iF3 Worlds 2022 in Mexico

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Why are we in Mexico?

You may be wondering why my son Javan and I went to Mexico in the first place. We were there for the iF3 World Championships. "What's that?" you say? The "iF3" is the International (i) Functional (Fx1) Fitness (Fx2) Federation (Fx3). This is the governing body for Functional Fitness as an international sport, representing the sport on the global sports governance scene with the ultimate goal of getting Functional Fitness into the Olympic Games. Every year they put on a World Championships in a different country.

I know, that just brings up a whole list of other questions.


• "What is Functional Fitness?"
• "What does the governing body for an international sport do?"
• "What is the global sports governance scene?"
• "How do you get a sport into the Olympics?"
• "Why do you care, Nic?"



I'm not going to write-up exhaustive answers to all those questions here, but I'll do the summary.


• Functional Fitness is a new sport that developed over the past 20 years or so and really hit it big globally in the past decade due to the rise of CrossFit. It consists of a mixture of "gym" activities testing a wide range of physical abilities. Functional Fitness, as defined by the iF3, is 6 tests: Endurance, Strength, Bodyweight, Skill, Mixed, and Power.
• As a governing body, the iF3 organizes not-for-profit, democratic governing bodies in each nation, all representing to the international body. They define the sport, publish rules, and hold national, regional, and global competitions. (You can learn more about the iF3 on their official webpage.)
• All global sports have international organizations like this who meet together in umbrella groups such as the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) and International Olympic Committee (IOC). If every sport was a superhero (Soccerman! Gymnastics Girl!), these would be the Justice League or the Avengers or whatever.
• To get a sport into the Olympic Games, your sport must have a legit federation like this, with all the proper legal structures in place, and run it above-board for many years, while organizing in many countries all over the world, and consistently holding world championships.
• I care about this because I was one of the first people in the world to ever participate in or compete in this sport. As one of the first 100-or-so CrossFitters in the world, I have seen this thing explode in popularity, and watched it get really weird, confused, cultish, out of control, and mixed up along the way. I believe the iF3 is doing the right thing in defining and organizing the sport in a way that is accessible to all and beyond the purview of a private company, and I'm inspired by the idea of one day seeing this sport on the Olympic stage.



This is my 3rd iF3 World Championships, and I've also been to one iF3 Masters World Championships (for the older athletes). This is my first time bringing a family member along for the ride.

Reach For The Rings

I make documentary films. My first was, "The History of Sedro-Woolley", as a senior in high school. When I decided not to enter the US Marine Corps, I resolved instead to become an independent filmmaker. I moved to the city (Seattle) in 2000, where I could be close to all the arthouse theaters and a community of filmmakers. Soon I was taking film classes, writing scripts, and making shorts. I took an internship at a production company and got my first paid work on a commercial set in 2001. I built my film career in Seattle for more than a decade, gaining a ton of on-the-job experience in myriad roles on independent films, TV shows, commercials, and other content. The year I released my first documentary feature film (True Born African, available now on Amazon Prime Video) was also the same year I transitioned full-time into the fitness industry (2013).

I really threw myself into the fitness trade at that time, only dabbling in film & video production jobs a handful of times between 2013-2018. Then, in 2019, I decided to re-enter the production world. I wanted to make more films, and shows, and otherwise flex all those creative muscles while also balancing a fitness coaching practice. The first project I began developing was a documentary about the iF3.

That was a ton of work, and 2019 was a very eventful year. One of the biggest events was my trip to Malmo, Sweden to film the iF3 World Championships as a guest of the USA team. I then spent the next year and a half writing, producing, and editing Reach For The Rings. The film was released in May of 2021 and is available now on loads of different platforms (DVD, Blu-Ray, Dish, Cable, On-Demand, Streaming, etc., etc.). It's the first film about Functional Fitness (including all the CrossFit films) that actually explains what the sport is, how it is performed, and how it is scored. It's like Sport of Fitness 101. (More info on the official webpage.)

Reach For The Rings 2

Things got weird for international sports during the COVID pandemic and lockdowns of 2020. There were sports that carried on in bubbles, sports that were canceled altogether, and even the Olympic Games were delayed a full year. For the iF3, 2020 was the year of online competitions. 2021 was supposed to bring a return to live competitions in Australia (Worlds) and Portugal (Masters), but both those countries got pretty restrictive about travel and events, so those events were canceled. That's when Sweden stepped in to host Worlds again and Egypt became the hosts of Masters 2021.

In the middle of all that, I did a series of Zoom interviews with some important characters in the iF3, not sure if any live events would happen or not. When the 'save-the-day' events were organized, I traveled to Sweden and to Egypt to film my next iF3 documentary.

Reach For The Rings 2 (official webpage) tells the story of the sport of Functional Fitness surviving the COVID pandemic and all the challenges it presented. It gives more of a behind-the-scenes look at the sport through the eyes of the organizers and athletes that make it all happen. It's going to take me a long time to finish it, but that's why I started a Patreon page to help support production. I'll be releasing a lot of bonus content and source footage on there in the coming months. (I'm also searching for corporate sponsors, just mentioning that on the chance that you work for--or own--a fitness brand, and your fitness brand would like your name and logos to appear in the film's credits and marketing).

Reach For The Rings 3

That brings us to iF3 Worlds 2022 in Mexico and the topic of Reach For The Rings 3. With the second film far from completion, I knew the concept for the 3rd film had to be much simpler to shoot, write, and edit. That way it can be quickly turned around after RFTR2 is released. To figure this puzzle out, I turned to my own true story, my own family, my own love of travel, and my network of documentary film Director friends.

The first film involved close to 60 hours of footage from 10 camera operators. The end result was a 2-hour movie, so that's what we call a 30:1 shooting ratio (30 hours of source footage for every 1 hour of finished product). The second film has over 200 hours of source footage from WAY more camera operators than that, and I want it to be 90 minutes, so that's like a 133:1 shooting ratio! I needed the third one to be something way more manageable, maybe 10:1.

I came up with the idea to do it as a travelogue. I loved Anthony Bourdain and when he died my whole family felt the void he left in the world. That's part of what propelled me back into the film industry: I want to travel the world and portray truth in an authentic and cinematically artistic way like he and his team did. I also wanted this story to be driven by my own personal experiences in the sport of Functional Fitness: the loving evangelism, the frustration and disillusionment, the new hope. The third crucial element was that I wanted to involve my son Javan (who is almost old enough to compete in the Juniors category). I wanted to take him on a trip, teach him about the sport, and teach him how to make a documentary.

Taking it through with my Director friends, I started to get a handle on how this would be different from my other films. I wouldn't be using the footage from those 10 or 20 other camera people this time. I wouldn't be exhaustively covering every little detail. I couldn't just "film it all and let God sort it out." I would have to be very intentional about every minute of video I shot. My son and I would be both the talent and the crew.

On this trip to Mexico, Javan and I filmed our road trip. We did 6 workouts together and filmed them. We witnessed 3 days of competition and filmed it. We hung out with organizers and athletes from the sport, and filmed many of those interactions as well. We experienced the food and the culture, and a couple of long drives through the desert. It was some weird hybrid between home video and reality show, but we're going to make a cool little movie out of it.

Somehow we managed to get a good night's sleep every night and ate 3 square meals a day (things I usually don't do when I'm in the middle of a documentary shoot, but hey, you gotta keep the young 'uns alive). And we also watched the World Cup finals. Just saying.

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