A Look Inside My Brain

Dear diary: I PR’d again today, but Trysh didn’t notice…

This Might Go Nowhere

Dear diary: I’ve been thinking again.

Which, if you know me, is usually where things get a little weird.

Not in a “we need to change everything” way — more in a finger-on-chin, staring-at-the-wall-between-classes kind of way. Just noticing patterns. Asking questions. Letting my brain wander around the labyrinth for a bit.

So consider this an open invite to take a peek inside it.

Do People Actually Care What a Gym Is Called?

This one keeps popping up.

Do people really care if a gym is a CrossFit affiliate anymore?

There was a time when the name alone did all the work. You saw “CrossFit” on the door and thought, “Cool. That’s where the fit people train.” No explanation required. Back then, it almost didn’t matter what the gym was called — you could’ve named it Judy Loves Mark Wahlberg CrossFit and people still would’ve walked through the door.

Now it feels more like:

• If you know, you know

• If you don’t… it might not mean much

Not in a bad way. Just… different.

Almost like CrossFit has become a language you already have to speak instead of something you discover and figure out as you go.

And I honestly can’t tell if that’s a failure, a natural evolution, or just what happens when something grows up.

Do People Love Events… or Do They Love a Reason?

Another thing rattling around up there:

Do people actually love HYROX?

Or do they love that it’s:

• An event

• A finish line

• A date on the calendar

• A lower barrier of entry than, say, 375-lb deadlifts for reps and handstand walking

Same question applies to half marathons, 10Ks, or really anything that gives training a point.

Is it the thing…or is it the reason?

Because most people don’t wake up thinking:

“I want CrossFit.” "I want HYROX." "I want F45." "I love lamp."

They wake up thinking:

• “I want to feel capable again.”

• “I want structure.”

• “I want to get stronger.”

• “I want to train without getting wrecked.”

• “I want to belong somewhere.”

The event just gives those thoughts somewhere to land.

The Whole “Feeling Safe” Thing

Here’s a pattern that’s hard to ignore.

A lot of people start in places that feel safer. Not physically safer — socially safer.

Fewer expectations. Less jargon. Less fear of looking dumb.

And then… eventually… they end up here.

Usually with some version of:

• “It was fun at first.”

• “It got kind of repetitive.”

• “I wanted to lift heavier.”

• “I wanted real coaching.”

• “I wanted to actually get stronger.”

Part of me laughs at this. Part of me gets a little bummed.

I laugh because so much of that time could’ve been spent building the exact skills, strength, and confidence people say they want when they finally walk through our doors.

And I get bummed because it tells me something important:

Somewhere along the line, CrossFit stopped feeling safe to the general public — not because of the training itself, but because it can feel unclear from the outside.

Like you need to already understand it before you’re allowed to try it.

Underneath all of it, I think most people just want to know they’re seen — not just another body in a gym.

Labels Are Louder Than We Think

Sometimes I chuckle and just slap my forehead thinking about how much power labels actually have.

If we unaffiliated tomorrow — and literally changed nothing else —

same training cycles,

same coaching,

same Open workouts,

same cleans and thrusters…

I know exactly what would happen.

Some people would say, “WTF?”

Others would joke that Rich would be disappointed.

(If you don’t know who Rich is yet, don’t worry — you’ll figure it out.)

And honestly, some people probably wouldn’t even realize we were affiliated in the first place.

Meanwhile… everyone would still be training exactly the same.

Which is kind of hilarious. And kind of telling.

Because the label would have changed — but the training wouldn’t have.

That’s when I catch myself thinking about things like HYROX.

I’ll admit — part of me smiles. If you really strip it down, it feels like a longer, endurance-heavy CrossFit workout.

Anyone who’s been doing CrossFit long enough has lived through enough Murphs, hero workouts, or

“I have an idea” mash-ups to know exactly what that feels like.

Insert the Pam-from-The-Office meme here:

“Corporate wants you to find the difference between these two things.”

Spoiler: they’re basically the same thing.

But then I stop laughing.

Because someone was brave enough to create something that brought people together.

That united fitness across countries.

That gave people a shared experience, a finish line, and a reason to train.

And that deserves respect.

Because that’s the same thing CrossFit did when it first showed up.

That Feeling We Used to Have

I don’t just mean The Open — though that was a huge part of it.

I remember watching vlogs of athletes training in:

• Britain

• Iceland

• France

• Australia

Different gyms.

