What’s the difference between CrossFit GR and the other gyms in Grand Rapids?
The first difference you may notice is that CrossFit Grand Rapids is a performance/health based gym. There are no mirrors. We do care what your body looks like, but that isn’t all. We also care what it can do and how it feels to you. If you are a bodybuilder, you should join one of the many other gyms in Grand Rapids. If you are someone who wants their body to perform better, whether it be on the athletic field, at work, or around the house, this gym is for you. A side effect of making performance and health the priority is a healthy, strong, flexible, and attractive body. With proper diet, your body will melt away fat and the ravages of aging will be slowed and at times even stopped.
CrossFit training is focused on general physical preparedness (GPP). It prepares people for any particular circumstance that may pop up. Our specialty is not specializing. This type of training is popular among police officers, fire fighters, soldiers, and fighters. It improves endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy.
We offer private training for athletic performance and longevity. If you want to do everything you can to make all-conference, get that athletic scholarship, be able to jump higher, move quicker, or become more powerfull…we know how to help you. You may have neglected yourself over the years and now want to play some catch-up regarding your health. We are able to teach you how to eat and train in a way that isn’t overwhelming and can be maintained for a lifetime. Maybe you are older and want to make your body look and feel younger…we can help.
We are confident we can help you lose fat. This involves primarily showing you how and what to eat. Just by learning how to eat in a natural and healthy way will make people start to shed the fat. If you add some common sense exercise on top of your new eating style, your fat melts away even faster. We don’t just help you lose bodyfat. We take the time to teach you how to eat, exercise, and stay lean for a life time. Don’t for a second think that you are too fat to start. Regardless of how overweight you are, we are ready to help you.
There will be at least one personal trainer, and usually two, present at all times. This is personal training in a group setting. The trainers will be making sure that everyone is safe, using good technique, keeping up the intensity, and generally running the gym. We don’t expect you to know anything when you first start. The trainers will teach the safe execution of every exercise. They will also make sure that the gym remains a family friendly place. By always having at least one trainer present, and usually two, you are paying for open class, yet still receiving at least semi-private training!
Every day there will be a different workout of the day or “WOD.” The daily WOD will be posted on this website so you will be able to see what fun and loving agony you will be putting yourself through later in the day. The WOD can be scaled down to meet anyone’s level of fitness, regardless of how out of shape you are. The WOD will be for the folks who already made it through our Beginner’s Course.
Workouts are done as a group. People will be competing against other people, the clock, or against their own personal record. This is nothing to be intimidated by. Training in a group setting will make you continue when you feel like quiting and will make the workout more fun. As mentioned before, if you are overweight or really out of shape…don’t worry! We have people of all levels of fitness training with us. Everyone’s attitude is good and supportive. No attitude problems will be tolerated.
The workouts are usually shorter and more intense than workouts done in other gyms. At our gym, “cardio” is often combined with strength training to give an intense training session. CrossFit training is very efficient. The workouts are usually short and sweet when compared to a bodybuilder’s workout. This is good for folks with a busy schedule.
Our training is practical and can be applied to daily activities, whether it be just carrying yourself around throughout the day, carrying groceries, walking up stairs, playing with your grandchildren, or avoiding tacklers. Everyone will feel the difference. The trainers know the importance of relating the training in the gym to the real world. This is a top priority at CrossFit GR.
The training is fun. The workouts don’t drag on and they change every day. You won’t be stuck in a routine. This is a big reason why you will stick with this style of training indefinitely. The equipment we have right now are dumbells, barbells, rubber bumper plates, a long pull-up bar, gymnastic rings, jumping boxes, a rowing machine, jump ropes, medicine balls, AbMats, kettlebells, tires, sandbags, and a rope. The equipment we are going to get as soon as possible are rope ladders, pegboards, paralletes, strongman equipment, etc. We will also make available to you easy/cheap ways to make some of your own equipment and where to buy other pieces of equipment for your own home gym.
You will be held accountable!…in a fun and loving way of course. The trainers and your workout partners will know if you have been coming or not. We trainers at CrossFit GR want results for you. We want your body fat percentage reduced, your strength/flexibility increased, your athletic performance improved, the ability to do your job better, have more energy to play with your kids/grandkids, etc. We could care less whether you find the secret to inner-peace or whether the gym would make a fung-shui practitioner happy. We are interested in one thing…period. RESULTS!! If you pay, we expect you to be here. If you pay, but don’t show up, we’ll probably give you the balance of your money back and suggest one of the many other gyms in the area.
CrossFit GR = Pay, show up, work out hard, sweat (maybe puke-that’s OK, we’ll have a bucket for you!), go home. Mix in some laughing, a lot of smiling, and a comaraderie that comes only from suffering together.
