THE COMMERCIAL GYM ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

I recently caught up with a former One World coach, Chong Tseng. Not that long ago, Chong took on a part time job as a personal trainer working at a high end health club. To Chong’s surprise, the club had a weightlifting platform and bumper plates tucked away in the corner of the club. Nobody ever used the platform. Chong had it all to himself on a daily basis. Chong did what anyone who loves to train would do. He hit his Oly lifts hard every day that he was at the club.

It didn’t take long for the big boss of the club to notice that someone was making noise on the Oly platform. Chong was approached and asked about where he learned to lift. Chong explained that he was formerly a coach at a CrossFit affiliate. Turns out, the club director had been tossing around the idea of building out a portion of the club as a dedicated CrossFit-style training area. Chong has been tasked to help with the build out and set up the program. What an awesome opportunity for Chong!

Chong is doing nothing wrong. As an affiliate owner, I am not upset by this news. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of a situation like this. Commercial gyms are getting caught up in the rapid growth of CrossFit. Commercial gyms are setting up areas that have almost all of the equipment you can find in a local CrossFit affiliate. Hell, some of them are even putting up whiteboards for people to write down their workouts and proudly write “RX’d” next their names! As long as these facilities are not calling their program “CrossFit” or using the word “CrossFit” in their advertising for the program, they are perfectly within their rights to start these programs. (Interesting fact: commercial gym coaches are allowed to advertise themselves as "CrossFit Level I Certified.")

Last weekend (November 10/11), there were FOURTEEN CrossFit Level I Trainer Certification seminars held worldwide. Not all those “trainers” are planning on opening their own affiliates or are going to work at an affiliate. Plenty of those folks have never been to a CrossFit affiliate and work at commercial gyms. I’ve had at least a dozen commercial gym trainers join One World, train for a few months (or less), and then quit. I know exactly what they are doing. They are scouting. They are learning how to coach CrossFit.

I honestly believe that “CrossFit” will become a generic term like Pilates or Spin. CrossFit will have a different name at a commercial gym, but it will be the same thing: circuit training performed at high intensity.  As an affiliate, what can you do to prevent this? You can’t prevent it, BUT you can rise to the top.

The days are coming when you can’t be a crappy CrossFit affiliate owner and remain in business. Why should someone pay you $200 a month for an ill equipped, whole in the wall location with a tiny bathroom when they can join the super gym down the street? Why should someone pay you $200 a month for you to turn up the music and tell them “good job” during a 20 minute “sweat session.” You better wake the fuck up. People will soon be able to get what you are offering for $34 a month at any 24 Hour Fitness worldwide.

There are some simple/not so simple ways that a CrossFit affiliate can survive the Commercial Gym Zombie Apocalypse:

• If are gonna charge a premium price, YOU BETTER LEARN HOW TO COACH. Walking around for an entire group session and only telling someone “good job” or “you can do it” is not going to cut it. Learn how to fix (for the better) the way that people move. If you can’t fix flaws, you are nothing more than a boot camp instructor. I can get that kind of “coaching” at a local commercial gym for only $34 a month.
• If you are gonna charge a premium price, YOU BETTER LEARN HOW TO PROGRAM. Keep programming those long “awesome workout” shit shows over and over again. Keep avoiding programming for absolute strength. You are simply a step aerobic class with expensive gear. I can take group “cardio” classes at a local commercial gym for only $34 a month.

There are a ton of other parameters that make a CrossFit gym successful, but as commercial gyms enter the picture, many of those parameters will be matched at the commercial gym level. One that comes to mind is the whole “community” aspect of CrossFit. People argue that you go to a commercial gym and you don’t have that same “family” feeling that you get at a CrossFit gym. I say bullshit! I still have close friends that I met during my 25 years of training at a commercial gym. There are many CrossFit gyms that have hundreds of members, including some gyms not far from One World. I’ve had members visit other “Super Affiliates” all over the world. They tell me some (definitely not all) have that same commercial gym feel. Get in for your session, get out when it’s over to make room for the next session. Community at $200 a month or community at $34 a month?

Affiliate owners, GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER! The bubble hasn’t popped yet, but it will. Are you confident you can offer CrossFit at close to $200 a month when someone soon enough will be able to get it at Globo Gym for damn near a fourth the cost? Learn to program and how to COACH your program. The time to sit back and enjoy success is not now. The Commercial Gym Zombie Apocalypse is coming. Are you going to survive?

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This week's strength cycle:

• Monday- Squat/Press
• Tuesday- Deadlift
• Wednesday- Off
• Thursday- Squat/Press
• Friday- Olympic Lift

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WORKOUT   11/19/2012

• FInd a 1 rep max thruster

Then....

