THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIABILITY IN CROSSFIT: COLLECTIVELY INDIVIDUALIZED BODIES

Abstract

The aim of the study was to analyze the construction of sociabilities in CrossFit, as a means of capturing the values and practices inherent to the body investment in this modality. Therefore, based on the socio-anthropological approach, in order to observe bodily practices in the field and analyze the representations given by the subjects to the practice, participant observation from a CrossFit box in the city of Rio de Janeiro and interviews with CrossFitters from official boxes in Rio de Janeiro was used. As the main results, it was noted that sociability in CrossFit is permeated by values of overcoming, solidarity, comparison and competition between subjects and with themselves. It is concluded that despite the practice being collective/in a group, the objectives and responsibilities within the field are individualized so that the subjects are instigated to constantly overcome themselves.

Keywords:
Exercise; Social behavior; Human Body; Physical Fitness.

Resumo

O objetivo deste artigo é analisar a construção das sociabilidades no CrossFit, como um meio de captar os valores e práticas inerentes ao investimento corporal nessa modalidade. Para tanto, com base na abordagem socioantropológica, observaram-se as práticas corporais em campo e analisaram-se as representações dadas a elas pelos sujeitos, por meio da observação participante de um box oficial na cidade do Rio de Janeiro e de entrevistas com praticantes de CrossFit de boxes oficiais do Rio de Janeiro. Como principais resultados, notou-se que a sociabilidade no CrossFit é permeada por valores de superação, solidariedade, comparação e competição entre os sujeitos e consigo mesmo. Conclui-se que apesar desta prática corporal ser coletiva/em grupo, os objetivos e as responsabilidades dentro do campo são individualizados, de modo que os sujeitos sejam instigados a se aprimorarem e se superarem constantemente.

Palavras-chave:
Exercício físico; Comportamento social; Corpo Humano; Aptidão Física.

Resumen

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar la construcción de las sociabilidades en el CrossFit, como medio de captar los valores y prácticas inherentes a la inversión corporal en esa modalidad. Para ello, con base en el enfoque socioantropológico, se observaron las prácticas corporales en campo y se analizaron las representaciones dadas por los sujetos a las mismas, a través de la observación participante de un box oficial en la ciudad de Rio de Janeiro y de entrevistas con practicantes de CrossFit de boxes oficiales de Rio de Janeiro. Como principales resultados, se observó que la sociabilidad en el CrossFit está permeada de valores de superación, solidaridad, comparación y competencia entre los sujetos y con sí mismo. Se concluye que a pesar de que la práctica es colectiva/en grupo, los objetivos y responsabilidades dentro del campo son individualizados, por lo que los sujetos son instigados a superarse y a mejorar constantemente.

Palabras clave:
Ejercicio físico; Conducta social; Cuerpo Humano; Aptitud Física.

1 INTRODUCTION¹

[...] society, whose life takes place in an incessant flux, always means that individuals are linked to each other by the mutual influence they exert on each other and by the reciprocal determination they exert on each other. (SIMMEL, 2006, p. 17).

This article seeks to analyze the bodily practices² within CrossFit, as well as the distinct sociabilities that emerge from them among its participants, in light of Georg Simmel (2006, 2014).

CrossFit® is both a bodily practice, based on the adoption of functional and constantly varied movements at high intensity, performed in spaces known as boxes, and a commercial brand founded by Greg Glassman and Lauren Jenai (MENEZES, 2013). In Brazil, such practice arrived in 2009 by Physical Education teacher and athlete Joel Fridman, when he opened a CrossFit box in São Paulo (MANSKE; ROMANIO, 2015). Today in the Brazilian market there are two types of boxes related to the practice, those that are associated with the CrossFit® brand, known by practitioners as official boxes, and those that are not associated with the brand (due to high financial costs), non-official boxes.

The dynamics of CrossFit is configured as a group class, in a group format, of sixty minutes divided into Warm-up, Skill (development/improvement of a specific technique or strength work), WOD (Workout of the day - the main part of the class), and stretching/recovery (BAPTISTA, 2021).

When considering that CrossFit has group classes as its dynamic and that its social dissemination has gained prominence in the last decade (DOMINSKI; CASAGRANDE; ANDRADE, 2019), understanding how sociabilities are built within this practice becomes important to identify values and practices inherent to contemporary body education.

