Here is how it works: On your birthday, everyone in class gathers around in a circle. On the coach’s call of, “Down,” everyone does a burpee. We continue burpees in unison until we reach your age. It is a celebration of you as part of our Community. So, why do so many people purposefully avoid them?
A lot of members have been skipping out on their birthday burpees by either not showing up or not telling the coach it is their birthday. It becomes a game when someone else in class spoils the birthday news. What we don’t understand is, WHY ARE YOU HIDING SUCH A HAPPY DAY? Your birthday is a time to celebrate with family and friends. You’re another year older, hopefully wiser, and as a CrossFitter, healthier than the year before.
CrossFitters celebrate, show respect, and mourn those who have passed by working out. We have holiday WODs, we have patriotic wods, and we have Hero WODs. For these specialty WODs, people come to the gym expecting to do a knock down, drag out, hard as hell WOD. However, when we try to celebrate your day of birth through movement and exercise, you consider it a punishment. Why is that?
Birthday burpees are not a punishment, they are a way for us to wish you a happy birthday. Burpees are an exercise everyone loves to hate, this is why we do them. We suffer through WODs as a Community. We use WODs as a Community building opportunity. Burpees are an exercise that everyone can do so we can all do them together. The next time a friend of yours has a birthday, ask him or her how many people gave the gift of better health in celebration.
And next time it is your birthday, we expect to see you at Industrial Athletics.