Different cultures.

Different accents.

Same suffering.

Same movements.

Same shared language of effort.

That was special.

It made training feel global. It made fitness feel bigger than your own four walls.

And I think that’s why events resonate now — not because people stopped liking strength or conditioning, but because people want to feel connected to something again.

Your Body Doesn’t Know What It’s Doing

(And That’s Kind of the Point)

Another thing I think about a lot:

Your body doesn’t know it’s doing CrossFit.

Or HYROX.

Or a half mary (half marathon — it’s kind of like “fetch,” it’ll catch on).

Or Barry’s.

Or yoga.

That’s a brain thing.

That’s a you thing.

Your body deals in much simpler terms:

• Work and rest

• Stress and adaptation

• Aerobic and anaerobic

• Alactic and lactic

It doesn’t care what the class is called. It cares what you’re asking it to do — and whether you’re doing it consistently enough to adapt.

Which makes me wonder how much of fitness identity is built on belief, not physiology.

People are frustrated with the brand…

but they don’t want to leave the training.

Or the community.

Or the people they’ve been doing thrusters and pull-ups next to for years.

But is it really “leaving” if you’re still doing thrusters and pull-ups with the people you care about?

Sometimes the officialness of something matters more than the thing itself.

No answers here.

Just observations.

The Characters You Start to Notice

When you hang around gyms long enough, you start to notice familiar characters.

• The OGs who still wear Nanos and refer to Rich Froning as just “Rich.” (Yes — this is where you realize who Rich is. And yes — I am absolutely one of those people.)

• The folks who love lifting, complain endlessly about running, and secretly hope today’s workout is only lifting

(Spoiler: this is CrossFit. Your ass is eventually going to run or fall to the floor repeatedly. But we get it. Cardio is hardio.)

• The people who want something — anything — on the calendar

• The ones quietly restarting after life happened

And here’s the thing I keep coming back to:

The original beauty of this style of training wasn’t just that it was broad — it was that it was useful.

Most people don’t actually have specific goals. They just want to be:

• Fitter than not

• Stronger than weaker

• Faster than slower

• Leaner than before

Until curiosity pulls you toward something specific…why wouldn’t you train in a way that prepares you for everything and anything?

That’s not a downside of being broad. That’s the whole point.

Confidence Is the Real Output

Even though the brand of CrossFit hasn’t exactly been crushing it lately, using the methodology as my training backbone has given me something I don’t take lightly:

Confidence.

A couple weeks ago, I got bored during Open Gym on a Thursday and just… did a HYROX by myself.

No buildup. No announcement. Just felt like it.

Now I’m doing one with Kyle this weekend in Vancouver.

That confidence doesn’t come from just doing cable flies at Gold’s.

Or doing bootcamps forever.

Or only running.

It comes from training in a way that prepares you for anything — even when you don’t know what that thing is yet.

Version 1.0 Never Lasts

This part always makes me laugh.

People hate change. They resist it. They’re scared of it.

But we literally never stay version 1.0 of anything.

Not phones

(looking at you, Motorola RAZR).

Not software

(looking at you, Windows 95 — and waiting 10 minutes to hear the dial-up connect).

Not careers

(hello, barista at Tully’s Coffee).

Not relationships

(shoutout to Alanna Dodd — I’m sorry how it ended, but I just wasn’t ready to settle down in the 7th grade).

Not ourselves

(I used to eat mac and cheese as a kid. Now look at me. Won’t touch it.)

So why do we expect fitness — or gyms — to stay frozen in time?

No answer.

Just curiosity.

Probably No Conclusion Here Either

I do know this:

I want to be able to do things when they come up.

I want to feel capable.

I don’t want to need six months of prep just to say yes to something interesting.

I have no problem giving credit where it’s due — the backbone of my training for the past 15+ years, rooted in CrossFit methodology, is absolutely the reason I feel that way.

That doesn’t mean I’m dying on any hills.

Or pledging allegiance to a logo.

Or pretending one label has all the answers.

PUSH was built on the idea that training is more than labels — more than CrossFit, more than HYROX, more than whatever’s trending this year.

At its core, it’s a training club that takes training for anything seriously — and cares deeply about how to do it well.

That’s it. That’s my brain dump.

If you’ve got opinions, I’d love to hear them.

If you disagree, even better.

Catch me between sets.

Or just keep training.

Sometimes the questions matter more than the answers.

— Aidan

Stay Dope.