Simmel (2006, p. 33) helps us in this debate by pointing out that the existence of society occurs in the “reciprocal action between individuals”, in which, from the pursuit of certain interests and purposes, the effects of interactions between individuals compose a unit, the society (SIMMEL, 2006), which is a continuous and fluid process.

However, motivations and interests by themselves are not configured as a factor of sociation by themselves, since sociation is the “way [...] in which individuals, because of their interests [...] develop together towards a unity within which these interests are realized” (SIMMEL, 2006, p. 60-61), that is, when certain ways of interacting with, against and for the other are adopted (SIMMEL, 2006). Therefore, sociability relations are contextual (CAVALCANTI, 2016), given that they refer to the ways, manners, modes, contents, motivations, and patterns of relating, interacting, acting socially, in a concrete way, in situations or social interaction groups (SIMMEL, 2006; CAVALCANTI, 2016).

Equally mediated by “sociability, we enable ourselves to be in constant adjustment [or conflict] to the set of rules of social groups” (MANFIO, 2007, p. 37), thus the process of socialization can be seen as something intrinsic to bodily manifestations (MANFIO, 2007).

Therefore, CrossFit can be thought of as a privileged field of analysis of social interactions and tensions, in which the dualistic characteristics of “human nature”, i.e., the need to belong and, at the same time, to individualize (SIMMEL, 2006, 2014), are notorious. Thus, this article aims to analyze the construction of CrossFit’s sociabilities to capture the values and practices inherent in bodily investment in this modality.

2 METHODOLOGY

The present work, extracted from the thesis of the first author (BAPTISTA, 2021), is part of the qualitative approach of socio-anthropological nature. For apprehension and analysis of data, we adopted as sources: participant observation of an official box in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in order to know the bodily practices in the field; and interviews with CrossFit practitioners of official boxes also in the city of Rio de Janeiro, to analyze the representations given by the subjects to the practice.

The participant observation occurred in an official box in the Tijuca neighborhood, in the north zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, for three months, from August to November 2017, in the preliminary stage of the research. The observation was authorized by the owner-partners and carried out once a week, in a four-hour shift, at alternating times, morning or afternoon/evening. From the notes taken by the first author, a field diary of the observed daily life was produced.

As for the interviews, a semi-structured script was adopted as a guide for the dialog.³ This approach was important so that questions that arose during the interviews, not previously foreseen, could be added, allowing a greater enrichment of the data. The access to the interviewees was through the indication of key informants (professional colleagues in Physical Education). The interviews went well and were all conducted by the first author in public places, such as coffee shops, restaurants, or malls. Only one interview was held at the subject’s home and two were in a reserved room at the workplace. During the interviews, which lasted between 30 and 125 minutes, the participants were solicitous and cordial. The transcription of the interviews was also done by the first author.

A total of nine CrossFit practitioners in the city of Rio de Janeiro were interviewed between October 2019 and February 2020, six men and three women, between 24 and 34 years old, five self-declared as black or brown and four self-declared as white. Although there was no previous delimitation of age, social insertion, or ethno-racial belonging, it was noted that there was a certain homogeneity in the group, especially in terms of age and social belonging. The great majority had a complete college education, some with post-graduation, income higher than four minimum wages, single, and all without children at the time of the interview. The occupations listed were business, event coordinator, system analysis (IT), journalism, architecture, education professional, student, and one without a job at the time of the interview, but with a degree in engineering and ex-military. Regarding previous bodily practice experiences, all had some experience before CrossFit, with the majority coming from fitness and weight training gyms.

We used the technique of thematic analysis (POPE; ZIEBLAND; MAYS, 2009), in which from thematic categories - such as meanings of collective and individual bodily practices in CrossFit, group bonds, social interactions mediated by solidarity and/or competition - the data were analysed to understand, interpret, and compare, from a critical perspective, all manifestations that emerged from the field. Moreover, the adoption of reflexivity, from the dynamic and continuous awareness of subjectivities and intersubjectivities present in all stages of the research process, allowed a better understanding of the social phenomenon studied (FINLAY, 2002).

Regarding ethical precepts, the research was submitted to and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Institute of Collective Health Studies of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, CAAE: 16810819.0.0000.5286. All the interviewed subjects were invited and informed about the research procedures, having the full right to deny or withdraw their consent to participate in the research, without any prejudice. Upon acceptance and signing of the Informed Consent Form, the informants were interviewed. To ensure the confidentiality and anonymity of the participants, we adopted the use of codenames throughout the study.

