Nearly two months after Don Faul stepped down, CrossFit has appointed Bruce Edwards as its next CEO, with his first day set for May 4, 2026.
For a brand that has cycled through leadership, this appointment feels different because Edwards is not coming in unfamiliar with CrossFit—he’s already lived it. He was among the small group coached by Greg Glassman in the late 1990s, before CrossFit formally existed. He served as COO from 2013 to 2019, a period of significant global growth. He also co-founded CrossFit Aptos, where for more than five years he coached classes, programmed workouts, managed payroll, and experienced firsthand what it’s like to open the door to find only one person waiting for class.
The Sale Is Off. That’s Good News.
Berkshire Partners has confirmed it is no longer seeking new ownership, and the board was direct about why: confidence in Edwards’ leadership and conviction in his vision for the brand. The board has explicitly committed to investing in CrossFit’s affiliates, its community, and the continued growth of the methodology.
For affiliates who have been watching the brand navigate uncertainty for the better part of two years, that is a meaningful development. CrossFit now has a CEO with deep institutional knowledge, a clear mandate, and an ownership structure that is not in flux. Edwards can focus on actually leading rather than helping find a buyer.
The Market Has Evolved, and CrossFit Is Moving
The competitive landscape around CrossFit has evolved. HYROX has expanded rapidly, offering a standardized competition format that travels well across markets. CrossFit is also building out its own competitive ecosystem: XENOM recently launched as a licensed CrossFit event series—a 10-event, stadium-scale competition that standardizes and scores total human performance using a points-based index. CrossFit building that out under its own banner rather than watching it happen elsewhere is a good sign.
CrossFit still has a strong foundation: a proven methodology, a deeply engaged global community, and a network of affiliates delivering real results every day. More competition in the space confirms there is demand for what CrossFit built. The opportunity now is to ensure that the foundation is better supported going forward.
As Edwards put it in his letter to the community: “CrossFit did not just inspire the fitness industry—it created it. The work ahead is not about catching up. It is about ensuring the original is recognized as the standard against which everything else is measured.”
The Methodology Is Strong. The Next Step Is the Business.
CrossFit’s workouts still work. The community still works. The results people get on the floor are real. Whatever has held the brand back has not been what happens in the gym—it has been the uncertainty surrounding it, and those are fixable problems.
Affiliates today are operating in a more competitive, more demanding environment than they were ten years ago. Member expectations around experience, retention, and pricing have shifted. Supporting affiliates in navigating that environment means building better systems around what already works, not changing what CrossFit is.
Edwards has the background to do that. At barre3, he served as COO and later President of a studio-franchise model that, like CrossFit, depends on owner-operators to deliver a consistent, branded experience. At Core Development & Management, he was brought in as CEO to lead one of the largest Planet Fitness franchise groups in the country—and grew the portfolio from 38 to 73 locations in three years through acquisitions and operational discipline.
He knows what scaling a multi-site fitness business actually requires and where the gaps tend to appear.
What This Means for Affiliate Owners
Having a CEO who has owned an affiliate, coached the 5 a.m. class, and chased down payroll changes the conversation at the top. It means the day-to-day reality of running a gym has a seat at the table when decisions are made, and the board’s stated commitment to investing in affiliates gives it some structural weight.
The fundamentals of running a good gym have not changed, though. Retention, pricing, systems, and operational discipline still drive growth. What this transition offers is the chance for those things to be better supported at the brand level—so affiliate owners are not out there solving the same problems alone that hundreds of other gym owners have already solved.
As Edwards wrote: “The strength of CrossFit isn’t any single gym or athlete. It’s the thousands of affiliates around the world who prove every day that what we do is important, that it works, and that it works better together.”
A Stronger Future Depends on Execution
CrossFit does not need to reinvent itself. It needs to build on what already works and put better support structures around it. Stable ownership, experienced leadership, and a more competitive market all point in the same direction: there is real room to move forward here, and for the first time in a while, the conditions are actually in place to do it.
You Did Not Open Your Gym to Wait on HQ
You opened it because you believed in what CrossFit does to people. You have seen it change lives, including probably your own. But belief does not pay the bills, and passion does not fix a leaky retention system or a pricing structure that is quietly bleeding revenue every month.
The affiliates that grow in this environment are not the ones waiting for direction from above. They are the ones who have built clear systems around what they do—member management that runs without constant babysitting, billing that does not require chasing people down, and enough visibility into their numbers to make decisions before small problems become expensive ones.
That is exactly what Kilo gym software is built for. Purpose-built for gyms, not adapted from generic business software, Kilo gives you the tools to manage members, run billing, and track the numbers that actually matter—so your gym runs the way it should, whether or not anything changes at HQ. CrossFit’s next chapter looks more promising than it has in a while. Build a gym that is ready to grow with it.
Book a demo and start building a stronger gym today.
