Why is CrossFit Expensive?

LETS LOOK AT THIS FROM A PRACTICAL AND LOGISTICAL PERSPECTIVE…

I’d be lying if I said that CrossFit is for everyone.  In fact, this blog has nothing to do with convincing you to do CrossFit or that it is even right for you in the first place.  Who shouldn’t do CrossFit?

• Someone who prefers to stick their headphones in and get their own workout in (“Don’t talk to me.  I don’t know you!”).
• Someone who can motivate themselves to perform at their best, every time, without the support of someone, anyone, else.
• Someone who prefers the anonymity of group fitness classes where they want to get in, get out, and not be known by anybody.
• Someone who does not enjoy meeting new people, and spending fun times together with them.
• Someone who is ok with the status quo when it comes to challenging themselves mentally and physically.
  • Someone who prefers to “rent the equipment” in a big box gym without any guidance on training appropriately for what they want.17

Well, it’s a simple list.  Important nonetheless.

LET ME BE CLEAR:  I’VE BEEN THAT PERSON BEFORE…

I’ve wanted to get my workouts in, on my own, and not talk to people.  I’ve taken a group fitness class, here and there, wanting to make sure that nobody really knew me.  I’ve been ok with not meeting new people.

I don’t mean for it to sound as if these things are bad, they’re not.  It’s just that they’re not for everyone.

Because we’re coming up on the holidays:  YOU’RE YOUR OWN UNIQUE SNOWFLAKE, PEOPLE… But seriously, let’s get down to the meat and potatoes of this article.

WHY DOES YOUR AVERAGE CROSSFIT GYM RUN $130 OR MORE PER MONTH?

I’m going to go ahead and assume that since you’re reading this article, you are a health-minded individual.  I’m also going to assume that you do some sort of budgeting of your money and understand the difference between a want and a need.

Let’s look at a breakdown of what $130 (average) per month looks like on a weekly (1x/week), 2x/week, 3x/week, 4x/week, and daily basis.  Let’s also take a look at what the equivalent purchases may be for each of these dollar amounts:

“SO WHAT YOU’RE SAYING IS I SPEND TOO MUCH ON OTHER STUFF?  I’M BEING IRRESPONSIBLE WITH MY MONEY?  ARE YOU INSULTING ME?!”

No!

Not at all.

In fact, if you’re budgeting, you’re doing what only a small percentage of people do in the first place…

What I am saying is that when improving your health and fitness is broken down in to pieces like this, you can see where your values lie and where you might want/need to adjust them (if you are so inclined).

Bite sized chunks of $10 a class seems huge, no?

What if we broke it down into cost as a percentage of your income (and no need to brag about income, or complain about it.  Never mind…):

Mind you, I am taking the $130 [average] per month, adding them up over 12 months, and factoring that dollar amount into the 20k – 100k per year figures.

All your necessities are paid for, you account for the occasional night out or lunch out with friends or significant other, and you end up with 2.6% of your total income spent on you.  Yes, YOU.  Nobody else but YOU.

SO FAR WE’VE ANSWERED NOTHING RELATED TO THE “WHY” QUESTION WE ASKED EARLIER, RIGHT?  LET’S GET TO THAT…

Why is your local CrossFit gym confident enough in what they offer that they can charge an average of $130 per month for membership?

• EMPOWERMENT –

There is ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with being strong; with being powerful; with being fit and healthy.

Nothing.

I’d be willing to be that if you were all these things that your self-confidence would rise, your self-worth would rise, and these things would bleed [positively] into other aspects of your life.

Just think:  confidence at work?  In your relationships?  Whaaaaaat!

• MOTIVATION –

I’ve been there.  I’ve done the body parts on different days.  I’ve done the same basic workouts from week to week.  It’s monotonous…

Not only are the people you are surrounded with motivating, but the very notion that CONSTANTLY VARIED is worked into one of the principles of CrossFit.  While we do retest workouts to track progress, rarely will you do anything that repeats.  We do have our baselines, benchmarks, and tests but the bulk of the workouts will never be the same.

It’s built into the name, people!

• ACCOUNTABILITY –

Now, I’d like to say that the accountability portion comes from the coaches.  It probably does but not to the degree we’d like it to.

In fact, the bulk of the accountability comes from your peers.  If you happened to miss a class and you’ve got the normal class time with your normal workout buddies, you’ll hear about it.  If you’re on vacation and you don’t tell them, you’ll probably hear about it.

A huge level of success has to do with these people you are surrounded by which brings me to…

• COMMUNITY –

If you’ve been in the military, you know that you have a bond with the people surrounding you.  It’s unlike anything you could get in civilian life.

I’m not saying CrossFit equates to that on the same level.

Our classes do give you a sense of belonging to something; the knowledge that you are not going at it alone; the feeling that if you struggle with something, there are others that may have gone through it too!

You have a support system when you are down and you may some day be that support system for someone else.  There’s something powerful within a community that you WILL NOT GET being the lone wolf.

• PROGRAMMING –

If I were to ask you to go ahead and program your training year.  Where would you start?

Remember, this is what we do.  This is what we’ve been doing.  This is what we’re good at.  There’s cycles for the calendar year (just like any other athletics [football, basketball, baseball, etc.]), there’s cycles within the cycles, then we can break it down into weekly and daily goals.

Ask yourself:  are you getting the most out of your training?

• COMMITMENT –

I don’t mean your level of commitment to the program (although, we’ve alluded to it earlier), I mean the coaches’ commitment to you.

When was the last time you felt someone who was supposed to be looking after you was ACTUALLY looking after you?  That’s out job!  We know what you want to get done, we know what you struggle with, we know what you’re good at, and we genuinely want you to succeed!

In fact, we bring those things up and help you with plans on how to succeed.  We know you’ve got a voice, and we want to hear it!

Again, this has not been written to say “you need to do CrossFit, bro!”

I wrote this so you can get an understanding as to why we do what we do and why we are so confident in what we do.

IT’S NO MISTAKE THAT BIG BOX GYMS WANT YOU TO SIGN UP, NOT SHOW UP, AND KEEP PAYING.  WE WANT YOU TO SHOW UP BECAUSE OUR SUCCESS IS DEPENDENT UPON YOURS!

Remember:  you’re not just here to rent equipment…