Saved by the Barbell

Saved by the Barbell is an annual Labor Day fundraiser workout hosted by the CrossFit Foundation and taking place at participating CrossFit affiliates around the world. All proceeds from the workout support school teachers, students, parents, coaches, trainers, and administrators building CrossFit programs in their schools and communities. Saved by the Barbell raises funds to support educators and parents who understand that improving work capacity across broad time and modal domains helps kids improve their fitness, health, and well-being. As demonstrated in Saved by the Barbell’s first year, even small grants of $1,000 to $10,000 can make a big difference in changing the fitness culture in a given school or school district. When community generosity plants the seeds by providing training and start-up funds, school administrators are more likely to give a CrossFit program a try. Once a CrossFit program is piloted and kids have the opportunity to participate, the results speak for themselves. Last year, over 250 CrossFit affiliates participated in the inaugural event, raising more than $95,000 to support CrossFit students, teachers, coaches, and staff throughout the United States and around the world. With those funds, the CrossFit Foundation helped start more than two dozen CrossFit P.E. programs, after-school programs, and school affiliates in communities ranging from small-town Oregon and North Carolina to downtown Los Angeles and Detroit, and abroad in Sweden and Ireland. Final funds raised in 2018 are going out the door in the next few months to schools in Malaysia, the U.K., and another dozen American states. In several schools, these dollars helped purchase CrossFit equipment and supplies. In many others, teachers and staff received scholarships to attend CrossFit L1s and Kids training. With the help of the CrossFit affiliate community, the CrossFit Foundation is committed to providing life-changing opportunities to hundreds of schools and thousands of kids around the world.