“I noticed the other day that not everyone at your gym is in shape.”
We hear this fairly regularly and I’m glad that folks walking through the door notice that. They also notice that everyone is getting a great workout and making progress, but the conversations always lead back to how we don’t seem to screen out the out of shape athletes, the middle aged moms (that would be me, too!), the injured or rehabbing individuals. No, we don’t and we won’t. While CrossFit is hard, it is also doable for anyone. I truly believe that!
I also believe what Coach Glassman said forever ago at our first certification in San Diego and it’s what he’s always been saying…
The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We’ve used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs.
Those words are what differentiates CrossFit from other programs. The workouts that my kids do, that I do, that I would have my mother do if she were to train with us are the exact same aside from scaling.
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“All that other gym owner asked was if she could pay. She didn’t have to fill out any info on her health or do any Elements sessions or anything.”
We’ve heard this one this week and many times before and the only thing we can say is that, again, CrossFit is not like any other gym. We are not a franchise like any of the $10 – 30/month-do-what-you-want-but-preferrably-don’t-come-use-the -equipment gyms. What we are is an independent business paying for the use of the CrossFit name, continuing our education as we see fit and as we feel is needed past the attainment of initial certifications and people looking out for the welfare of those who walk through our doors. Helping you achieve your goals is important to us at CrossFit Champions. That being said, we have no control over what another gym or affiliate does or does not do. Coach Glassman believes in the free market principles strongly and feels that a person should have the opportunity to succeed or fail on their own merit versus him playing God and deciding, without knowing that person or their abilities, based on money or written test or connections, etc. who should be able to be an affiliate. I can tell you that in the time we have been affiliates we have gone, through nothing we’ve done, from being around the 100th affiliate to the 80th. What the stories are of the folks who have left the CrossFit community are, I don’t know. But for whatever reason not everyone survives.
With that in mind, I am sorry that folks have had poor experiences with affiliates. I’m sure there are folks who have had poor experiences with us. Like I say in my “sales pitch”…CrossFit isn’t for everyone and you might walk away thinking we’re crazy but I believe anyone can do it.
Finding the right training home for you is what is important.