In 100 words:  “Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports.” ~ CrossFit Founder, Greg Glassman

CrossFit is a workout methodology based on constantly-varied high intensity movements that help with everyday life.  Why it works is because your body is constantly being challenged with varying load and time domains thereby keeping the effect of any given day’s workout at maximum. Best of all, you’ll never get bored!

CrossFit is not a cult. Cults tend to control the minds of their respective members and only allow the members to access the information that has been pre-approved by its elders, less their minds get soiled by the world. Almost everything that has been published by CrossFit HQ is public domain. That means that what we do has been tested, challenged, weighed, and measured a thousand times over. The information is out there and has been out there for decades. CrossFit did not invent high intensity functional movement training.

However, we tend to like what we do, A LOT! Just ask anyone that has been working out at a CrossFit box for a month or more about it. You’ll quickly discover they have much to say. They will tell you about how they have more energy, or about how much stronger they are, or about accomplishing something they never knew was possible for them. Pretty soon you’ll have to investigate on your own by stopping in for a FREE intro class.

Many franchised gyms (sometimes referred to as “globo-gyms”) operate with the business mindset of getting as many people to sign up as possible under a contract but don’t care if you ever come in.  You may get a tour of the gym, or a quick overview of the equipment with a trainer, but you’re on your own after that…unless you want the added cost of a personal trainer.  Without a personal trainer the rest of the staff aren’t there to ensure technique is good when the weight gets heavy or you get tired.

Within the CrossFit Grove City community, you are as accountable to us as we are to you!  We believe in earning your loyalty. That’s why we don’t charge initiation fees and offer the first class for FREE! If you haven’t come in in a week, we notice.  So will the members you’ve grown accustomed to working out with.  Expect a call or an email, or even a friendly call out on Facebook, if you haven’t been coming in!

You will always have a CrossFit coach in the room to instruct you in how to best perform each movement with the proper amount of loading relative to you as an individual athlete. The coaches will have their eyes on your movements, checking your form and intensity level throughout each and every class.

That is an option if it works within your budget, but you will end up spending much more and getting much less from it. The going rate of a one-hour personal training session in this community will cost between $20-$50 per session. Just to be fair, let’s imagine you have found a personal trainer willing to charge $30 per one-hour session on top of the gym membership that you are already paying. To benefit from having a trainer, he or she would hope to see you 3 times each week. That’s $270 each month plus the baseline membership cost!

You can become a member at CrossFit Grove City for about a third of that cost and attend as many classes as are available for the entirety of each month. THAT”S 20-24 SESSIONS WITH A TRAINER EACH MONTH PLUS OPEN GYM TIME!!! Also, you probably wouldn’t get the camaraderie, competitive push, and/or the support that you’ll feel working with others in a group setting.  If you’re finished first, you’re still expected to support everyone else that is still working.  So, when you’re done, you’re not really done!

Yes and no.  First, consider the source; who is telling you this and why? Let me be as clear as possible.  The safest place to express movement should be in the gym under the watchful eye of a qualified trainer where everything has been weighed and measured and performance spaces have been defined. The field of play is far more dangerous than any weightroom facility in that there are various unknowns about other players on the arena floor and the layout of the field itself. Consider for a moment the football player and what he must do to make a successful drive down field. There are 11 other players on the opposing team attempting to bring him down and, if he’s any bit of a real threat, knock him out of the game. There is no asking permission or alerting the other players that he is missing some range of motion in his right elbow. Even so, that bit of information wouldn’t save the player from a career ending chop block or tackle.

