I work more hours, train more people, but bring home less money. If I had it to do over again, I would have never left my garage. But like all small business owners, especially those in the fitness industry who are sincere in their passion for their clients, I wanted bigger and better for my clients and was tired of being stuck in a 25 x 25 box 14 hours per day. I now see my children and wife much less, spend many lonely nights at the gym working on the administration side of things until 1am in the morning, spend many weekends gone to competitions or coaching or hosting UFC nights, birthday parties, etc., at the gym, and have gained 30-35 pounds of pure fat in the past 6 months since moving into the building. Oh, and did I mention my hair is falling out as well suddenly? I sleep less, make poor eating choices, rarely have time to squeeze in my own workout during the day, am more stressed, less healthy, etc.

But… if you ask any single person who knows me outside of my wife, they will tell you I’m the hardest working, happiest, most upbeat person they’ve ever known. They’d tell you I’m an amazing father and a loving husband, I am an amazing business entrepeneur in going from a garage with one client to a CrossFit facility the likes of which my city (which has 7-8 boxes) has never seen, and am hands down the most passionate, knowledgable coach in my city. And all of that for the most part is true. But behind closed doors, opening a box was the worst decision I ever made in my entire adult life.

Sorry to rain on anyone’s parade if they have the same aspirations, but understand what you’re getting yourself into. If I were single and had no children, this would be an amusement park ride. But I go to bed every night at midnight to 1am and wake every day at 4am for classes. It is one hell of a tough job. One that I admitedly and insanely love beyond words. But I have had to sacrifice more of myself, my time, my health, my money, and my family than I ever knew possible.

Great interview. Glad to see someone finally cut the bullshit and be honest about what it’s really like to own a CrossFit box. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, boys and girls.

Unfortunately not. All Skilled Athlete products require MBO.

Some guys from my old affiliate have set up an outdoor affiliate in Manchester, England. A tough proposition in a less than perfect climate. It rains a lot in Manchester and we’re having one of our worst summers ever. Think their inspiration was Blair Morrison’s anywhere CrossFit ethos. We all watch closely as to how they will succeed. Think training camps are something they are looking at and have forged links with The Cross affiliate in Portugal where they get 10% as a UK booking agent for anyone they send the way of the The Cross.

Mobile PTing is something I am interested in at people’s homes where they may have a garage or large drive. The problem is the English weather though on the main. Erratic and often wet.

My husband and I as level 1 crossfit lugs, who don’t have an affiliate but just teach a group out of our home. All friends and neighbors. Hubs is the real trainer and does all our programing. I have gone to a half dozen boxes and have to say – I think our programing is way better. However, we have been discussing what to do with the new members as our own ‘on ramp’.

Since we have smaller classes (2-5 people) we usually can give everyone a lot of 1 on 1 and watch their form pretty closely, so in the passed we have done 2 months of private classes, where they learn the movements and use lighter weights to practice, but still technically do the same workout as everyone else. Then we toss them in the regular class and keep an eye on them. We always make everyone do 2-3 reps of each movement with lighter weight before the workout to demo the form to us, and make tweeks as needed. I guess, this works pretty well, but I can see why going through the same program – like you have here would make sure no moves are lost…

I really wish the Crossfit community had more classes on this side of it. We have clients with injuries and health issues and only want to help them. I only wish I could find somewhere to learn what I needed to know to help them reach their optimum health….any suggestions would be great – I’m all ears