I have been doing Crossfit since 2005 and I was the 325th affiliate in the world. Coach Glassman is the reason why I became an affiliate and he is the reason that I left Crossfit and went back training outside of the Crossfit ecosystem. If Greg were to come back into the fitness space in August 2024, I would immediately be there buying into whatever he has to offer.
I wake up everyday and look forward to my 5AM WOD at Misfit Portland and then waiting the rest of the day waiting for you to launch your next video. You are literally changing the landscape of CrossFit as we know it. Glad to have been following you and believing in what you have to say. I believe it because it’s true.
@@smokejaguar986 early 2020ish when Greg made the “Floyd-19” tweet and everyone’s knee jerk reaction was “racist, insensitive, etc..” and “I’m out” of the games was going around, they all changed their profile pics to black squares, some dropped CrossFit from their names, gyms etc. And then eventually no one was out and they all participated because it was all just virtue signaling
If Dave has an issue with actively telling people to de-affiliate he should probably have a word with around 70% of the Games athletes and all the CF news outlets that literally did that.
Glassman is such an impressive dude. Thank you for sharing more of his old clips. Makes the devastation of him being cancelled even more apparent. Can learn so much from him and not just within the sphere CrossFit but much more broadly.
@@spencergsmith yeah it’s interesting. I’ve been doing CrossFit for five years and I really never knew anything about Glassman. I’m getting more through Hiller than I ever have b4, but now I’m fascinated and definitely want to consume all I can from him.
@@melokj17 go down the TH-cam rabbit hole and find his old lectures from the early 2000's and you'll be blown away by his genius. No matter what anyone says, he wasn't an accidental success, he crafted CrossFit to change the landscape of the fitness industry.
I think that the low barrier to entry was an immense benefit to CF. Low barriers to entry means more people open gyms, more gyms means more people do CrossFit, more people doing CrossFit means more lives saved. I almost look at it as an admission that since they can’t market CrossFit effectively to grow, they are compensating for that failure by increasing fees.
this is private equity 101. This WILL NOT be the last time they increase affiliate fees. I promise. They're going to turn the dial till enough people jump ship that it is no longer profitable to turn the dial. Corporatism kills everything it touches
The low barrier to entry was one of the key reasons why I, along with many others, decided to open Affiliates in the first place. Otherwise I would’ve started my own small gym/training studio with minimal capital required and zero oversight.
Greg is playing chess, while CrossFit is playing checkers. He is 3-4 steps ahead of this corporation madness. Since CrossFit is clearing on the decline and will likely significantly decrease in value, crazy to think Greg could have the opportunity to swoop in and buy it all back for a fraction of his $200 million buyout…checkmate
That’s probably part of it. Truth is… Greg cares and you see it in what he does (Broken Science Initiative and such). He knows something is fundamentally broken and he wants to help fix it. Then on top of it he doesn’t appear to have the greed for money. Making enough to live comfortably is good enough for him. Then the rest gets reinvested.
I have been thinking about that interview with Emily more and more lately. Before it seemed like a fantasy pipe dream to have Greg start a new CrossFit. Now it feels like has to be inevitable, because the version we love has been captured by a corporation.
but CF has always been corporation, making money, hustling, grinding ... There might be some kind of philosophy under there but in the essence it has always been corporation.
@@jeffgiardina9035 Jeff is correct. It may have been incorporated to capture the legal protections of that status, but it was never corporate with the pursuit of making money. Just listen to Greg himself in that video. Anything he was doing to make money was to further the message and drive people to the affiliates.
@@hillerfit My letter to HQ at the time has aged very well. I look forward to being able to post it and showing up all the cowards who threw him under the bus. These cowards being the people who actually owed him immeasurably for their current wealth, fame and lifestyle. Still sickens me today to think about it.
Truly great video!! I spent years trying different fitness methods only to find out they were all just selling powders and pills. Crossfit was DIFFERENT and actually worked. Now Crossfit is becoming the powders and pills people. Sad.
Awesome video bro. kind of made me emotional. i started CF in 2010 as an overweight 16 year old and a die hard. its what i lived for. i am not too hopeful for it but lets see/
As me and my wife was talking about this whole situation tonight when we got the email of price increases. There are things we agree with, things we dont, and all in all we will make decisions best suited for us. But one thing that we are worried about is the type of devide this is already bringing within the affiliate world. So many toxic people shaming and demoralizing others that dont agree or like the price increase/other changes. Not every gym is created equal or in an equal location. We should track the number of affiliates there are now world wide, and what the drop off is over the next year.
Keep running this message home, this is also why I have 0 respect for all those same said athletes who were so quick to jump ship, because they are cowards and they will flip flop anyday of the week with enough pressure. That is the issue, no backbone and now everyone is realizing CF HQ is way worse now and they allowed themselves to be played by 1 simple tweet. Congrats!
@@hillerfitit would simply be an incentive for new Affiliate owners to have their L2 or even L3 BEFORE opening their doors. That being said, while I understand raising rates due to inflation, I think the low barrier to entry is one of the main reason many gym owners (including myself) chose to affiliate instead of simply starting our own self-branded local gym.
I am not a salesman, I hate sales. I worked at lululemon after I stopped coaching CF. They constantly gave us new ways to sale. I chose to just be honest. If I didn’t like something, I could still tell ppl what was good about it but I don’t have to like it. I’m not going to go out of my way, to convince you to give me money. I just want to help you, for free. Asking some of these gym owners to focus on money is like asking them to change their moral obligations in staying true to themselves.
@@hillerfit and he felt like to much of the focus was on the games and not the local affiliate/regular people. I think it was a blunder but a fixable one
@@hillerfit Maybe his heart was in the right place, but his mind was arrogant in thinking that the Crossfit that had spawned from his idea and had grown on its own was his to steer wherever and however he wished. I think he lacked humility at that moment. And to answer my own question, yeah, if Crossfit was doing great at the time, probably the cancelation wouldn't be of much consequence.
