Editor’s Note: This is the second part in a multi-part series highlighting longtime CrossFit gym owners, their experiences over the past decade, and some advice they wish they had at the start. Click here for part one.
Constantly varied, functional movements performed at a high intensity.
That’s the basic, barebones definition of CrossFit.
As someone who started CrossFit in 2008, I can say that programming at my affiliate in the early days perfectly reflected this definition.
- I showed up each day, hit whatever random, intense workout was written on the whiteboard, and went as hard as possible.
A year later, I started coaching at CrossFit Vancouver in British Columbia, the first affiliate in Canada.
All of our coaches shared the programming responsibilities.
- This meant we had a rotation, where each coach took on the programming for one week every six weeks.
We didn’t follow any system or adhere to any tried-and-true programming principles. We didn’t communicate with each other about our workout plans for the week. There were no coaches’ notes, accessory work, or talks about ensuring clients preserve the intended stimulus of the day.
Back then, the goal was often to crush people. Oddly enough, it actually kind of worked, and we had no trouble picking up clients from 2009 to 2011.
- Somewhere along the way, though, we realized what we were doing wasn’t sustainable. It was too intense, too reckless, and ultimately just too random.
By 2012, everyone had an opinion about what was good programming and what was bad programming. Many started following “The Outlaw Way” off to the side at their gym because that’s what was sure to get them to the CrossFit Games.
Then came the rise of affiliate programming companies offering to save gym owners time with a plug-and-play program they could roll out to their communities.
Today, the list of popular affiliate programming options is endless: CrossFit Mayhem, NCFIT, PRVN Fitness, Training Think Tank, CompTrain, Linchpin, Park City Fit, and Level Method, to name a few.
In fact, earlier this year, we put out a poll to gym owners to discover what percentage of affiliate owners still do their own programming.
- Out of 305 gyms we surveyed, 49 percent said they still do their own programming, while 37 percent outsource it to a company that specializes in programming. Another 12 percent said they use CrossFit Affiliate Programming (CAP).
Of course, today’s affiliate programming services offer gym owners so much more than the random workout of the day we offered our clients 15 years ago.
Gym Owners Talk Their Programming Journeys
When you talk to longtime CrossFit athletes, coaches, and gym owners about programming, it can get quite heated, but when I reached out to 10-plus-year gym owners about their programming journeys, their insights surprised me.
- After a decade or more of gym ownership, they have ultimately learned that the specifics matter less than you might think when it comes to programming.
Here’s what they’re saying.
The Coach Is More Important Than the Program
In almost 15 years of gym ownership, Marco Tan has done it all.
When he first opened CrossFit Overdrive in Richmond, British Columbia, in 2009, he did his own programming for five years.
- “Then I experimented with all the competitive-type programming hype in the mid-2010s,” Tan explained.
After much trial and error, Tan said he needed “to adopt a sustainable model and service to help the masses.”
- This has meant subscribing to HWPO Affiliate Programming, which he said has been working well for his community.
But after a decade and a half, Tan is not dogmatic about programming. He recognizes there are plenty of ways to skin the programming cat; you just need to find one that caters to your unique community.
Even more important than the program itself, however, are the people who deliver it.
- “First and foremost, you must teach your team how to become great coaches. Programming is secondary to professional coaching,” Tan said. “Anybody can follow and read a program, but [fewer people] can translate them and teach and coach them properly.”
The Importance of Buy-In
Brett Wilson and Mike Corcoran, the owners of CrossFit Mill Street in Vienna, VA, said one thing they have learned through the years is how programming can become “very divisive” among coaches and members.
- This led them to “test out too many programming styles,” Corcoran said, adding that this was a mistake as it led to disjointed programming that lacked consistency.
Today, CrossFit Mill Street follows Mayhem Affiliate Programming, and it’s working for them.
- “It has reduced programming complaints to almost zero,” Corcoran said.
[Related: Best Protein Powders]
That being said, as important as it is to have an effective program like Mayhem, you also need buy-in from your coaches, Wilson explained.
- “You have to be supremely confident in the program so that the coaches present a product they are proud of and the members see the overall mission,” he said. “If the programming seems disjointed or you are changing the style often, the coaches will not be able to field the ‘why are we doing this?’ questions.”
Managing Intensity vs. Longevity
Justin VanBeek was 29 years old and in the middle of his stint as a competitive CrossFit athlete when he opened CrossFit Hydro in Omaha, NE, in 2012.
Fast forward to today, and not only is he now in his 40s, but the average age of his membership has risen dramatically as well.
