CrossFit Journal - Issue 35.pdf - Crossfit(1) - krokodyl175

July 2005

ISSUE THIRTY-FIVE

July 2005

CrossFit: An Open

Source Model

Fitness Yearns to Be Free

-Brian Mulvaney

CrossFit is often referred to as an

“open-source” fitness movement.

But what does that really mean?

What is open source and how

does it apply to fitness?

Garage Gym II - The Revolution

-Greg Glassman

“Open source” and the profound

concept of “free software” arose

from the research-oriented

computer engineering culture of

the seventies and eighties that

delivered the technical foundations

for much of what we take for

granted in today’s information

economy. In narrow terms, “open

source” and “free software”

describe the intellectual property

arrangements for software source

code: specifically the licensing

models that govern its availability,

use, and redistribution. More

broadly, and more importantly,

open source has come to denote

a collaborative style of project

work, wherein ad hoc groups

of motivated individuals—often

connected only by the Internet—

come together around a shared

development objective that

advances a particular technical

frontier for the common good.

Successful open-source projects

are notable for their vibrant

communities of technology

developers and users where the

artificial divide between producer

Subject: Unofficial CrossFit Classes

To: info@crossfit.com

From: Eric Lester

Date: July 1st 2005

“About 7 weeks ago I started doing the WOD with a friend at my college gym. We’ve

since then gotten other people involved and have about 5 regulars doing the WOD

including ourselves. I’m expecting that number to grow in the fall when more students

arrive.

I’d like to create a website for our little group keeping track of best times for each

individual, pictures, etc. I think it would be some fun extra motivation for them all.

It’s not like we have a coach or anything, but I tend to take the lead, instruct when

necessary, and concentrate on encouraging.

I’m wondering what it would be proper to name our group and page. The guy that

started with me suggested “CrossFit ISU” (Indiana State University being our college)

and I like that because it raises CF awareness :). But I thought that sort of name was

probably reserved for actual CF gyms with a certified instructor...”

continued page ... 2

continued page ... 8

July 2005

Garage Gym II - The Revolution

Greg Glassman

...continued from page 1

The CrossFit Journal was launched

nearly three years ago with an issue

titled “The Garage Gym.” In that premier

issue we decried the lack of efficacious

programming in commercial gyms and

proffered a solution with the promise

that “you can build, rather inexpensively,

a world-class strength and conditioning

facility in your garage!”

Three years later we revisit the CrossFit

garage-gym concept to report on the

successes of what may be hundreds of

CrossFit start-up gyms and the aspirations

and motivations of the people behind

them.

CrossFitters are holding court in London,

New York, New Brunswick, Puerto Rico,

Baghdad, Afghanistan, and Qatar. CrossFit

crews are convening in public parks,

garages and carports, basements, barns,

deposed tyrants’ homes, commercial gyms,

storage lockers, martial arts academies,

and universities, under bleachers, and on

military bases.

Three years ago we saw the CrossFit

movement as an alternative to the

prevailing commercial gym establishment

and its signature “big-box,” machine-

based, bodybuilding approach to fitness.

We promoted the garage-gym notion in

large part to provide refuge for our more

athletic programming, which couldn’t find

quarter in the commercial gyms.

Today we see ourselves as part of a

wider war between the big-box franchises

such as Gold’s, Bally’s, and 24-Hour Fitness

and the small-box facilities of which the

Curves chain is the best-known example.

Over the past decade small facilities

of a couple thousand square feet and

smaller have made great strides in fighting

for market share in the gym industry.

Small boxes featuring Pilates, yoga, short

workouts, and women’s and kid’s fitness

have sprung up in strip malls and shopping

continued page ... 3

July 2005

Garage Gym II - The Revolution

Greg Glassman

...continued from page 2

centers nationwide.

The market dominance of the big-box

model is an interesting phenomenon

in that its very size may be the product,

ultimately, of a flawed physiological model.

If we accept the need for distinct exercises

and dedicated machinery for each body

part, we create a need for acres of floor

space and scores of machines.