I coached at a CrossFit in 2012-2016 as a second job because I loved it. The affiliate started requiring that we try to sell something from the pro shop or a supplement every time we coached. There was even a contest between coaches to sell the most & then you got bonuses, but if you didn’t sell it counted against you. I just wanted to coach & make my athletes better. I decided not to sell the stuff or even mention it when I was coaching. I eventually was fired. I haven’t coached CrossFit since because so many of the affiliates require the selling too. I am a personal trainer working for myself & because I’m just coaching, I’m super happy again. Selling takes the joy out of coaching & takes away from the real reason you and your athletes are there. I believe in the CrossFit that Greg began. I hope he starts the old CrossFit again & makes us all better. CrossFit is magic!
Definitely food for thought about what Coach Glassman said that the Games is an event for the affiliates. I don’t believe modern CrossFit is this anymore, maybe around the last regional events this sort of stopped and the focus became a more narcissistic view on the athletes themselves rather than the athlete representing the affiliate. However, maybe athletes had to move the focus on them in order to take training and commitment more professionally while being able to afford it they’ve had to move the focus onto them and offer discount codes etc
Greg Glassman has principles in a space (fitness) where the only principle seems to be how much money can be sucked out of clients/franchisees etc. Berskshire Partners and Eric Roza, as @hillerfit accurately points out, thought they were buying a pug but got a labrador. CrossFit is devoid of honest, EFFECTIVE leadership. Glassman's head was in the right space. He's followed the timeless words "He who fights and runs away, may live to fight another day; But he who is battle slain, can never rise to fight again." Genius, Greg. Berkshire Partners, Eric Roza, and Don Faul, the clueless trio, for you I'll quote another guy who holds to principles as much as possible: GFY.
I wonder what the exact date of the end of the non-compete is…. Could make this years CrossFit Games (Aug 8th-Aug 11th) veeeeeery interesting! Time to batten down the hatches and stock up on the popcorn!! 🍿🍿🍿
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."
Honestly what’s crazy about it all is that as a person who follows CrossFit so much, but also works in my local Anytime Fitness, I would so much rather in the current state of CrossFit just buy my Anytime Fitness and run “advanced functional fitness” classes as a means to making more money and having less money taken off the top. It’s crazy, I’m glad you’re out here advocating for the brand, someone NEEDS to be doing it.
Why did the music and Greg talking about not selling out and not selling CrossFit fire me the fuck up? I forgot how good that episode with Emily was. Also, not for nothing. But where has Don been? I get they need to raise prices, it is a business. But why announce it in an email? Why not have a call or something a bit more respectful. But that’s just me. Shout out to you for giving me a shout out in your video. Thanks for doing what you do.
As much as I enjoy watching the games and seeing just amazing displays of fitness - it’s the athletes that have really destroyed CrossFit. It used to be a celebration of the affiliates so you’d have an experience like going to a boxing gym where a title holder trained, now most of the top tier athletes train in their own facility. It’s not about the community anymore it’s about individuals trying to push their own personal brand. Fraiser on Joe Rogan was a perfect example - no love for the methodology even though by his own admission it took him from a place where he could lift a ton but could barely walk up a flight of stairs without gassing out to a pinnacle athlete. He’s also said multiple times that he didn’t like Greg and we all know that Fraiser be petty. It’s a shame love the methodology and hoping that August brings something cool.
At the end of the day. He sold it, that’s the bottom line, there were no guns, he’s also insanely wealthy now. The conviction of “not for sale” at so convincing in 2023.
Producing gold, sir! Just by pointing out what's happening and stating the obvious. This video compilation is GOLD. Crossfit, the ideology, is dead. Doesn't mean it's not still the best training for the money out there. Doesn't mean it still has one of the lowest barriers of entry. Doesn't mean a box can't develop an amazing community. But Crossfit, as a philosophy, is gone. The garage affiliate is gone. The 100 words of fitness is irrelevant coming from CF HQ. I've been bought into CF since I began in 2009 and will continue to practice CF, but the passion of the "cult/culture" is dwindling.
I can tell u from living in a small town in mtns of NC people already find it hard or not even an option to pay $150 per month for a gym membership. That’s why I just go by the original template uploaded on the journal years ago. I look at the wod on main site from time to time & I have plenty of docs saved with different metcons. I just train at work or in my basement with minimal equipment
I don't think it's always so black and white like with Glassman or with Crossfit. A lot of folks, like myself, are somewhere in between. But this video was great. Trainers selling supplements and merch is fucking gross. I will say that I don't think it matters if I see my coach cleaning the bathrooms though. I regularly get there early and will find the owner/coach vacuuming or whatever, and it just reminds me of why I love the place. All of that said, with the amount of change in Crossfit since I first started in ~2018, I legit have no damn clue what's gonna happen next. But hopefully I'll get my first muscle-up soon.
The affiliates walked away from GG. Glassman didn't walk away from the affiliate. He continued to serve them just as they wanted, by walking away. Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged and the characters Ellis Wyatt, Hank Rearden and John Galt - the minds behind innovation going on strike. You don't want us, take over, it's yours.
That’s the thing about that whole “time in history.” At the time it felt like the whole world had gone crazy but here at this point in 2023 people are realizing that not caving in was the right call and everything rebounds back to normal. I was already done with social media at that point but hearing about stuff like the “black square” was just crazy to me. What mindless lemming cult crap is that?
