Background: CrossFit is one of the fastest-growing exercise regimens worldwide. Around 4 million people practice CrossFit in over 100 countries. This high-intensity training is performed with passion, often involving pain for gain, which sets CrossFit apart from most traditional exercises. Aims: Based on this premise, we aimed to test the hypothesis that the risk of exercise addiction (REA), obsessive passion (OP), harmonious passion (HP), and internal motivational regulations are greater in CrossFit than in other exercises. Methods: This study employed a between-participants research design, adopting a survey-based, cross-sectional approach. The study involved 507 participants (62.7% male), comprising 238 practicing CrossFit enthusiasts and 269 mixed exercisers classified as controls. Results: CrossFit practitioners scored significantly higher than controls on REA (Cohen’s d = 0.18) and both OP (d = 0.30) and HP (d = 0.32), but not motivational regulations. The effect sizes were small. However, after controlling for OP and HP, the group differences in REA vanished. The prevalence of “high” REA was 25.2% in the CrossFit group compared to 13.4% in the controls (p < 0.001). However, after controlling for OP and HP in a binary logistic regression, the group differences disappeared again. At the same time, OP (odds ratio [OR] = 0.795) and HP (OR = 0.653) remained statistically significant predictors in the model. Two group-by-gender interactions suggested that women in CrossFit had greater intrinsic-effective regulation and introjected regulation than controls. In comparison, men in CrossFit exhibited lesser introjected regulation compared to controls. Conclusion: The findings suggest that passion is what distinguishes CrossFit from other exercises, but gender-related differences may also exist at motivational levels.

This study employed exercise dependence and four-phase models to investigate the relationship between passion for exercise and the risk of exercise addiction (REA) among practitioners of aerobic, anaerobic, and CrossFit exercises. Participants (N = 424; 60.8% female; meanage = 38.29 ± 9.71 years) were recruited from fitness centers and social media in Hungary. The sample included 234 CrossFit, 126 aerobic (e.g., running, cycling, swimming), and 64 anaerobic (bodybuilding) exercisers. Data were collected online on Qualtrics, which included demographic questions, the Exercise Addiction Inventory-3, and the Passion Scale-8. CrossFit participants exhibited the highest exercise frequency and intensity, with a greater prevalence of REA (25.2%) compared to the anaerobic (15.6%) and aerobic (14.3%) groups. Cross Fitters also scored higher on salience, withdrawal symptoms, and passion. However, group differences in absolute REA scores vanished after controlling for passion and exercise characteristics. Gender differences emerged, with females showing a stronger affective connection to exercise and higher withdrawal symptoms. Passion was strongly correlated with REA (r = 0.55) and accounted for 28% of the variance in it. Further research is needed to distinguish between passion-driven exercise and addiction.