CrossFit Athletic Group

It's ironic that in school I was never into History class much, but as an athlete and coach I was and am really into it - probably because it's about things I cared about; the Greeks(?) conquering of Mesopotamia just didn't do it for me like the Bad Boys conquering of the Boston Celtics did. So as a kid I bored all of my coaches and teachers with history nuggets about which player played for which college, and as a 30 year-old at my Level-1 seminar I was the one whose hand shot up on my tiptoes when Joe DeGain did his CrossFit history trivia during intermissions.

The thing about history, though, is it's a thorough waste of time; not only does it require imagining living in a time that doesn't exist, but also ignoring the actual things that are happening at this very moment. So, yes, reading this is probably a waste of time; your kids are alive and won't always be this cute and cuttlesome and the Champions Club has already been in the spring for two weeks. Pistons fans might get confused watching the 30 for 30 on the Bad Boys and come away with a certain confidence about what their team represents... or, that is, what they represented 30 years ago. The Bill Laimbeer we all know and love doesn't exist right now; the Bill Laimbeer of 2024 would first wonder mistakingly into a giant office building, and then walk nextdoor to ominously check the tallest player on the court - Jason Tatum - ready for an old-fashioned low post matchup.

And this is exactly why I am asking you all to appreciate what David Saporito is bringing to the Champions Club.

Can you think of any other figure from the "glory years" of someting is still out there performing at his best? And Sap has done it twice; he was part of the lauded Freaks group ten years ago this winter, left after the tire thing, won Athlete of the Summer in 2017, left again, then came back a year ago and is now, undeniably, fitter than I am. I mean, it's stupid how he's kept the important parts of his cross country conditioning and gained lifting and gymnastics strength, as well as the power and speed. I have been refraining from listing workout times in these posts, but I'll make an exception here: 405 deadlift, 32+ rounds of Cindy, 5:09 Karen, 24:51(!) Manion... The David Saporito we are seeing now is the fittest the Champions Club has ever seen one of its male athletes.

Simon Sinek talks about one of the characteristics needed to play the Infinite Game being "existential flexibility." Sap has shown a marked lack of that in his hamstrings or shoulders, but his mentality and drive certainly meet the criteria. Here's the general progression of his fitness:

• Entered the Champions Club doing 12# thrusters and banded pull-ups in hopes of competing against Jason and the Banets
• Left the Champions Club in March 2014 as the fittest boy in the gym
• Forced to eliminate all muscle gained from CrossFit in order to run in college
• Stopped running in college and came back to the Champions Club where he relearned habits
• Left that Summer with a banner
• Joined a different CrossFit gym out at school with different values and movement standards
• Bounced between us and CrossFit in Ypsi during college years
• Started doing lifting on his own at globogym when he graduated
• Came back to a Champions Club in 2022 that was completely foreign to him - both in coaching style and community
• Athlete of the Winter 2023-2024 - 10 years after his glory days

In the spirit of history nerds, here's a little Champions Club trivia for you: can you name the 8 people (including Sap) who have won a Athlete of the Winter/Spring/Summer/Fall award more than once?

Now here's a second one: how many of those people won another seasonal award after their Athlete of the Summer?

We used to have a running joke about an Athlete of the Summer curse, where once someone went all-out for a banner we'd never see a better version of them. This was a little embelished with good humor, but it wasn't far from the truth. Katie Shakes saw to end that stigma in spring 2018, then Bubs had her mid-career reniassance in spring/Summer 2022, and now we have David Sap balling out this winter. The more I truly commit to the concept of a gym for families and people who we want around us for a lifetime, the more I have to come to terms with the fact that there will be blank spaces, underscores, and elipses during the course of everyone's Champions Club career. And it's not difficult to draw parallels between that Sap did this winter and all of you; there is no reason to believe anyone in here's best days are behind them.

...........

Winter was interesting for me when looking at the Champions Club from a macro perspective, and it started with the Christmas Workout. We had 66 people in attendance there, and something about it just didn't quite make sense coming off a 150+ person Summer; around the same time I was a little confused as to why the Money Cup wasn't filling up like I expected. The two things were connected, just wasn't quite sure how. And then after a few times tweaking and reorganizing the recruiting board I realized what the problem was: we need more people. Wow that's really stunning and insightful there, Chris, you're probably thinking. But it's actually a little more specific than "we need more people," it's, "we need more families."

The way that we operate with kids having different sports seasons, Babies and Double-A mixing in with regular groups, and parents' attendance accounting for all of that, it's proably more accurate to say that we had like 67 families in Summer 2023 than 150 people. It's a more solid foundation for making sure the Money Cup gets filled up and also provides a lower floor for attandance year-round, not just Summer.

And it's like God was waiting for me to come to this reality because the week after I did we added three New Kids to the Champions Club: Sean, Mr. Doug aka "Mr. Coffee," and Mrs. Colleen. While all of them are working out on their own here at this time, they all fit the "family" criteria I'm looking for, as well as the obvious culture fit they have shown during the month of February.

As for the regulars, Mr. Ron and Mrs. Hill were right there in the Athlete of the Winter running as well; Mr. Krstich and Bethany had their best seasons of CrossFit so far; Evan is back with us! Also I feel a special shout-out needs to go to Katie Shakes and Dillon Sharp; both of them spent a lot of time either working out after-hours by themselves or with me and were able to maintain a fitness that has kept their head above water during a time where it easily could have gone under; in Dillon's case her push-ups are up to 24ish now and her pull-ups around 16.

...........

Sometimes it's nice to pause and realize just how fortunate we are to have this thing unconditionally here for us every single day - whether we haven't missed one or been out for months (or years) at a time. I've asked two other CrossFit gym owners whom I deeply respect how long they expect their members to last, and they both replied somewhere between 2 and 2.5 years. I found that so... uugghhh... I still can't wrap my head around that. Like yup Mr. Ron, you just underwent a complete body transformation and athletic overhaul, and now your two years is up so go ahead and show off those new abilities without sharing it with the rest of us. Hell no! I expect everyone in the gym to be lifers! Otherwise you wouldn't be here. And I have to understand that if I'm going to commit to that, there's going to be plenty of variance in attendance, performance, money, mood, and purpose. Doesn't matter, I'm here for the ride and I'm willing to learn whatever it takes to support that journey.

Be thankful to those who are here every day; thay make it so you have a place to come back to.

Be thankful to those who have the nuts to come back after time away; that's going to be you at some point.

Be thankful to the Babies and Double-A kids hanging around at sessions; they make everyone put their guards down and be kids with them.

Be thankful for Mrs. Gloria, because she is a reminder that no matter how often Mrs. Carey and the rest of us have doubts about how long we can keep up this CrossFit thing, we can always go a little more if we just randomly start singing in Spanish while lifting.

Love you guys! Here's the Winter '23-'24 Photo Gallery.

Chris