I am going to try and point you in a good direction here. While I am a huge advocate of a garage gym, some people need the one on one to learn CrossFit. This post will also probably shed some light as to why I am not working out at an affiliate.
I love CrossFit and the CrossFit community, but if you are going to workout at a box you need to make sure you pick the right one. “Picking” a box back in the day was unheard of, but with the recent growth of crossfit, it is very possible.
3 Questions to Ask Yourself/Gym:
Trainer Quality?
Unfortunately, to own a crossfit gym you do not need to be a good trainer. All you need to be a certified crossfit trainer is money and a weekend. To affiliate with crossfit…same story. Now there are a lot of good crossfit trainers out there, but I have seen a lot of terrible ones too.
They make fun of the trainers at “Globo Gym”, but a lot of those trainers have a degree in exercise physiology and studied months for their personal training certs.
You can normally just talk with the trainers at the box and see how knowledgeable they are. Challenge some of their ideas on nutrition and programming and see if they call on a crossfit journal article, their own experience, or an academic background. You decide if this is the person you want guiding your fitness. If it is, go for it!
Programming?
Ask them how they program? Do they plan six months out? Do they just follow main site? Do they make it up day to day? Do they have different programming for different skill levels?
These are things you want to know. This will tie into what type of trainer they are and show you how much they care.
If you are new, you are going to want some sort of beginners programming, which a lot of gyms have. If you are highly advanced you are going need to do some different things.
Community?
I have checked out multiple boxes just this year and have had very different experiences. I have been to a box where I was doing a workout as a guest and I had shown up early to sign the waiver and all that. I then got to see everyone roll in for the class…Not one person introduced themselves, said what’s up, or even acknowledged my presence. That only fueled my fire and so I beat their “fire breather” by a full 40 seconds in a very short metcon…I digress
I have also been to another box in the same situation and it was awesome. Everyone introduced themselves, said what’s up, and I even had people asking me what I was doing on the weekend before I left.
Crossfit is known for their community, but not every box is the same. Definitely check it out.
Not all CrossFit Gyms are created equal
Why I am not at a box: After multiple investigations, locally
- Poor trainer quality
- Would not let me do any additional training beyond the WOD, without paying extra