globo vs. box

[Jeff Enge]

Originally Posted by Mike Doehla

awesome thread idea. I Cf in my garage box but I'll answer.

I formerly used to work out in a globo gym and now I´m training in a CF box because....

I realized I was weak, still never showed any real results, and wanted to lift for performance. I knew if I could perform better I would look better. This is the best thing I ever could have done. After about 2 years I'm taking my level 1 next week and applying for affiliation so I can show this to even more people. That one idea to put together a garage gym changed almost everything about me.

Hmm. That's pretty much why I left farting around at the YMCA to join a CF affiliate too. And then why I left the CF affiliate to join a weightlifting club.

[Mike Doehla]

Originally Posted by Jeff Enge

Hmm. That's pretty much why I left farting around at the YMCA to join a CF affiliate too. And then why I left the CF affiliate to join a weightlifting club.

I do my own programming so I don't have to worry about going to a box where you may only squat, press, deadlift once every 2-3 weeks. I definitely wouldn't want to go to a CF that does that.

[Jeff Enge]

Originally Posted by Mike Doehla

I do my own programming so I don't have to worry about going to a box where you may only squat, press, deadlift once every 2-3 weeks. I definitely wouldn't want to go to a CF that does that.

I would do that if I felt comfortable programming for myself. But I definitely don't know enough to be able to do that.

[Mike Doehla]

Originally Posted by Jeff Enge

I would do that if I felt comfortable programming for myself. But I definitely don't know enough to be able to do that.

I'm not expert but things have been going decently for me. I use a lot of CFFB stuff to get ideas. I feel like you definitely can do fine for yourself. I'm sure weightlifting is more technical than what I do which is get stronger, hit the muscles hard, and move fast so you may be better off with your coach.

[Jeff Enge]

Originally Posted by Mike Doehla

I'm not expert but things have been going decently for me. I use a lot of CFFB stuff to get ideas. I feel like you definitely can do fine for yourself. I'm sure weightlifting is more technical than what I do which is get stronger, hit the muscles hard, and move fast so you may be better off with your coach.

It is also really nice to be able to tune in and just do work, and not have to worry about thinking up what to do the next day/week/cycle.

I tried GSLP for a little while, got bogged down overthinking the little, personalized things, and gave up.

There's a lot to be said about having a coach if you can afford it/can find one you can put your full confidence in. Which, to bring this full circle, is why a lot of people find a lot better results at a good CF or other organized gym than the "globo."

[Glenn Plomchok]

I left the Globo gym for my CF box as it was quickly apparent I never knew what I was doing for 20+ years of hitting the gym and playing various sports. Bottom line, I did not know how to train properly.

On top of that, the challenging atmosphere fit my personality perfectly. I came into CF with good upper body strength but NO leg strength at all and my mobility was awful. The past two years has been a fantastic journey for me.

[Patrick Rushbrook]

Originally Posted by Mark E. Wallace

The bold part makes sense, but why would one quit a program because it got too popular.

If your goals hadn't changed and Crossfit got this popular, would you still have quit?

- Mark

Yes, eventually. I loved my gym and the people there and I would never bash it, but with increased popularity comes a change in culture, personnel, etc, and it lost the appeal it had for me when I started and there were only 50 members. Living 40 minutes fro the gym and with small kids at home, I was never big into the social aspect of Crossfit anyway, which is a big part of the culture that draws so many people in.

[Drew Cloutier]

I formerly used to work out in a globo gym and went to a CF box because....

I wanted to try to get my wife into lifting weights, and anyone who's tried coaching their wife even the least bit knows how difficult it is. Also wanted to get my oly lifts up, as well as getting the challenge/friendly competition.

Joined up for a little bit, did some workouts, liked it, but at the same time didn't like the randomness of workouts and not hitting certain strength movements more often, this point did not improve with time as I saw from my wife's rundown of workouts she did even after I left.

Also didn't like what both my wife and I felt was a LACK of coaching from the crossfit coaches, I dont think anyone had above a basic CF level 1 cert, and some on their bio had only trained for a couple years in their whole life.

I must admit I also did not really like the crowd that attended, not on a personal level (they were all nice actually) but rather on an athletic/competition level, most of the attendees were old people (power to them for getting fit) and out of shape women/men (again power to them), very few of the people who went were actually in any kind of shape or had any kind of strength, and some of the members have been doing crossfit at this box or another for over a year.

During my time there I met 2 guys who had halfway decent numbers, there were little to no advanced classes (or any other class/seminar then the basic class), and definitely not enough work on oly or slow lift strength and/or technique, which surprised me because the coach actually did a couple olympic lifting competitions.

It doesn't help that the city I am in has only 2 crossfit gyms basically, so not much choice.

So my wife and I left, I left earlier then she did, got back to my roots of strength & conditioning/powerlifting with my training partners. So I accomplished getting my wife into lifting heavier weights, but now we do it as a team her and my other training partners + me of course.

I will say the price tag is a hard pill to swallow for my wife and I, considering what we got for it, at about 300$/month for both of us, and that allowing us to go max 3 times a week, on top of paying for on ramp classes seperately at approx 80$ a pop.

I know people say crossfit gym memberships cost a lot of money because X, Y, Z, and the coaching is always mentioned as one thing, but I can honestly say I didn't think the coaching either of us got was worth that. I'd rather pay 500-600 a year (that covers us both, and lets us use more then one YMCA) for the YMCA I hit up when I am in Ottawa that has 2 stand-alone lifting platforms, TONS of werksan bumpers, actual oly bars, ivanko powerlifting bars, five 9ft tall hammer strength power rack with attached lifting platforms, and all the other stuff covered, other then that when i'm home, we'll hit up the base gym for free, until we get our home gym setup.

For the record I don't dislike crossfit, but I think for me I am better off self programming/going at it with my crew-support network, although I may check out the oly lifting club nearby to help on that side of things once in a while.

I just want to add something in case people feel I am complaining, that I still enjoy crossfit (and would recommend it) , and enjoyed some aspects of the box I went to, but that it just wasn't the right box for me I would say.

[Benjamin Sicard]

I formerly used to work out in a globo gym and now I´m training in a CF box because....

- I thought I was strong until I tried CF and realized how weak I was.
- CF pits me against myself and others on a daily basis.
- Some of the best people I have met have been through crossfit.

[Boris Wartenberg]

because...

I always wanted to do a fitness programm that fit´s for Krav Maga, fit´s for running, fit´s for biking and fit´s for my life!
I love movement, movement in the way I like to move, fast, run, bike etc.
I do hate isolated movements like arm curls. I used to love "pumping iron", but today I do not know at all why!!! Perhaps, no, for sure, it was just because I did not know about CrossFit!!!