Hmmm the black square was for black out Tuesday, a stand against racism, I indeed did put a black square (maybe it was even before Greg did the tweet , I have no idea) but it was only for that reason, it was nothing to do with Greg Glassman/CrossFit. I think it's only the ones that hijacked the movement of the black square and added ''i'm out'' to it (after the tweet) who were against Greg. Please don't make me feel bad for the black square 😂
There’s a distinct difference when you have someone selling a service or value to their audience when they are apart of that audience vs not. When you’re apart of the audience you sell to you understand their needs & pains and the new crossfit regime just doesn’t have that
Well, I hope you get a nice chair when Greg comes back!!! Because you are the only one doing the Homework! 💪 Saying what it needs to be said! Of course, along the way, some might not like it, but most of the time, those are the ones that are in a position where they can’t say or do nothing, cause it can compromise themselves! 🤝 well done!
Hot take here……I do wholeheartedly agree with these takes. What kinda rubs me wrong, why hide that an employee or owner cleans the bathroom? To me, it shows they are human AND not above “cleaning a bathroom”. They’re taking pride in their business…..which sadly has gone by the wayside.
Why does anyone pay an affiliation fee for a training methodology. Just own your gym and do the workouts, drop the word CrossFit out of the title and it’s the exact same thing. This business model never succeeds and it’s crazy that it’s lasted this long at such exorbitant rates
Why does CF continue to go without a media team? Do you think they’re just being stubborn? Even if they just have a strong social media team it can grow the business for both the affiliates and headquarters.
Broken Science gym would be awesome. Maybe we could start getting what we pay for. Or maybe pay less, fitness and nutrition shouldn't be only achievable by the upper class.
Incredible video Andrew. Keep it up brother, I have supported you from the beginning and I will continue on your boat. The truth always ends up coming out 🦇🦇🦇
I would argue that the CrossFit affiliates that have bad coaching and do not meet the quality threshold are brand diminishing for CrossFit as a whole. And raising the prices will ultimately weed out the lesser gyms that don’t want to meet the quality threshold. Every single time a person walks into a CrossFit affiliate, anywhere, they should have a certain expectation of the experience. Right now, you don’t know what you will get. That is bad for the brand. Of course the experience will always vary just like with anytime you walk into a business, but the best businesses limit that variation so the consumer knows what they can expect.
As a business owner that is not a Crossfit affiliate owner I have to say Glassman is a visionary and a genius when it comes to fitness, motivation and loyalty. Not so much when it comes to business sense. All of his customers are buying those products anyway. If you think it takes away from the training/fitness aspects of the company then hire sales people and make sure your products are quality. The merchandise section would have been a very strong sector for all of the affiliate owners and actually help them charge a more reasonable membership fee and let's be honest that's the only reason casuals stop using local affiliates. He never sold out BTW, I remember the George Floyd nonsense he was pushed out by a lot of ungrateful athletes.
Two thoughts: Castros comments y is the classic response that drove many talented people out of Cf: not only did he not bother to vet the information, he calls you a “coward.” (Assuming you were suggesting folks leave, which you were not). A actual leader would have asked “why do you feel that way?” And they would be legitimately curious. One of CF’s big failing is an echo chamber, one that leads to a loss of contact with reality. Which brings me to my second point: Greg was shanked in this whole affair. The punishment way exceeded the “crime.” BUT. Greg also insisted in surrounding himself with “yes men.” Anyone with a remotely differing view was long removed. It’s a miracle it took as long as it did for the woke mob to break out the pitchforks. Long ago Greg gave a young man some advice : stfu. Greg would have benefited from a dose of that, but he had no feedback mechanism to get that in front of him.
I just want to know what the ROI is on the increased investment? In my current line of work if I want to spend a thousand dollars or more I have to do a proposal, submit it for review then present my plans including ROI and timelines to the investors. So it seems to me that HQ should have presented this whole thing to the affiliates first, allowing them time to review the plan and determine if this is a good business decision for them. Instead HQ decides to have a conversation with a podcaster the night before so he can get clicks and likes. As an investor that is very troubling, and shows the lack of respect they have to all their investors/ affiliate owners. For a private equity group “professional business men” they truly did no research prior to purchase. If this is like all private equity groups, they are trying to liquidate assets that lower their evaluation. I also would like to see how many affiliate owners started an affiliate with a L1, and the amount of time they coached with their L1 before being certified as a L2? I get it, any L2 affiliate owner wants the barrier of entry to be higher, it protects them from competition. However, I would say that most of them have experienced a former member leaving to start their own due to the coaching/ culture that the owner themselves created.
NoBull hasn‘t been at the Semis in Europe as well. Imagine you are at the biggest crossfit Event on the Continent and can‘t buy anything written „Crossfit“ on.
Greg is the man, but I do wish he would’ve cashed in on the games. By clearly separating the methodology and the sport the ad revenue from Ram trucks, mortgage companies, and streaming rights should have made the sport so profitable that the methodology was funded by the games
I see the black square people, Noah for instance and I think pretty much everything he has is because of Greg. Then I compare him to another game’s athlete in Colten Mertens and I think-if the games disappeared Colten is such a capable human he would go on and live a full life because of his life skills that he has. Obviously I don’t know Noah but what would he do if the games weren’t around? Does he have anything other than exercising fast?
No way man, I miss Reebok bad, I miss the Nanos being good too. Coincidence that (IMO) the nano x was the last good nano and was the last year Reebok and CrossFit were partners…..
First move you make with a cash cow business is to squeeze as much money as you can from it. You know the product you have has a limited shelf life. So you don’t invest, and you up the charges.
Counter point. Glassman’s ego is/was keeping CrossFit from being a stronger and more sustainable business. From his own admission he left millions of dollars on the table back then to keep it how he wanted it. His right, absolutely. But now CF needs to change course to grow as a sport. And yeah people will moan and groan. But like tree trimming, dead branches need to be pruned for new ones to grow.
