AT CFers, where do you CrossFit?

[EvilYoda]

So, one of my first big decisions of the year concerns what gym I go to. I currently have a sub with Lifetime and the facilities are great. I've put on decent weight since I moved to Phoenix and started eating better and working out consistently. I haven't bothered meeting many people here and I'm still enjoying the solitary life, so I have no problem training 3-5 days a week...I had plenty of fun the last few years.

Thing is, I've been reading and following the CF movement for a while now and the practical strength and natural movements that are central to the philosophy are really interesting to me. I seem to have a handful of affiliates around me, and one thing I really miss is a group exercise situation - the competition, the friendship, the camaraderie. I want to put on more muscle and trim down the fat (who doesn't?) and put up better numbers. However, I want the muscle to be due to the movements required and not just because I did 10,000 overhead presses and 20,000 bench presses.

If you CF, where do you do it? If it's an affiliate, do you do group workouts? Lastly, how much are you paying for dues?

My options, in order of preference but with listed caveats, are:

1.) CF gym - most are far away, some are just garage affiliates, high monthly cost.
2.) AZ Combat Sports - MMA gym, good talent there but a 20+ minute drive and probably a high monthly cost
3.) Boxing gym - haven't researched as much, but there are three possibilities. It'll sure help me lose the fat but I don't know about adding muscle. Thoughts?
4.) Stay at Lifetime - $50/mo, great facilities, good for a basic gym and it's literally right down the street from work and home.

Thanks everyone, I hope to make some serious strides this year

I'll be doing yoga, rock climbing or some sport at least once a week as well.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Well, first of all, check to see if the CF affiliate near you offers a trial experience. That may give you a better perspective on what you want exactly. Secondly, all of these are good choices. If you are sick of living the solitary life due to the move, I would say take a couple of months at an affiliate. Make some friends, hang out, work hard. After that, get some phone numbers and maybe try to steal a couple of them to do the workout at your gym. It would be cheaper and you would continue to maintain friendships, not workout alone, and have competition.

I work out at my school gym - the fees being included in tuition. There are some things I just cannot do there because of the amount of equipment required. I mean, I can do simple workouts very easily, but workouts that ask for o-lifts, 3+ apparatuses (filthy 50), etc are hard to manage. You may find this to be the same case at the public gym.

 

[EvilYoda]

I'm still fine with just being on my own, so no worries there. I'll definitely start with dropping by the bigger local affiliates and then after that, AZ Combat Sports and then the boxing gyms I've found.

I just want to do something that's "productive" - CF = natural movements; boxing = know how to box, crazy cardio; MMA = real life fighting scenarios and martial arts that I've always loved.

I think I'll research this week and start next week. I'm really interested in trying out o-lifts though, hmph.

 

[brikis98]

All the CF affiliates in my area are unfortunately too far away, so I split my workouts between the gym at my workplace and a gym near my house. The office gym is tiny and was limited on equipment, but they let me buy and keep my own equipment there (I don't have room in my house), so it now has a power rack, bench, barbell, iron plates, bumper plates, some light dumbbells and a treadmill. It's really convenient to have this stuff and be able to go right after work (letting rush hour go by while I work out), but there is a lot of necessary equipment missing, which is why I also have a membership to a gym near my house. It's a standard globo type gym, but they have squat racks, barbells and weights, heavier dumbbells, a back extension machine, nicer pull-up bars, nicer treadmills, a place I can do box jumps and a yoga room. Even with both of these, I still can't do a bunch of exercises, including rowing, wall ball, rope climbs, ring muscle-ups (I have rings, but nowhere high enough to hang them for muscle-ups), and ghd sit-ups. Still, with substitutions here and there, it works out and I'm still having an awesome time doing CF.

I did go to a CF affiliate (Revolution Fitness, in Boston) a couple times for trial classes and I'd highly recommend you do the same for affiliates in your area. The one I went to had awesome equipment, and plenty of it, and the classroom atmosphere was excellent. They always started with a nice warm-up, followed by some "skills" practice (where you go over the technique for a different exercise each day), followed by the WoD. They charge somewhere in the ~$70 - $80 per month range, which is much more than I pay now for the gym near my house, but given the quality of the equipment and instruction, totally worth it. Unfortunately, there is just no way I can afford the ~40 minutes it takes me to get there every day, so I'll probably go there once every month or two just for fun.

