How CrossFit Community Support Drives Cancer Risk Reduction
Written by Dr. Janette Watkins with contributions from Jennifer Pishko, M.S., Nutrition Education
How CrossFit Community Support Drives Cancer Risk Reduction
In September 2024, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians published a study revealing that nearly 40% of cancer cases and 44% of cancer deaths in the United States stem from modifiable risk factors [1]. While these statistics are sobering, they illuminate a profound opportunity: the behaviors that drive cancer risk—smoking, excess body weight, physical inactivity, poor diet, and excessive alcohol consumption—are precisely the areas where sustained behavior change can save lives. The challenge lies not in knowing what to change, but in creating the supportive environment necessary to make those changes stick longterm.
This is where the CrossFit community model becomes uniquely powerful. Unlike traditional fitness approaches that focus primarily on individual effort, CrossFit's strength lies in its community-driven approach to behavior change. The daily gathering of members, shared struggles and victories, and culture of mutual accountability create an environment where healthy behaviors are not just encouraged—they become the norm.
The Community Foundation of Behavior Change
The CrossFit community operates on principles that behavioral scientists recognize as essential for lasting change. Every CrossFit affiliate functions as a micro-community where members develop relationships that extend beyond workout sessions. These relationships create multiple layers of support that traditional exercise programs rarely achieve. When a member struggles with health choices, they have coaches who provide guidance, fellow members who share similar struggles, and a community culture that celebrates progress over perfection.
This community support directly addresses the psychological barriers that often derail individual efforts to reduce cancer risk. The fear of failure, isolation of trying to change alone, and lack of consistent encouragement are replaced by a network of people invested in each member's success. When someone is trying to quit smoking, lose weight, or establish regular exercise habits, they have a built-in support system that meets them multiple times per week.
From Theory to Daily Practice: Stages of Change, Lived.
The Transtheoretical Model (Stages of Change) reminds us that lasting behavior change unfolds gradually—through pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance—not as a sudden flip, but as a process of progression and reinforcement [2]. CrossFit affiliates meet people at each stage and guide them forward. Someone who enters unconvinced or unaware is immediately immersed in a culture where health is visible and celebrated, shifting “not me” to “maybe me.” As contemplation develops, affiliates offer low-barrier opportunities—foundation classes, modifiable workouts, and supportive events—that help newcomers envision themselves succeeding alongside peers with similar struggles. In preparation, intent crystallizes through structured coaching, goal-setting, and small but measurable wins that transform motivation into commitment.
The action stage is where daily practice takes hold: members commit to regular workouts and broader lifestyle changes, sustained by coaches who notice absences and peers who celebrate progress at every level—from first pull-ups to completing the CrossFit Open. In maintenance, CrossFit’s unique strength emerges. Health is reinforced not by willpower alone but by identity, woven through long-standing traditions, milestone celebrations, and enduring relationships within the community. This continuous reinforcement makes relapse the exception, not the rule. Whereas clinics and public health campaigns often describe these stages in abstract terms, CrossFit affiliates operationalize them in real time, turning short-term effort into lasting lifestyle.
Addressing Cancer Risk Factors Through Community Support
The specific cancer risk factors identified in the 2024 CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians study—including physical inactivity, excess body weight, poor diet, smoking, and alcohol use—are precisely the areas where CrossFit communities excel at promoting sustainable behavior change [3]. Physical inactivity, which contributes to over 3% of cancer cases, is addressed not only through structured workouts but through a culture that makes movement social. CrossFit members don’t just work out—they work out together, forming bonds that extend beyond the gym and make physical activity an integral part of their daily routine.
Nutrition change is another area where the CrossFit model shines. Rather than offering generic advice, CrossFit communities foster environments where healthy eating is a shared priority. Members regularly exchange recipes, meal prep tips, and celebrate each other's nutrition milestones. This peer-based support system often proves more effective than traditional one-on-one counseling because it provides consistent encouragement from people navigating similar challenges.
Even for risk factors like smoking and excessive alcohol use, CrossFit communities provide powerful support. The shift to health-focused social gatherings—centered around workouts, challenges, and community events—offers members new sources of connection and accountability that help replace old habits. In this way, the CrossFit environment becomes a healthy alternative to settings where risky behaviors may have previously thrived.
The Science Behind Community-Supported Behavior Change
Behavioral science strongly supports this approach. A 2023 systematic review of physical activity interventions for cancer survivors found that programs incorporating peer accountability, social support, and goal setting were most effective in creating lasting change [4]. These elements are not incidental in CrossFit—they’re built into the foundation of how the community functions.
The 2024 Physical Activity and Cancer Control (PACC) Framework echoes these findings, emphasizing the importance of socially supported, community-based interventions in reducing cancer risk [5]. According to the framework, lasting change requires more than just individual motivation—it depends on environments that make healthy behaviors feel easier, more accessible, and more rewarding.
Exercise as Adjuvant Therapy: The CHALLENGE Trial.
