Saturday, December 25, 2010

Roundtable in Tahoe: Community Comments

With some of CrossFit’s top athletes in Lake Tahoe, Calif., for the Rogue Vs. Again Faster Throwdown, it was a great opportunity to throw the athletes into a room and get them talking with the cameras rolling.

In this installment, the athletes discuss their critics. Dave Lipson opens the conversation by asking the other athletes how they deal with disparaging remarks on their performance. He says there’s a difference between the performance of elite competitors and clients at the gym.

“We’re in a program to compete and to win. We’re training ourselves as athletes with the goal of beating whoever it is that we are going against. That is our priority, and sometimes those other things get sacrificed,” Lipson says.

The other athletes agree that the elite are not always models for CrossFit movements and shouldn’t be emulated by most CrossFitters. Should their questionable form even be posted on the main site? Should there be a differentiation between their workouts and workout demos? Should the negativity be taken to heart?

According to Dave Castro, “The vocal minority isn’t the community.”

Rob Orlando agrees: “When I get an accolade from somebody here that I really respect, that’s what I chase.”

Tommy Hackenbruck says it well: “If people are talking about you, you’re doing something cool. If you post a video and no one says anything, take it personally. Seriously. If people are commenting on you, that’s a compliment.”

6min 59sec

Additional reading: All Other Things Being Equal: The CrossFit Fairness Doctrine by Paul Eich, published Aug. 1, 2008.

Noureen DeWulf Nicollette Sheridan Amber Heard Veronica Kay Mýa

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