[1] Athletes compete in a series of events at the Games, which may be various standard CrossFit workouts consisting of metabolic conditioning exercises, weightlifting, and gymnastics movements, as well as a range of activities from other sports such as swimming, road cycling and strongman.

The first competition was held at a ranch in Aromas, California, with small groups of participants and spectators, but the CrossFit Games rapidly grew, and within a few years, the competition was moved to larger venues at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, followed by the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

[3][8][9] The number of participants are reduced in two more qualification stages, the quarterfinals and semifinals, to 40 men, 40 women and 40 teams to compete at the CrossFit Games.

[14][15] The first Games had the feel of a backyard barbecue with a few sporting events thrown in, and around 70 athletes and 150 spectators turned up for the competition.

[17] The number of participants increased rapidly in the following years, and in 2009, a qualification stage called the Regionals was introduced to select the best competitors for the Games.

Each Super-Regional included qualifiers from two or three of the previously defined regions, with a total of 40 or 50 athletes participating at each event.

Following seven years in Carson, the Games moved to the grounds of the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2017.

CrossFit, Inc. founder Greg Glassman overhauled the format for the 2019 Games, replacing the Regionals with CrossFit-sanctioned international qualifying events called Sanctionals.

[32] As no spectators were allowed at any venue during the pandemic, the final stage was hosted at its original location at the CrossFit Ranch in Aromas.

The Games also returned the team format to affiliate-based qualification, and added a new adaptive athlete division.

This ranking system would be used to determine any additional qualifying spots for the CrossFit Games in a revamped qualification process.

[40][41] For the 2024 season, the CrossFit Games were held in the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas after 6 years in Madison, Wisconsin.

In the 2019 CrossFit Games, the qualification process was modified, and competitors had three separate ways to qualify: the Open, sanctioned events, and by invitation.

[47] In 2021, the Open once again reverted to its role as the first stage of competition that feeds the subsequent rounds, the Quarterfinals and Semifinals, in an expanded three-stage continent-based qualification system.

[58] For the 2020 season, the Open moved forward to October 2019 as part of the overhaul for Games qualifications so that it took place before any of the sanctioned events.

[65] Participants in the Open are separated on a continental basis, and only the top 10% on each continent qualify for the Quarterfinal to move on to the Semi-finals.

The events are generally not announced in advance before the Games; the Games is set up as a test of fitness, and the founder of CrossFit Greg Glassman believes that CrossFit training should prepare athletes for "the unknown" and "the unknowable", so the fittest athletes should be able to handle any task given.

[92] The standard CrossFit workouts are usually a combination of movements of different modalities, such as handstand push-up, pull-up, muscle-up, burpee, lunge, box-jump, rope-climb, double under, running, back squat and dumbbell push press.

[100] The Games often introduces some additional surprise elements that are not part of the typical CrossFit regimen to the events.

These include obstacle courses, road cycling, ocean swimming, softball throwing, or ascending a pegboard.

[101][102] "Odd-objects" like yokes, sleds, and sandbags may also be introduced to the workouts;[103] some of these the athletes would not have encountered before in a CrossFit gym, examples are the "Snail" (an object shaped like a bale of hay but partly filled with sand),[104] the "Pig" (a heavy block encased in rubber),[105] and the "Banger" (a metal block on a track hit with a hammer).

In 2009, the Games began having a separate set of events for affiliate teams and consisted of four to six athletes from the same gym.

[43][114] Due to CrossFit's official partnership with Reebok, competitors at the 2015 Games were banned from wearing Nike footwear.

[116] The partnership also prohibits Nike from labeling its Metcon shoes as intended for CrossFit – the brand uses the term "high intensity training" instead.

[115] CrossFit's decision to award winners of the 2016 Games with handguns resulted in widespread criticism from members and sponsors.

[118] On June 6, 2020, CrossFit founder and CEO Greg Glassman was publicly criticized for his social media statements about the COVID-19 pandemic and the George Floyd protests resulting in many CrossFit-affiliated gyms around the world responded by ending their affiliation, Reebok announcing that they would end their corporate association after the 2020 Games, and several competitors boycotting the Games until he was removed from the company.

[119] On June 9, Glassman resigned as CEO[120] and sold the company by the end of the month,[121] leading to the boycotting athletes returning.

[122] At the 2024 CrossFit Games, a competitor from Serbia, Lazar Đukić, died from drowning in the first event that involved an open-water swim.

[124] The leader of the sport team Dave Castro had claimed before a vote by athletes to continue the competition that the Đukić family wanted the Games to continue as a tribute to Lazar; however, Luka Đukić, brother of Lazar and the only family member who was there as a competitor, later revealed he had not agreed to it and that Castro said to him the decision was "not up to you anyways".

[134] For many years CrossFit had its own media department that was responsible for creating and releasing media content related to the Games, including live streaming of the Games online through Facebook, YouTube and CrossFit websites, and content broadcast on ESPN and CBS.