Complete 9/6/3 reps for time of:

• Thrusters @ 70% of your 1 rep max
• Muscle-ups

If you can't do a muscle-up, here is your sub:

• 18 chest to bar pull-ups
• 18 ring dips
• 12 chest to bar pull-ups
• 12 ring dips
• 6 chest to bar pull-ups
• 6 ring dips

Sub for pull-ups and ring dips as normal with the same rep scheme.

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Comments

[jcota]

freddy speaks the truf!

[Lancaster]

Club sport !!

[eray]

Awesome article. In my opinion, the only things a CF box has over a commercial gym are:

1. Dedicated time/equipment for CF (ie no one stealing your barbell for bicep curls while you are running your 400m)
2. Competitive atmosphere (ie a group of people doing the same WOD at the same time)
3. Specialized equipment (ie bumpers, ropes, pullup bars, boxes, etc etc)

Community and good coaching are not exclusive to CF - both can be found elsewhere. I doubt commercial gyms like 24 hr fitness will get to the point where they offer 1-3 anytime soon (too much liability/risk). This is a bad thing because there are very few competitors right now keeping the majority of boxes out there honest. How many boxes have all of us seen where the trainers just phone that shit in? Where the facilities are just so-so? Where the wannabe Games competitors stick to themselves?

I agree with Freddy, at some point soon, people are gonna do the math and say, "$200/month for this?"

[felix]

long time reader first time posting.
as an affiliate owner in the third world (or developing world for those politically sensitive) this isnt anything new.
xfit boxes are already pricing at (sometimes below), globo gyms, although for different reasons.
since dispensable income isnt high, gym membershipis something of a luxury, so unless you want to cater to the upper class (which is a valid alternative) you have to get in line with other gyms.
margins are thinner but it still works. so maybe the end result in the us will be crossfit boxes charging a price similar to globo gyms (im talking about average - those that can differentiate like you said will still be able to charge a premium).
clearly, if i could the same
to me, the community aspect is overrated and resonates as more of a sales pitch - ie, ocmpensate bad facilities w 'community feeling'.
clearly, 99% of the population would rather join an equinox type facility if they can get the same workout. at least those that are there to train would (myself included).
bottom line, same as every industry. to survive you need to ADD VALUE.
just my 2cts and sorry for long post

[JOE ROMANO]

Great read Great perspective!!!

[@sushi]

^^^ LOL, FREDDY!!! SUP, TROLL!!! GOOD TO SEE YOU'RE ALIVE!

[Freddy]

Troll makes special guest Zombie appearance! I thought that fool was dead.

[slop]

Whoever is best at coaching 20% slop wins!!

[Annie]

Not sure if freddy and concerned even belong in the same sentence on this subject ....hah!^^^^^ missin my peeps :(

[Big Tony]

Freddy you shouldn't be concerned about those commercial gyms trying to take over and all the copycats out there.There's a huge difference between knowing the path and walking the path. Oneworld is well respected and stablished because of the owners and coaches,dedication,knowledge,experience and the LOVE to coach.Theres no comparison and I think comparisons are odious anyway, well done is always better than well said.You and Brad and the Staff has made Oneworld Crossfit a role model to many Crossfit gyms and being a role model is the most powerful form of educating. You've set examples for so many to follow,examples is not the main thing in influencing others, it's the only thing.Success it ain't about money or fame.Success is living a life u feel proud of.So OneWorld is OneWorld because You and Brad created something that gives you porpoise and meaning. Thank You for caring and making all of us part of da family.God Bless OneWorld

[matt]

Great topic that could honestly take hours and hours of chat. I have been at my box in Indiana for 2 years. Some things that have really stuck with me is the fact my coaches always do things like form work, skill transfers,nutrition ed, etc. Yes u r right. Anyone can cut corners just to say they are a "crossfitter" wether it is to go to a globo gym or to building your own gym. Those things will always come with a compromise. Wether it is risk of injury by lifting like an idiot and NOT having a true crossfit coach to guide u to a better form, or having no one to motivate you to push harder-faster-longer.

[Jor]

Not to mention you can also do Crossfit at home by making a home gym slowly building it from Craigslist and garage sales (from those that buy a bunch of stuff and then never use it) and following any of the tons of boxes that post their programming. That doesn't replace good coaching which is where any followers that want to excel will pursue and the community aspect (but many post and commune that way). The point is well-taken, though, and is a standard business tenet. People will gravitate towards and pay a premium for quality and something they can't get somewhere else.

[Kory Ryan]

Always appreciate the honesty, experience, and enlightment of CF from you Freddy. Will keep reading and Happy Thanksgiving to the CF One World gym.

[@sushi]

AWESOME POST!!! FREDDY, THE CROSSFIT ORACLE. LOL!!! I'M SEEING THE SAME THING AT THE PLACE I'M COACHING AT IN SUNNYVALE. THERE ARE PERSONAL TRAINERS THAT COME IN FOR A LITTLE BIT, JUST LONG ENOUGH TO LEARN HOW TO COACH, AND THEN BAIL.