 

[EvilYoda]

Originally posted by: brikis98
All the CF affiliates in my area are unfortunately too far away, so I split my workouts between the gym at my workplace and a gym near my house. The office gym is tiny and was limited on equipment, but they let me buy and keep my own equipment there (I don't have room in my house), so it now has a power rack, bench, barbell, iron plates, bumper plates, some light dumbbells and a treadmill. It's really convenient to have this stuff and be able to go right after work (letting rush hour go by while I work out), but there is a lot of necessary equipment missing, which is why I also have a membership to a gym near my house. It's a standard globo type gym, but they have squat racks, barbells and weights, heavier dumbbells, a back extension machine, nicer pull-up bars, nicer treadmills, a place I can do box jumps and a yoga room. Even with both of these, I still can't do a bunch of exercises, including rowing, wall ball, rope climbs, ring muscle-ups (I have rings, but nowhere high enough to hang them for muscle-ups), and ghd sit-ups. Still, with substitutions here and there, it works out and I'm still having an awesome time doing CF.

I did go to a CF affiliate (Revolution Fitness, in Boston) a couple times for trial classes and I'd highly recommend you do the same for affiliates in your area. The one I went to had awesome equipment, and plenty of it, and the classroom atmosphere was excellent. They always started with a nice warm-up, followed by some "skills" practice (where you go over the technique for a different exercise each day), followed by the WoD. They charge somewhere in the ~$70 - $80 per month range, which is much more than I pay now for the gym near my house, but given the quality of the equipment and instruction, totally worth it. Unfortunately, there is just no way I can afford the ~40 minutes it takes me to get there every day, so I'll probably go there once every month or two just for fun.

I was wondering when you'd see my thread. If I were able to find a decent affiliate around me for $70-80/mo, I'd be all over that. I'm willing to pay for the service, I understand the need for higher monthly rates with CF...up to a point. I'm not paying $150/mo which I've seen a lot on their forums.

And it just so happens that I saw a guy with a CF Marina shirt at Lifetime today so I chatted him up for a while and maybe we'll get together and he'll help me get started. He's got a level 1 cert and is finishing his bachelors in...hell, I don't remember, something fitness related. He wasn't a total meathead either, he was quite thin. If nothing else, he confirmed what my thoughts were on the local affiliates - there are 2 worth checking out while the rest are garage gyms.

Thanks for the replies so far!

 

[BeauJangles]

CF affiliate. It's expensive, but worth every single penny.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: EvilYoda

Originally posted by: brikis98
All the CF affiliates in my area are unfortunately too far away, so I split my workouts between the gym at my workplace and a gym near my house. The office gym is tiny and was limited on equipment, but they let me buy and keep my own equipment there (I don't have room in my house), so it now has a power rack, bench, barbell, iron plates, bumper plates, some light dumbbells and a treadmill. It's really convenient to have this stuff and be able to go right after work (letting rush hour go by while I work out), but there is a lot of necessary equipment missing, which is why I also have a membership to a gym near my house. It's a standard globo type gym, but they have squat racks, barbells and weights, heavier dumbbells, a back extension machine, nicer pull-up bars, nicer treadmills, a place I can do box jumps and a yoga room. Even with both of these, I still can't do a bunch of exercises, including rowing, wall ball, rope climbs, ring muscle-ups (I have rings, but nowhere high enough to hang them for muscle-ups), and ghd sit-ups. Still, with substitutions here and there, it works out and I'm still having an awesome time doing CF.

I did go to a CF affiliate (Revolution Fitness, in Boston) a couple times for trial classes and I'd highly recommend you do the same for affiliates in your area. The one I went to had awesome equipment, and plenty of it, and the classroom atmosphere was excellent. They always started with a nice warm-up, followed by some "skills" practice (where you go over the technique for a different exercise each day), followed by the WoD. They charge somewhere in the ~$70 - $80 per month range, which is much more than I pay now for the gym near my house, but given the quality of the equipment and instruction, totally worth it. Unfortunately, there is just no way I can afford the ~40 minutes it takes me to get there every day, so I'll probably go there once every month or two just for fun.

I was wondering when you'd see my thread. If I were able to find a decent affiliate around me for $70-80/mo, I'd be all over that. I'm willing to pay for the service, I understand the need for higher monthly rates with CF...up to a point. I'm not paying $150/mo which I've seen a lot on their forums.

And it just so happens that I saw a guy with a CF Marina shirt at Lifetime today so I chatted him up for a while and maybe we'll get together and he'll help me get started. He's got a level 1 cert and is finishing his bachelors in...hell, I don't remember, something fitness related. He wasn't a total meathead either, he was quite thin. If nothing else, he confirmed what my thoughts were on the local affiliates - there are 2 worth checking out while the rest are garage gyms.

Thanks for the replies so far!

