Make Sure You Keep Playing

By Coach Nathan Pipke

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About a month ago, I went and did something I hadn’t done in over a year: I played a game of pickup basketball.

I used to play every Sunday morning — full court — at a local high school. Going back to a sport was a blast… and I definitely felt it the next day.

For those of us who’ve been doing CrossFit for a while, we know the feeling: we’re fitter than we’ve ever been, lifts are going up, and our engine feels unstoppable.

But here’s a question worth asking:

When was the last time you actually played something?

For many CrossFit athletes, the gym becomes the entire focus of their fitness journey. The daily WOD, the strength work, the skill sessions — it all adds up to a comprehensive training program.

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But there’s something uniquely valuable about stepping outside those gym walls and engaging in actual sports, and it goes far beyond just “active recovery.”

The Missing Piece: Unpredictability

CrossFit does an incredible job of preparing you for the unknown and unknowable — but there’s a difference between random variety and true unpredictability.

In the gym, even the most chaotic workout has structure. You know when it starts, when it ends, and roughly what’s expected of you.

Sports throw that out the window.

You’re reacting to opponents, adjusting to teammates, reading constantly changing situations. That tennis ball doesn’t care about your Fran time, and the basketball court won’t wait for you to chalk up.

This kind of reactive, dynamic movement creates neurological adaptations that programmed workouts simply can’t replicate.

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Building Real-World Athleticism

CrossFit makes you capable. Sports make you athletic. There’s a distinction worth noting.

When you play pickup basketball, you’re not just running sprints — you’re changing direction based on visual cues, timing your jumps with others, and coordinating complex movements in three-dimensional space.

When you’re diving for a volleyball, you’re building spatial awareness and proprioception that no amount of box jumps can fully develop.

Sports develop:

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1) Movement creativity and improvisation

In sports, you learn to solve movement problems on the fly. No two plays are exactly alike, and your body learns to adapt in real time rather than executing pre-planned movement patterns.

2) Deceleration and change of direction

CrossFit involves plenty of acceleration, but sports demand that you stop, cut, pivot, and reverse direction explosively — often while tracking a ball or opponent. These deceleration forces are crucial for joint health and injury prevention.

3) Competitive mental skills under pressure

The psychological demands of competition — reading opponents, handling momentum swings, making split-second decisions — forge mental toughness in a different way than grinding through a brutal workout.

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The Joy Factor (And Why It Matters)

Let’s be honest: CrossFit is hard. That’s part of why we love it — but it’s also intense, demanding, and sometimes borderline masochistic.

Sports bring an element of play back into your fitness.

There’s something primal and joyful about chasing a frisbee on a beach, scrapping for a rebound, or cycling through scenic trails with friends. This isn’t just about fun (though that matters too) — it’s about sustainability.

The athletes who maintain high fitness levels for decades aren’t just the ones who can suffer the most. They’re the ones who genuinely enjoy moving their bodies in diverse ways.

Playing sports reminds you why you got fit in the first place: not just to be good at working out, but to be capable of doing awesome things with your body.

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The Bigger Picture

CrossFit’s brilliance lies in its ability to make you generally prepared for physical challenges.

But being prepared isn’t the same as being fulfilled.

Sports add context, community, challenge, and joy to your fitness journey.

They remind you that all those burpees and thrusters aren’t just about leaderboard rankings or PRs — they’re about being the kind of person who can say yes when someone asks:

“Want to play?”

They’re about still being able to join pickup games, go on adventurous hikes, or try new physical activities well into your later years.

So yes — keep showing up to the gym. Keep chasing those PRs and attacking those workouts.

But also get outside, grab a ball or a racket or a paddle, and remember what it feels like to just play.

Your body will thank you for the variety.
Your mind will appreciate the break from structured suffering.
And you might just rediscover why you fell in love with movement in the first place.

After all, CrossFit’s tagline is “Forging Elite Fitness.”

But fitness for what?

The answer should be bigger than just more fitness.

It should be for life — and life is meant to be played.

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