The document provides an overview of how CrossFit is viewed through the lenses of four subdisciplines of kinesiology: sport psychology, sport history, sport sociology, and exercise physiology. It discusses how CrossFit creates communities and competitions, reflects American culture and values, elicits varied opinions both within and outside its community, and provides anaerobic training benefits while also potentially overtraining risks. The author concludes kinesiology is an important major given its focus on human movement and health, though suggests some classes could better integrate physical activity and health perspectives for PACC majors.

1. Concepts Paper 1
Integration of Concepts Paper
Ben Tripp
California State University, Sacramento
Kinesiology 133
Dr. Smith
3/25/2016

2. Concepts Paper 2
Crossfit is an aspect of the fitness industry that draws a lot of different opinions. These
opinions can range anywhere from, “Crossfit will fix the obesity epidemic of this country,” to
“Crossfit is the worst thing since the Atkins diet.” There are many views and opinions of
Crossfit from experts in the field of Kinesiology, like Mark Rippetoe or Dr. Allison Belger for
example. I am going to show you how Crossfit is viewed by these sub disciples: sport
psychology, sport history, sport sociology, and exercise physiology.
Sport psychology is the study of psychology in the field of sports and athletics, to see
what makes a player succeed or not. This is much different than traditional psychology, which
just studies illnesses and disorders. Sport psychology watches and observes how and why
people act and think a certain way in a kinesthetic setting. Crossfit, according to Dr. Belger
(2012), is a positive psychological experience. Is Crossfit really as inclusive as it sounds? In the
sports psychology world, this question gets asked about Crossfit regularly. First, let’s look at
regular gyms. Crunch Fitness is a gym that has the slogan, “No Judgments.” This implies that
when you go to this gym no one will look down on you or judge you no matter what experience
level you have or what physique you have. On the flip side, Gold’s Gym, is not known for
emphasizing no judgments. Instead, it is a gym that actually seeks members who have the
perfect physique. They do this for various reasons and do not cater specifically to overweight
people or those new to exercising. Crossfit can be either nonjudgmental or exclusive
depending on the gym and its individual philosophy because every Crossfit gym operates
individually as its own entity; anyone can open a Crossfit gym and sell to whoever they want.
One gym, which is called a box, will cater to the individual that is seeking some activity, but you
can go to the other extreme where a box will only train athletes that are training for the Crossfit

3. Concepts Paper 3
Games. The thing that Crossfit does do is create a community of people. It is not a secluded
community that only certain people can get into. A quote from Dr. Belger (2012), who is a
Crossfit gym owner and a clinical psychologist says, “We know that communities can provide
the kind of social support and connectedness that foster a myriad of positive outcomes in
people’s lives” (p. 32). Belger reinforces that a community can be found anywhere in Crossfit.
Will one cater to the needs of a specific individual? Yes, and so does a normal gym like Crunch
or Gold’s Gym.
The history of sport in American culture is something that reflects the identity of our
country as a whole. Crossfit feeds right in to the history of sport in America. Competition and
sport is something that is ingrained into the fabric of the American culture. Some parents will
spend more money on their kids training and traveling in youth sports hoping for a college
scholarship, than if they just saved that money to pay for college. This shows how American
sports have developed a high competitive nature within each sport.
Crossfit, at its roots, is a competition based sport. Athletes compete each workout
against themselves, their time, and their peers’ performance. How did Crossfit become what it
is today and why is it so competition based? This derives from the root of American society. If
you look at almost every aspect of American life, we are constantly in competition, or perceived
competition. Americans love to compete against others like baseball, bodybuilding and tough
mudders, which is what Crossfit is really about. The founder of Crossfit, Greg Glassman, takes a
different approach to why Crossfit is so successful. Glassman (2002) explains, “From the
beginning, the aim of Crossfit has been to forge a broad, general, and inclusive fitness” (p. 1).
The part that Glassman leaves out of his description is the competitive aspect to the sport. The

4. Concepts Paper 4
Crossfit games are an example of competition at its finest. This is an event that brings together
the best of the best “crossfitters” to compete against one another in various workouts. This is
why Crossfit is seen as a constant competition against others. If you watch the Games, you will
see what values Glassman holds: broad and general exercises, and athletes congratulating one
another after the competition. Crossfit will not be going anywhere anytime soon and will make
its mark on the history of sport.
Crossfit, in the realm of sport society, is a controversial topic. When you talk to
people within Crossfit and read some of the articles writing by Crossfitters, they all come to the
conclusion that they don’t worry about what other people think of them. They will defend their
institution when needed, but all in all they aren’t worried about others opinions. They
themselves don’t really place an opinion on others, but if you ask people within Crossfit they
think that most, if not all, people should be doing Crossfit. They also get a lot of joy in going to
their box every day. Parker (2012) is quoted saying, “One thing I love about Crossfit is that
every day is different—different movements and different workouts” (p. 6). Parker wrote a
journal as a beginner going into Crossfit. Parker argues that even the most untrained individual
can do Crossfit because every day is different than the next and there is always a variation to an
exercise. Mark Rippetoe, one of the leaders in the US on strength training, suggests that
Crossfit isn’t as great as it sounds because of the lack of education provided to Crossfit Coaches.
Rippetoe (2013) says, “The Ugly is that there are many thousands of CrossFit affiliates around
the world and hundreds of new “coaches” each weekend. Think about this very carefully
(Rippetoe, Do you have what it takes for a CrossFit workout? Hint: No beginners, 2013),” (The
Ugly section, par. 14). As mentioned before, Crossfit brings in a lot of different opinions from

