“Variance within the program means literally you do anything and everything that life, nature, sport, or even potentially combat can throw at you. It’s literally preparing you for life outside the walls of the gym.” — Chuck Carswell

The goal of CrossFit is to create a broad, general, and inclusive fitness: fitness with a general physical capacity that lends itself well to any and all contingencies; the likely and unlikely; the known, unknown, and unknowable. It is not enough to develop one capacity at the expense of any or all others. We do not just want you to be good in the gym or at one physical task; we want you to be good at life, sport, combat, and everywhere, at any time, for any duration, and in any environment. Achieving that requires variance.

“Variance is unique to CrossFit in that we lean heavily into expanding athletes outside their comfort zones. And that expanding outside their comfort zones leads to a broader adaptation and a broader capacity overall as a person than you would get if you were just a specialist. So they can’t just be strong, or just be fast. They have to be fast and strong and skilled and have great long-term endurance.” — Justin Bergh

Read more about variance in CrossFit here.