Rich Froning won the 2013 CrossFit Games yesterday, keeping his crown as the fittest man on Earth for the 3rd straight year. I’ve been a casual observer of the CrossFit Games since last years games and I’ve been reading CrossFit blogs for about the past 18 months. There is a lot to love about CrossFit and I have completed a handful of WODs (workout of the days). Eventually, I would like to join a box (what they call their gyms) and get into CrossFit full-time. But for now I remain an observer and infrequent unsupervised participant.

The guys and girls competing in the CrossFit Games in Culver City, CA are beasts – and I mean that as a giant compliment. They all qualified through regionals and simply have outstanding strength and endurance. 138,00 athletes from 118 countries competed in the The Open stage of qualifying where open workouts were announced via live online broadcasts each week. Only about 50 men and 50 women advanced to the televised 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games. Having tried some of the exercises they are doing, it is amazing to watch them make it look so easy.

CrossFit varies the workouts everyday by having a different WOD. It breeds a positive competitive environment where you are competing with yourself, trying to improve on your time or weight, as well as competing against the others in your box. The competition helps brings out the best of everyone and it also creates a tight-knit community in which you want everyone to succeed. This was clearly evident when Rich Froning completed his winning set yesterday. He was exhausted (although he didn’t look it because as previously mentioned, he is a beast) and he just clinched his third straight CrossFit Games title, yet one of the first things he did was go to the other competitors and encourage them to finish strong.

Often times, I think about how much I miss playing competitive team sports. The camaraderie that develops from being physically tested together can’t be found anywhere else, or so I thought. CrossFit seems to offer that and watching the games yesterday was a great reminder. While many thought it might be a workout fad that would fade away, CrossFit continues to gain popularity and the games have a lot to do with that.

Many professional athletes have found CrossFit to be a very effective training method and it’s equally as common with the everyday person. It may not be for everyone but CrossFit seems like a great way for competitive adults to stay in shape and still satisfy thirst for competition, especially if their playing days are long behind them. I don’t think I’m too far away from being a full-timer cross-fitter myself.