Similarly, all ethical issues were ensured to the participants and the institution (official CrossFit box) throughout the observation process, to ensure confidentiality, anonymity, privacy, and the possibility of choosing to participate or not in the research without any prejudice. It is worth mentioning that the institution in which the participant observation was carried out agreed and signed an authorization form authorizing the presence of the researcher at the location.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

As stated, CrossFit classes are characterized by being in groups and everyone doing the same workout of the day (WOD). In this context, shared experiences have their most central point, but not the only one, in performing the same workout routine. The fact that everyone performs the same training session in CrossFit brings up the collective actions and the norms that are built into these social interactions, but, at the same time, puts in vogue the search for differentiation and distinction, through investments and bodily improvements for individual gain and projection. As explained by the interviewee Marcos, “It’s in a group because everyone is there, doing it together. But normally the WOD is individual; each one, except for the weekend, each one does their own” (12/12/2019).

Although certain bodily practices are occasionally understood as individual practices of self-management for the sake of self-actualization, a discourse based on the individualized idea of the ideals of healthism and neoliberalism (ORTEGA, 2002; CRAWFORD, 2019; SAYÃO, 2015), the means listed for approaching benchmarks of health, beauty, and performance are constructed and negotiated in everyday social interactions (SILVA, 2017).

[...] When we see that one is standing out more than the other, in terms of weight, performance and so on, she shares: I changed my diet, I’m going to a nutritionist, I’m doing only this movement, I’m coming on Saturday and I’m doing only this movement to be able to improve. This kind of thing is an exchange, there is no distance between people and everyone trains together. (Interviewee Marcelle, 11/03/2019)

In this context, the construction of the training dynamics involves both performing the same exercises, sharing experiences and ways of managing the body, and experiences that go beyond the geographic space of the box.

Interactions among the practitioners are common, which are as much about help and cooperation as they are about demands and vigilance. The idea that “everyone is in the same boat together” for doing the same WOD, for sometimes going through the same stages in Skill, and sharing the same pains and overcoming obstacles is posed as important characteristics in the construction of this interaction link. In the field observation, this symbolism was perceptible in the conversation between a student and another student: “Man, I get really mad when I see the kids arriving early and doing it alone. I don’t want this for me. I want to do it, look to the side, and have people doing the same thing as me. The kids even formed a group to train, but that’s no good.

The feeling of sharing the training has also been highlighted by other participants in the research as a way of improving oneself and the others.

[...] I train much better in a group than by myself. [...] People like to train together. […] People don’t let you give up, they ask a little more of your 100%, they will support you until the end, it helps you a lot. I think that is why CrossFit has grown so much, because of this part [...] (Interviewee Hudson, 12/13/2019)

I feel more motivated, especially when the class is fuller and because there are other people in the class, and I can share the experience. I have been in a class that only had me, especially in the beginning. I found it very boring. I was like, ‘What the hell am I doing here’. But when there are other people in the class, regardless of their technical capacity, I get a little more motivated. Because I always talk, I always ask the person if everything is ok, you know? So, I like to share the class with other people (Interviewee Pedro, 12/18/2019).

How does it feel to share the training with someone else? Ahh, it’s great. It’s cool both when you help someone else get better and when you get pushed as well. Sometimes, you are training with someone better than you and you get pushed, and even though you end the training very tired, you see that it is worth the extra effort there. You feel that you have evolved even if it is 1%, even if it is little (Interviewee André, February 13, 2020).

Such statements reinforce the idea that even if the search is for individual improvement, the means adopted for its achievement are mediated and gain meaning through collective actions and interactions (SILVA, 2017).

The interaction is also made possible by employing demands during the training sessions. An example can be brought from my observation: a student tells another student that she was not doing the proposed Skill exercise, as well as another student calls the attention of her classmate for thinking that she is “cheating” in the WOD by not performing the exercise the right way and signals the coach to keep an eye on her, who promptly stands next to the student correcting her movement. Regarding the corrections, it was also noted that not only the coach performed this action. For several moments it was noticeable that the pairs themselves corrected themselves and debated on the best way to perform a particular exercise, as well as the use of clothing, footwear, and accessories to maximize the practice of CrossFit. Generally, the more able and integrated into CrossFit exercised this function of helping the less experienced. However, the coaches of the box observed were always attentive to possible incorrect movements and corrected the practitioners’ technique, a fact that often leads to criticism of the professionals working in the gym and bodybuilding, less attentive, in the view of some interlocutors

According to Dawson (2015), in this activity, there is no possibility of the individual to disconnecting since participation and interaction happen all the time. This aspect enables the social actors involved, regardless of the social function they exercise there, to influence and be influenced by others (BAILEY; BENSON; BRUNER, 2017).

