Greg reached out to me a few months ago to let me know that the little journal that could, the Performance Menu, would be seeing its final edition late in 2021. He asked me if I’d like to pen some thoughts about it and I said “for sure” but then I found myself wondering...what on earth DO I have to say (or think) about this?
 
Most folks will know a bit of the history around the PM, that it was born in the early days of CrossFit and was initially intended to fill the odd void left when CrossFit did the (in retrospect) fairly typical act (for CrossFit) of claiming something to be important (...nutrition is the molecular basis of life…) yet provide Fuck+All with regards to support (CrossFit Journal #21 how to make beer, peanuts and jerky a balanced Zone meal). I’ll fully admit to likely over-complicating nutrition throughout most of my career, but when we layer in the subtleties of gut health, autoimmune issues, and this whole area of “performance eating,” CFJ #21 struck me as the nutritional equivalent of humping with an over-cooked bit of pasta. 
 
Flaccid, wet, sad. 
 
So, we spun up the PM and in looking back a few big ideas were launched. And I’d make the case that a remarkable number of folks who went on to big things in the health and training space got their start in this journal and its early forums. My piece on intermittent fasting (which we published in 2005) not only predated by a decade most of the interest in this topic, it arguably built the base which made subsequent research possible. Over time, the focus of the PM shifted primarily to Olympic Weightlifting and associated strength athletics. This shift in focus as well as the initial impetus to focus on nutrition are ironically best described by the first two words of the first CrossFit Journal talking about the Garage Gym. It opened by defining “The Need.” 
 
To the degree the PM has had an impact it's been due to recognizing a need and putting in some legit effort to address that need. There might be a few life lessons hidden in all that.