Andrew Though I agree with you. I'm not sure Crossfit was in the best place before Greg left, at least if you are talking about the Open and games. Remember the date change to the fall and the 90 year Olds squatting with milk jugs? I think he was moving away from the games as a spectacle and back to more affiliate based. Things would not be perfect if Greg never left , but definitely different.
I imagine if people don't watch the whole video a lot of points will be missed. It will be very interesting to see whay happens after the non compete is over.
You don't even get an official printed certificate for passing the L2 now. They send you a link to print it yourself. That would never have happened under GG.
Looks like this was the last straw for my gym owner. Been with them since almost the begining. Only pays 1,500 a year affiliation fee. Now it will be Zero! Crossfit HQ must also be afraid of Ben Bergerons ambitions for a nationwide chain of Gyms. I def notice that Crossfit isnt as popular as it used to be. Interesting times ahead.
It won't be destroyed. It would lose money and the owners would take the loss and divest and he'd probably be the only bidder. Then he'd just merge it with whatever he's got. I'd be interested to see exactly what the restrictions the sales contract and non-compete have.
Depends whether "CrossFit" is the company that Greg sold, or the methodology that Greg created. If the company drifts away from the methodology, perhaps the only way to preserve the methodology is to create another affiliate program.
What I've noticed from several years of different boxes and my time as a digital marketer: Most box owners dont know how to sustain local marketing for their boxes. They shouldn't have to and it shocks me that the premium they pay yields no serious marketing support from Crossfit. Terrible digital marketing strategy from Crossfit.
@hillerfit I won't bore you with the rants I go on because I despise bad strategy. But it hurts small business and that's what makes crossfit so appealing to me. It was an avenue to allow small business owners to align with a brand and build a local community. However, that's not what they market as Crossfit. I don't understand it and I'm sure they don't either.
I've been in Crossfit since 2016, got my L1 in 2018 and coached through 2021. The brand has noticeably declined since Glassman left. I was really excited for the Sanctionals (#ArmenHammerTV) to Games model, 7 months of a Crossfit Games season had incredible potential. I think that is the right way to run an individual participation based sporting event, Ironman is working through the same issues. It had a huge profit potential for athletes and created an ecosystems for lower level competitors to make money. The current Games qualifying system is pretty bland. The Open doesn't really reach either Pro competitors or affiliate members. Dave Castro is a has-been and won't bring anything worthwhile to the competitive scene. I think there is fertile ground for whatever Glassman has up his sleeve.
I have been doing Crossfit since 2005 and I was the 325th affiliate in the world. Coach Glassman is the reason why I became an affiliate and he is the reason that I left Crossfit and went back training outside of the Crossfit ecosystem. If Greg were to come back into the fitness space in August 2024, I would immediately be there buying into whatever he has to offer.
I wake up everyday and look forward to my 5AM WOD at Misfit Portland and then waiting the rest of the day waiting for you to launch your next video. You are literally changing the landscape of CrossFit as we know it. Glad to have been following you and believing in what you have to say. I believe it because it’s true.
Great perspective that the Black Square cowards killed CrossFit as a brand by grandstanding. 10/10 take
They still don't understand
The black squares were the beginning of the shit happening now %100
Who and what are the black square cowards?
Irony is that the black squares are the same ones that are in uproar right now
@@smokejaguar986 early 2020ish when Greg made the “Floyd-19” tweet and everyone’s knee jerk reaction was “racist, insensitive, etc..” and “I’m out” of the games was going around, they all changed their profile pics to black squares, some dropped CrossFit from their names, gyms etc.
And then eventually no one was out and they all participated because it was all just virtue signaling
This might be it! Been following since the big wodapalooza from 21 or 22, but this might be the one video to rule them all from you. 🔥🔥
This is definitely among his best work. The video resonates with me and expresses so many of my recent thoughts on CF.
Very well said Hiller. Idk what’s going to happen with CrossFit but I’m looking forward to what’s coming August 2024
GlassFit
@@hillerfit oh dude I hope he trademarked that 😂
@@hillerfit
he is gonna get it back😅
If Dave has an issue with actively telling people to de-affiliate he should probably have a word with around 70% of the Games athletes and all the CF news outlets that literally did that.
Great video Andrew! Affiliate owner since 2010. Glassman and the CF journal were a huge inspiration to me. Changed my life.
Glassman is such an impressive dude. Thank you for sharing more of his old clips. Makes the devastation of him being cancelled even more apparent. Can learn so much from him and not just within the sphere CrossFit but much more broadly.
Yes! I watched all his old lectures repeatedly while studying for my L3, and he truly is a wealth of knowledge and wisdom in the fitness space.
@@spencergsmith yeah it’s interesting. I’ve been doing CrossFit for five years and I really never knew anything about Glassman. I’m getting more through Hiller than I ever have b4, but now I’m fascinated and definitely want to consume all I can from him.
@@melokj17 go down the TH-cam rabbit hole and find his old lectures from the early 2000's and you'll be blown away by his genius. No matter what anyone says, he wasn't an accidental success, he crafted CrossFit to change the landscape of the fitness industry.
The Reebok “Be More Human” campaign got me in the box. Would love to see actual commercials again.
I think that the low barrier to entry was an immense benefit to CF. Low barriers to entry means more people open gyms, more gyms means more people do CrossFit, more people doing CrossFit means more lives saved.
I almost look at it as an admission that since they can’t market CrossFit effectively to grow, they are compensating for that failure by increasing fees.
@@Xxxtra_Sloppyright on the money. They're failing the brand and asking the small businesses to foot the bill for their failure.
And now, they are going to be wrecking hte reach
this is private equity 101. This WILL NOT be the last time they increase affiliate fees. I promise. They're going to turn the dial till enough people jump ship that it is no longer profitable to turn the dial. Corporatism kills everything it touches
The low barrier to entry was one of the key reasons why I, along with many others, decided to open Affiliates in the first place. Otherwise I would’ve started my own small gym/training studio with minimal capital required and zero oversight.
