I get asked all the time why we don’t advertise, or use discount services like Groupon. Below is a quote from a post recently written by my good friend and coach Craig Patterson of CrossFit Vancouver that gets the point across about why we are not the “cheap” CrossFit in town. He also touches on another point that many prospective clients ask: Mandatory On-Ramp.

CrossFit is inherently dangerous, and without proper coaching, and attention to good form, injuries are much more likely. To throw a new client into group classes without some personal attention because it looks cheaper to the client and gets them in the door should be a giant red flag.

Quality costs money. Period.

That equation also works the other way, as Craig alludes to below…

Everything in nature is a flow of energy; give energy and energy flows back, all is in balance. When you give energy and nothings comes back, something is bound to flow in another direction.

Think about this: If you were to pay me $1,000 an hour for me to train you, I would be working like a mother fucker to make sure you were taken care of. I would have your children seen to, meals cooked, hockey tickets, reso’s at the best restaurants, 3 minute Fran, 8% body fat, hand jobs, you name it, I will make sure I earn my g-boy an hour. I will become excellent and develop systems, people and strategies around getting you fit, keeping your business and you happy with my service and me. I would be awfully goddamn resourceful to see the energy of $1,000 flow back.

Now take a Groupon ad for $29.99 for 8 session of an intro to Crossfit. First you have to find space to book with 100 other cheap fucks like you, then when you see me I owe you precisely $3.75 worth of energy for your hour. The first go around I might give it the old college try, the next go around…….. Well, for $3.75 I’d throw a kettlebell in a field and tell you to have at it. Other bone head business killing moves include: 1st month free, free “onramp” sessions if you sign up for a year, immediate entry into classes and so on. These will all make a coach give a lowered level of training, resulting in a worse service, which hurts referrals, word of mouth decreases and the business flounders.

Read the entire post here…

We work hard to give you, our valued clients, the best level of training we can. To be the best coaches we can be requires constant learning, attending seminars and in some cases traveling out of country to train with experts. All of these things cost money.

Many of you have heard in my Eat Real Food seminars that crap food in = crap performance/health out. The same logic holds true in this case, and in many service based industries. Cheap in = cheap out.

Bottom line, you spend money on a gym membership and a trainer to get results. If you aren’t getting the results you desire, fire your trainer and get a new one. You will find however that the best results come from the best coaches, and the best coaches don’t come cheap.

Congratulations to Ben Anthony who has won December’s 1 FREE Personal Training (PT) Session. Look out fellow RAW CrossFitters because Ben may have the longest free standing handstand after this session!  Remember, you can only be a winner if you play the game. Don’t forget to fill out your ballot located at the front desk for your chance to win a PT session with the trainer of your choice. Our first winner of 2012 will be drawn on January 31st.

Looking to work off some of your freshman 15?

If you have been a previous member of RAW CrossFit, or you are a visiting CrossFitter, checkout our Student Holiday Membership.

HURRY!: If you sign-up before Dec 1st, you receive 20% off the 3 week membership. Price goes up in December, so don’t wait.

Click here to sign-up today!

**If you have had a membership in the past, please use the “login” option when signing up for this membership. ZenPlanner creates a temporary password for you when you sign-up as a member. If you have never used ZenPlanner to sign-in to your account before, please click on the “Forgot Your Password?” link to be sent your temporary password to the email that we have on file for you. Once you have logged in with this password you will be given the option to change it to something more personal.
If you forget which email you have on file with us, please call or send us an email and we will be more than happy to assist you.

Happy Holidays!