Greg Glassman: How a Health Nut Created the World’s Biggest Fitness Trend

Fitness is one of the fastest growing trends around right now. From clean eating branded Instagram pages to “athleisure” based clothing lines, people keep finding new and innovative ways to embrace (and make money off of) fit culture. Greg Glassman was no exception when he had the idea for CrossFit. Though intimidating to many people, Crossfit has become the biggest fitness trend in the world.

 

Meet Greg Glassman

…the CEO and Founder of CrossFit, a branded fitness regimen promoted as both a physical exercise philosophy and a competitive fitness sport. CrossFit workouts incorporate elements from high-intensity interval training, Olympic weightlifting, power lifting, gymnastics, strongman, and many other exercises.

Today, CrossFit is considered to be one of the biggest fitness trends in the world, solely based on its numbers. The brand has more than 13,000 gyms in more than 120 countries. Its closest rival, Planet Fitness, has only 1,124 locations.

In many ways, CrossFit was designed in response to Glassman’s desire for a more innovative workout regimen. CrossFit does just that with an exercise routine with varied day-to-day workouts.

CrossFit’s business model is fairly simple. Branches pay a fee to use the name CrossFit, and they are locked in at the fee they paid when they joined the network. Some early affiliates only pay $500 a year while others pay the current licensing fee of $3,000. Beyond that, CrossFit owners are free to run their own business as they choose.

“What’s important to the brand is the physiology, the methodology…we control the method, but the rest is up to them,” says Glassman.


Click here to watch Glassman speak about CrossFit’s origins and successes in an interview with MSNBC. For more information on Greg Glassman, please visit our website. For booking inquiries on speaking engagements or appearances, please contact us.

Check out additional top speakers related to health or sports by taking a look at our Top Healthcare Technology and Top 12 eSports speakers list!