I totally agree, adding to your point, the low entry fee, making it possible to open affiliates in low-population areas, villages, small cities...etc
Greg is playing chess, while CrossFit is playing checkers. He is 3-4 steps ahead of this corporation madness. Since CrossFit is clearing on the decline and will likely significantly decrease in value, crazy to think Greg could have the opportunity to swoop in and buy it all back for a fraction of his $200 million buyout…checkmate
That’s probably part of it.
Truth is… Greg cares and you see it in what he does (Broken Science Initiative and such).
He knows something is fundamentally broken and he wants to help fix it. Then on top of it he doesn’t appear to have the greed for money. Making enough to live comfortably is good enough for him. Then the rest gets reinvested.
I have been thinking about that interview with Emily more and more lately. Before it seemed like a fantasy pipe dream to have Greg start a new CrossFit. Now it feels like has to be inevitable, because the version we love has been captured by a corporation.
but CF has always been corporation, making money, hustling, grinding ... There might be some kind of philosophy under there but in the essence it has always been corporation.
@@SMH-m3cCrossFit is not a business or a sport. That’s the main thing people don’t get.
@@jeffgiardina9035 Jeff is correct. It may have been incorporated to capture the legal protections of that status, but it was never corporate with the pursuit of making money. Just listen to Greg himself in that video. Anything he was doing to make money was to further the message and drive people to the affiliates.
The "black square, I'm out" hasn't aged very well.
It will only look wrose
@@hillerfit My letter to HQ at the time has aged very well. I look forward to being able to post it and showing up all the cowards who threw him under the bus. These cowards being the people who actually owed him immeasurably for their current wealth, fame and lifestyle. Still sickens me today to think about it.
Hiller might be the Joe Rogan of the CrossFit space. Speaking facts, having opinions, and being real
Truly great video!!
I spent years trying different fitness methods only to find out they were all just selling powders and pills. Crossfit was DIFFERENT and actually worked. Now Crossfit is becoming the powders and pills people. Sad.
Awesome video bro. kind of made me emotional. i started CF in 2010 as an overweight 16 year old and a die hard. its what i lived for. i am not too hopeful for it but lets see/
As me and my wife was talking about this whole situation tonight when we got the email of price increases. There are things we agree with, things we dont, and all in all we will make decisions best suited for us. But one thing that we are worried about is the type of devide this is already bringing within the affiliate world. So many toxic people shaming and demoralizing others that dont agree or like the price increase/other changes. Not every gym is created equal or in an equal location. We should track the number of affiliates there are now world wide, and what the drop off is over the next year.
Mind blowing how accurate and relevant his point are today
It's what happens when people are inteligent
what happens when you operate from sound principles
I can understand the supplement issue but he never made CrossFit viable financially.
Possibly your best work yet Hiller. Thanks man.
Question: do you have a list of great Glassman quotes like the ones shown in the video?
Keep running this message home, this is also why I have 0 respect for all those same said athletes who were so quick to jump ship, because they are cowards and they will flip flop anyday of the week with enough pressure. That is the issue, no backbone and now everyone is realizing CF HQ is way worse now and they allowed themselves to be played by 1 simple tweet. Congrats!
It's crazy that they are also the ones I've featured most in videos...
@@hillerfit Exactly!
I genuinely hope that Greg goes back to illustrating the "Broken Science" of what CrossFit has become and re-revolutionizes the fitness world.
I think getting a L2 and L3 should carry an incentive for less annual affiliation fee.
That's going to slaughter new affiliates
@@hillerfitit would simply be an incentive for new Affiliate owners to have their L2 or even L3 BEFORE opening their doors.
That being said, while I understand raising rates due to inflation, I think the low barrier to entry is one of the main reason many gym owners (including myself) chose to affiliate instead of simply starting our own self-branded local gym.
I am not a salesman, I hate sales. I worked at lululemon after I stopped coaching CF. They constantly gave us new ways to sale. I chose to just be honest. If I didn’t like something, I could still tell ppl what was good about it but I don’t have to like it. I’m not going to go out of my way, to convince you to give me money. I just want to help you, for free.
Asking some of these gym owners to focus on money is like asking them to change their moral obligations in staying true to themselves.
I was SO READY for this video!! 🔥🔥🔥 also the original NOREP (NOBULL style) shirt is my favorite that I own, wish you guys would bring it back lol
If Greg hadn't dismissed the media team, would the cancelling be as effective as it was?
Greg cancelled the media team to put more money into the affiliates. Heart was in the right place, I think
@@hillerfit and he felt like to much of the focus was on the games and not the local affiliate/regular people. I think it was a blunder but a fixable one
@@hillerfit the dude made plenty of money even before the buyout
The mob was so hysterical that no media would have helped, imo.
@@hillerfit Maybe his heart was in the right place, but his mind was arrogant in thinking that the Crossfit that had spawned from his idea and had grown on its own was his to steer wherever and however he wished. I think he lacked humility at that moment. And to answer my own question, yeah, if Crossfit was doing great at the time, probably the cancelation wouldn't be of much consequence.
I coached at a CrossFit in 2012-2016 as a second job because I loved it. The affiliate started requiring that we try to sell something from the pro shop or a supplement every time we coached. There was even a contest between coaches to sell the most & then you got bonuses, but if you didn’t sell it counted against you. I just wanted to coach & make my athletes better.
I decided not to sell the stuff or even mention it when I was coaching. I eventually was fired. I haven’t coached CrossFit since because so many of the affiliates require the selling too.
I am a personal trainer working for myself & because I’m just coaching, I’m super happy again. Selling takes the joy out of coaching & takes away from the real reason you and your athletes are there.