CF Marina? That's where I did my trial at. Seems he's in the wrong state though

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
I was wondering when you'd see my thread. If I were able to find a decent affiliate around me for $70-80/mo, I'd be all over that. I'm willing to pay for the service, I understand the need for higher monthly rates with CF...up to a point. I'm not paying $150/mo which I've seen a lot on their forums.

Oddly enough, the Revolution Fitness in Boston is actually not really a CF gym. It's a normal (high end) gym with the standard cardio room, yoga rooms, and weight room. However, it just happens to have a room in the back corner, behind a garage door (adds that "garage gym" character i guess) that is specifically dedicated to CF and has all the necessary equipment. So, the $70-80/month is the membership for the "standard gym"... but it seems that the CF stuff just comes with it, which is a crazy nice deal. If only it was closer to my house

The other CF affiliate in my area is Crossfit Boston. I've never been there, but they seem like the crazy expensive kind that you saw on other forums. Their website lists "unlimited CF classes" at $200 per month, which IMO is pretty ridiculous. At that cost - a staggering $2400 per year - if you have the room in your own house, it would definitely be a better investment to build your own gym.

 

[EvilYoda]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Originally posted by: EvilYoda

Originally posted by: brikis98
All the CF affiliates in my area are unfortunately too far away, so I split my workouts between the gym at my workplace and a gym near my house. The office gym is tiny and was limited on equipment, but they let me buy and keep my own equipment there (I don't have room in my house), so it now has a power rack, bench, barbell, iron plates, bumper plates, some light dumbbells and a treadmill. It's really convenient to have this stuff and be able to go right after work (letting rush hour go by while I work out), but there is a lot of necessary equipment missing, which is why I also have a membership to a gym near my house. It's a standard globo type gym, but they have squat racks, barbells and weights, heavier dumbbells, a back extension machine, nicer pull-up bars, nicer treadmills, a place I can do box jumps and a yoga room. Even with both of these, I still can't do a bunch of exercises, including rowing, wall ball, rope climbs, ring muscle-ups (I have rings, but nowhere high enough to hang them for muscle-ups), and ghd sit-ups. Still, with substitutions here and there, it works out and I'm still having an awesome time doing CF.

I did go to a CF affiliate (Revolution Fitness, in Boston) a couple times for trial classes and I'd highly recommend you do the same for affiliates in your area. The one I went to had awesome equipment, and plenty of it, and the classroom atmosphere was excellent. They always started with a nice warm-up, followed by some "skills" practice (where you go over the technique for a different exercise each day), followed by the WoD. They charge somewhere in the ~$70 - $80 per month range, which is much more than I pay now for the gym near my house, but given the quality of the equipment and instruction, totally worth it. Unfortunately, there is just no way I can afford the ~40 minutes it takes me to get there every day, so I'll probably go there once every month or two just for fun.

I was wondering when you'd see my thread. If I were able to find a decent affiliate around me for $70-80/mo, I'd be all over that. I'm willing to pay for the service, I understand the need for higher monthly rates with CF...up to a point. I'm not paying $150/mo which I've seen a lot on their forums.

And it just so happens that I saw a guy with a CF Marina shirt at Lifetime today so I chatted him up for a while and maybe we'll get together and he'll help me get started. He's got a level 1 cert and is finishing his bachelors in...hell, I don't remember, something fitness related. He wasn't a total meathead either, he was quite thin. If nothing else, he confirmed what my thoughts were on the local affiliates - there are 2 worth checking out while the rest are garage gyms.

Thanks for the replies so far!

CF Marina? That's where I did my trial at. Seems he's in the wrong state though

He said that he's been doing it for 3-4 years so I imagine that he's probably hit a few affiliates before! I emailed him back and we'll see...maybe we'll get a few workouts together.

I've been hesitant to learn any "moves", like kipping pullups and especially the oly lifts, since I want to learn from someone that's an "authority" and so I don't start with any bad habits. I do most things in life with the thought process of "if I'm going to do something, I want to do it well".

 

[eddiebravo]

theres nothing really to learn with kipping pullups. its really intuitive...just do what you would do if you were trying to cheat and use your legs and body momentum as much as possible to make the pullup easier. get your legs kicking, get into a swinging motion and thats it.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: eddiebravo
theres nothing really to learn with kipping pullups. its really intuitive...just do what you would do if you were trying to cheat and use your legs and body momentum as much as possible to make the pullup easier. get your legs kicking, get into a swinging motion and thats it.

