CrossFit NYC Varsity Program

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Allison Bojarski

One of the things we do best at CrossFit NYC is scheduling. By summer, we expect to be running over 250 WOD classes per week. This gives our members tremendous flexibility. Starting this spring, we will be expanding our schedule further to offer CrossFit classes to high school students.

These “Black Box Varsity” WOD’s will be closed to our adult members (primarily weekdays from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM). However, as these young people progress, they will likely be looking to take additional WOD’s outside of these times. With the permission of their instructors, those who have demonstrated sufficient maturity and competence will be allowed to take certain WOD’s during off-peak hours with a few select instructors (initially, Brian, Kyle, and Sully).

It is our intent to develop this program in a way that improves the possibilities for all of our members. We expect that the number of WOD’s that are restricted to adults only will not decrease. Rather we hope to soon be able to add high-school only WOD’s as well as some mixed WOD’s during hours that we currently do not have sufficient demand for classes (e.g., late afternoon and early evening on weekends).

In sum, we are announcing this to our membership, so that you are not surprised when you see some younger members around the gym. You will not find these “kids” crowding you out.

  • Sustainability?

    Are these students paying member fees @$200/mo? The gym already has major crowding and growth issues. Weekend and afternoon classes are pretty full. Jason’s new programing is amazing – but the growth is unsustainable. I’m all for helping kids out but things are getting out of hand, paying members and regular classes need to be the main focus – you still have a lot of work to do. We’ve put up with a lot of BS over the past 18 months and it keeps coming.

    • Hari Singh

      The current $199 per month rate gives our members access to 222 classes per week. We are planing on charging the “varsity” members $159 per month and giving them access to about 20 newly created varsity-only classes per week (weekdays between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM).

      One way of looking at the pricing is that current members pay about 90 cents per month for each of the 222 classes they have access to. The varsity members will initially pay about $8 per month for each of the 20 classes they will have access to. In time, if we give these members access to some of the off-peak classes, that ratio may drop to about $3 per month for them.

      Thus, it will be the varsity members who will help us sustain the $199 per month rate, and not the other way around.

      • really?

        It’s disappointing when the gym decides to open new classes to a different population when:

        -there’s no open gym….not even during the above mentioned non peak hours or during weekends where space isn’t such a big issue.

        -there are no oly lifting classes, mobility, or any other special classes/courses of any kind, that could potentially take place during these same non peak hours. I’m pretty sure that if such a class was offered on weekends even if it wasnt a weekly class (specifically early evenings, as the posts mentions) it would be full every single time.

        • Hari Singh

          Your argument seems to be that you are not getting enough value for your membership; that in this instance, value is a zero-sum game; and that If someone benefits, it must be because someone else loses. We do not see it this way. As explained in the post, we believe that this program will increase value for all our members (including many parents who have asked us to expand our membership, so that their children may CrossFit).

          We have made a decision not to run Open Gym hours, and we are not likely to change that. In many ways, we try to be receptive to our members, but on the Open Gym issue, we do not expect to reverse course. If doing your own thing is important to you, you are not going to be happy here, whether or not we move forward with the varsity program.

          Within the past year, we offered special mobility classes two evenings per week for several months, and attendance averaged fewer than four people per class.

          • http://www.facebook.com/leienming Andrew Louie

            I actually appreciate this because I dislike mobility work and would never go to a class that was just mobility. OTOH, having to do mobility as a buy in for the WOD is a small price to pay and It actually does benefit me! Squats have improved and I can almost kneel upright in a couch stretch.

  • Lauren Klingsberg

    That’s great–I’m very excited about my high-school-age child being able to participate. However, his regular school dismissal time is 4:45; so WODs at 2-4 would not be a possibility. Other schools dismiss earlier, but I don’t think anyone’s out of school by 2.

    • http://www.joshuanewman.com Joshua Newman

      Great point. Obviously, none of of the coaches or owners are high school students, so we’re still just figuring out what timing, programming, etc., best fits high school students’ needs. Feedback from parents and students to that end is great.

      • Phoenix

        Any time after 4 is running into the peak after work WODs, which are consistently booked to capacity.

        I am a little concerned about this reducing class times available to me as my schedule is limited. So far things have been wonderful and I have been able to attend regularly with my work and school schedule. However with the new classes for high schoolers, and allowing more advanced high schoolers into the beginner WODs I attend, I am very concerned that this will lead to me not being able to take classes at the black box.

      • joncoffey

        I think if “Spring” = May and school is out for the summer, it’s probably not an issue, but that’s a pretty short term window. I haven’t been a high schooler for a while now, but back then I had the privilege of having a free period at the end of the day, so I was out at 2. That was also halfway across the country, so what do I know?

      • Rex Marquez

        I am a 2nd year college student at a college upstate. I have been doing CrossFit for at least a year now but I wish I started doing it in my high school years. If you open up classes for high school students, the earliest would be 4:30/5:30 because they also need to get there. In my opinion, I was thinking of having special packages such as the “Weekend CrossFitter” so students and maybe others with busy lives can workout every weekend.