- Now, there are fewer 20-somethings at the gym looking to gain elite fitness and more parents in their 30s and 40s looking for longevity.
As a result, VanBeek doesn’t program as much volume for his members as he did 12 years ago. But more important than the specifics of his programming is the attitude with which VanBeek and his members approach their training, he explained.
This ultimately comes down to creating a culture that promotes longevity over intensity.
- “We encourage people to listen to how their bodies are feeling as they walk in the door, and while they are warming up, and we know when to dial it back, and as I phrase it, ‘live to fit another day,’” VanBeek said.
Seven-time CrossFit Games athlete and CrossFit pioneer Chris Spealler has had a similar experience.
After 18 years of owning Park City Fit in Park City, UT, close to 70 percent of his 260 members have been with him for more than a decade.
Needless to say, the culture of longevity he created is a big reason why.
[Related: Best Pre-Workout Supplements]
For Spealler, a lot of this comes down to managing intensity on a day-by-day, week-by-week basis.
- “Yes, intensity is good. But at the right time, the right place, and with the right allocation,” Spealler said.
At his gym, two days a week are designed to be intense, but there’s also a lower-intensity option. A third day focuses on heavier lifting, giving his members a break from conditioning. A fourth day involves no loading at all. A fifth day provides a long, low-intensity workout, while the sixth and final day usually involves things like sled drags or carries.
- “So if you look at six days of programming, there are three days that don’t feel like high intensity at all,” he added.
Language Matters More Than the Workout
In theory, CrossFit has always been about inclusivity – universal scalability has been one of its core tenets since Day 1.
That being said, the Rx and scaled language kind of set the stage for creating an environment that made people who were less fit feel bad about themselves.
- If you can’t do the workout as prescribed, are you really doing the workout?
This is why many gym owners have moved away from this traditional way of presenting CrossFit workouts.
Danielle Ullmann, the 10-year owner of CrossFit West Seattle in Seattle, WA, is one of them.
- “Over the years, our programming has evolved to ensure it is truly accessible for every member of our gym…Back in the day, we would just program one Rx workout, plain and simple, like the main CrossFit website,” she said.
This worked for a time, but as her membership base grew to include a more diverse range of ages, athletic abilities, and overall fitness goals, Ullmann realized the language was no longer serving her members.
[Related: Best Rowing Machines]
- “With that, it was time to make a big change in our programming to ensure we had something for every member of our community. I leaned into our coaching team to discuss some alternatives around how we program, and that is when we determined our new programming style at CrossFit West Seattle,” she said.
Today, they don’t use the words “Rx” and “scaled.” Instead, they provide options: MetCon A, MetCon B, and Masters MetCon.
- “It has really shifted the overall dynamic in our gym, and our members consistently feel very inspired and always want to come back for more,” Ullmann said.
She added: “This programming shift was probably one of the best decisions I have made as a 10-year gym owner.”
The Big Picture: It’s Still Just CrossFit
If you want to keep clients at your gym, programming matters.
And in some ways, a week of programming at a CrossFit affiliate today looks nothing like it did in 2009, when a gym might have programmed “Fran” on Monday, “Helen” on Tuesday, a one-rep-max back squat on Wednesday, “Murph” on Thursday, and “King Kong” on Friday.
All max efforts, of course. And all to be posted on the leaderboard.
Yes, we’re more sophisticated today. We follow macrocycles and mesocycles, and we program accessory work to improve joint health and mobility, as well as iron out muscle imbalances.
But anyone who has been around for 10 or 15 years is still doing what CrossFit was founded upon: functional movements.
- OK, maybe with more systematic variability and maybe with carefully prescribed intensity, but if you’re doing CrossFit today, you’re arguably still doing varied functional movements with intensity.
Just like you were in 2009.
Ehren Vaughan, the 12-year owner of CrossFit Ballina in New South Wales, Australia, explained that, after trying different programming styles, they have gone full circle back “more towards traditional CrossFit over the years,” he said.
And it’s working well for his community.
The same is true for 16-year gym owner and the 2009 CrossFit Games champion, Tanya Wagner.
While programming at her gym, CrossFit Apex in Souderton, PA, has shifted to being about longevity so people aren’t “wrecked at the end of every week,” conceptually, it’s still the same as it has always been. It’s still largely varied, functional movements done with different degrees of intensity.
And after 16 years, it’s still working.
- “I’ll never do anything different. For all the reasons I loved [CrossFit] in the early days, I still love it. That’s why I still teach it, and I wouldn’t know any other way to do it. It is a part of how we live,” she said.
Featured image: @crossfithydro / Instagram
