A COMPETITIVE GYM…?

The week leading up to the 2015 Reebok CrossFit Games, I was acclimatising and training in Los Angeles, and ended up hanging out at the same gym as most of the Aussie and Kiwi contingent.  During one session I got to chatting with my old mate Ben Schwartz, owner of CrossFit Melbourne.  He's been in the CrossFit scene even longer than I have, and has sent many athletes to Regionals and the Games.   Their annual competition, The Schwartzs Challenge (7-8 November) is one of the biggest events in Australia.

We in turn have been a partner in the Industrial Athletic Invitational every year, programming tough events for NZ's best athletes, and over our almost 8 years in business, sent 4 athletes to The Games, and 20 odd to Regionals.  Not to mention being the current trophy holders for the NZ Team Nationals comp!! 

Anyway, Ben and I shared a laugh at how often people would talk to us about being a 'competition focused gym'.  And how confusing that was to us at first instinct.

Ben put it best, "we are a gym that focuses on moving properly and practicing moving properly.... a lot... and the people that focus on moving properly and practicing moving properly the most, tend to end up being pretty good athletes"

As are we.

Competition is fun.  But it didn't exist when we set up CrossFit NZ, and it never has been our reason for existence.

Teaching people how to move better than they could ever have dreamed.

A strong focus on the basics, drilling of technique and a passion for genuine hands on coaching in every class.

Building confidence, creating excitement, and developing a fun community.

But when those things are in place, it seems that people get pretty darn good at competing too.....

Weird I know......