So You Want to Open a Gym....

My NEW YORK GIANTS will bounce back this weekend against the Carolina Panthers... and I will be there to see it LIVE!!! Lets go BIG BLUE!!

It has become apparent that a lot of CrossFit gyms are going to be opening up in the very near future.  By their own admission, I believe CrossFit has anticipated there being 10,000 affiliates in the next few years.  The easy thing to do is for all these master-elite-level 9-champion-wizard coaches to start writing about all the horrors of this phenomena and how thousands upon thousands of poor unsuspecting people will unknowingly be purchasing a one way ticket to Snap City as a result.  Articles will come out, blogs will be posted.  Some will bring up valid points while others will just spew jealousy and / or plain ignorance.  Well, as an individual who loves what CrossFit, weightlifting, powerlifting, and every other facet of exercise / training has done for people, I will not join in on that negative bull crap.  The fact is these gyms are opening and instead of sitting back on your high horses chastising CrossFit for their business model, let’s work together and try and help some of these first time gym owner / trainers so they don’t wreck people’s shoulder, knees and bank accounts. 

Here is some advice I would give, based on my experience and research:

-          Accept that you are not, in fact, a wizard.  You don’t know everything.  And you will probably die one day not knowing everything there is to know.  The fact is the field of health and fitness is constantly evolving and you need to evolve with it.  What is widely accepted today is ridiculed 6 months later.  Work hard to stay ahead of the curve to ensure you provide your members / athletes the best possible training experience. 

-          Be a leader not a follower.  Just because every other gym is doing something doesn’t mean its right for your gym.  You are not just a business owner crunching numbers trying to make a buck… you are the man / woman responsible for the health and well-being of (hopefully) a large number of people.  People are relying on YOU and no one else to help them and make them better.  It is your knowledge and your expertise that will help them improve and no one else’s.  Never forget that. 

-          Kiss your chances of winning the games goodbye.  This will probably be argued by some but I don’t think that Rich Froning is stressing over paying the rent at his gym or making sure that billing is handled (maybe I am wrong… but I doubt it)… and last I checked that dude is still young and training hard as hell (point being: you probably won’t be able to catch him).  Your accomplishments must now become second to those of your members / athletes.  This does not mean you cannot train and still be awesome.  But remember I am specifically talking to those of you opening up a new gym for the first time.  In two years when you have 500 members and a full staff of coaches and you can take more time to yourself perhaps that will all change.   But not in the beginning.  All of your energy, all of your focus, all of your attention, needs to be devoted to the gym and the people in it.  Don’t have anyone in it?  Than that same energy, focus and attention needs to be devoted to finding those people to get them IN THE GYM! Your athletic career isn’t over… but it will have to be shelved for a while. 

-          Time for a reality check.  “Doing CrossFit” (sweet baby Jesus I hate that phrase) doesn’t make you a capable coach.  Certifications don’t make you a capable coach.  Seminars don’t.  Even experience – a huge asset to have – doesn’t do the trick by itself.  However all of these things IN ADDITION to one very very very important ingredient will give you the tools to be a great coach.   As a coach, you need all the aforementioned attributes AS WELL AS personality.  Do not think for one second people are going to want to pay all that money, go through soul-crushing workouts day in and day out, all in front of a coach they can’t stand.  No one will care about your certs or your experience if you have the personality of a sponge.

-          To further expand on the previous point: if you have never coached in a group class setting, do not let a class of 10 newbies of varying skill and ability be your first time.  Managing a large number of people in workouts that will often require technical and potentially injurious movements is not something you learn just by reading a book.  You need to shadow an experienced trainer, you need to start small, and you need to develop yourself as a coach to be able to properly handle these kinds of classes. 

-          DO NOT OUTKICK YOUR COVERAGE!!! AKA do not program s**t you don’t know how to coach!!! You are clueless about snatching?  Book a Jon North Attitude Nation seminar or a Donny Shankle seminar and learn.  But in the meantime, DO NOT PROGRAM SNATCHES JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE COOL!!! Oh but you watched a YouTube video… my bad you are good then.  NO YOU ARE NOT! You can get your members / athletes PLENTY fit without using snatches.  Be smart about what you program.  Be sure you can teach it to a group of people and monitor the movements accordingly.  If you don’t know how to snatch, teaching and coaching a group of 10 or more people how to would be downright criminal. 

These are just a few things to think about but I can assure you there are plenty more.  It is imperative for people to consider these things and all of the known and unknown challenges that will arise during the early years.  Maybe you agree, maybe you do not.  Either way I have made you think and hopefully that will make you better prepared to own and operate a gym.  I want everyone to succeed and will continue to do whatever small part I can to help anyone I can.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

Stole this one from Donny….

When starting a clean session, warm up with some lifts from the hang to set the back and prepare your body for getting under the bar as quickly as possible at heavy weights.  Work up to your first working set with some hang clean + clean complexes before hitting your singles.