Would you move to a place that doesn’t have a CrossFit box nearby?

One thing I’ve learned about myself is that if I don’t have a good group of people to suffer along with during a workout, I’m likely to not try as hard (or go at all). Now that I’m pushing into my eighth year of doing CrossFit, having a badass box to call home is no longer simply a nice thing to have – it’s a mandatory part of my life.

Just to be honest about my priorities here, I looked into the CrossFit boxes in the Syracuse area way before any research on my new University, surrounding area, or whatever a public administration degree is (I’m still not certain).

Thank, god – it was nice to see that there was a CrossFit afterlife in Syracuse for me. Alright, it’s starting to look like I can move to this place! With a couple hits on my google search, I generally look at the websites of all the places, and have a glance at the social media presence at each. For those that know me, I’m pretty much limited to Facebook, and still haven’t picked up on this Instagram and snapchat thing. Hey, at least I’m not holding onto MySpace, right?

I was looking for an active community that gives me similar vibes to CrossFit Wiesbaden. Right off the bat, I really liked all the stuff that CrossFit Syracuse was putting out there. I also found a fun video from CrossFit Headquarters about a home-grown competition the gym runs every year concurrent with the CrossFit Open. I included a link to the video below.

Ellen and Dan Goldberg of CrossFit Syracuse wanted to find a way to make the Open fun and stress-free for their members. When they started doing the intramural Open, an in-house competition where athletes form teams with goofy names such as "Saved by the Barbell," participation increased.

To be fair, there wasn’t a single thing I saw at any of the CrossFit gyms in the area that would be a deal breaker for me, but to me there was already a clear frontrunner.

One of the things that’s really nice about Facebook pages and websites for CrossFit boxes, is that you can quickly get a feeling of their community and personality long before you ever step foot in the box. It’s a hell of a lot easier when you step into a box when you feel like you’ve already seen the space, feel like you know a bit about some of the coaches and their philosophy, and see some of the members having a great time.

Arriving here and stepping into the new box for the first time was a day of mixed feelings for me – I was stepping into a box that was not my own, I had yet to meet all the coaches and the community, and to be honest I did not know anyone, but I was still excited.

However, it also felt really nice knowing that for the first time in about five years, I would join a CrossFit community not as a coach or box owner, but as a member who simply wants to work out.

Their coaching style is a bit different from CrossFit Wiesbaden, but that gives me a great perspective on how some other successful boxes like to run their show. However, I still truly miss the CrossFit Wiesbaden community. As Alice would say, there’s no place like home.

Now in all seriousness, I may have to chat with this owner about the amount of chalk on the floor (but at least it’s not my mess to clean up)!

Have a great weekend everyone, work hard, and keep the damn chalk off the floor!

<3

Coach Alex