I believe in the CrossFit that Greg began. I hope he starts the old CrossFit again & makes us all better. CrossFit is magic!
Definitely food for thought about what Coach Glassman said that the Games is an event for the affiliates. I don’t believe modern CrossFit is this anymore, maybe around the last regional events this sort of stopped and the focus became a more narcissistic view on the athletes themselves rather than the athlete representing the affiliate. However, maybe athletes had to move the focus on them in order to take training and commitment more professionally while being able to afford it they’ve had to move the focus onto them and offer discount codes etc
How much of this is to fund the CF Games?
It's being used to fund CSuite People
Greg Glassman has principles in a space (fitness) where the only principle seems to be how much money can be sucked out of clients/franchisees etc. Berskshire Partners and Eric Roza, as @hillerfit accurately points out, thought they were buying a pug but got a labrador. CrossFit is devoid of honest, EFFECTIVE leadership. Glassman's head was in the right space. He's followed the timeless words "He who fights and runs away, may live to fight another day; But he who is battle slain, can never rise to fight again." Genius, Greg.
Berkshire Partners, Eric Roza, and Don Faul, the clueless trio, for you I'll quote another guy who holds to principles as much as possible: GFY.
I wonder what the exact date of the end of the non-compete is…. Could make this years CrossFit Games (Aug 8th-Aug 11th) veeeeeery interesting!
Time to batten down the hatches and stock up on the popcorn!! 🍿🍿🍿
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."
Dang Hiller, the opening gave me the tingles. How fast can August get here.
The last clip hits hard! “At the moment we interfere with their business, they should sue us!”
Loved this video. Hit the nail on the head with that clip you posted on your Instagram.
Honestly what’s crazy about it all is that as a person who follows CrossFit so much, but also works in my local Anytime Fitness, I would so much rather in the current state of CrossFit just buy my Anytime Fitness and run “advanced functional fitness” classes as a means to making more money and having less money taken off the top. It’s crazy, I’m glad you’re out here advocating for the brand, someone NEEDS to be doing it.
Why did the music and Greg talking about not selling out and not selling CrossFit fire me the fuck up? I forgot how good that episode with Emily was. Also, not for nothing. But where has Don been? I get they need to raise prices, it is a business. But why announce it in an email? Why not have a call or something a bit more respectful. But that’s just me. Shout out to you for giving me a shout out in your video. Thanks for doing what you do.
Because it is what corporate cowards do
I was PROUD that the box I go to DID NOT deaffliate!!! Greg is CrossFit!!! The whole situation was sooooo ridiculous and now look where we are.
Is there a book based on how he developed , run and then lost the crossfit he made? would love to read it
As much as I enjoy watching the games and seeing just amazing displays of fitness - it’s the athletes that have really destroyed CrossFit. It used to be a celebration of the affiliates so you’d have an experience like going to a boxing gym where a title holder trained, now most of the top tier athletes train in their own facility. It’s not about the community anymore it’s about individuals trying to push their own personal brand.
Fraiser on Joe Rogan was a perfect example - no love for the methodology even though by his own admission it took him from a place where he could lift a ton but could barely walk up a flight of stairs without gassing out to a pinnacle athlete.
He’s also said multiple times that he didn’t like Greg and we all know that Fraiser be petty. It’s a shame love the methodology and hoping that August brings something cool.
How do we give Greg our $4,500 affiliation fee?
At the end of the day. He sold it, that’s the bottom line, there were no guns, he’s also insanely wealthy now. The conviction of “not for sale” at so convincing in 2023.
If he had tried to stay on and fight in the midst of that raging and hysterical mob, there would have been nothing left of CrossFit.
@@JavierAcosta-fd4rdwe will never know
Producing gold, sir! Just by pointing out what's happening and stating the obvious. This video compilation is GOLD. Crossfit, the ideology, is dead. Doesn't mean it's not still the best training for the money out there. Doesn't mean it still has one of the lowest barriers of entry. Doesn't mean a box can't develop an amazing community. But Crossfit, as a philosophy, is gone. The garage affiliate is gone. The 100 words of fitness is irrelevant coming from CF HQ. I've been bought into CF since I began in 2009 and will continue to practice CF, but the passion of the "cult/culture" is dwindling.
I can tell u from living in a small town in mtns of NC people already find it hard or not even an option to pay $150 per month for a gym membership. That’s why I just go by the original template uploaded on the journal years ago. I look at the wod on main site from time to time & I have plenty of docs saved with different metcons. I just train at work or in my basement with minimal equipment
I don't think it's always so black and white like with Glassman or with Crossfit. A lot of folks, like myself, are somewhere in between. But this video was great. Trainers selling supplements and merch is fucking gross. I will say that I don't think it matters if I see my coach cleaning the bathrooms though. I regularly get there early and will find the owner/coach vacuuming or whatever, and it just reminds me of why I love the place. All of that said, with the amount of change in Crossfit since I first started in ~2018, I legit have no damn clue what's gonna happen next. But hopefully I'll get my first muscle-up soon.
I was there... Denmark 2012...Ballerup Arena. Amazing speech, amazing event
Bring back Greg 🏋️♀️🏋️♀️🏋️♀️
The affiliates walked away from GG. Glassman didn't walk away from the affiliate. He continued to serve them just as they wanted, by walking away. Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged and the characters Ellis Wyatt, Hank Rearden and John Galt - the minds behind innovation going on strike. You don't want us, take over, it's yours.
Love 15:18 where the "black square" folks are called out. They deserve any misery corporate brings them.
They deserve to be brought up forever for being weak in the moment
Dude. Soooo many people cancelled him and I was always disgusted by it. Ignorant sheep. I’ll follow Greg forever.
That’s the thing about that whole “time in history.”
