As I mentioned last week, I recently went on vacation.
And while it felt lovely to crawl out of the basement, spend time with my family and continue our quest to visit every aquarium this great nation has to offer, I was also out of my element.
Namely I didn’t have my gym, my workout crew and the ability to follow my regular training plan.
Typically I would take this more seriously than Bono of U2 takes, well, everything.
But rather than pout about it and be miserable taking the week off, I decided to take the advice of my smart wife and find some training facilities along the way to scratch the itch. And, hell, I love checking out different facilities and meeting gym people so this seemed like it was going to be a win all the way around.
Based on our location, our ticket times to visit the penguins and finding the type of training that would appeal to me (I wasn’t looking to jump into a barre or cycling class, for example) I ended up doing two sessions at a CrossFIt gym and one at a large group HIIT facility.*
*I’m not going to name the particular gyms here because while there are positive things to say there are also some negatives and, as a small business owner myself, I’m not looking to call out or damage someone else’s business.
OK, let’s breakdown, discuss, analyze and rate this training in the name of science and content creation!
CrossFit
Full transparency, I’ve been in CrossFit gyms thousands of times but I’ve never actually done a class. Rather I’ve done open gym or attended a seminar or something equally nerdy and separatist.
We get compared to CrossFit often, or at least frequently asked how we are different from a CrossFit gym, and I am never insulted by the question.
Both CrossFit and The Fort utilize classic strength and conditioning movements, rely on barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, rowers and fan bikes and are known for having great communities. All things to be proud of.
We do, however, differ in some really important ways. The size of our groups is considerably smaller (CF classes can be 15, 25, 50 people, we limit ours to a maximum of 4). CrossFit prides itself on a randomized approach to training while we take a much more systematic, progressive overload approach. We don’t do as much ‘high skill’ work such as gymnastics and Olympic lifting because they take a long time to learn and most people we see would be better served by focusing on the basics. We also do not do any of our conditioning work under significant load in the service of injury prevention. CrossFit is probably best known for combining weight training and conditioning into singular ‘met con’ workouts.
There are other more nuanced differences but I’ve already prattled on without making a dated pop culture reference for longer than my contract allows so I’ll just move on.
I arrived at the CrossFit gym around 20 minutes early to find an airplane-hangar-like space filled with equipment and a very fit silver-haired woman shouting instructions to a group of kids who were spending an early morning of what remained of their Summer vacations doing push-ups and farmers walks. I loved it.
As I waited in the corner for my class to start, I noticed something very particular. My class wasn’t starting. Apparently the first 15 minutes or so of class are dedicated toward self-guided stretching and socializing which was explained to me when the coach arrived about 10 minutes in.
As everyone started gathering for the actual class to start the reputation of CrossFit having some of the friendliest participants in all of fitness really held true. Nearly everyone approached me, introduced themselves and welcomed me to the gym. It was really lovely.
After a brief movement specific warm-up, we were into the main part of the workout which was power snatch double EMOMs with escalating weight. I love snatching and was excited to get the barbell in my hands.
But while the technique and workout instructions were very clear, I noticed one really important thing as the workout progressed: this was not the training that the people in the class really needed.
The room was filled with people who needed to get stronger and improve their fitness level and body composition. They did not need nor were they going to ultimately maximize their time spent in the gym from this type of sport-specific training.
And this may be the biggest and most legitimate knock on CrossFit. It’s become its own sport (which is really exciting to participate in if that floats your boat) but is probably inappropriate training for most people. It’s not that training can’t be interesting or dynamic or challenging - I’d argue that for it to be successful in the long term it needs to be all those things. But it can and should also be sound and audience specific. And I think CF suffers from being so involved with CF that it ignores its life blood - its members.
After the snatch work it was time for the aforementioned met-con of high rep power snatches coupled with high rep ab movements for time. I could spend three paragraphs explaining why this was a ridiculous idea but I’ll just tell you this, it’s a ridiculous idea.
I returned to the same gym two days later for conditioning day. I arrived in the empty parking lot and as the class time approached I was starting to fear that the class was canceled. But three minutes after the start time other members started arriving and a mere 10 minutes later the coach strolled in.
