Chinup: Cross Fit crosses over all divisions.

MADISON – We are in the midst of a great divide in sports and it’s unfortunate.

We have the players. We have the spectators.

Spectators go to the Olympics and NBA arenas and Miller Park and root for great athletes. Well, that is, if we go at all – that couch and big screen TV can be really hard to leave behind sometimes.

Either way, we watch, we cheer (we critique) and that’s it. There’s no connection to the game we are watching.

But when you’re a fan at the CrossFit Games…

You see two people in line for ice cream and 75 fans in line for Paleo Nick’s at lunch.

You see fans dragging rowing machines back to their sports utility vehicles because Rogue had a major sale at their tent store.

You see fans wearing their own CrossFit team athletic T-shirts – not the jerseys of famous athletes.

You see fans cheering for 42-year-old Jeb Simmons, a father of four and one-time construction worker, when he looks hot and exhausted under the hazy heat of midday as he jumps over blocks and falls to the turf for another burpee while wearing a weighted vest. And you don’t have to imagine this grueling work because you’ve done burpees and you know it suuuuuucks.

In other words, you are inspired, because you can, on some level, relate.

The CrossFit Games wrapped up a four-day, multi-event, 640-athlete competition Sunday in Madison and it might have been the best kept secret in the state. While we were watching a football practice in Lambeau and having a cream puff at the State Fair, people from all over the country and the world filled the stands and overflow parking lots of Alliant Energy Center to watch competitors lift, run, swim, ride and race.

In other words, do stuff we could do, too, if we wanted.

Maybe that’s why CrossFit is booming.

We can attempt our first hand-stand with trembling arms and see if we can do a pushup. We can buy the same 50pound sand bag and 20pound weight vest in the vendor pavilion to train for these workouts.

Cindy Hiber, Stephanie Gedicke and Kim Dietz made the 3.5-hour drive from Owatonna, Minn., to Madison because they wanted to watch the Master’s Division athletes for a little inspiration. They’re all CrossFitters themselves.

“The Masters are regular people our age that have regular jobs,” said Hiber. “I like seeing them.”

If you’re still looking at athletics and fitness as a thin versus fat thing, a young versus old thing, a them-not-me thing, you need to get over it. Don’t settle for always being a spectator.

This is for everyone – even those of us who don’t at all resemble these cut and chiseled athletes in Madison except for maybe the same strained faces under a barbell. And this is for a lifetime.

When the CrossFit Games realized that there was value in championing gifted, talented and dedicated athletes hitting their stride in their late 30s, 40s and beyond and smartly included the master’s category into their championships, it expanded the CrossFit brand.

Because while we are mere spectators at Packers games, we are participants in a The Murph WOD – a classic CrossFit workout – and that deepens both our understanding and appreciation for the CrossFit Games and the athletes themselves.

“You’re running and then you’re lifting, and you’re those pushups and doing those every day basic movements,” said Hiber. “That’s where the addiction came in – ‘oh my gosh this is so fun, I can’t believe I lived!’ I’m going to keep doing this.”

“Usually this is so intimidating to me,” said Dietz, 55. “Usually I don’t want anyone watching me. And I rarely push myself. But – that’s why I like CrossFit.”

Karl Raabe, 40, got into CrossFit just a year and a half ago, but he didn’t miss an event at the games. He knew the athletes, watches their documentaries and even participated in the CrossFit Open back in February, where he completed all the prescribed events.

“It’s a really, really tough workout,” said Raabe. “I watched the run-swim-run and watching some of the old guys finish like that was absolutely incredible. They don’t have the bodies (of an elite) but they can compete.

“And that’s my philosophy every day that I go to the gym.”

Jared Kissinger, owner and trainer at CrossFit Adept in Verona, gave up a job in pharmaceuticals to run his own gym. After going to the Games all four days, he thinks it could have an impact on our fitness in the state.

“I hope it does,” said Kissinger. “When the Ironman came to Madison in 2002, the initial consensus was, ‘These people are amazing. It’s an incredible feat to accomplish an Ironman.’ It started out with a lot of people coming out of town for it.

“There are a ton of triathletes in Madison now. I’m hoping the CrossFit games will have a similar impact.”