At the time it felt like the whole world had gone crazy but here at this point in 2023 people are realizing that not caving in was the right call and everything rebounds back to normal.
I was already done with social media at that point but hearing about stuff like the “black square” was just crazy to me. What mindless lemming cult crap is that?
Hmmm the black square was for black out Tuesday, a stand against racism, I indeed did put a black square (maybe it was even before Greg did the tweet , I have no idea) but it was only for that reason, it was nothing to do with Greg Glassman/CrossFit.
I think it's only the ones that hijacked the movement of the black square and added ''i'm out'' to it (after the tweet) who were against Greg.
Please don't make me feel bad for the black square 😂
There’s a distinct difference when you have someone selling a service or value to their audience when they are apart of that audience vs not. When you’re apart of the audience you sell to you understand their needs & pains and the new crossfit regime just doesn’t have that
Thank you Hiller, for calling out the virtue signalling black squared people! 🙏🙏🙏
Well, I hope you get a nice chair when Greg comes back!!!
Because you are the only one doing the Homework! 💪
Saying what it needs to be said!
Of course, along the way, some might not like it, but most of the time, those are the ones that are in a position where they can’t say or do nothing, cause it can compromise themselves!
🤝 well done!
“A global network of close friends trying to make this a better world.”
(Cue *standing ovation)
This thing is rapidly heading in a different path, one without rails
I hear trains don't go far without rails
Hot take here……I do wholeheartedly agree with these takes. What kinda rubs me wrong, why hide that an employee or owner cleans the bathroom? To me, it shows they are human AND not above “cleaning a bathroom”. They’re taking pride in their business…..which sadly has gone by the wayside.
I think Greg walked away to make sure his kids survived. He put them and our health first.
Blade Runner, 2049 vibes cyberpunk🎵🎶🎼
Why does anyone pay an affiliation fee for a training methodology.
Just own your gym and do the workouts, drop the word CrossFit out of the title and it’s the exact same thing.
This business model never succeeds and it’s crazy that it’s lasted this long at such exorbitant rates
What are the odds Greg just straight up had a billionaire buddy buy the company and just park it for 4 years?
Good ol’ times! Miss them! Greg is a genius! Money cannot make geniuses…..
CF isn’t CF without Greg, it’s like taking away Colonel Sanders from KFC
Why does CF continue to go without a media team? Do you think they’re just being stubborn? Even if they just have a strong social media team it can grow the business for both the affiliates and headquarters.
now i miss OG era crossfit 😭
Me too. We have a FB group for former gym clients from 2009-2018. We all keep up with each other. Miss those days. Miss the community.
Broken Science gym would be awesome. Maybe we could start getting what we pay for. Or maybe pay less, fitness and nutrition shouldn't be only achievable by the upper class.
This is good shit Hiller, one of my favorites.
Incredible video Andrew. Keep it up brother, I have supported you from the beginning and I will continue on your boat. The truth always ends up coming out 🦇🦇🦇
I would argue that the CrossFit affiliates that have bad coaching and do not meet the quality threshold are brand diminishing for CrossFit as a whole. And raising the prices will ultimately weed out the lesser gyms that don’t want to meet the quality threshold. Every single time a person walks into a CrossFit affiliate, anywhere, they should have a certain expectation of the experience. Right now, you don’t know what you will get. That is bad for the brand. Of course the experience will always vary just like with anytime you walk into a business, but the best businesses limit that variation so the consumer knows what they can expect.
EXCELLENT points. So hope something positive and encouraging happens soon, however that may look.
The man does not miss, we simply at this point can only hope that it all goes upside down and maybe you'll end up in charge somehow
I'll go hangout with Greg in August ideally
@@hillerfit we’ll be waiting
As a business owner that is not a Crossfit affiliate owner I have to say Glassman is a visionary and a genius when it comes to fitness, motivation and loyalty. Not so much when it comes to business sense. All of his customers are buying those products anyway. If you think it takes away from the training/fitness aspects of the company then hire sales people and make sure your products are quality. The merchandise section would have been a very strong sector for all of the affiliate owners and actually help them charge a more reasonable membership fee and let's be honest that's the only reason casuals stop using local affiliates. He never sold out BTW, I remember the George Floyd nonsense he was pushed out by a lot of ungrateful athletes.
Andrew Hill is the Hero CrossFit deserves, not the one it needs. 🦇
This video said everything I've felt since the cowards turned on coach.
Two thoughts: Castros comments y is the classic response that drove many talented people out of Cf: not only did he not bother to vet the information, he calls you a “coward.” (Assuming you were suggesting folks leave, which you were not). A actual leader would have asked “why do you feel that way?” And they would be legitimately curious. One of CF’s big failing is an echo chamber, one that leads to a loss of contact with reality. Which brings me to my second point: Greg was shanked in this whole affair. The punishment way exceeded the “crime.” BUT. Greg also insisted in surrounding himself with “yes men.” Anyone with a remotely differing view was long removed. It’s a miracle it took as long as it did for the woke mob to break out the pitchforks. Long ago Greg gave a young man some advice : stfu. Greg would have benefited from a dose of that, but he had no feedback mechanism to get that in front of him.
I just want to know what the ROI is on the increased investment? In my current line of work if I want to spend a thousand dollars or more I have to do a proposal, submit it for review then present my plans including ROI and timelines to the investors. So it seems to me that HQ should have presented this whole thing to the affiliates first, allowing them time to review the plan and determine if this is a good business decision for them. Instead HQ decides to have a conversation with a podcaster the night before so he can get clicks and likes. As an investor that is very troubling, and shows the lack of respect they have to all their investors/ affiliate owners. For a private equity group “professional business men” they truly did no research prior to purchase. If this is like all private equity groups, they are trying to liquidate assets that lower their evaluation. I also would like to see how many affiliate owners started an affiliate with a L1, and the amount of time they coached with their L1 before being certified as a L2? I get it, any L2 affiliate owner wants the barrier of entry to be higher, it protects them from competition. However, I would say that most of them have experienced a former member leaving to start their own due to the coaching/ culture that the owner themselves created.
