CrossFit vs. GymJones

[Jonathan Riddle]

When the movie "300" came out back in 2007 I found through the internet the gym that trained and developed the actors for the movie. The gym is GymJones and the head disciple is Mark Twight. After finding gymjones is not open to the public and only located is slc, utah; I came across crossfit through some bloggers. Anyways I have to believe Crossfit was before gymjones and from the looks of it everything they are doing at gymjones is Crossfit but at a higher level. Check out there webpage gymjones.com I wonder if we as Crossfitters can take what they are doing at Gymjones and apply it to our wod's??? Love to get a discussion going on this with the similarities and differences between Crossfit and Gymjones...

[Frank E Morel]

dude.. gym joes started here... doing crossfit.

[Katherine Derbyshire]

Only those who train in the back room of Gym Jones know exactly what Gym Jones is and isn't. Anyone else who presumes to know is confused.

They talk about members as disciples.

They're "exclusive," "by invitation only," and yet they have a pretty extensive website.... and courted publicity pretty aggressively by working with the 300 people.

CF, in contrast, is pretty open about what *it* is and isn't. Crossfitters joke about drinking the koolaid; it sounds like these folks hand out cups before they'll let you in the door.

No cults for me, thanks.

But at rock bottom, what they're after is pretty simple. Push yourself beyond your physical and mental limits and you will emerge a different person. Or die. To "take it to another level," push harder, at all levels. If you can.

That's not news. That's what Special Forces training is about, it's what traditional martial arts training was about, it's what elite military training has been about going all the way back to Sparta. If it's what you're interested in, you don't have to go to Salt Lake City to get it.

Katherine

[Shane Skowron]

Originally Posted by Frank E Morel

dude.. gym joes started here... doing CrossFit.

Exactly. Gym Jones was a CrossFit affiliate and Twight got all his ideas for high-intensity, functional, constantly varied training from CrossFit. Then at some point he decided that he would tweak it and make it his own and thus he left CrossFit.

As it is, it's a rip-off of CrossFit so it shares basically the same ideas but without all the excellent resources. No journal, no videos, no Games, no certs, no affiliates, no forums, no open source, no comments section, no community. CrossFit does everything better, so why bother with a ripoff?

I heard the fastest time on the '300 workout' by one of the 300 actors was like 17 minutes or something. Most above average Crossfitters could smoke that.

[Anthony Bainbridge]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Riddle

from the looks of it everything they are doing at gymjones is CrossFit but at a higher level

HAHAHA. ha.

[Andy Shirley]

Ah jeez. Not this **** again.

[Jeff Bocock]

March 23, 2007, Coach went public on the main page about Mark Twight. Read the posted link on the WOD for that day (pay attention to the legend), as well as the comments. Coach is quite clear about Mark Twight's integrity.

Basically, the man couldnt due a pull up, couldnt complete fran even at girl weight, and was completely useless with heavy lifts. He began CF'ing, got in good shape, opened an affiliate.

Then for some reason just because he makes his own WOD he thinks hes no longer doing CF. Do any affiliates just follow the main page wod? Im pretty sure EVERYONE makes up their own/does the wods in their own order...

Also, search the forum for Mark Twight posts. Its amazing that he can claim what he does as his own IP when there is so much evidence to the contrary.

[Jeff Bocock]

"You are exactly correct in your summation, wine sodden or not, and overly generous in your praise of me. For you and the rest of this fine community I offer my motivation and my deepest gratitude.

When Mark’s weakness was publicly revealed at our seminar I ordered cameras turned off to mitigate his obvious embarrassment.

When he couldn’t get a muscle-up I bought him rings and coached him over the phone to success.

When deployed soldiers told me that he’d hidden from them the origins of “his new program” I actually laughed – then worried.

When he gave me his two books and later called saying that he was embarrassed at their fitness content and wished he’d not presented them, I praised him as a pioneer.

When he asked that his affiliation be removed from the site because it was bringing him too much fan mail, I didn’t quite believe the rationale. When he asked that it be reposted on launch of his new site, I was pleased. When I found out that the down time coincided with his appearance at a military installation presenting Gym Jones as a substantial (though unsubstantiable) improvement on CrossFit, I had a moment of clarity. When he again asked that it be removed because of my issues with a mutual friend, I listened for the other shoe to drop. It dropped months later with the release of trailers from his Hollywood project.

When the Gym Jones manual, which Mr. Twight naively thought I’d never see, was revealed to be built entirely from CrossFit concepts for which he took ownership, even liberally, eerily, infused with my idiom and syntax, I was enraged but ultimately decided that the market judgment would be more fruitful than legal remedies. Markets are fooled but transiently by affronts like this. (Our law firm, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rossati which represents Google, Intel, Sun, Palm, Apple, Hewlitt Packard, Knight Ridder and, of course, CrossFit offered that we’d surely exceed Mark’s net worth in pretrial motions, and that a judgment would likely never be recovered, offered nonetheless to subsidize our efforts. Say what you want about lawyers; ours, and their generosity, are vital to this program's existence.)

That the Gym Jones manual claimed my contributions to the concepts therein were taken from other coaches, and that my sole contribution was clever Internet marketing, whereas his were the fruits of 20 years of research caused me worry for our affiliates and my anticipation of more and worse to come, but I remained committed to, as one of my best friends puts it, “the high road”. Against my instincts and nature, I must add.

But this week, Mr. Twight presented himself to an elite military audience and offered that he’d been ripped off by CrossFit and that CrossFit was injuring people. For the record, he was very careful not to mention CrossFit by name but made it abundantly clear to whom he has referring.

The injury part is hard to take, especially from a renegade affiliate whose most salient feature among all affiliates was a general, even reckless, disregard for mechanics with a concomitant and hypocritical lip-service to standards. (Check out what my crew calls the “Blair Witch CrossFit Videos” on Gym Jones site).

But, here’s what has forced my hand. We currently have scores if not hundred of soldiers who have staked careers and reputations, even their lives, on implementation of CrossFit within their ranks. They come from all branches of U.S. military and Special Operation Forces, and several foreign countries. These brave men and women have committed themselves professionally to CrossFit because of their firm belief in CrossFit’s potential for keeping them alive, enabling the successful completion of their objective, and extending the length of their operational careers. They see the specter of injury that Mr. Twight raises as a dishonest and dangerous ploy for market share. They know, as does Mr. Twight, that CrossFit has, in repeated tests, exceeded the requirements for safety, efficacy, and efficiency offered by current mil/LEO PT.

The Gym Jones method is sound though not up to CrossFit standards for safety, efficiency, or efficacy. Gym Jones represents a substantial improvement over traditional mil/LEO PT. Mark Twight’s attacks on CrossFit risk the lives of soldiers and police. This is more than the theft of my intellectual property about which I’ve long remained silent."


Comment #85 - Posted by: Coach at March 23, 2007 7:49 AM

[Adam Scheiner]

[Leonid Soubbotine]

2x what Anthony said. 7 minute Fran is not Crossfit at higher levels and 365 deadlift is not heavy.