After an additional 20 minutes of self-directed and guided warm-ups we began on one of CF’s famous “hero” workouts which was a 1-mile run, 2 kilometer row and another 1-mile run (the mix of the metric and imperial system didn’t bother me at all. No really. Not a problem….).
With a time cap set at 30 minutes I managed to complete the entire ordeal in 27 minutes and change. And while this was a fun workout I couldn’t help but wish we had spent the first 30 minutes performing some meaningful strength training which would have really rounded out the session nicely.
OK, let’s summarize the pros and cons of my CrossFit experience.
PROS: Really lovely community, coaches and owner. The utilization of barbells and other effective strength and conditioning tools. A real emphasis on training hard and doing your best. Lots of space and good vibes in the space.
CONS: Lack of professionalism when it came to start times and maximizing the length of the sessions. Using sport specific movements that add unneeded layers of complexity. Individual workouts were unbalanced.
And, most importantly, not meeting the needs of the community. This group of people needed to get foundationally stronger and fitter. But rather than prioritizing that, CF is stuck in the mindset of training everyone as if they are on the path to being a high-level games athlete. They’d be much better off meeting people where they are and performing more of a needs analysis on each gym’s population.
FINAL SCORE: 6/10
HIIT
As my family and I drove into Rhode Island we were lucky enough to pick a restaurant that had amazing food, a deep beer selection and happened to share a parking lot with a large group fitness interval training gym.
This place looked cool and after searching the website while I waited for my cider to arrive (yes, I’ve become a cider guy in my old age. Don’t judge!) I found an email on the contact page and sent a message about dropping into a Friday morning class.
The owner got back to me and was gracious enough to reserve me a spot. He was even willing to comp the session in exchange for my feedback after it was over. Remarkably good business strategy if you ask me.
I arrived at the gym and the owner introduced himself to me and we talked shop for a while. But, unlike the CF gym he cut things off mid-conversation as these guys started on time like clockwork. I was ready to be impressed.
After another long and somewhat aimless warm-up that me and my 21 other training partners were exposed to, it was time to get to work. Our attention was diverted to a few television screens which listed out numerous exercises on a complex grid (many of which I was unfamiliar with) that were meant to be done using a slam ball (essentially a small, light medicine ball), a mat for bodyweight movements, a BOSU ball (a yoga ball cut in half with a platform bottom for those of you lucky enough to have never used one) and battling ropes.
We were to spend 30 seconds at each station performing as many reps as possible. I tried to keep up by peering over at my fellow station-mates to see how the exercises were meant to be performed like a 4th grade cheating on his vocabulary quiz.
Now, I love training. It tends to help me center myself and almost always puts me in a better mood. I’m also always grateful for the opportunity to use my body and be around like-minded people who also value it. And while the people in the group were lovely, I couldn’t wait for the class to be over.
This type of training is absolute nonsense. Because while it also doesn’t address the needs of the people in the room (ie. getting stronger, learning how to move, improving fitness level), unlike the CrossFit gym which at least used good modalities and exercises, nearly every movement in this class was pointless.
Being in a hot room (no AC and about 95% humidity according to the thermostat on the wall) and becoming sweaty and fatigued does not make for effective training.
You know what does make for effective training? Effective training.
PROS: Really nice owner. Cool, open facility space, Lots of lovely people in a variety of age ranges who seemingly cared enough about their health and wellness to sell out the class on a Summer Friday morning.
CONS: Not addressing the true needs of the clients. No measurable way to see progress. No potential for progressive overload. Nonsensical exercise selection. Lack of clear instructions.
FINAL SCORE: 2/10
I know, “Dan, tell us how you really feel!”
I realize that this can come off as sour grapes here and, again, I can’t state enough how genuinely welcoming and engaging everyone I came across was at these facilities. It's probably the main reason they remain popular.
But these experiences highlighted a major problem that I want to be a part of solving in the fitness industry. Namely, that we have to put in the effort to utilize best practices in creating effective training programs AND create welcoming training environments AND utilize viable business plans in order to meet the needs of our training populations.
I’m willing to do that.
They should be too.