At a certification seminar in 2007, founder Greg Glassman explains what’s really important when talking about strength.
Strength, when viewed in isolation, can be described as the contractile potential of muscle—the ability of muscles to contract forcefully and generate power. Yet, as Coach Glassman points out in this lecture excerpt, that definition is incomplete. Measuring strength only in this narrow sense reveals little about its practical value in real-world performance, much like relying solely on VO₂ max says little about a person’s true capacity or athleticism.
Real, functional strength is more than just producing force—it is the ability of the body to direct that force effectively.
What’s missing in much of mainstream fitness training, from bodybuilding to single-modality sports, is the neuromuscular component: the cultivation of coordination, accuracy, agility, and balance. Collectively, we can think of these elements as “technique.” Neglecting them means developing only partial fitness, limiting one’s genetic potential, and lowering the ceiling of overall performance. To expand work capacity across broad time and modal domains—the central aim of Glassman’s methodology—technique is the critical link. Whether the goal is winning a competition, defending your life, completing a mission, or simply staying fit for the demands of daily living at any age, technique is what makes strength truly useful.
This video, by BSI’s co-founder, was originally published in The CrossFit Journal. While Greg Glassman no longer owns CrossFit Inc., his writings and ideas revolutionized the world of fitness, and are reproduced here.
Coach Glassman named his training methodology ‘CrossFit,’ which became a trademarked term owned by CrossFit Inc. In order to preserve his writings in their original form, references to ‘CrossFit’ remain in this video.
Greg Glassman founded CrossFit, a fitness revolution. Under Glassman’s leadership there were around 4 million CrossFitters, 300,000 CrossFit coaches and 15,000 physical locations, known as affiliates, where his prescribed methodology: constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity, were practiced daily. CrossFit became known as the solution to the world’s greatest problem, chronic illness.
In 2002, he became the first person in exercise physiology to apply a scientific definition to the word fitness. As the son of an aerospace engineer, Glassman learned the principles of science at a young age. Through observations, experimentation, testing, and retesting, Glassman created a program that brought unprecedented results to his clients. He shared his methodology with the world through The CrossFit Journal and in-person seminars. Harvard Business School proclaimed that CrossFit was the world’s fastest growing business.
The business, which challenged conventional business models and financially upset the health and wellness industry, brought plenty of negative attention to Glassman and CrossFit. The company’s low carbohydrate nutrition prescription threatened the sugar industry and led to a series of lawsuits after a peer-reviewed journal falsified data claiming Glassman’s methodology caused injuries. A federal judge called it the biggest case of scientific misconduct and fraud she’d seen in all her years on the bench. After this experience Glassman developed a deep interest in the corruption of modern science for private interests. He launched CrossFit Health which mobilized 20,000 doctors who knew from their experiences with CrossFit that Glassman’s methodology prevented and cured chronic diseases. Glassman networked the doctors, exposed them to researchers in a variety of fields and encouraged them to work together and further support efforts to expose the problems in medicine and work together on preventative measures.
In 2020, Greg sold CrossFit and focused his attention on the broader issues in modern science. He’d learned from his experience in fitness that areas of study without definitions, without ways of measuring and replicating results are ripe for corruption and manipulation.
The Broken Science Initiative, aims to expose and equip anyone interested with the tools to protect themself from the ills of modern medicine and broken science at-large.
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