If you have watched any of the live podcasts on YouTube within the CrossFit sphere lately you have probably noticed some dude called @BananaDanceMan harping on CrossFit’s success being attributable to the massive Reebok contract in the live chat.
Last week on THE SPIN, we took some time to read and discuss BDM’s comment during the Viewer Comments segment of our show.
While it was typically longer than what we normally read during that segment, it seemed like an interesting topic to discuss. Plus, what else were we gonna talk about in this lull of the off-season.
@BananaDanceMan comment from August 27, 2026:
Young people left when Greg put old people on the website. Not a single person under the age of 35 cares about di-beetus or chronic disease. This was a strategic mistake.
Greg was clueless about building a business. Running CF was miles beyond his skill set; a good trainer doesn’t become an executive because we all pretend it to be so. But everyone went along because Greg could disconnect us from the giant Reebok marketing machine and exile us from the club.
Reebok money made it all work. CrossFit AFTER Reebok looks like CF BEFORE Reebok.
The education stuff is ‘tarded. AI knows the methodology better than the coaches and AI is a better trainer than you. Any of you. You can’t compete against AI for education. You end up creating a credential mill. When your credential is self-referencing, people stop paying for it.
With the wrong leader, there was no investment in tech, in process, in a permanent HQ or other tangible assets, little organization around competition season. We are discussing what CF should do precisely because Greg didn’t do anything. No partnerships with anyone besides Reebok. Fifty million bucks a year in revs and NOTHING substantial to show for it. It’s hard to be that bad. Greg was that bad.
Until people tell this truth, there is no future.
Nicole’s presentation was slop. “Perception”, “transformation” corporate slop Nicole was a pole vaulter and body-pump coach. Why is anyone letting her be in charge of anything? Berkshire has lost their mind and will now begin losing their money because there was not one action item on her list.
You can watch our analysis in the video below at the 41:15 mark.
Then in the comment section of last week’s show, BananaDanceMan was back with a bit of a CrossFit history lesson. It’s too long to get into during our show (it’s already long enough), but it’s worth sharing with a wider audience than our show…
@BananaDanceMan comment from September 3, 2026:
Thanks for discussing my comments. What CF is still dealing with is the memory of an owner who took an idea worth billions and turned it into $200million. That kind of failure leaves a mark. The first thing the owners should do is realize greg’s [sic] ideas on anything other than fitness were completely wrong.
– HQ should grow the pie for others. False.
– Let’s sue big soda. False. Coca Cola knows sugar is bad. Everyone knows. That’s why diet coke exists lmao.
– Vexing problem cures. False
– We should be in the health business. False.
All of these are value-subtracting horse-s**t. It’s how you go from billions to $200M. Greg was the apex baby boomer. Short term greed with no long term thinking.
A genius at fitness, and a complete ruh-tard when the topic was literally anything else. How is MetFix doing? lol. How’s broken science these days? it’s all crap. So all of his non-exercise ideas are turds and need to be flushed, and the remaining exercise core – the good stuff – needs to go front and center – and yes that means the sport.
A trainer does not become an executive because we all pretend he is. Now Let’s do a history lesson to see why the business broke.
2018 – Greg sues Reebok for unpaid royalties.
Reebok says “Ok great let’s have a trial and do discovery and show affiliates where their money goes!
Greg says “No way, I’ll settle”.
Background: Greg was right. Reebok was skimming. But, Reebok was skimming because they were losing a fortune on the CF deal. They partnered with a schmuck who wanted to sue soda companies and have Twitter fights with Nick Jonas. Adidas lost billions on the deal. Look at what they sold CF for vs what they paid for it. Unbelievable value-destruction.
Reebok repeatedly tried to lower their payments. HQ agreed once, but not again. (This was in the 2014 lawsuit, docs were public; Reebok contract and addenda were released)
Greg settled in 2018 rather than show affiliates where the money went during the discovery process. But he was BIG MAD at Reebok.
The 2019 changes (small Games, no regionals, fired media, two opens, and new website with old people on there) were designed to reduce eyeballs on Reebok. CrossFit athletes wearing Reebok was a Reebok marketing strategy and Greg took that off the website and off social media.
Making these changes without talking to affiliates was incredibly disrespectful. He changed the message without talking to the people who deliver the message. Kinda messed up. But Greg never cared about affiliates, and that’s the proof. Those changes devastated affiliates. Lots of them went out of business. That’s when the shrink started.
When the athletes told Greg to piss off in 2020 after the tweet, it wasn’t because they went woke. You think these muscle-midgets follow politics? You think Noah has thoughts on trade policy lmao? No! 2020 was payback for 2019.
I’m gonna do a podcast. lol. CF RIGHT NOW has no strategy. now we know why.
