Don’t hate the “Globo-Gym”

CrossFit. Defined differently by many.
*Moving Large Loads, Long Distances, Quickly
*Constantly varied, Functional Movements at High Intensity
*lifting heavy shit and moving fast
*Community Fitness
*A super effective way to get fit
*Circuit Training
*Forging Elite Fitness
*Puke Training

None of these definitions say that CrossFit must be done in a “CrossFit box”. CrossFit started as a website in 2001; people from around the globe would perform the posted workouts, and post their times/weights/reps to the comment section of the website and received feedback from the web community. They would perform these workouts alone, before there were any CrossFit Affiliates. Many athletes were performing workouts at Globo-gyms, tracks, open fields, or garages. Have we forgotten where we started?

I myself started CrossFitting in my backyard, but mostly at Laredo’s Gold’s Gym. Eliud Garcia opened gold’s Gym in Laredo in 2005; I had the great opportunity of being their 1st employee. It was an exciting time for Laredo, the facility houses a spinning room, aerobics room, basketball court, and outdoor heated swimming pool. All of the aforementioned are great tools for getting fit. The gym is also equipped with dumbbells, squat racks, and enough barbells and plates to deadlift and squat well over 600 lbs. Again, all excellent tools for getting fit, and many of the tools crossfitters use to perform workouts. Why hate the globogym then? Many of us crossfitters started there, and there are still many crossfitters doing workouts there. With that being said, I know there are “globo-gyms” that don’t like people doing CrossFit workouts in their gym…but do you blame them? The movements are dangerous, and these gyms pay for insurance, and any wrong step and the gym is being sued because you decided to attempt a thruster at 300 lbs. It’s similar to a coach at a CrossFit gym not allowing athletes to perform their own workouts; there are rules and we follow them. So we shouldn’t blame them, because without them we would have never met that “one guy who did CrossFit at the globo-gym”

The following video is me doing Fran at Gold’s Gym…one of the many workouts I did at Gold’s Gym

Let’s not hate on anyone else in the fitness industry. I applaud people for simply getting off their butt and trying to change their life. The more time we waste putting down other “globo-gyms”, affiliates, and fitness enthusiasts, the less time we have to take care of the people that we can mold, the ones right in front of our faces, the ones in our boxes. We started CrossFitting because we loved the idea; functional movements for the masses, fitness for the world.  Let’s continue to deliver on our passion.