I started CrossFit at 38, and that changes how you see the sport. When you start later, you know time matters. You know every year costs something. Progress does not show up just because you want it. You have to earn it, and you have to keep earning it long after the novelty wears off.
That is why the Masters division has always meant something to me. It is not just a place where older athletes compete. It is proof that the sport can be tested at any age. It is proof that people can keep building strength, skill, discipline, and confidence past the age when a lot of the world quietly expects them to start backing off.
After this year's CrossFit Games, I was part of a conversation with the CrossFit Athlete Council and CrossFit HQ about the Masters athlete experience. A lot was said. Some of it was hard to hear. But most of it came back to one simple point: Masters athletes are not asking to be treated like the Individual field. They are asking for the Masters division competition to feel worthy of the CrossFit Games name.
The athletes who qualify have already paid a price. They have trained for years. They have balanced jobs, families, injuries, travel, recovery, and all the normal weight of adult life. Then they kept showing up anyway. That should be celebrated and respected.
This is not because Masters athletes need special treatment. Not because the event has to be bigger than it can realistically be. But because the test should match the name: the CrossFit Games, the world championships of the Sport of Fitness. The test should feel complete. The communication should be clear. The athlete experience should be professional. Families should be able to follow what is happening. The weekend should feel like it belongs under the CrossFit Games name.
This is not entitlement. This is respect for the work and the sport.
I care about this because I have lived it. I know what it took for me to get here. I know what it felt like to start late and wonder if there was enough time. I know what it felt like to keep coming back year after year and realize age did not have to end the story. It changed the story. The training became more precise. Recovery mattered more. Decisions mattered more. The margin got smaller. But the pursuit did not become less valuable. If anything, it became more valuable.
That is the part I do not want us as masters athletes to lose. The Masters division is one of the clearest proofs that CrossFit can be a lifelong pursuit. When someone in their 40s, 50s, or 60s is still chasing a real standard, that says something. It says the long game is real.
So yes, I think it is worth speaking up for the athletes who still show up. And if the Masters division is part of the CrossFit Games, it should feel like it.
— Jason Grubb
7x CrossFit Games Masters Champion