NoBull hasn‘t been at the Semis in Europe as well. Imagine you are at the biggest crossfit Event on the Continent and can‘t buy anything written „Crossfit“ on.
Greg is the man, but I do wish he would’ve cashed in on the games. By clearly separating the methodology and the sport the ad revenue from Ram trucks, mortgage companies, and streaming rights should have made the sport so profitable that the methodology was funded by the games
Greg Glassman can do anything in the fitness world, but he’ll need to be an affiliate to do anything regarding CrossFit.
Hiller you right 😮😮😮 you right 👏👏👏👏
Thank you lol
I see the black square people, Noah for instance and I think pretty much everything he has is because of Greg. Then I compare him to another game’s athlete in Colten Mertens and I think-if the games disappeared Colten is such a capable human he would go on and live a full life because of his life skills that he has. Obviously I don’t know Noah but what would he do if the games weren’t around? Does he have anything other than exercising fast?
They practically “gave” Bar Stool back to Dave Portnoy
Off topic but am I the only one that misses Reebok’s sponsorship? Edit: I made this comment before the clip of Greg talking about Reebok 😂.
Haha I do too
No way man, I miss Reebok bad, I miss the Nanos being good too. Coincidence that (IMO) the nano x was the last good nano and was the last year Reebok and CrossFit were partners…..
Reebok lost their ass on the deal.
Keep in mind when that happened there was a huge panic that Reebok would ruin CrossFit and we had been sold out. 🤣
First move you make with a cash cow business is to squeeze as much money as you can from it. You know the product you have has a limited shelf life. So you don’t invest, and you up the charges.
Counter point. Glassman’s ego is/was keeping CrossFit from being a stronger and more sustainable business. From his own admission he left millions of dollars on the table back then to keep it how he wanted it. His right, absolutely. But now CF needs to change course to grow as a sport. And yeah people will moan and groan. But like tree trimming, dead branches need to be pruned for new ones to grow.
so depressing to watch C-suite parasites milk crossfit dry. But I have a feeling the super hero redemption arc is about 8 months away.
Castro is such a sell out
The master plan is to turn people off CrossFit and on to Barre 😅
Decoons is on the inside doing work
Frank the tank!!!! Frank the tank!!!!! Frank the tank!!!!! Feels like Greg is gonna start FitCross and I’ll be opening an affiliate
Andrew Though I agree with you. I'm not sure Crossfit was in the best place before Greg left, at least if you are talking about the Open and games. Remember the date change to the fall and the 90 year Olds squatting with milk jugs? I think he was moving away from the games as a spectacle and back to more affiliate based. Things would not be perfect if Greg never left , but definitely different.
Love him or hate him at this point Glassman is a prophet.
Big difference between selling out and being pushed out....
I imagine if people don't watch the whole video a lot of points will be missed. It will be very interesting to see whay happens after the non compete is over.
You don't even get an official printed certificate for passing the L2 now. They send you a link to print it yourself. That would never have happened under GG.
There's never any grace given...never...you know who I'm talking about...
Looks like this was the last straw for my gym owner. Been with them since almost the begining. Only pays 1,500 a year affiliation fee. Now it will be Zero! Crossfit HQ must also be afraid of Ben Bergerons ambitions for a nationwide chain of Gyms. I def notice that Crossfit isnt as popular as it used to be. Interesting times ahead.
No one is afraid of Ben Bergeron.
An important question for people to consider is “would Greg compete against CrossFit knowing he could possibly destroy it???
It won't be destroyed. It would lose money and the owners would take the loss and divest and he'd probably be the only bidder. Then he'd just merge it with whatever he's got. I'd be interested to see exactly what the restrictions the sales contract and non-compete have.
Depends whether "CrossFit" is the company that Greg sold, or the methodology that Greg created. If the company drifts away from the methodology, perhaps the only way to preserve the methodology is to create another affiliate program.
Dammm brother you got me in tears 😂 with that black square shit. Keep fighting the bullshit 🦇
If you think suits are uncomfortable, you have the wrong suit. get one properly fitted and they feel as good as gym gear
Can’t wait for August 2024!!!
What I've noticed from several years of different boxes and my time as a digital marketer:
Most box owners dont know how to sustain local marketing for their boxes. They shouldn't have to and it shocks me that the premium they pay yields no serious marketing support from Crossfit.
Terrible digital marketing strategy from Crossfit.
It's like they don't know what their doing
@hillerfit I won't bore you with the rants I go on because I despise bad strategy.
But it hurts small business and that's what makes crossfit so appealing to me. It was an avenue to allow small business owners to align with a brand and build a local community.
However, that's not what they market as Crossfit. I don't understand it and I'm sure they don't either.
I've been in Crossfit since 2016, got my L1 in 2018 and coached through 2021. The brand has noticeably declined since Glassman left. I was really excited for the Sanctionals (#ArmenHammerTV) to Games model, 7 months of a Crossfit Games season had incredible potential. I think that is the right way to run an individual participation based sporting event, Ironman is working through the same issues. It had a huge profit potential for athletes and created an ecosystems for lower level competitors to make money. The current Games qualifying system is pretty bland. The Open doesn't really reach either Pro competitors or affiliate members. Dave Castro is a has-been and won't bring anything worthwhile to the competitive scene. I think there is fertile ground for whatever Glassman has up his sleeve.
I agree with you except for the bit about Castro.
Aug 2024! 😎NonCompete …complete!! 🔥 #GlassmanFit
Count me in!! 🤘🏼