The Power of Community: CrossFit and the Force of Human Connection

there are three ways to approach this topic (the social/community aspects of crossfit):

1. Theoretical: the psychological/scientific underpinnings of community in CrossFit

2. Practical: how to foster community in CrossFit

3. Experiential: examples of community in CrossFit

This book is almost 100% of #3. It is example after example of how CrossFit fosters closer community, and how that community benefits people physically.

I appreciate this, I really do. But about halfway through the book, I was thinking, “Is there a point to all this?” There comes a moment when the author is preaching to the choir and you have to wonder where she’s going.

I am a dedicated CrossFitter. I’ve even written about the social aspects of CrossFit a bit:

The Empathy WOD

These examples are pleasant and interesting, but they didn’t do anything for me.

What I wanted was #1 and #2. I wanted to know why community works and how to increase it a my own box. Was looking for theory and practice, not experience. And even if you are looking for experience, this book has a LOT of it. More examples that you could probably ever use or get benefit from.

The author is a psychologist. I would love to see a second edition where she dug into someone of the science of why community causes us to fight harder, and how we can use this to our advantage when coaching our athletes.