I disagree. I also wonder - based on your inaccurate description of the motion and your idea that a kipping pull-up is some sort of cheating - if you actually know how to properly kip? For most people, the only "intuitive" thing is a half-assed, inefficient kick at the end of a pull-up. Almost everyone does this, and it certainly helps, but it's definitely no kipping pull-up. Learning to kip properly isn't too easy and learning to chain multiple kips together is even harder. Some learn it in a matter of days, but most take quite a bit longer and some may even take months until they can do it well.

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
I've been hesitant to learn any "moves", like kipping pullups and especially the oly lifts, since I want to learn from someone that's an "authority" and so I don't start with any bad habits. I do most things in life with the thought process of "if I'm going to do something, I want to do it well".

I do respect wanting to learn to do things properly and if you can get access to an actual CF affiliate, then by all means that's the way to do it. However, if you can't, you shouldn't be discouraged from learning the motions yourself. Tons of CFers (including myself) have done it that way with pretty good results. Obviously, your results might be a bit better or faster with professional instruction, but with enough reading, video watching and (most importantly) practice, most of the CF movements can be learned on your own. In fact, learning all sorts of new exercises - such as kipping pull-ups, muscle-ups, handstands, and doulbe-unders - is one of the most enjoyable parts of CF.

 

[eddiebravo]

i never said the kipping pullup was cheating. a kipping pullup is a kipping pullup. its a different exercise from a regular pullup. my point about cheating was to show that kipping is a pretty natural movement.

if i had described the same movement as generating motion from a hip drive, posterior chain activation, blah blah, you would have said i was perfectly correct. if you ignore all the increased work capacity full body workout bullshit, you will see that kipping just is generating body motion to make the pullup easier. its an intuitive movement that most people do naturally when they are trying to squeeze out more pullups than they can do strictly. i can kip just fine, as can just about anyone with any kind of coordination. aside from a morbidly obese person who can barely hang from a bar, i honestly cannot imagine it taking MONTHS for anyone to learn to kip. i imagine this kind of person would also take a year or so to learn how to use an airdyne bike.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: eddiebravo
its an intuitive movement that most people do naturally when they are trying to squeeze out more pullups than they can do strictly. i can kip just fine, as can just about anyone with any kind of coordination.

Maybe you're some extremely talented and athletic individual, but everyone I've known has had to take at least a few days to properly learn to do the kipping and longer to properly chain kipping pull-ups together. I personally took about a week to be able to do one kipping properly, a month to properly chain them together and a few months before I could do a very efficient and clean kipping motion that now lets me do ~30 of them consecutively.

The CF message boards are FULL of threads of people having trouble with it and there are tons of videos to teach you proper technique because it is NOT, for most people, trivial to learn. Simple examples of what people struggle with:

1. Most beginners just try to "kick" their legs to do a kipping. This is the "intuitive" motion I mentioned that almost everyone does at the end of their pull-up as they try to eek out the last couple pull-ups. This is NOT the proper motion for a kipping, which is actually generated by opening up the hip and is done at the start of the pull-up motion.

2. If you want to be able to chain multiple kipping pull-ups together, you can't just starting a simple "swinging motion" as you mentioned earlier. Your hips, when seen from the side, stays more or less in the same position. Your head comes forward and legs go back and vice versa, which looks like a swing, but really, the center of mass of your body is not translating forward or back too much. If it was - if you were really swinging on the bar like a gymnast does during a parallel bar routine - you would NOT be able to chain multiple kipping pull-ups together. However, almost every beginner "intuitively" will end up doing a full swing and will waste lots of energy stopping their swing in between each pull-up.

As I said, perhaps you're some brilliant athlete who intuitively grasped all these concepts on his first try, or perhaps you don't actually know how to properly kip and are just doing a poor imitation.

Originally posted by: eddiebravo
aside from a morbidly obese person who can barely hang from a bar, i honestly cannot imagine it taking MONTHS for anyone to learn to kip. i imagine this kind of person would also take a year or so to learn how to use an airdyne bike.

As I said, it can take anywhere from a few days to a few months. The average person will fall somewhere in the middle, probably taking several weeks before they have a smooth, efficient kipping motion. However, there are outliers who struggle mightily with the kipping and you'd only need to search the CF message boards to find their cries for help.

 

[EvilYoda]

I'm still afraid of handstands...I have much more upper body strength now, but when I was a teenager trying to balance on my hands, I couldn't roll out of a fall...that was not good. I think that's one thing I'll try to practice at the apartment complex's gym - I also intend on finally building a pair of parallettes.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
I'm still afraid of handstands...I have much more upper body strength now, but when I was a teenager trying to balance on my hands, I couldn't roll out of a fall...that was not good. I think that's one thing I'll try to practice at the apartment complex's gym - I also intend on finally building a pair of parallettes.