[...] inside CrossFit there is no differentiation, if I have been there for 3, 4, 5, 10 years, you know. It’s one supporting the other. Sometimes you learn from a guy who just joined, you know, a different way of behaving, personality [...] (Interviewee Hudson, 12/13/2019).

As Simmel (2006) points out about sociability, “It is the game of ‘make-believe’, ‘make-believe’ that everyone is equal, and at the same time, ‘make-believe’ that each is especially honorable” (SIMMEL, 2006, p. 71). Thus, CrossFit promotes a simultaneous atmosphere of competition and solidarity (CASTRO, 2015) building its “network” of sociability.

As occurs in a study on gyms (MANFIO, 2007), in the practice of CrossFit it is also noticeable that practitioners with body and social capital valued in that context (BOURDIEU, 1983; TOMLINSON, 2004; ASSUMPÇÃO; GOLIN, 2016) become references for others. Recognition, imitation, and the desire to achieve similar bodies and athletic performances permeate interactions in the field.

[…] Sometimes people see you as a mirror for themselves in the future, you know? Because that guy can do that. And you see other people saying, ‘Man, you are really good!’. But, come on, I am not as good as the others. But this is not envied that the guy is good, it is wanting to reach the level that guy is at. When you get to him, you don’t want to stop there (Interviewee Hudson, 12/13/2019)

[...] I think that the beginner ends up looking at the Elite guy and says, ‘It’s a long way for me, a long way for me’. When you are next to a medium, an Rx [those who do the WOD without adaptation], you see that it is still possible, that it is a matter of taking one step at a time, that there is a ladder, that is why the weights go up. Because many beginners could take the weight of an Rx, but they don’t have certain movements. So, she has to have this notion that she needs to improve, you know? (Interviewee Marcelle, 11/03/2019)

Considerations like these raise the issues of socialization and sociability permeating the social environment of CrossFit. In this symbolic game, individuals play their role, according to the rules of the game, to be recognized and to belong to the social group. In this way, by imitating and acting as the group extols, a sense of security of how to operate in the variety of possible forms of behavior is made possible (SIMMEL, 2006, 2014).

On the other hand, it is also possible in CrossFit the search to distinguish itself, to highlight the individuality of being. Not surprisingly, bloggers, competitors and/or CrossFit practitioners, increasingly, through posts on social networks, show their workouts and eating routines, gaining prestige and status. Even the interviewee Pedro points out that individuals who tend to have more active social media, i.e., make recurrent publications about their CrossFit practice, tend to create a greater bond with their peers in the box, since social interaction would not be restricted to the geographical space, perpetuating itself through social media.

Moreover, there is a constant tendency to compare the results of the WOD, either in the box where one trains, or outside it, as a way to stand out in the field (MENEZES, 2013), considering that “it is as if each individuality felt its meaning only in contrast to others” (SIMMEL, 2006, p. 46-47).

[...] It’s not a stated competition, I think it’s a competition of overcoming yourself by looking at inspiration in front of you. It’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m going to beat you’. No, it is not that. It is a competition where you look, the guy is going ahead of me. Man, I am going to speed up, can I do it? Man, he is doing it this way, I will break him because I will do it another way. So, like, let’s go together. And then, in your head, you end up entering a competition and sometimes the person next to you is not even aware of it. Suddenly, they are competing with the other person that you don’t even know about. (laughs) (Interviewee Marcelle, 11/03/2019)

However, if there is undeclared competition, there are also explicit competitions, being one more form of interaction between the subjects, as highlighted by the interlocutors Mariana, who also participates in competitions outside the box, and Iara, who does not participate in external competitions but perceives this practice. Both attend the same box, in Tijuca, a neighbourhood in the northern zone of Rio de Janeiro.