5. Concepts Paper 5
people outside of the Crossfit society. One conclusion that most people would agree with is
that Crossfit can help you become healthier. Society will always have a mixed view on Crossfit,
but in general there is no denying that they are very well liked in our society based off the rate
of new box gyms opening up in this country.
From an exercise physiology stand point, Crossfit hits on the anaerobic phases of
training, which comes with some benefits to your body and health. Crossfit hits on a multitude
of physiological realms. The main two are phosphocreatine phase and glycolytic phase. Both
are short and quick movements that last, at most, for a few minutes. Two of the most common
training methods for Crossfit involve time. The first one is called AMRAP, the second is called
EMOM. AMRAP stands for “As many repetitions as possible.” The WOD, or workout of the day,
will prescribe a certain time, then you perform as many repetitions within that designated time.
This would satisfy the glycolytic phase of training. EMOM, is “every minute on the minute,” this
is usually comprised of one repetition max. Every minute you do a repetition of a certain lift
and then rest for the 50 seconds in-between. This is satisfying the phosphocreatine phase of
training that Crossfit prescribes. WOD’s are not necessarily better for you since it is similar to
other types of training, like high intensity interval training, which provides the same
physiological benefits. Dan Diamond (2015), a health and fitness writer for Forbes, points out
that WOD’s only caters to people that can be obsessive with fitness and in turn becomes
detrimental to their physical health. Crossfit tries to counter this by coming up with fictional
characters that show the negative effects of over training. This character is called, uncle
Rhabdo, he represents rhabdomyolysis which is a breakdown of muscle fibers that get into the

6. Concepts Paper 6
blood stream and destroy the liver. Crossfit has many physical benefits, but it can also come
with some detriments just like any other form of exercise.
I see kinesiology as a great major that is integral in our society. Kinesiology as a whole is
so important because it is about humans. The last time I checked, humans are not going
anywhere anytime soon. The department of kinesiology as a whole is extremely broad in the
name, but allows for a vast amount of sub disciplines within the name. I see this major
continuing to grow and expand, especially in America with our epidemic of obesity and
preventable health issues. I think that there will be a continuing growth and demand for
kinesiology based professionals based solely off of this issue alone.
The program as a whole at Sacramento State University is now a part of me that I will
never loose, and I mean that in the most positive way. I have grown and learned so much
information about the movement of the body and all of its sub disciplines, that I would not
have learned on my own. The part of PACC that I wish to have changed or adapted would be
less of an emphasis with some classes on physical education and more on physical activity. One
class that I think did not adapt to PACC majors was Kins 138. It was exclusively about being a PE
teacher and was not modified or adapted to help integrate PACC majors. It had content that
was applicable for PACC majors, but you were left to translate the information yourself. A class
that met in the middle for both majors was Kins 135. This was structured and taught in a way
that allowed the PETE majors to talk and act like a teacher and then let the PACC majors talk
and act like a PACC major. An example of how Kins 135 did this was on the assessment project.
Dr. Wright let each individual set their own scenarios for the assessment project instead of
restricting the criteria. I think it would be beneficial for Kins 138 to adapt this strategy or make

7. Concepts Paper 7
a class that teaches about strategies in physical activity. Besides this slight change in the PACC
program, I think the types of classes that are required in this program are applicable to life
outside of college.

8. Concepts Paper 8
ReferenceList
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http://www.catalystathletics.com/

9. Concepts Paper 9
Forgione, M. (2010, October 12). Do you have what it takes for a CrossFit workout? Hint: No
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10. Concepts Paper 10
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Catalyst Athletics.

11. Concepts Paper 11
Outline
1. Sport psychology
A. View
i. the positivity of having a community
ii. is it a secluded community? (Belger D. A., 2012)
B. Values
i. Team values
ii. Competition values
C. Ask questions
i. Is Crossfit really as inclusive as it sounds? (Appetite for Health, 2012)
ii. Does it create psychologically healthy people?
2. Sport history
A. View
i. Americans need for sport and competition
ii. How did Crossfit become what it is today? (Glassman, Foundations, 2002)
B. Values
i. Why Americans love Crossfit
ii. Will it last or diminish? (Parker, 2012)
3. Sport sociology
A. View
i. how people within Crossfit view others and themselves, (Rippetoe, Do you have what
it takes for a CrossFit workout? Hint: No beginners, 2013)
ii. how people view Crossfit and the people within it. (Stoddard, 2011)
B. Values
i. What does Crossfit value as a society (Glassman, What is Fitness?, 2002)
4. Exercise physiology
A. View
i. the benefits to Crossfit.
ii. The issues faced with Crossfit and an obese country
B. Values
i. The types of exercise programs or “WOD” (Glassman, The CrossFit Level 1 Training
Guide, 2007)
ii. Are WODs better? (Diamond, 2015)

12. Concepts Paper 12
5. How I view Kinesiology
A. Why it’s a great major
i. Enjoyed the broad overview of all the sub disciplines
B. The program
i. The good: very informative with movement as a whole
ii. PACC needs to be a little more towards PA and less towards PE