  • Minimum Effective Dose Surgeon

    Maybe we could use some of the kids to help clean up the gym? The matts are filthy and the EQ is loaded with germs ( I see ZERO cleaning protocols practiced)….ALSO the mens bathroom garbage gets emptied about as often as I can do an RX’d WOD ( which is never) …Okay so if you are expanding classes to kids , how bout a little more attention to the 1200 plus members , clean the place up, get more rowers , abmats , bars, and KBs and carry on…. If you think kids in the gym, or no OPEN gym is bad….JUST wait till you pass STAPH or MRSA around the Gym… I am happy to lay out a simple protocol to follow to help keep the gym sanitary…

    • Hari Singh

      In addition to a full-time custodian who I know does a full-time job, we have hired a separate cleaning crew at both locations. The mats are cleaned nightly.
      I agree that we need to be emptying the garbage in the bathrooms more frequently.

      We purchase equipment as needed on a monthly basis. Another order is arriving tomorrow.

  • Censorship?

    Just had my post pulled….Interesting….

    • Hari Singh

      Ironic that you’re censoring your own name. I am doubtful that your post was pulled, unless it was profane or gratuitously insulting, but it’s possible. Try again.

    • sean

      I’ve had comments not go through quite often. I think if you leave the page open too long (perhaps while typing something) Disqus’s session becomes inactive. The post looks like it goes through on the client side (your browser) but might not actually hit the server and save correctly. I usually have to verify with another browser (or in chrome’s incognito mode) to make sure that it actually went through.

  • http://www.joshuanewman.com Joshua Newman

    A small request:

    We don’t censor posts, and we do our best to respond to them, as we really do appreciate constructive criticism. But a lot of conversations about how to make the gym better are easier and more productive by email, phone or in person than by heated comment exchange. It’s often particularly helpful for us to be able to follow up for more info, or to further discuss suggested ideas with the people suggesting them.

    Obviously, that’s not possible with anonymous comments. So, if you have something useful to say, please at least consider posting under your real name. If you’d prefer to stay out of the spotlight, you’re also more than welcome to email us – I’m josh@crossfitnyc.com. We’re fast to reply, hard to offend, and happy to hold your comments in confidence.

  • David

    I have often wondered why there are no sanitary products, i.e. hand sanitizers, stay cleaners, etc., at 28th street for those of us who would like to practice some extra cleanliness. Also, the soap “dispenser”in the men’s bathroom is disgusting. Is it really that difficult to remedy?

    • http://www.joshuanewman.com Joshua Newman

      Excellent idea. We had hand sanitizers previously at 26th St mounted around the sides of the gym, though members kept kicking them off the walls in handstand pushups. Will see if we can find safer locations at 28th.

  • David

    Sorry, spray cleaners.

  • Seth G.

    Post wasnt pulled… spoke to soon…sorry abt that….

  • concerned

    I will have to say that I am surprised that you guys have made all these plans and didn’t realize that most high school students are not available at 2 pm. I have no problem with high schoolers, but I am not sure that you guys have the space to accomodate separate classes for them unless those classes can take place prior to 4 pm during the week (which seems problematic for most high schoolers). I went to high school in NYC and classes let out at 3:15 for me and with sports and after school activities, I would never have been available before 4 pm. Perhaps times have changed.

  • No Helicopters

    I know this seems like a logical extension of your client base. But if this is not strictly supervised, you will have a disaster on your hands. Here are my concerns:

    No matter how “mature” and “competent” these students may appear, they are still just that — High School students. I for one would prefer NOT to work out with kids, much less share a locker room with them. I would strongly encourage you to enforce a strict age minimum (18? 19? whatever your insurance carrier suggests) for any participation in a Black Box WOD.

    Our Boxes have a very porous check in process. How will you make sure they are not showing up at the gym outside of the 2-4pm window? How will you make sure that the 4pm cut-off doesn’t start to bleed to 430 or 5pm, when the adults start to arrive? Will they be allowed into the facilities on the weekends? Or with personal trainers? I sure hope not.

    Lastly, elite high school athletes in Manhattan tend to come with overly involved and entitled parents. Are we going to have to deal with them too?

    I really like working out at this Box but if you turn into a training facility for kids that are looking for athletic scholarships, I am cancelling my membership.

    Thanks.

    • Phoenix

      To add on to the points raised in this comment, I would also like to request proper lockers for storage of personal items.

  • Wait, what?

    That’s it… I’m dropping weight from now on ;)

  • Jim S

    Huh. Haters out in force. Well, for what it’s worth, here’s my $.02. I wish there had been someone pointing me at crossfit or options like it when i was a kid. When I joined the Navy I was 5’11″ and weighed 125lbs. I could have used the strength training for sure. Meanwhile back here in 2013 teenage obesity is at epidemic levels and Crossfit seems like an awesome alternative to couch surfing. Varsity Program FTW.

    • Katie R

      I agree, and welcome High Schoolers to our box. Over-crowding isn’t a reason to deny teenagers a healthy, confidence-building alternative after school. Great idea NYC.

      • http://www.facebook.com/amanda.quiroga Amanda Quiroga

        wish there was a crossfit kids class 1x a week!

  • Jason W

    Hell. Yeah. Whoever originated this idea, thank you! I am the person I am today largely due to the sport and fitness experiences I had as a teenager. Not having younger members is something that I’ve felt was a huge disservice to our new york city crossfit community. For those who are dreading this change, take inventory for a moment of all the things you’ve learned and experienced in crossfit. Now, imagine if you had benefit of those learnings ten, twenty, even thirty years earlier–not that crossfit existed back then, but go with it. What I’m getting at is that this has the potential to shape lives, and you can embrace that and avail yourself of the opportunity to befriend, mentor and teach these new young members, or you can shut the door and judge them before even knowing their names. I hope you do the former.