[...] inside [the box] there is even a healthy competitiveness, like ‘Ahh let’s do an X1’, which is like I’m going to do a WOD, me and you, do it to see who finishes faster or who will finish first, I don’t know. But it never reached a destructive level, you know? I always thought it was pretty healthy. But some people don’t like competitiveness. I like it, I find it interesting. (Interviewee Mariana, 11/08/2019)

I had never seen it anywhere, usually, people put it [the WOD time] on the board and didn’t even say anything. The one I’m in now has people who really like to compete. I don’t know if they are joking or serious, but they like it, they mark it at the same time and if one does it better than the other, they make fun of it, you know. But not with the rest of the group, it is a group that has always been there, they are friends, and they know each other. So, among them, they really compete, but it’s not like that, with hostility. ‘I’m going to beat you today; I don’t know what... I will be better and so on...’ [...] I think 90%, not 90, 100% is Rx. The well-trained ones. I think that those who are below that don’t even have the courage to compete. You won’t compete in the... But those are the ones who can do everything. (Interviewee Iara, 10/16/2019)

In this context, Lima (2018), based on Simmelian theory, helps us by pointing out that the conflict itself is a mode of recognition and interaction, in which the constant dispute in favor of overcoming oneself and others as a mediator of the perception of one’s overcoming are means of socialization of this bodily practice.

Therefore, the box is a space that aggregates people around a practice (sociation) and where these people then engage in a more direct and personal way (sociability), even if through relationships based on competition or intersubjective dynamics. (LIMA, 2018, p. 86)

Kerry (2016) also highlights that even though the actions are collective, the ultimate goal is to improve individual performance. This idea was pointed out by the subjects in the field when they highlighted that the competition is self-referred and not with the other, that they always seek to improve and overcome challenges. Therefore, in the search and in the “desire to be a subject by oneself”, the subject is forged to take risks and overcome fears for the sake of so-called autonomy and freedom (EHRENBERG, 2010, p. 25). Thus, the search for self-overcoming permeates the neoliberal ideals that create new forms of existence (EHRENBERG, 2010).

Because it is something competitive, right? Many times, you think ‘Oh, I am competing against the other guy’. No, you are competing against yourself. So, that guy next to you that you think at the beginning is your rival. He is your motivator. You only realize it after a while when you realize it, ‘Man, why am I trying?’. The WOD is an extremely scary thing, you can’t finish it. But why am I trying to go to the end, to the last second, it is more than 100%? Do you understand? It’s by pleasure, by will, wanting to do it yourself, it’s not even for the other, you know? It is your own will [...] (Interviewee Hudson, 12/13/2019).

Although the search for overcoming is presented as something individual, it is also emphasized as being negotiated all the time with the group. In this way, the individual achievement is not only yours but the group’s, giving your best also means giving your best “for the group, for your teammates, for the family that was formed there”. Thus, some subjects mention that when an individual succeeds for the first time in doing a more complex exercise, beating the PR (Personal Record), or closing a WOD for the first time (doing the whole workout within the allotted time), there is an idea of collective achievement, in which the group congratulates and expresses happiness for that individual’s achievement. In this way, the meaning of achievement is dialogued with the social group, it is shown to the other as a way to give meaning to that achievement. Therefore, overcoming can also be seen as “social and performative” (LIMA, 2018, p. 107).

The data reinforce the search for overcoming oneself and breaking challenges, through dedication and development of the body techniques of the exercises, these being negotiated all the time with the other members (LIMA, 2018). Moreover, the value is not only in overcoming challenges but also in the idea of not giving up. As Iara points out:

[...] the most applauded is the one that is the last one to finish that is when people finish what is proposed in the day, everyone goes there to help those who did not finish to give strength, to shout, [...]. Even [...] in amateur championships and others, even in competition I think that’s how it is, right? [...] Competition is where you are. If you set out to compete because you want to win, but I think that even there, one helps the other, it’s not just thinking about being better, you know? [...] (Interviewee Iara, 10/16/2019)

Just as it was perceived by Iara, in my observation in the field, I noticed that there is a great deal of external support and encouragement from peers and coaches. Especially when someone is about to give up, when they are slowing down due to exhaustion, or when they finish last in the WOD. The encouragement of the last ones to complete the WOD was not only perceived inside the box and among interviewees but also in external CrossFit competitions, followed by the researcher. In them, when there was a short time left to finish the race and there were still participants doing it, all the other participants already completing the WOD would go near the team or athlete to support and encourage them to complete the WOD of the events of the competition, as well as receive encouragement from people in the audience.

