The International Functional Fitness Federation Is Here To Take Fitness To The Olympics

I sat down with the head of the International Functional Fitness Federation (I3F), Gretchen Kittelberger, and the head of USA Functional Fitness, James Fitzgerald to get some more details on what the I3F and USAFF are up to and what they’re trying to build.

“It’s an international governing body, a non-profit entity, with a long term goal of getting the sport on a path to getting into the Olympic Games.”

The stepping stones here for these organizations are increasing fairness in competition, accuracy in judging, minimum basic safety standards, and increasing competitive opportunities for athletes.

They’ll try to make all those happen with various strategies, including several written guides around range of motion for standard movements, safety expectations, and providing general documents meant to act as a reference for anyone participating in the sport in any way.

The process is also democratic and will include feedback from the various member countries like any other international governing body.

To James Fitzgerald, aka OPT, the first CrossFit Games Champion, he sees this as a massive opportunity for coaches and athletes to participate in the sport.

They’re also building a framework around testing fitness based on six different styles of events in order to have some regularity and style to the testing. Those six categories include realms like aerobic capacity, gymnastic skill, and speed.

As an example, something like aerobic capacity would be tested two repetitive cyclical or monostructural test with a rest in between.

Watch the full interview above and feel free to contact the International Functional Fitness Federation and USA Functional Fitness on their websites, Facebook, and Instagram.

Usafunctionalfitness.org
functionalfitnessfederation.org