Motor City CrossFit

For a long time, we didn’t post rates online because some people were seeing “Whoa!!!, that much per month for a gym? I can pay $9.99 at Pump Fitness down the street!!!” (which you can by the way last time we checked… and they have a cafè too, with a smoothie machine!!) Here’s the low-down… Motor City CrossFit rates vary from $100/month to $150/month, depending how many classes you want to take ($100 is 2/week, $150 is unlimited). Note: If you are a firefighter, policeman, or in the military, you qualify for the Sheep Dog discount. (See “What is a Sheep Dog?”)

What people weren’t understanding was that we offer two completely different products. Globo Gyms offer the “come in and use our machines and some free weights” (and the cafè…), we offer “We’ll teach and coach you through everything you do, and provide an ultra-motivating group to work out with”. Coming from my (Matt’s) perspective being an owner and writing this, I rarely get to work out with the group because I’m the one running the classes, and so I get very little coaching (pretty much only when one of the other owners or trainers happens to be there at the same time I’m working out), and it is a night and day difference when I can actually train with the group.

We’ve go no long term commitments, no “pay up front for 86 years and receive a 35% discount!!!” schemes, none of that. We don’t want you to pay and not show up. We make money when you get the results you want, your friends say “Dang, what have you been doing?”, and then your friends join along side you.

Here’s what we do to get started:

1) First, there’s a one-time $50 membership, this goes into the equipment fund, so that as we grow, you’re not going to be playing “Rock Paper Scissors” to see who gets the last bar when there’s a big group.

2) Second, *everyone* goes through a free assessment to get an idea of where they’re starting from, and introduce them into CrossFit. When we say *everyone* we mean *everyone*. If you’re an absolute athletic rock star, world champion MMA fighter, veteran Navy SEAL, or other “probably an absolute stud” category, you will still be doing this assessment, and almost definitely the foundations class (see #3 below). Trust us when we say this, no matter what you’ve already done, unless you’ve been doing CrossFit already, you need to ramp up to CrossFit, and that’s what this class and the foundations are for.

3) Third, everyone goes through three foundations classes (these are $100 total). We go over all the basic movements we use here at Motor City CrossFit, and do a workout at the end of each session. This has the effect of ramping you up into CrossFit (again, we do this with everyone).

Basically, we do these classes so that everyone has a basic idea of the movements, and the class isn’t sitting idle while we teach a movement to a new guy for 20 minutes. That would not be very fair to you guys.

Another note: If you’ve already been doing CrossFit on your own, we’re pretty confident that you’ll benefit a ton going through the assessment and foundations. Just about every CrossFitter out there thinks they have great technique. But, myself (Matt) as an example, after nearly three years of CrossFit, two of those years with other trainers present, and with what’s been called “great technique”, I still get corrected on technique on a regular basis.

After that its group classes time. $100/month for 2 classes/week, $135 for 3, and $150 for unlimited. (remember from above, Sheep Dogs get a discount).

If you want to read more of our “getting rather lengthy” article about value in training, keep reading, otherwise, the meat of the info about our rates is above.

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Another way to look at it is:  Invest in your health now and have us train you right, or spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on your “health” when you’re “old” (this includes bad knees, backs, neck, shoulders, etc when you’re “old”, like 30, sometimes younger, I know a 30-ish year old that just got knee replacement stemming from health problems).

We don’t operate like a normal “big box” globo gym.  The typical gym paradigm is designed to require as little labor as possible.  Think about it, when you walk into an {insert name of any gym here}, you see machines, and a “free weight area”.  The goal of the gym owner is to spend enough money up front that he only has to hire a high school kid to work the desk, another to operate the café, and another to keep the place clean.  Trainers are an afterthought, and can usually add benefit to everyone involved (if they’re a good trainer, and if you can afford it).  The conventional gym’s best customer is the one who prepays for a full year (or better yet, 3 year) membership, comes for a month, and never shows up again.  This, coupled with their completely hands-off approach to your training, allows big box gyms to charge people a quarter, for something that should cost a dollar, and give them a dime’s worth of value.

Motor City CrossFit on the other hand needs very little equipment, but requires highly skilled trainers who provide exceptional training.  It just so happens that ten thousand dollar machines aren’t very useful in increasing fitness, or in preparing you for every day life.  Heck, our equipment can almost be matched in your own garage for about $1000 (for one person training at a time).  Ah, but that other part, the core of what we do, the training; that’s where the real value comes in.  Every single person has eyes on them throughout the workout, their technique is constantly being checked, their weights or reps are recommended based on their ability to get them the most benefit out of each workout.

Basically, there’s a lot of places out there less expensive than us (and some more expensive), but none provide the value you’ll get at a good CrossFit affiliate.  Heck, we don’t even let someone work out with our group classes until they have a basic understanding of the movements.  We can’t have a group of 12 people sitting around half the class because the trainer is working with a new guy, that’s why we have our foundations classes for new clients.

Here’s how it works:  Your first session is free.  At this session, we will do an initial assessment of your ability and plan out your next three foundations courses.  After that, we move you into our group classes at reduced weights and reps for a period of time (we’d do this with everyone, give us Arnold, Lance Armstong, or Grandma Mildred, and they’re all going to be working their way up into the group).  The only exception to this is veteran CrossFitters, if you are, you know who you are.

BUT, we’ll caution you now, 95% of people who’ve been doing CrossFit on their own have glaring weaknesses in their form that they’d benefit greatly from getting corrected.  So regardless, very few people will be excepted from going through the foundations classes.

Advanced crossfitters – You’ve been doing Crossfit for a long time, consistently, and can prove it. You may be exempted from the introductory classes at the discretion of the instructor. There will be a test on both your technique in a number of movements, as well as your physical conditioning. If you have not consistently done the WOD at a minimum of three times per week consistently for the last few months, for your own safety, don’t attempt this option; if you’ve taken a month off, this is not the option for you. There will be very few people who fit into this option.

Note: This option is seriously only for people who are experienced Crossfitters who have RECENTLY been doing the Crossfit WOD (by consistently we mean for the last half year or longer, and aren’t “coming off a break”). I don’t care if you’re a veteran Navy SEAL, if you haven’t done Crossfit, you WILL physically harm yourself attempting this option. There have been multiple individuals (in particular, one special operations member, and one former Army Ranger and SWAT team member) who were in great shape, attempted to jump right into full-out Crossfit, and had a multi-day visit to the hospital and near brush with death due to Rhabdomyolysis (another article is linked here). At the first link, pay close attention to Comment #3 by one Rhabdomyolysis victim, Jorge, who said “I had been Crossfitting before and took a long break… was scoring high on the Army APFT, and got back into Crossfitting too fast and too hard”.

This isn’t to scare you, but to warn you that you MUST properly acclimate yourself to Crossfit training. That is exactly what options 1 and 2 are for. Crossfit is the most effective fitness program on the planet, you must approach it correctly and with respect if you want to reap its benefits.

The long and short of it: Give us a call, schedule your free intro session, and see if CrossFit is for you.

Note: If you are a firefighter, policeman, or in the military, you qualify for the Sheep Dog discount.  What is a Sheep Dog?