With 2011 almost behind us its the time of year when everyone turns their attention to working off the chocolates and mince pies they ate over Christmas. Its a very typical theme in the fitness industry and big chain gyms rub their hands together in anticipation for an onslaught of new customers who vow that 'this year' is the year that they will get in shape.
The trouble is the average time that a new gym user lasts at a regular gym after signing up in the new year is 3 months. That's it. By March the enthusiasm has gone, the boredom sets in, the results aren't being seen and the 12-month gym membership that the slick sales guy or gal got you to sign up for will be flying out of your account with nothing you can do about it. Oh.... apart from trying to ask for it back. Or suspending it. And yeah, good luck with that.
I worked in big chain gyms for over 5 years and saw it all the time. The gym offers a thinly veiled incentive of 'free' personal training sessions, a 'free' health check or some other such offer that entices you to join. They make you feel all important by booking in a couple of sessions with you, filling out a health questionnaire and 'goals' form and promise that every three months they will be right back over to check on you and see how you are progressing with your programme (which i bet will be based around a bit of running on a treadmill and five or six weights machines where you are sat down for the entire time.) Sound familiar? Right, so how many of you actually had that follow up appointment and got called and asked about how you were getting on and if coming to the gym was actually achieving what you are paying out your hard earned money for? I'm guessing not many.
The staff in charge of doing these 'free to members' services are more often than not fitness instructors who are trained but not quite ready to go into the personal training business properly. The fitness industry is notoriously badly paid and unfortunately these people aren't going to keep tabs on every new joiner in the gym for £6 an hour. They simply have too many people to do this for and not enough incentive. Show an interest in their personal training services (if they are qualified) and then yes, you bet they will show you more care and attention. But hang on, aren't you already paying out £60-£100 for your monthly gym membership? Add another £40 an hour on for personal training once a week and we're talking up to £260 a month on going to the gym!
This is where CrossFit is different. And this is why i now run my own CrossFit box.
I was fed up with this kind of attitude at the gym and felt that people really were wasting their money. I would see the same people turn up at the gym, for years sometimes, and they wouldn't change in their shape or fitness levels in the slightest. I wanted people to actually see a change and not have to pay extortionate prices to achieve it. Not everyone can afford personal training after all.
At CrossFit Connect your non-contract monthly membership of £55 gets you unlimited use of the facilities and classes and professional, personal coaching every single time you step foot through our door. You will find this at every other CrossFit box around the world too and its this level of attention that sets CrossFit apart from anything else. As coaches we have over 12 years of training experience behind us and we learn about your movement patterns, we teach you how to lift things in the most effective way, we build your strength and cardio fitness, we know your goals and most of all we get to know you. We track your progress and encourage you to push yourselves and improve at every possible opportunity. Yes you have to work hard too but you don't get much without hard work and effort these days, despite what the 'Have a six-pack in 2 minutes a day' routine it tells you about on the cover of Mens Health.
Yes, we could be making more money by personal training in a big globo gym and seeing a handful of clients once or twice a week but that's not why we do it. We do it because we live, breath and eat CrossFit. We do it because seeing someone lift 60kg over their heads when they could only do 20kg when they joined or watching someone as they get their first few unassisted pull ups is what drives us. That's what gives us ultimate job satisfaction and its a feeling you just cant beat (apart from perhaps knocking 30 seconds off your 'Fran' time!!)
Our box has been open for 10 months now and is going from strength to strength. CrossFit is going from strength to strength too and 2012 is really going to see a global explosion of both the brand and its awareness. This is helped by the fact that Reebok have gone into partnership with CrossFit HQ and the advertising revenue is now many times what it once was.
However CrossFit would grow and has been growing despite this for the past ten or so years. Its growing because it works. Because the spirit and camaraderie of a CrossFit box is unmatched. Because the results that people see by CrossFitting regularly surpasses any other form of fitness training i have seen in the last 15 years. And because the coaches in CrossFit do it because they love it. I'm not going to be able to confirm this one but I'm sure that 99.9% of CrossFit coaches would still be CrossFit coaches if there was no monetary reward at all. This is how you know CrossFit is going to work. Because we live it ourselves.
* Get in touch to arrange a time to come down to meet us and check the place out. Take a free taster class whenever suits you and meet some of our members. Read more about CrossFit and whats involved on our website at www.crossfitconnect.co.uk. CrossFit is completely scalable to all fitness levels and we have a whole range of members from students to grandparents so there is no need to feel nervous or intimidated. You will make great friends at the box who will only spur you on further to keep achieving your goals.
So its simple. Why CrossFit?
Why not?
