Ryan Walterhouse spent the first three years of his career as a public servant, serving as a police officer for the Oakland Police Department from 2013 through 2016. In preparation for his career as a police officer, he earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Indiana State University and underwent training with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Academy. Since 2020, he has served as a private security contractor, protecting facilities, personnel, and sensitive information for a variety of federal agencies. In doing so, he collaborates with other security personnel, law enforcement, and other federal agencies. Ryan Walterhouse has a long history of being a team player, having earned two letters while playing baseball for Bishop O’Dowd High School. He went on to win a California state championship with the baseball team at Ohlone College and played D1 baseball for Indiana State University. Mr. Walterhouse remains interested and involved in sports today, including baseball, golf, and CrossFit.
CrossFit was born in Santa Cruz, California, where former gymnast Greg Glassman set about creating a better way to maintain fitness. The sport’s foundational principles were established in 1996, including a combination of high-intensity workouts and functional movements, all within a community setting. Early CrossFit workouts were notable for their lack of traditional gym equipment, emphasizing simple equipment, bodyweight exercises, and intensity rather than the length of the workout. The fledgling CrossFit community pushed itself hard and saw rapid results. Within a few years, the new workout routine had evolved into a sport and spread around the world, where it was adopted by athletes such as Ryan Walterhouse.
CrossFit gyms (called “boxes”) soon sprung up, serving not only as places to work out, but also as community hubs where people could come together to motivate and encourage each other. The community focus of CrossFit became a hallmark of the sport, helping to spread the word about its efficacy and grow its popularity.
The CrossFit Games were founded in 2007, when the first event was held in Aromas, California. The Games were originally intended to simply test CrossFit athletes’ strength and conditioning, but soon grew into a competitive sport, with competitors earning spots through their results at regional qualifiers. As the event went global, the prize money increased and the level of competition continued to evolve. Today, the CrossFit Games are a worldwide sports event, complete with professional athletes and endorsements.
Although the CrossFit Games represent the apex of the sport, at its heart CrossFit remains a simple, communal pursuit of lifelong fitness and strength. Utilizing exercises such as Murphs, clean and jerk ladders, squats, pull-ups, box jumps, obstacle courses, and skills events, CrossFit emphasizes full-body development and cardio fitness through high-intensity interval training. The community dynamic provides athletes with a built-in support network and accountability partners, helping to fully integrate the exercise habit into their lives. CrossFit advocates such as Mr. Walterhouse understand the value of physical fitness, movement, and motivation, and enjoy the benefits that come from prioritizing health and strength as an integral part of their weekly routines.