Nearly 12 years ago, CrossFit Founder and CEO Greg Glassman defined fitness. In 2007, the first test to find the fittest man and woman on Earth was born: the CrossFit Games.

“It’s as easy as this: if fitness can be defined and measured, then it can be tested, and we can, in turn, find the fittest,” Glassman wrote in 2013 of the CrossFit Games, which started as a small competition between friends and grew into a global battle.

Glassman’s definition of fitness: work capacity across broad time and modal domains—something measurable, observable and repeatable.

“We claim to title the Fittest on Earth, and we can do that because we as a fitness methodology have defined fitness,” says Dave Castro, Director of the Games.

He continues: “No one else is testing fitness, and at this point, no one can make a claim.”

“Anyone in the field of exercise would agree that the definition of fitness that Greg Glassman came up with is as complete as any that’s ever been,” says Matt Chan, a six-time Games competitor and member of CrossFit’s Level 1 Seminar Staff.

He adds: “Fitness is not just in the gym. Fitness is outside of the gym. It’s life. Anytime you find yourself saying, ‘Damn it, I can’t do that,’ you have a hole in your fitness.”

In this official CrossFit Inc. documentary, learn how and why the Games started, as well as about the efforts that go into making the annual event not just an athletic contest but also an experiment in human performance.

Justin Bergh, CrossFit Games General Manager, explains: “We’ll look back and say, ‘We were just—in 2013—scratching the surface. We were just starting to understand what fitness really was.’”

Video by Heber Cannon and Jonathan Glancy.