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Fitness is Just a Part of It

by Michael Plank

Lauren and I started Underwood Park CrossFit 10 years ago because working out with other people is fun; fitness makes your life better; seeing people grow is amazing. All of that stuff is great. But we did it for another, bigger reason too. We did it because we love church. And that might not immediately seem relevant, but here’s why it is: when we were growing up in the 1980s, churches were places people would go to find meaning and belonging. Churches were where you found people to figure out life with. It’s where you found people to help you sort through big things that didn’t make sense. It’s where you found people to celebrate with you when times were good and cry with you when times were bad. Our churches, when we were kids, were our communities.

Some churches are still like that for people. Some aren’t. But as much as I geek out about progressive and regressive angular isometric loading, neurological pathways, and wave periodization, none of that is the stuff that keeps me going. It’s the community.

And here’s why I think that’s the most important part of what we do:

We’re less than a week out from our next presidential election. And probably more than ever, or at least more than in my memory, the messaging that we encounter is that it’s Us vs. Them. It’s People Who Care About This Country vs. People Who Are Un-American. It’s Good vs. Evil. And it’s scary out there. Both sides are painting a picture of a world in which if they lose, our democracy as we know it will collapse in violence and chaos.

I’m not saying the stakes aren’t high and I’m not saying you shouldn’t vote. Vote. Donate. Call your representatives. Engage in the political process.

But if I’m honest, I’m cynical about the ability of any politician to heal the world.

What I’m not cynical about – in fact, what I believe from the bottom of my heart – is that real community actually can heal the world.

Community is one of our Core Values at Underwood Park CrossFit. Community means that we care about building a place of mutual respect, meaning and belonging where you have a place that you are welcomed and valued; one that makes your life better. And so, like Cheers, we work to build a place where everyone knows your name. (It’s so important that one of the tasks on our coaching checklist is to greet every member by their first name when they walk in the door, within 10 seconds if at all possible). We build that on a platform of fitness and nutrition coaching, where we help you do hard things and build a culture that supports you while you do that.

But it’s even bigger than that.

Because I don’t know all the answers to all the division in our country and in our world. I don’t know the answer to injustice and oppression and dehumanization. But I do know that all those things fester and grow in darkness and isolation. They grow when they’re unchecked and secret and anonymous. They grow when they’re never confronted with diversity of thought or experience.

And I know that real community – not just a collection of people, but people who intentionally live life with each other – makes the world better. When you’ve got a Republican cheering for a Democrat to get that last burpee in before the buzzer, or a Black Lives Matter volunteer going to run the final 400 meters alongside a conservative, evangelical Christian, what you have is a group of people who know that “Us vs. Them” is a false dichotomy, because they have experienced being with people who are different than them, learning who they are as human beings – not just as caricatures – and they learn that they care about these people and these people care about them.

And I also know that in real community, when someone starts to stray off course – when they’re so hurt that they get bitter or vengeful or start to veer into dangerous territory – because the community cares about them, the community helps to check them. They offer accountability. They offer sounding boards. They offer help and resources.

I know that being in community makes people better. Not just with blood pressure or cholesterol or muscle mass. Not even just with confidence or mental health. Community helps people be better citizens, better neighbors, better human beings. I know that in these insane times of isolation and division, being in community is a bright spot on dark days.

Now, I’ve known things before that turned out to be wrong.

And maybe all community in a gym actually offers is a way to get a few more squats in before the timer goes off. Maybe I’m super naïve about the impact we can have with all this stuff. That’s possible.

But I don’t really care. Because just believing that community offers more makes me kinder and more hopeful, it makes life seem brighter and more beautiful, and it makes humanity feel a lot more like we belong to each other than like we don’t.

I’m going to vote and continue to donate to causes that are important to me and call my representatives about issues and do all of that. But no matter what happens over the coming days and weeks and months, we at Underwood Park CrossFit are going to get up each morning and build relationships.

And we’re going to try to change the world.