Co-founder and Former CEO of CrossFit

Greg Glassman | Biography

Executive Producer of 'Every Second Counts: The Story of the 2008 CrossFit Games'

• By Ashna Tamrakar
• Update : September 20, 2021

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Greg Glassman is an American businessperson and the former CEO of CrossFit.

Who Is Greg Glassman?

Greg Glassman is an American fitness coach, businessman, and former CEO/co-founder of CrossFit, a branded workout regimen. It is a trademark of CrossFit, LLC, founded in 2000 by Glassman and his ex-wife, Lauren Jenai. He resigned as the CEO of the company in June 2020.

In addition, Glassman was one of the executive producers of the documentary Every Second Counts: The Story of the 2008 CrossFit Games, released in 2009. He was also featured on CBS’s 60 Minutes in May 2015.

Early Life 

Greg Glassman was born in Los Angeles, California, on 22 July 1956. He was raised in Woodland Hills, a San Fernando Valley suburb of Los Angeles. His father worked for Hughes Aircraft as a rocket scientist. 

Glassman was an avid gymnast and fitness fanatic from a very young age. He worked out in his parents’ garage with a Sears weight set and a doorframe pullup bar. He also went to the gym daily and bicycled with his friends. Glassman dropped out of college to make a professional career in the fitness world.

As a fitness enthusiast, his understanding was that executing basic human movements at a high intensity would get him incredibly fit, and the descending-rep system ensured that he could keep the power up all the way through. This knowledge and ideas would later be applied to CrossFit, which he established in the late 1990s. 

In a later interview, Glassman stated, “I did 21 front squats to overhead presses followed by 21 pullups. Then I immediately did 15, then 9... In just three minutes, I had that nasty, vomitus feeling you have after a competitive gymnastics routine. I couldn’t get that from bodybuilding. I’ll never forget that lesson.”

The Story Of CrossFit

It all started in 1995 when Glassman opened a gym in Santa Cruz, California. He was contracted to teach the Santa Cruz Police Department the same year. Initially, he trained citizens one-on-one in a private setting. However, when his schedule filled up, he realized he could develop a group training facility to accommodate more clients while still providing personalized attention to ensure safe and effective training sessions.

Soon, he realized that combining many aspects of fitness, such as strength, weight lifting, tolerance, flexibility, and balance, would help people get in better shape. Thus, he launched his first CrossFit gym in 2000 with his former wife, Lauren Jenai. CrossFit designed exercises that mimic the experiences athletes and fighters experience during actual competition since its inception. Glassman would also upload his daily workouts on CrossFit.com regularly.

There were over 15 CrossFit affiliates by 2005. As per a 2019 article from NBC, 13,000 affiliated gyms in 120 countries practiced CrossFit. In addition, over 7,000 gyms in the United States alone offered the program. As a result, the number of CrossFitters is estimated to be around 4 million during that time. As of 2020, CrossFit has over 14,000 gyms worldwide licensed to its name.

According to the official website, all the CrossFit workouts are built on functional movements, which combine the best elements of gymnastics, weightlifting, running, rowing, and other sports. 

Full Ownership

Glassman gained absolute control of the corporation after his divorce from Jenai. After the divorce settlement, his wife attempted to sell her portion of the company to a third party, but Glassman purchased it with a $16 million loan from Summit Partners.

Step Down as the CEO of CrossFit

In June 2020, Glassman stepped down as the CEO of CrossFit after two decades of serving in the position. “I’m stepping down as CEO of CrossFit, Inc., and I have decided to retire. On Saturday I created a rift in the CrossFit community and unintentionally hurt many of its members. Since I founded CrossFit 20 years ago, it has become the world’s largest network of gyms. All are aligned in offering an elegant solution to the vexing problem of chronic disease. Creating CrossFit and supporting its affiliates and legions of professional trainers has been a labor of love.” His official statement read. “Those who know me know that my sole issue is the chronic disease epidemic. I know that CrossFit is the solution to this epidemic and that CrossFit HQ and its staff serve as the stewards of CrossFit affiliates worldwide. I cannot let my behavior stand in the way of HQ’s or affiliates’ missions. They are too important to jeopardize.”

Since then, Dave Castro has been appointed as the CEO of CrossFit, director of the CrossFit Games, and co-director of training.

Wife and Children

Glassman was married to Lauren Jenai, co-founder of CrossFit. Jenai was a hairdresser and was one of Glassman’s clients. The two fell in love and got married in 1998. Unfortunately, their relationship terminated in divorce after a lengthy and messy procedure from 2009 to 2013. 

Before the divorce, the couple had four children: two sons and two daughters. Jenai received an estimated $20 million in the divorce settlement for her role in founding the CrossFit business, according to Town & Country.

Post-divorce with Glassman, Jenai got married to accused murderer Franklin Tyrone Tucker in June 2020. 

What is Greg Glassman’s Net Worth?

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Greg Glassman has an estimated net worth of $100 million as September 2021.