Not giving up as a value is very symbolic in the field. In this perspective, Abreu, Zoboli, and Manske (2021) understand that such discourses incite a self-management of emotions, always starting from positivity, inducing “a kind of ‘gospel’ of performance, of improvement beyond functional, but a controlled and well-regulated improvement over what one can think and feel” (p. 14-15).

Although the interviewees emphasize that in the comparison, rivalry and competition between the subjects, in the day-to-day of the box, there would be no explicit constraints or that it would be restricted to a specific group, different appreciations of the symbolic capital of those who are categorized as Rx (WOD without adaptation), in relation to those who are of lower performance levels, are noticeable. Rx are often seen as a reference and mirror to be followed. Thus, endowed with a body capital that is not only related to their physical conformation, but to the capacity of what that body can do, produce. However, these categories are not static, but fluid, making it necessary to have constant corporeal investments and dedication for such social recognition. Similarly, if the value of not giving up and overcoming oneself are exalted, the victory and the overcoming of the other do not stop being sought, evidenced, and being one more form of interaction in the field.

3.1 “YOU LEAVE CROSS[FIT], BUT CROSS[FIT] DOESN’T LEAVE YOU!”

The interaction and sociability among participants do not occur only at the time of the training sessions. In the words of the participants, the pride in being part of this “family”, or “community” is quite noticeable, entering other social spaces beside the box, as also mentioned in other studies (WOOD, 2020; LIMA, 2018; LAUTNER et al., 2020). The desire to bring people from their social circle outside of CrossFit into the box is often quite recurrent. Just as the social interactions and bonds built in that space are shared “outside” CrossFit. Not surprisingly, most of the interviewees reported that currently their social circle of friends is mostly made up of people who practice CrossFit. There are even marriage bonds based on this practice.

They are CrossFit friends, and girls who are not married end up meeting people from CrossFit and marry people from CrossFit. And then we talk about nutrition, about pregnancy in CrossFit, about marriage, you know something that is always... I won’t say that we talk about CrossFit, but I think CrossFit is inserted in these subjects. (Interviewee Marcelle, 11/03/2019)

Like Marcelle, Mariana also points out: “I always meet the Cross[Fit] guys to do something and it is always like that, you leave Cross[Fit], but Cross[Fit] doesn’t leave you!”. The interviewees elucidate how the body and bodily practices are marked by this process of construction from social devices expressed in the ways, tastes, and preferences. Finally, how the way of being a CrossFit practitioner (group ethos) is expressed in the habitus they share (BOURDIEU, 1983), being a means of sociability and social identification.

Social events such as parties, bars, barbecues, and going to CrossFit competitions, either to compete or just to follow/watch, to follow the CrossFit Open⁴ have been highlighted as an important way of creating social bonds. The CrossFit competition itself has been highlighted as an important bonding of social ties, especially when it is held as a group/team (KALIN, 2017). Such fact was also pointed out by one of the participants in the interview when he stated that competition generates closeness between subjects, especially those in groups, whether in pairs, trios, or quartets, in view of the need to train together and create strategies for the competition, which ends up causing greater social contacts and exchanges.

However, the bond and belonging, sometimes, are not configured in relation to the whole box, but are restricted to the class schedule that each one attends. The fact that the classes are divided into groups generates the tendency for greater contact and interaction among the members, who usually attend the same class schedule, to the point of even covering for each other, for example, in relation to delays, as well as knowing their preferences and tastes. In general, this idea of class is found more strongly in the morning period, since, as noticed in the observation, the evening group was more crowded and with a higher turnover of people.

Furthermore, the group with a higher performance level and/or that systematically participates in competitions outside the box, in general, tends to interact more directly in the class routine. Thus, it is often noticed the formation of subgroups within the same class schedule for those whose goal in CrossFit is competition and another related to the focus on health.

