By: Nicole Holstrom

CrossFit is a method of fitness that spans the globe boasting more than 400 facilities in 10 countries including Scotland, Japan, Puerto Rico, and Australia. Millions of people CrossFit every day - Men, Women, Children, the young, the elderly, military personnel, kindergarten teachers, firefighters, and SWAT members complete CrossFit workouts side by side. It is fitness that is meant not for the specialist but instead offers top notch fitness to the masses.

So what does it mean to be CrossFit? Is this feeling reserved for someone who is an Elite CrossFitter? Is being Crossfit a level of fitness that is to be obtained or something to strive for? In trying to better understand Elite fitness and what it means to be CrossFit I sat down with CrossFit Central CoFounder and owner Jeremy Thiel. Being the 3rd Place winner at the International CrossFit Games, I assumed if anyone is CrossFit, it's this guy. What I found out though, was that prior to the CrossFit Games Jeremy didn't think he was CrossFit.

This insight surprised me. Here is a young man, who many people look to as the pillar of fitness, an icon that others aspire to be like, and he was saying that only months ago he didn't believe he was CrossFit.

"Okay, wait a minute." I said as I set down my pen in astonishment. "Everyone looks to you as one of the top CrossFitters. How did you not believe that you were CrossFit?"

"I looked to the trainers at CrossFit HQ - Annie, Nicole, and all of the other Elites - and thought they were CrossFit. I was constantly aspiring to reach their level of fitness. What I realized is that it's not whether you can do a muscle up, or if you can't do the WOD as prescribed, or if you don't have a PR. Being CrossFit means that you get up and you do it. You're doing some of the toughest workouts in the world. You are apart of a minority that will even try these workouts."

At what point did you come to this realization?

"After the games I realized that I was on that plane coming back from the Games as a finalist because I accepted the challenge of the WOD. Being CrossFit is striving for excellence, it's a mentality, it's a culture. CrossFit makes you face your own monsters - it's you against the White board, the only thing that stands in your way is yourself and your own mental barriers."

What about Elite CrossFitters - are they more CrossFit than say, me, who is still learning a Kipping pull up?

"No. Scalability is the acceptance in Crossfit. It let's two people stand side by side and feel exactly the same no matter what their time is. I believe that the tagline Forging Elite Fitness is a mechanism to keep the weak minded out. What it means to "be elite" is in your mind - it's relative. Look at the words in the definition of Crossfit - constantly varied functional movement executed at high intensity. The key word here is relative. CrossFit is not about developing Elite athletes, it's about fitness - true fitness - for everyone."

In talking with a few clients about why they are CrossFit - I found all kinds of answers from "I can fit in my skinny jeans" to "I lost 10% body fat!" to "I've never run a 5K before CrossFit and Im now training for my first half marathon this year"! In sitting down with Jeremy I learned a few things. I realized that I Am CrossFit. That I get up 3 days a week to train with like minded individuals who are also all CrossFit. To be CrossFit is about believeing in yourself and what you are capable of. Just like Jeremy said - If you're getting up and doing these workouts, you're CrossFit.

The only question left to ask - Why are you CrossFit?