I was definitely afraid of these too, but I used this progression to easily overcome that:

1. Start with a headstand against a wall, as described in the beastskills headstand tutorial. You can't fall forward, as your heels are on the wall, so no need to worry about rolling.

2. Work your way up to a handstand with your back to a wall as explained in the "training" section of the beastskills handstand tutorial. Again, there is no fear of falling forward due to the wall, which makes it a far less scary exercise.

3. Once you're comfortable with those, find an open field with soft grass and start doing them away from a wall. Just tuck your head - that is, press your chin to your chest - if you fall forward and roll out of it. In fact, just practice some rolls before starting the handstands just to get a feel for it.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: eddiebravo
i never said the kipping pullup was cheating. a kipping pullup is a kipping pullup. its a different exercise from a regular pullup. my point about cheating was to show that kipping is a pretty natural movement.

if i had described the same movement as generating motion from a hip drive, posterior chain activation, blah blah, you would have said i was perfectly correct. if you ignore all the increased work capacity full body workout bullshit, you will see that kipping just is generating body motion to make the pullup easier. its an intuitive movement that most people do naturally when they are trying to squeeze out more pullups than they can do strictly. i can kip just fine, as can just about anyone with any kind of coordination. aside from a morbidly obese person who can barely hang from a bar, i honestly cannot imagine it taking MONTHS for anyone to learn to kip. i imagine this kind of person would also take a year or so to learn how to use an airdyne bike.

Actually, learning to kip isn't that easy for most folks. First, it's not a natural motion to most athletes. When most people choose to cheat on pullups they swing a little bit and kick their feet. A strict (good) kipping pull-up has little to do with your legs and much more to do with your upper body. Coordinating the hip explosion and the pull, as well as the proper reset (pushing away from the bar) takes a good amount of time.

I've NEVER seen anyone naturally kip when they're trying to get another rep of a pullup. Usually, I see people cock their head to their strong side, look like they're trying to pinch off a loaf and kick their feet like they're swimming. Not a kip.

Most people can kinda kip after a week or two of working on it, but getting a good strict kipping pullup takes time and energy. The advantages, however, are unbelievable. When you can eliminate all the superfluous movement (particularly in your legs), your capacity for work goes through the roof.

Calling the kip cheating versus a strict pullup is like calling a jerk cheating versus on OHP. The movements really accomplish two different things. A strict PU works only on your raw pulling strength. It has no rhythm to it. A kip involves coordinating THE most powerful part of your body with your arms. It has a natural rhythm to it that has built in recovery (the fall away and forward swing) and therefore works much more on your muscle endurance and the explosiveness of your hips versus a regular PU.

ALL forms of pullups have their place, something I think a lot of Crossfit programmers forget. Motions like the butterfly and the kip, however, are designed to increase your work capacity, get your lungs involved, and help coordinate your body.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
I'm still afraid of handstands...I have much more upper body strength now, but when I was a teenager trying to balance on my hands, I couldn't roll out of a fall...that was not good. I think that's one thing I'll try to practice at the apartment complex's gym - I also intend on finally building a pair of parallettes.

Haha, first things first - learn to do a tumble

 

[EvilYoda]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
I'm still afraid of handstands...I have much more upper body strength now, but when I was a teenager trying to balance on my hands, I couldn't roll out of a fall...that was not good. I think that's one thing I'll try to practice at the apartment complex's gym - I also intend on finally building a pair of parallettes.

Haha, first things first - learn to do a tumble

Yeah, seriously. I'm on the first floor and I brought one of my exercise mats when I moved so hopefully I won't make too much noise. (The mat's thick and folds in half...Everlast I think)

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: EvilYoda

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
I'm still afraid of handstands...I have much more upper body strength now, but when I was a teenager trying to balance on my hands, I couldn't roll out of a fall...that was not good. I think that's one thing I'll try to practice at the apartment complex's gym - I also intend on finally building a pair of parallettes.

Haha, first things first - learn to do a tumble

Yeah, seriously. I'm on the first floor and I brought one of my exercise mats when I moved so hopefully I won't make too much noise. (The mat's thick and folds in half...Everlast I think)

It takes a while to get used to being inverted. Give it time and don't worry if you feel the need to slow down and use some tumbling progressions. It's better to feel confident that you can get out of a HS than to hurt yourself.

 

[HN]

There's enough variance in the workouts that i can do them at the globo (24hr fitness), apartment, or around town.

It's usually at the gym if i need access to squat cage, barbell, multiple weights. Apartment if it's mainly bodyweight stuff. And around town if the workout is just running.