Abstract

“Welcome to CrossFit : Join the World’s leading platform for health, happiness, and performance” – the CrossFit.com website boldly advertises. Since its inception, an elaborate set of narratives has developed around CrossFit. These narratives often include the ideas that CrossFit is for everyone, regardless of age or physical background ; that it helps achieve an unparalleled level of mental toughness and physical fitness. At the core of these narratives of what makes CrossFit “CrossFit” is the idea of community : that CrossFit brings people together from all walks of life. More than that, CrossFit is perceived and imagined as a community that extends beyond the temporality of the 60 minutes coached classes, extending beyond the temporal and physical confines of the CrossFit box.

CrossFit narratives are omnipresent in the world of CrossFit. They are narrated by athletes and are often part of their rationale for why they do CrossFit. They feature among CrossFit coaches in their formal and informal conversations and communications with members, as well as in promotional videos produced by CrossFit and by commentators during live broadcasts.

If, as CrossFit narratives stipulate, community is a central element of the CrossFit experience, what happens when athletes are cut off from their 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 conversations : community, panic, mental health, vulnerable groups, and obesity. Insights from this study suggest that more nuanced understandings of public health and approaches to policy are needed. The coaches I have spoken to managed to facilitate social connections throughou lockdowns using digital tools. These social connections helped people to get through lockdowns. Online Zoom classes some CrossFit boxes offered served as “anchor points” that helped people to stay physically fit and, more importantly, mentally sane, in particular people who were working from home, were single, or lived by themselves.

Citation

Ornella, Alexander Darius, “Panic, Loss, Gratitude, and Sanity: The Impact of COVID-19 Gym Closures on the Experience of Community in CrossFit”, in: Quidu, Matthieu et al (eds.): À la conquête de la forme: Regards sociologiques sur le marché du fitness, Presses universitaires de Grenoble, 2025, 83-104. http://dx.doi.org/10.3917/pug.quidu.2025.01.0083