Exercise isn’t just prevention, it’s treatment. The 2025 CHALLENGE trial [6] finally put hard numbers behind what we’ve seen anecdotally for years: structured exercise, started after curative surgery and chemotherapy for colon cancer, doesn’t just make survivors feel better—it slashes recurrence and boosts survival. Five years out, disease-free survival was 80.3% with exercise versus 73.9% without it. At eight years, overall survival jumped to 90.3% compared to 83.2% in controls. That’s not a marginal gain. That’s life or death. On top of it, patients reported better fitness, function, and quality of life. What’s even more exciting is that the actual increase in METs (a measure of aerobic capacity) in the exercise group wasn’t dramatic and the control group improved, too. In other words, the difference in cardiorespiratory fitness between the groups was relatively small, yet the impact on survival was massive. That tells us something powerful: any structured movement changes biology. Now imagine the delta if you compared a sedentary control group to a true CrossFit or HIIT-style intervention, those numbers would likely blow this gap wide open. The message is clear: even after the body has been through the wringer of chemo, exercise is not just safe, it’s therapeutic. And this is where CrossFit shines. Scalability makes it accessible to anyone, coaching keeps it safe, and the built-in community makes it stick. Clinical medicine is finally catching up to what affiliates have been proving every day: movement is medicine, and in cancer survivorship, it can mean the difference between recurrence and resilience.
Stories from the CrossFit Community
These dynamics aren’t abstract theory—they’re lived experiences. The CrossFit community is rich with stories of members navigating cancer prevention, survivorship, and recovery with the help of their affiliate:
Selene Zhang, diagnosed with breast cancer, completed CrossFit Open workouts in the midst of chemotherapy. “CrossFit helped me stay strong mentally and physically,” she shared. “This is just a short period of my life—I can get through it.” Her affiliate provided encouragement, structure, and emotional support, while her oncologist—impressed by her resilience—joined CrossFit himself.
Steven Smith, a cancer survivor treated for oropharyngeal cancer, credits his CrossFit foundation with helping him endure treatment. “Without CrossFit,” he said, “those things would have been so much more severe.” Today, he’s an advocate for integrating fitness into cancer care.
These stories show how community transforms hardship into strength—a principle with far-reaching implications for cancer prevention and recovery.
Beyond Programs—Toward Lifelong Prevention
Sustained behavior change—not short bursts of effort—is what ultimately reduces cancer risk. CrossFit fosters this sustainability by cultivating long-term relationships and routines. Members often describe their affiliate as a second family—a place where their health goals are not only supported but expected.
This long-term reinforcement is critical. The person who remains physically active, eats well, and manages stress for years—not weeks—receives exponentially greater protection from chronic disease, including cancer.
Community-based medicine works because it meets people where they actually live, not in a sterile exam room or a brochure no one reads. The data is clear when health is delivered through local networks, support groups, and neighborhood hubs, people stick with it. CrossFit affiliates are exactly that: living, breathing health hubs where prevention isn’t theory, it’s culture. The workouts, the coaching, the accountability—all of it adds up to a peer-driven environment where healthy choices stop being optional and start being normal. And in cancer prevention and survivorship, that’s the difference-maker. Sustained lifestyle change isn’t a nice idea, it’s survival.
References
1. Islami, F., Marlow, E. C., Thomson, B., McCullough, M. L., Rumgay, H., Gapstur, S. M., Patel, A. V., Soerjomataram, I., & Jemal, A. (2024). Proportion and number of cancer cases and deaths attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors in the United States, 2019. CA: a cancer journal for clinicians, 74(5), 405–432. https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21858
2. Prochaska, J. O., & Velicer, W. F. (1997). The transtheoretical model of health behavior change. American journal of health promotion : AJHP, 12(1), 38–48. https://doi.org/10.4278/0890-1171-12.1.38
3. . Islami, F., Marlow, E. C., Thomson, B., McCullough, M. L., Rumgay, H., Gapstur, S. M., Patel, A. V., Soerjomataram, I., & Jemal, A. (2024). Proportion and number of cancer cases and deaths attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors in the United States, 2019. CA: a cancer journal for clinicians, 74(5), 405–432. https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21858
4. Salisbury, C. E., Hyde, M. K., Cooper, E. T., Stennett, R. C., Gomersall, S. R., & Skinner, T. L. (2023). Physical activity behaviour change in people living with and beyond cancer following an exercise intervention: a systematic review. Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice, 17(3), 569–594. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-023-01377-2
5. Yang, L., Courneya, K. S., & Friedenreich, C. M. (2024). The Physical Activity and Cancer Control (PACC) framework: update on the evidence, guidelines, and future research priorities. British journal of cancer, 131(6), 957–969. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-024-02748-x
6. Courneya, K. S., Vardy, J. L., O’Callaghan, C. J., Friedenreich, C. M., Campbell, K. L., McTiernan, A., Tan, S., Dhillon, H. M., Beauchamp, M. R., Nightingale, S., Dolan, L. B., MacIntyre, T., Nair, R. C., Herschtal, A., & Tu, D. (2025). Effects of a structured exercise program on disease recurrence and survival in colon cancer survivors: The CHALLENGE randomized clinical trial. Journal of Clinical Oncology. Advance online publication.
