What Is The CrossFit Medical Society?
CrossFit Medical Society is a bridge to connect affiliate owners, coaches, healthcare professionals and the community at large together.
The CrossFit Medical Society™ will serve as a platform where community members will have access to services and the ability to connect with CrossFit physicians and healthcare professionals through an interactive directory.
The Background:
The founder of CrossFit, Greg Glassman, founded CrossFit Health with a mission to expose “the mess” and the broken healthcare system. He said, “We [CrossFit] have an elegant solution to the world’s most vexing problem.” The problem he was referring to was chronic disease.
With 60% of the United States having at least one chronic disease and 40% having two or more, the overwhelming majority of people are in desperate need of lifestyle interventions to help them prevent and reverse chronic disease.
At Healthy Steps Nutrition, our mission is to help people take control of their health one step at a time to prevent and reverse chronic disease. We focus on a habit-based and holistic framework addressing nutrition, sleep, daily movement, mindset, support system, and environment to help people make health a way of life one step at a time.
Prior to Greg Glassman selling CrossFit, he hosted CrossFit Level 1 Seminars for Medical Doctors, MDL1s. While the two-day training was going on, he would host sessions for physicians to come back and continue to learn about nutrition, health and create a space for healthcare professionals to connect with each other to share ideas.
I had the privilege to attend many of these events as an affiliate owner and Dietitian. It was an incredible opportunity to share best practices with what we were doing to connect with local healthcare professionals at Healthy Steps Nutrition and see how other healthcare practitioners were connecting with local CrossFit affiliates.
Bridging the gap between fitness and healthcare has been a topic of conversation, panel discussions and more for a number of years. The initiative was initially led by Karen Thomson and is now led by Mike Giardina.
During the 2022 CrossFit Games, Mike Giarana led a panel discussion on bridging the gap between fitness and healthcare with Amy Hollingsworth, Dr. Rodrigo Jasbick and myself. During this panel, they discussed the traditional healthcare system and how health starts inside the gym. They discussed how gym owners can connect with healthcare practitioners to make a greater impact on empowering health in their local community.
What Can CrossFit Affiliate Owners and Coaches Do:
Many gym owners are unsure where to start when it comes to creating connections with healthcare practitioners. Typically, partnerships with healthcare professionals start with the membership base and personal connections but it’s a slow process.
As a gym owner, I want a local referral network of healthcare professionals (doctors, physical therapists, chiropractors, mental health practitioners, etc) who have the same values and focus on lifestyle interventions first.
Are you a gym owner interested in partnering with healthcare professionals? Listen to episode 190 of the Grow Your Nutrition Business podcast to learn how on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
The CrossFit Medical Society launched on June 6th and is creating a directory to make it easy to find a healthcare professional who also holds a CrossFit credential (Healthcare Foundations, online Level 1, Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 or Level 4 CrossFit Credential).
Healthcare professionals with a CrossFit credential may join the directory for a fee, while anyone in the community can join the platform and see the directory for FREE.
Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect from the platform:
- Directory of healthcare practitioners
- Healthcare webinars
- Upcoming events
Should You Join The CrossFit Medical Society?
YES! This will give you access as an affiliate owner to healthcare professionals who hold a CrossFit credential.
As a CrossFit Affiliate owner, you will be able to see healthcare practitioners who believe in the CrossFit methodology. Take the next step and connect with them – you can email them through the directory.
If you are a member of a CrossFit community, the medical society is free to join. This is an easy place for you to find a healthcare practitioner who is aligned with the CrossFit methodology and is focused on lifestyle interventions.
Are you looking for FREE nutrition and health tips?
Healthy Steps Nutrition hosts free nutrition seminars. You can access the latest one HERE and be added to our weekly nutrition tip and recipe emails.
Can You Join The CrossFit Medical Society Directory Level?
If you or a coach at your gym is a healthcare professional and holds a CrossFit credential, why not? It’s an annual fee of $249.
If you are a gym owner, why not get your business listed there? It’s free for the community at large so it could be a lead generator for you for people looking for nutrition, health or mental health support.
Right now, only Licensed and credentialed professionals can be listed so if you have a Licensed dietitian, chiropractor, physical therapist, etc who holds a CrossFit credential, consider paying for their membership and having their contact and website link to your business.
Since the Healthy Steps Nutrition Certification is a CrossFit Preferred Nutrition Course, you are able to join the directory with an active certification.
At Healthy Steps Nutrition, we have three licensed Dietitians who are also CrossFit trainers on staff, we paid for all of them to have a directory listing and their profile guides them back to Healthy Steps Nutrition.
Can Healthy Steps Nutrition Coaches Join The CrossFit Medical Society?
YES! If you have an active Healthy Steps Nutrition Certification, you are able to join the CrossFit Medical Society.
The Healthy Steps Nutrition Certifications are good for three years upon graduation.
If it’s been longer than three years, you can renew your certification by completing the Coach Evaluation. As a part of Healthy Steps Nutrition Mentoring, your business receives one annual evaluation. If you need additional evaluations, you are able to purchase them HERE.
If you are a CrossFit affiliate owner and healthcare professional, you can sign up for a directory listing.
At minimum create a free account and see potential partnerships for healthcare professionals (don’t forget the training we have in the platform to see how to do it).
