History

The following is an exerpt from Wikipedia.org: 

CrossFit was created by Greg Glassman, a former gymnast, in the 1970's. For many years the program existed only in a single gym in Glassman's garage in Santa Cruz, California. Glassman launched a website at crossfit.com in 2001 to spread word of his program. CrossFit has grown to an international movement, fueled by an open source and virtual community model.  Much of CrossFit's intellectual property is freely available on its website. There are now more than 450 CrossFit-affiliated gyms worldwide.  The affiliate model rejects franchising, requires few start up expenditures, and allows for a diversity of approach. According to Canada's Business News Netowrk, CrossFit is "one of the fastest growing fitness movements on the planet."

Some Crossfit athletes perform the "Workout of the Day" posted at the CrossFit website and never visit a CrossFit gym. Others formulate their own workouts based on CrossFit's principles.

In 2007, the US Marine Corps began a shift in its physical training program. The Marine Corps is moving away from its emphasis on distance running and towards "functional fitness training" by incorporating CrossFit-inspired workouts into its recruit training, Officer Candidates School, and other unit physical training sessions.  Many US and Canadian police and fire departments, US Navy Seals, US Army Special Forces and the Canadian Forces now base some of their physical training on CrossFit principles.

CrossFit is also being adopted by a growing number of high school and college sports teams.