The bottom line is ANYTHING you do in life can injure you if you don’t do it correctly, or haven’t taken into consideration your level of fitness, flexibility or health. If you’re spending too much time on the couch right now, that’s hurting you, too! Runner’s get shin splints, tennis players get tennis elbows, strength trainers get strains, basketball players get sprained ankles, couch potatoes get obesity, high blood pressure and coronaries.  At CrossFit Grove City, we will instill technique BEFORE intensity, and proper technique with good intensity before increasing the load.  We will keep you safe by having a watchful eye on you during your entire training session.  By increasing your strength and flexibility, we will actually make it harder for you to get hurt!  CrossFit done properly, is both safe and potent. IT IS VITAL THAT YOU ALERT THE COACHES TO ANYTHING THAT MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE OR CAUSES YOU PAIN.

Admittedly, most of our functional movements and exercises aren’t ground-breaking or new.  However, keeping them under knowledgeable and watchful eyes-on coaching, mobility and nutrition advice is NEW.

If you’re working out at home, you risk bad technique and probably not pushing your strength potential. The video trainer cannot see your form in order to correct it.

At an ordinary bootcamp, they vary exercises, but gaining  real strength may be an issue because the load never increases, thereby never challenging your muscles to be able to lift larger loads.

Gyms, may give you all the great equipment, but can you drop it if it gets too heavy? Or have the ability to gauge your intensity?  Is the coaching affordable?  Is there enough equipment available and is laid out so that you can maintain intensity safely?  Is anyone talking to you about nutrition?  Simply stated:  our dose of exercise programming is the most potent out there.  Why do you have to wait to get in shape?

Your first class will most-likely feel overwhelming, but that’s why our coaches are there. You will be guided every step of the way as you learn the movements for each class and get to know others.  Each class begins with a guided full body warm-up and a bit of a “chalk talk” to help you understand everything that is written on the whiteboard. Then we’ll go through the technique of the movements in preparation of the day’s workouts and any extra mobility work that’s needed. You will be helped through properly assessing how much weight you should use for each movement and how to properly scale each movement to perform safely.

Once everything is weighed and measured, then the fun really begins. IT’S TIME TO SWEAT! Coaches will be on hand to ensure you are moving properly in line with the technique we just showed you so you remain SAFE.  After the workout, it’s time for high-fives, fist pounds, chest bumps, and congratulating your classmates on a job well done! Then we cool-down and stretch in awe of all that we accomplished in one hour.

One of my favorite quotes is this:  “If you think you can’t do something, you can’t.”  The person who told you CrossFit was too challenging for you might not be up for the challenge, but I’m guessing you’re reading this because perhaps you are. The answer to your question is a resounding “YES!”  One of the beauties of CrossFit is that it is infinitely scalable, which means that we can tailor any movement we ask our members to complete to meet your current level of fitness.   Every new member will talk to the coaches about his or her health history, current body issues, and short and long-term goals so that he can help you reach them.  Turns out that both Olympians and Grandmas can benefit from CrossFit, the only difference is the prescribed scale for the movements.

If you cannot perform a box jump, you will do a step-up onto a box. If you cannot perform a pull-up, you will do a variation or rowing or dumbbell curls. Basically, if you can’t run, you’ll walk until you can jog and then you’ll jog until you can run! And our coaching staff will be helping you along the way of your fitness journey.

It means we can adapt the work out to suit your, or anyone’s, level of fitness and ability. Scaled according to YOUR ability!

Yes, you can, but it’s important that you talk one-on one with the coach before class. Plan on arriving 10 minutes early if that’s the case or talk with us beforehand via phone or e-mail.

No, we encourage you to train intensely but also rest periodically to recover from the exertions as well.  There are several training options to choose from. After a few weeks, most of our members want to be here everyday, but that’s only reasonable for the elite athletes. Some members will choose to train Monday, Wednesday, and Friday plus an opengym on the weekend. Others might go all week taking only Wednesdays and the weekend off. The more advanced athletes will typically train 3 days in a row, take a day off, and train 2 more days before taking another break.

Taking rest days are a vital aspect of keeping you healthy and allowing you to push next time to new personal bests. Over-training is something we discourage because it does not help you achieve your fitness or health goals and increases the risk of injury.