I have a confession to make… I’m a REALLY big history nerd.
Whether it’s the War of the Roses (#winteriscoming), the Wolverine Origin story (all my X-Men peeps, holla at me) or the evolution of fitness post 1979, I’m always excited to do a reddit deep dive and learn as much as I can.
Here’s what I’ve discovered during my caffeine induced research and analysis on CrossFit.
If you want to learn a little more about CrossFit, keep reading!
In late 1995, Coach Glassman, an eccentric, Libertarian, college dropout in Santa Cruz was fired from his seventh gym for making clients scramble up a 30 ft column in the middle of the gym. The eccentric coach built a small following by prescribing wacky routines that combined gymnastics and weightlifting.
By 2000, Glassman had a motley crew of cops, professional fighters, and Silicon Valley keyboard crunchers that religiously followed his programming. Every day they would meet in a 1,250 square foot truck garage in Soquel, CA to flip tires, and throw around heavy weights.
Glassman offered a welcome reprise for anyone bored with standard weights routines and ellipticals. To reach a wider audience, Glassman started posting the workouts on his website, CrossFit.com.
It seems unlikely from today’s perspective, that a rudimentary fitness site run by an overweight college dropout could create a lifestyle brand that generates over a $100 million in revenues, and garners global brand sponsorship and ESPN coverage. Yet, Glassman’s radically loose business model forever disrupted the stagnant fitness industry.
Today CrossFit is advertised as “the sport of fitness”. CrossFit is constantly varied– you’ll rarely do the same workout twice in one year. The programming is broad by design. The goal is to build bodies capable of handling anything life throws at them.
Our classes are universally scalable, making CrossFit perfect for most individuals regardless of experience level. That said, every CrossFit is independently owned and operated, and that independence is reflected in the culture of each gym.
Locomotion Fitness (home of Park Circle CrossFit) differs from the big box gyms of the world. You won’t find ellipticals, weight machines, “sales professionals”, or Zumba classes here. We do CrossFit. Specializing allows us to do one thing really well.
Most commercial gyms operate on a simple model: sign up a bazillion people at a super low rate, charge their credit cards every month, and hope they never show up.
In contrast, we are small by design. We don’t want a million members, because we want to know everyone’s name. We don’t want you to miss class, because of our vested interest in your success. In sum, our goals align with yours.
That said, we are looking for nice people who are interested in learning about fitness, improving their appearance, and making a few friends in the process. If this sounds good, I am looking forward to working with you.
In our next email, we’ll cover what makes a great CrossFit box, so you can make an informed decision when choosing a gym. In the meantime, do me a little favor and send me a quick introduction.
Let me know who you are, and why you want to do CrossFit. I respond to EVERY email. If you want to schedule your No Sweat Intro, book that HERE.
