The best part of our day

“We as CrossFit Affiliates hear it a lot.  “You’re different than other gyms! It’s very intimidating to walk in to a CrossFit gym.  People work out hard, and they look like they are dying!  Why or what posesses people to come here and work that hard?”

So I write to you today to explain to you what it is you might find different about walking in to one of our affiliates versus one of the “other” gyms.. whichever they may be.

First, every time I think about writing a post like this, I am reminded of the “Globo Gym Purple Cobra’s vs. The Average Joe’s” from the movie “Dodgeball”.  Our affiliates are much different than going to the big name gyms for a reason.  It doesn’t matter the business model, how much we charge at each affiliate, where the affiliate is located, if it is in japan, the US, or heck even in Fiji (is there one in Fiji yet?) you’ll probably get the same feeling walking up to an affiliate.

Some may be in a retail space, some may be in a warehouse, some may be in a garage, some may be in a backyard, in fact even some might be stored in a storage locker and pulled out to use when needed.  The point is, each affiliate while being from different areas, different locations and different styles will probably give you the same warm fuzzy feeling of “what the f— am i getting myself into” when you walk up.  This is a completely natural and not unusual feeling.

People walk in to CrossFit FTF and here is a small picture of what they may see:

And remember this is but a glimpse.  So imagine yourself walking up to our warehouse, not knowing where to walk in.  You enter through a roll-up door and see people sweating, lifting, making noise, doing pull-ups, throwing balls, flipping tires, swinging kettlebells, each one looking like they are utterly brutalizing themselves.  You see there is someone timing, coaching, yelling at them to keep their back straight, their knees out, get deeper, go faster, come on you got it, no rep, where you going, get back on it!!.  You realize this is the perpetrator of all the perceived pain, the master, the coach of the hour or of the day.  Maybe your affiliate is open gym based, but there is always someone there who will greet you, come up and shake your hand and say thanks for coming by.  We appreciate you taking a look.  Have you heard of CrossFit before?  NO, well let me explain about ……  And while the coach is taking time to explain, the athletes are cheering for each other, pushing each other, even when in their own workouts, they are excited about pushing others.  It’s amazing to see how motivating it can be to have others cheering you on.

The next thing that happens, the coach will introduce you to some members and athletes after the workout is over.  They may look like death warmed over, they may still be gasping for breath, but they will say hi and tell you their story of how they heard about CrossFit and how it has impacted their lives.  They will tell you it is the best decision they have ever made.  You will notice there is a group of people that appear to be very well bonded. They are giving high fives and knuckles to each other because they survived “Eva” or “Murph” or “Fran”.  And they are still walking to tell the story.

You get a sense that we are different.  You get a sense we are here to take you to the next level of your life.  We are here to push you.  Well, definitely here at CrossFit FTF but also at other affiliates worldwide, we are about training you for the performance of life.  Our entire mantra that fitness varies by degree not function says it all.  We can scale everything to everyone.  We use kettlebells, weights, run outside, rowers, rings, bars, balls, Bumper plates that make noise, and coaches passion to motivate, stimulate and energize our athletes.  We use our passion for fitness to inspire others in their own lives.  We use our drive and ambition for success through performance to change people’s lives and help the attain complete and total confidence and performance based results.  We WILL NOT let you down, and we expect that you do NOT let us down either.

We expect you to perform at YOUR best every day, we WILL push you, we will drive you, we will make you uncomfortable.  That’s our job.  We want you to know you have worked hard and want you to get the results you have been looking for for a long time but never been able to achieve.  We want you to achieve great things.  We are here for your success not to let you walk through a sea of machines and wander on your own, not to do hours of cardio unattended by human contact, not to watch tv while you workout, not to get stared at, but to drive, push, motivate, find the true core of your being and sole and make it stronger, make it better, faster, leaner.  We want you to be harder to kill and more useful in general (thank you to the CF Shirt that says that).  We want you to breathe later.  We want you to be fit as F*** (thanks oneworld for that).  We are here to ensure you are utilizing your time in the gym the RIGHT way and directed it towards YOUR goal.  We have the conviction, the passion and the intensity YOU need to get you where YOU want to be in your program.

Still not convinced?  Stop by an affiliate today and check them out.  It’s about you, NOT us!”

It’s all of you who help inspire us to make our time together and our CrossFit Affiliate great.  We have had visitors from all over the world, as far away as Australia, stop by and play with us.  Thanks to all of you for helping us be better every day.