The large footprint required for machine-

based bodybuilding programming and

the extraordinary attendant costs in

rent, equipment, and permitting (parking

is often a legal issue) squares well with

minimum-wage, low-skill, high-turnover

employees. At Bally’s you’re renting the

floor space, and the kids in polo shirts are

decoration. The technology determines

the business model.

Square footage, number of floors, and

pieces of equipment are to the big-

box model what “location, location,

location” is to residential real estate. This

mindset continues to this day. The large

commercial gyms feature Pilates, yoga,

or Jazzercise classes only to counter the

threat of the smaller, specialized facilities

and to remain trendy.

Where do the small-box competitors

come from? Often, from the big boxes

themselves. In every bodybuilding gym,

amidst the machines, there are one or

two folks who have discovered the free

weights, have an eye for movement, care

about the clientele, would like to earn a

professional income, and know that they

are what keeps people coming back. The

members tell them as much.

Big-box bodybuilding gyms spawn

their best trainers to start and run small

boxes. These trainers figure out that bad

programming doesn’t need tons of space

or equipment—it can be done in a closet.

continued page ... 4

July 2005

Garage Gym II - The Revolution

Greg Glassman

...continued from page 3

Out on their own, in their small boxes,

they accumulate jump ropes, Swiss balls,

an Olympic bar or two, an exercise bike

or Stairmaster, a handful of folding mats,

and dumbbells in several denominations.

The biggest expenses tend to be the cable

crossover/lat pull-down apparatus and the

mirrors. You’ve seen this facility in dozens

of strip malls everywhere—they’re all the

same.

What the big-box trainer become

micro-gym owner discovers immediately

is that everything is better out on his

own. The fear of clients not following

was groundless (often they initiate or

even finance the move), income shoots

up even with rent, and life is generally

wonderful. A busy trainer in a small box is

a happy camper.

The micro gym is vastly more than

just a scaled down big-box gym.

The big box feeds off membership

and is most profitable when

thousands sign up and only a few hundred

actually come around. The small-box

operator is in the training business, and

full-participation, high-retention clients are

gold. The difference in business models

pervades the atmosphere and culture of

both models. The client is better cared

for in the micro gym and knows it.

Not only does the trainer make more

money in his own small facility but,

ironically, the programming generally

improves precisely because of the lack of

resources—i.e., machinery. This is often

startling, even exciting, to both the trainer

and the client.

A big-box gym in a major metropolitan

area in the U.S. sloughs off a top trainer

or two every year to have them start

their own small private training businesses.

Not all go to strip malls or research

parks—some start in private residences

or garages—but most thrive regardless.

continued page ... 5

July 2005

Garage Gym II - The Revolution

Greg Glassman

...continued from page 4

The popularity, successes, and low

start-up and operating costs of the

small-box gym have inspired a legion of

companies offering small gym franchising

opportunities. A quick search turns up

“Slim and Tone,” “Personal Training

Institute,” “Contours Express,” “Elements

Diet and Fitness,” “J.W. Tumbles,”

“Slender Lady,” “ShapeXpress,” “LA

Boxing”, “Anytime Fitness,” “Intrivah

Fitness,” “FUNchise,” “Strides Women’s

Fitness,” “The Blitz,” “Vert Peak Fitness

Centers,” “Fitwize4Kids,” “It Figures,”

“Ladies Workout Express,” “Scrimage,”

“21 Minute Convenience Fitness,” “Nitro

Fitness,” “Club 50 Fitness,” “Designing

Women’s Weight Loss,” “IMX Pilates,”

“The Little Gym,” “123 Fit,” “Ultimate

Woman Fitness,” and “HIT Sports Training

Centers”—all from one source alone.

The 800-pound gorilla on the couch,

however, is the Curves franchise,

with over 9,000 locations worldwide.

Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Curves

the #2 Overall Best Franchise, #1 Fastest

Growing Franchise, #1 Low Investment

Franchise, and #1 Fitness Franchise.

Curves runs variable-intensity circuit

classes in small gyms with minimal

staffing. The Curves workout elicits a

cardiorespiratory response from mixed

gross-motor recruitment patterns.

Participants report that “it’s fun, and it

works.”

That is exactly what we do at CrossFit.

The similarities are striking. So are the

continued page ... 6

CrossFit Journal - Issue 35.pdf

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