Saturday as we gathered in Rock Creek Park for the first group workout since March 13, a workout to honor George Floyd, I mentioned that I felt like I was going back to my roots. What I meant was, this business started outdoors, with boot camp classes on the basketball courts at Lafayette Elementary School. Back then, it was called Second Wind Training.

Today our name is going back to Second Wind Training. And we will dis-affiliate with CrossFit.

For years, CrossFit has cultivated a certain image. At dinner the other night, my own daughter, who knows most of you and knows what kind of community we have at Second Wind, called it an “aggressively white sport.” The company with a vomiting clown as it’s mascot has often embraced it’s “shirtless bro” reputation. That always made it harder to sell to people who were a little nervous about coming in the door in the first place. I was constantly swimming upstream against that image, trying to convince people that we, Second Wind, were not like THAT.

Then this past week, CrossFIt founder Greg Glassman doubled-down with comments that were tone-deaf, inappropriate and hurtful. I can no longer align my business with a company that doesn’t accurately reflect who we are.

It’s time for a change. It’s time to go back to our roots.

The transition from Second Wind CrossFit to Second WInd Training is one of branding and nothing else. I still believe in the methodology and that will continue as it always has with the Workout of the Day being the centerpiece of what we do. The transition won’t happen overnight. So bear with me, because I actually have more important immediate issues, mainly surviving the shut down and re-starting classes without literally making people sick. Understand that nothing about your experience at the gym (when we re-open) will change. CrossFit never controlled any of that.

Finally, let me say that through the virus shutdown and now the demonstrations over racial inequality, something that has always weighed on the back of my mind has come to the forefront. I know that my business is expensive and therefore is organically exclusive despite my claims and belief in being inclusive. I don’t have a solution for that yet, but I am now committed to finding one.

I welcome your input and thank you for your support.

Steve