My CrossFit Is Different…

This is the second part to my personal “CrossFit Manifesto.” If you haven’t read the first, I encourage you to do so. The first one is geared towards those who don’t know much, if anything, about CrossFit. This one is geared towards the person wondering why there are such vast price differences amongst local CrossFit gyms.
Both parts are equally important.
Enjoy.
Now that we’ve debunked the myth that CrossFit For Glory is just like your local globo-gym and shown why we, at face-value, are more expensive, it’s time to move a step further.
At the risk of “biting the hand that feeds,” I’m going to let this cat out of the bag for those that are unaware: we, CrossFit For Glory, are one of the most (if not THE most) expensive CrossFit gyms in town.
As always, there is a catch: not all CrossFit gyms are created equal. (Yes, I realize this post is littered with tired cliches, but hang on cause I’m sure I can squeeze in a boatload more!) In fact, NO CrossFit gyms are created equal.
If you’re comparing one gym to another, please, for the love of all things Holy, don’t just go with the lower price. As in most investments, you get what you pay for.
But be smart about it. Ask the coaches at each gym about their levels of education and experience. Is it important that they have intimate knowledge of anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, and biomechanics? Who have they physically learned underneath (this does NOT mean weekend or internet seminars!)? What age groups and fitness levels are they experienced with coaching? Contrary to popular belief, just because someone went to a weekend long Level 1 Certification does NOT make them qualified to open their own gym and begin coaching others.
At CrossFit For Glory, we bring an extensive background of education and experience to afford you an awesome opportunity to further your own health and fitness journey. Our coaches have been blessed to work with a huge variety of skill levels and sports, from the soccer mom looking to regain her pre-baby figure to the weekend warrior just trying to have fun through the college ranks and professional athletes. This lends a tremendous amount of credibility to our experience with, and exposure to, the best training methods and philosophies out there. Sprinkle on top of that a career in Special Operations and you’ve got a wealth of knowledge from which to train, and learn, underneath.
Stop in and try a class. Does it begin and end on time?
Evaluate the coaches and students there. How friendly and supportive are they? Do they hold everyone accountable to good, safe technique? Do they cater more to the “fire breathers” of the gym? Is there a clear line of progression for every move they do? Are they comfortable and confident in coaching and scaling the Classic Lifts (Clean and Jerk, Snatch)? How do they further their own education?
Do they do community outreach events and fundraisers? What about weekend educational seminars and workshops for the members? Do they encourage a specific nutritional philosophy? Do the coaches set an example (with their attitude, training, and nutrition) to follow? How are mobility, rest, and recovery implemented?
See if the atmosphere fits your style.
These are some of the things that separate one CrossFit box from another. Here a few more thoughts:
We don’t shy away from teaching our members the high skill movements like muscle-ups, double unders, and snatches. Many gyms keep it simple and do WODs full of wall-balls, push-ups, pull-ups, running, and deadlifts in order to appeal to a wider population. They do this because those movements are easy to teach. Not us, because we know how to implement effective progressions for any movement.
I can’t begin to tell you how many people have come through my doors from other CrossFit gyms who have “been doing CrossFit for months” and have yet to be shown (read: TAUGHT) how to scale a box jump or ring dip or pistol or [insert other movement here]. And no, these were not broken down or incapable athletes. By the end of one class we had a lady, who’d been relegated to step-ups of all things, get her first box jump – 20″ no less!
You won’t see the oh-so-popular 30+ minute chipper workouts here, either. Why? In the words of Coach Glassman, “All positive adaptations come through intensity,” and that is a tough thing to maintain past the 8-12 minute range. Those long, arduous WODs also lend themselves to an excessive number of repetitions which can lead to injury. I hate to point out the obvious, but this causes your body to break down and stop making improvements. We don’t want that.
While I think that CrossFit is most assuredly for everyone, I will be the first to admit that our gym might not be. But, that doesn’t mean that one down the road might not be. And unless the coach across town is better, don’t be that guy/gal who drives past five “more expensive” gyms to save a few bucks but wastes more in time and gas. What is your time worth? What is your development, your health and fitness, worth? In short: make an educated decision.
Do you think its a coincidence that some of the best coaches in the world (Rudy Nielsen, Chris Spealler, Matt Chan, Ben Bergeron, CJ Martin, Mike Burgener, and Jason Khalipa) have some of the highest rates out there? People go to them for one thing: to MAXIMIZE their results, period.
It’s also worth mentioning that even the top-notch coaches have their own coaches.
Any old trainer can get you results, that’s the easy part. Stick with them and more than likely you’re results will be average.
Average…Who wants that anyway?!
Nobody who chooses CrossFit wants to achieve average results.
This may sound harsh, but weight loss stories are a dime-a-dozen. Weight loss is an average goal. No, I’m not trivializing the many accomplishments people have made with regard to weight loss. We have many in our gym that have made great strides in this area.
We go past that. We foster an entirely new lifestyle.
We create the stories of people being more fit in their 50’s than they were in their 20’s or 30’s. We get people to leave meds behind that they’ve taken for decades. We get women to do more pull-ups now than they did during that silly test in grade school. We physically prep soldiers for deployment better than the service does.
We get you to believe in yourself and achieve things that you never thought were possible.
So, what is all that worth to you? At the end of the day, it’s up to you to see the value a particular coach/gym brings to the table.
I recently came across a quote that sums up this entire post quite eloquently, so I’ll leave you with it:
“Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten.”