Lifestyle

The List of Celebrities Who Have Done CrossFit Continues to Grow

July 5, 2022 by
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Former Navy SEAL Jared Shaw turned heads in a Men’s Health story when he revealed that “The Terminal List” star Chris Pratt had completed Murph several times while preparing to play the role of James Reece.

This revelation created questions about other celebrities that have done CrossFit or “functional fitness” to prepare for their respective careers or just to feel better on a daily basis. The list is far from complete due to many keeping their training styles private, but there are some notable names.

Max Greenfield, who starred as Schmidt in “New Girl” and Dave in “The Neighborhood,” has been very open over the years about his love of CrossFit. He spent an entire segment of “Late Night With Seth Meyers” talking about attending the 2017 CrossFit Games and geeking out while meeting Mat Fraser.

Greenfield had a unique opportunity prior to the 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games. He announced Individual Event 2, which contained sled pulls, pig flips, and muscle-ups. Greenfield even dropped a shoutout to Rob Orlando in the middle of his video.  

Elizabeth Banks is another example. She has drawn attention to the training method in the past in a variety of ways. She took part in “The Sport Of Fitness Has Arrived” Campaign Launch in 2012, which featured her and multiple other celebrities working out with Rich Froning Jr. and Annie Thorisdottir. The list of participants also included Chace Crawford, who currently stars as The Deep on Amazon’s “The Boys.”

“Activating all of your muscles during your workout is the way to go,” Banks told SELF in 2012. “I don’t understand where the ‘this day you just work your arms, the next day your quads,’ philosophy came from. That’s what is great about CrossFit, the philosophy of it: work everything at once, cross train your body, fire all your muscles.”

Country superstars: Tim McGraw, who regularly does pistol squats on-stage during his concerts, has put his training method numerous times in recent years. He partnered with Snap Fitness to open Truemav Fitness in Nashville, which focuses on high-intensity training modeled after his own routine built on tour.

  • “Right before lunch, we usually go into the stadium and run the stadium steps,” McGraw told Men’s Health in 2019. McGraw also revealed that he brings a trailer on tour that holds his gym equipment.
  • “We come out and we do our outdoor – our version of CrossFit – which is usually centered around the battle ropes. We set up like four or five different workouts, like push-pull, upper body, lower body kind of things.”
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A man from Kansas: Chris Porter, a stand-up comedian with two specials on Amazon Prime, is newer to the CrossFit space. He began doing CrossFit in Los Angeles and then later worked with some friends at a garage gym when COVID closed down numerous locations.

  • Porter took on the CrossFit Open in 2022, and he put his experience on display. He posted videos of him struggling during the final reps on 22.3.
  • CrossFit has worked its way into Porter’s on-stage material. One special, “A Man From Kansas,” features a joke about how men are bad at emotions, but women will use shows that make them cry as “Emotional CrossFit.” These shows feature Sadness Squats and Love Burpees.

“I only mentioned it because you brought it up, but I do CrossFit,” Porter told fellow comedian Jon Reep in mid-2021. “I do it every day that I’m here in Los Angeles, so I do it about three times a week.”

Racing for wins: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the driver of the No. 47 Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty Racing, has openly discussed his appreciation of CrossFit over the years. He has a custom home gym at the Slide Job Ranch, which he has filled with equipment from Rogue, Concept2, Assault Fitness, and other companies.

  • Stenhouse, who is good friends with Rich Froning Jr., took part in a segment for FOX Sports. He put reporter Josh Sims through Murph the day after completing the Coca-Cola 600. At 600 miles, this is the longest and most grueling event on the NASCAR schedule.
  • Stenhouse has made appearances at the CrossFit Games, and he hosted Froning at his home gym during a Dudes Weekend in October 2020. They worked out together and competed at the GoPro Motorplex go-kart track. Froning and his friends then watched as Stenhouse took on the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL (part road course, part oval).

The list of celebrities spans music, comedy, motorsports, acting, and many other industries. The aforementioned names are only some of the examples of high-profile figures that have put their training on display. Not all of them compete in the CrossFit Open or exclusively follow a specific CrossFit program. Though they all put an emphasis on health.

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