me, that is what being a CrossFit athlete is really about.

It is someone who decided their health matters.

Someone who wants to become a little stronger.

Someone who wants to move a little better.

Someone who understands that getting older does not mean automatically giving up the things they love doing.

And most importantly, it is someone who refuses to let their current abilities define what they might be capable of becoming.

At CrossFit Viroqua, I have watched people accomplish things they never believed they could do. Sometimes it is a first pull-up or a personal record on a deadlift. Other times it is something much simpler, like getting down to the floor and standing back up without assistance.

Those victories may look different, but they all matter.

That is why I hope we stop trying to decide whether someone “looks like a CrossFitter.”

There is no CrossFit body type.

There is no CrossFit age.

There is no CrossFit background.

You don’t have to be the strongest person in the room. You don’t have to be the fastest. You don’t have to know what a snatch, clean and jerk, or muscle-up is before you walk through the door.

You simply have to be willing to start.

Because when I picture what a CrossFit athlete looks like now, I don’t picture one specific body type.

I picture a room full of people who are choosing to do something about their health.

Parents.

Grandparents.

Farmers.

Teachers.

Firefighters.

Business owners.

Retirees.

People with disabilities.

Former athletes.