Within the training sessions, those who like to compete usually train together. We even say that there is a CrossFit health side and a CrossFit competition side. CrossFit health is there, likes to do activities, thinks CrossFit is cool, the community and so on, but doesn’t do it with the intention, let’s say, of performance. On the other hand, the competitive CrossFit guys are looking for more performance, they train together because it gives them extra energy during the training sessions and so on. But this is only during training, during the gatherings everybody is together and mixed. (Interviewee André, 02/13/2020)

Another aspect, as in Lima’s study (2018), is the practitioners’ desire to be present in the box, even when they were not training on the day. According to Lima (2018), this desire to want to be together reflects the ethos of community and solidarity, in making oneself collective and belonging to that group.

I think the difference between CrossFit to most things is really that. The community embraces it a lot, because people are there every day, training, seeing each other and so on. Because everybody is there going through that suffering together and it is like that in any CrossFit you go to. If you go here, for example, on such and such a day there will be a barbecue at the ‘kid’s’ house and everybody goes, if you go to another CrossFit there will be another barbecue, and everybody goes. [...] Man, the boys that train here, the days that they don’t train, they come here, sit there and drink beer in the box, understand? Because they want to stay there talking. So, there is this relationship beyond training, it creates this relationship. [...] I think that it is a feeling of belonging, maybe, something related to this. People who create these feelings in relation to the box, you know? (Interviewee Rafael, 02/12/2020)

During my fieldwork, I noticed moments when students who were unable to train for some reason would stop by just to “say hi” to the members of the box or would just go to sit around, watching and encouraging those who were training, competing and/or even to socialize, the “gathering” inside and outside the box. In this context, social interactions in CrossFit are not just about the bodily practice, but in the “pleasure in ‘living CrossFit’” that “was beyond the workouts” (LIMA, 2018, p. 84).

4 FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

In summary, this article proposed to discuss issues of sociability and bodily investments in the context of the practice of CrossFit. Such a proposal allows reflection on the importance of social interactions and relationships both for the construction of individualities and collectivities, in an always fluid and continuous way in the context of bodily practices.

Although CrossFit is a group practice, the goals and responsibilities are individualized, so that subjects are encouraged to constantly improve and excel. However, individual performances gain meaning through appreciation and/or comparison among peers on the field. In this context, we conclude that sociability in CrossFit is built from interactions that dialogue through solidarity, comparison, and competition between subjects and with themselves.

There are also interactions beyond training in which there is a sense of belonging to a community. However, social bonds are more recurrent in individuals who attend the same box, usually at the same times and/or seek similar goals or performance within CrossFit. However, the interactions were not restricted to just CrossFit, but also the movement of bringing the social bonds prior to joining CrossFit to this body practice modality.

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  This article has its origin in the thesis: BAPTISTA, J. G. “Corpos arrebentados” aos que arrebentam! A construção do ethos de atleta entre praticantes de CrossFit no Rio de Janeiro. 2021. 174f. Thesis (Doctorate in Collective Health) - Institute of Collective Health Studies, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 2021.
• 2
  Based on Lazarotti et al. (2010) and Silva (2014), the adoption of the term bodily practice refers to the understanding that the bodily practices are “phenomena that are shown primarily at the body level, constituting cultural manifestations” (SILVA, 2014, p. 18). That is, it takes into account the subjectivity and the different senses and meanings of “moving”, something far from the conceptualization of “physical activity” and “physical exercise”, because “these concepts are reduced to the understanding of movement by classical physics, emphasizing aspects such as locomotion in time and space and energy expenditure” (LAZAROTTI et al., 2010, p. 22), which are strictly related to biological knowledge.
• 3
  The topics covered in the script were: initiation to the practice of CrossFit, dynamics and values of CrossFit training/classes, body and health care, the subject’s relationship with the practice, representation and impact of CrossFit on their daily lives, and the meaning and dynamics of competitions in CrossFit. In this article, we chose to focus on the sociabilities built in this practice.
• 4
  The CrossFit Open is one of the qualifying rounds for the CrossFit Games, which is the main CrossFit competition.
• FUNDING
  This work was not supported by any funding agency.

RESEARCH ETHICS

The research followed the protocols of the Ethics Committee of the Institute of Collective Health Studies of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, CAAE: 16810819.0.0000.5286

EDITORIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Alex Branco Fraga*, Elisandro Schultz Wittizorecki*, Mauro Myskiw*, Raquel da Silveira*

*Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Escola de Educação Física, Fisioterapia e Dança, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  03 Feb 2023
• Date of issue
  2022

History

• Received
  21 Feb 2022
• Accepted
  09 Sept 2022
• Published
  18 Dec 2022