Survey Feedback Series
Out of 300 or so members there were 60 surveys filled out. I was happy with the amount of people that took time to give us some quality feedback and I think it represents a solid opinion of how our members feel.
The concern that I want to address today is that the gym is full of cliques, it is intimidating, and too competitive. I want to address this issue head on because I want people to feel comfortable here. All of the coaches here at CFH want to create an atmosphere where you feel at home.
-The gym is full of cliques. We have over 250 member at CFH and as a result, there are a lot of different groups of friends. We can not all be besties, share cocktails and sing kumbaya together. If you have been here over 6 months it is now YOUR job to introduce yourself to new people. Break down the “clique” barrier by switching up your partner on back squat days or saying hello to someone new in class. If you want to make new friends come to a community event we are holding or drop in for a different class. Everyone is friendly, you just have to say “Hey Friend”
HOW CFH WILL TRY TO IMPROVE THIS: Coach Blair is now our community manager. I will be working with her to plan all types of events for the gym. We have another guys night and ladies night coming up. (Ladies Night: April 17th/Guys Night: April 24th, more info coming soon) We will work on putting together skill clinics, social events, and huge techno dance parties that encourage people from the community to mingle! We have Matt and Eric working on a class that takes people outside of the gym, into the elements and promotes teamwork! #GETEXCITEDPEOPLE
-The gym is intimidating. I realize this can be because of the heavy lifting and screaming #screamingmakesyoustronger. I think our back gym people do a great job of respecting the class. They try to keep to themselves , NOT because they are pretentious assholes, but because they do not want to disturb the class. They are not working on a secret lift, following a secret program or leaving you out of a secret club they are just working on personal goals. If this intimidates you, I apologize. I want to make this a place for all fitness levels, including competitive exercise. At times this requires people to lift heavy things and walk on their hands. If you have a spot in the front of the gym, a bar and equipment, with coaches eyes on you….honestly, who cares what is going on in the back gym?
HOW CFH WILL TRY TO IMPROVE THIS: I do however want to take everyone’s opinion into consideration. In order to help this situation, I am hard at work to open up a new area in the storage area to give some of the “back gym people” a separate place to workout. But please remember, we are all here just trying to better ourselves. #onecommongoal If you are in the back working on power lifting, rowing for 30 minutes or taking the regular class….we are all working on the same thing…a six pack that people can see through a t shirt. I will work to get that back area of the gym opened up so people who want to lift have their own corner. We will do more ice breaker activities during warm ups, partner and team workouts, but I also want to put this on you. As I said above if you have been here for more then 6 months it is on you to make this place less intimidating. Introduce yourself to people, smile and give them a hug. “Hey Mike what are you doing in the back gym? Can I have a hug before class?” Yeah HUGS, why the hell not!
-The gym is too competitive. CFH or whatever gym you end up in will only be as competitive as YOU let it be. Please read that and take it to heart. Coaches are never demanding you do more weight, yelling at you after you are laying on the floor after a workout, or shaking their head in disappointment after a failed lift. We try our absolute hardest to foster a positive experience every single class! As coaches we do our best to be as positive and encouraging at all times, but still pushing you outside of your comfort zone. We do not settle for complacency, because it yields no results.
I will open up and speak from experience. Last year I prepped for the open worked hard and thought, maybe I have a chance (HA). I was scared for every workout that came out, did them all twice, until week three when I was shut down on the deadlift WOD. Which I did three times and still failed at miserably, it was bad. The gym for me became a place that was too competitive because I let it. I had this notion or idea that I should be great at competitive exercise because I tried pretty hard for a few years. I set a fairyland dream (not a goal) of making it back to regionals. When I started failing I got in my own head and I created a negative experience for myself. The only reason I am sharing this is to try and show that it was me…not the gym. Maybe you think that you should be beating the person next to you, or you should of had muscle ups last year. The reality is you can’t beat them and you do not have muscle ups. It is up to you as to what you do with that information. The coaching staff is here to help you achieve whatever you want…if you put in the work. Lets also take a slice of humble pie, but ultimately we are just here to improve our FITNESS. Be happy for the person who is excelling, don’t be a hater and let external events that are out of your control determine your experience.
Yes I realize WODify ranks people, I realize we track everything that we do (I will post more on this later). But it is up to you to do something positive with that data. Focus on you, improve and focus on your PRs. If chasing someone fuels you in a positive way then go for it. But do not let it become something that turns your experience into something ugly. Again we are all here to do one thing…improve our fitness! Make the change by being positive. “The warm up was too hard, I can’t get a muscle up, I hate squat cleans” This is a GYM not a SPA, it is supposed to be challenging, if it was easy we would not be making #GAINZ. Celebrate your progress and your achievements not what you can’t do yet. If you think things are too competitive try to get out of your own head and remember lets have FUN this is not supposed to be that serious.
WHEW that felt wayyy too heavy, but after some of the feedback we received, I wanted to put a few things out there. I hope you appreciate my open, honest opinion and effort to correct these issues. Remember my door is always open if you have any constructive criticism or feedback. NOW ON TO THE WOD!
**If you are retesting, be conscious of the class and noise with the cleans. Do not tape the whiteboard and remember retesting needs to be done by 7 pm due to OLY class in the back and CF in the front**
Strength WOD
2 Front Squats + 1 Push Jerk
Hit 6 sets of the above complex from the rack. Build up in load every set. Start heavy and finish heavy.
**Between each set do 15 hollow rocks**
WOD
21-15-9
Overhead Squat
Bar Facing Burpees
Fitness (95/65)
RX (115/75)
RX+ (135/95)
**12 min time cap**
This should be a sprint. Fast, hard and leave you on the ground.
