Fitness Clubs
Reebok Crossfit Liberty Village
Reebok Crossfit Liberty Village has been providing crossfit training to the area for just six weeks when I stroll in, hopped up on Red Bull and ready to take on whatever owner and trainer Jordan Symonds could throw at me. How wrong I was: crossfit broke my spirit (and re-built it) in record time.
I didn't know quite what to expect from crossfit, a concentrated workout that first started gaining steam a decade ago by combining high-intensity cardio, aerobics, as well as strength and weight training. The workouts are fully scaleable: I'm apparently unable to complete even a single pull-up, so resistance bands are brought in to support my weight while still ensuring I'm stressing the same muscles. Through use of sandbags, weighted bars, ropes, and other somewhat intimidating tools, you're promised a more efficient workout in under 20 minutes than a treadmill could ever hope to deliver in an hour. Symonds recites an almost mathematical formula: "increasing power output over time will equal results."
Symonds has worked for 6 years in the fitness industry, and is fully certified in every crossfit division from olympic lift to gymnastics. Along with partners Matt LeFave and Bryan Marshall, Symonds was already planning to open in Liberty Village when they were approached to be the only Reebok-branded crossfit gym in Toronto. The gym can accommodate hour-long crossfit classes of up to 14 participants and offers foundational courses and free 1-on-1 consultations and baseline workouts, as well as 1-on-1 coaching and olympic lifting. Monthly memberships are divided by visits per week--twice ($150), thrice ($195) or unlimited ($250)--or as a flexible 10-pack ($185). The weekly schedule can be found here.
The trainers wear Reebok-branded crossfit outfits, while the gym sells take-home crossfit equipment and has 2 washrooms that also serve as showers and change rooms. Symonds tells me there's no room for bad attitudes at his gym, and his goal is to foster a sense of community while helping athletes attain personal bests. Each crossfit class begins with a 5-10 minute dynamic warm-up--ours includes crab walks and lunges, classic leftovers from high school gym class-- and is followed by a 15-25 minute strength and skill component, which tests balance, strength and fitness. A whiteboard holds the workout of the day, which is timed, and each participant notes their performance, with an "Rx-ed" indicating that the workout was completed "as prescribed."
My class of four women enters cheerful, becomes mostly bedraggled within minutes, and then shortly after completing the workout, passes through to a wearily blissful state. Our prescribed workout is named a "Running Fran" and entails 21 thrusters and chin-ups, then 15, then 9, each set interrupted by an outdoor 400m run. Crossfit workouts are somewhat glibly named after hurricanes, and we're told the Fran is notorious for its difficulty. The thrusters begin with a squat leading into an overhead lift with a weighted bar. We all vie for the bare 15lb, but are good-naturedly chastised that the recommended weight for women is 65 lb. Who are these women, I wonder.
Mark my words: crossfit is hard, physically and emotionally. Even as a former tennis player, I've never once emitted animal sounds during a workout, and while I wouldn't call myself the pinnacle of fitness, I rarely come up against something that I simply cannot do. Confronted with 10 more reps of pull-ups, long after my arms are the approximate consistency of noodles, I grunt, growl, and barely stifle a hiss. The soundtrack of Eminem and Evanescence ends up being oddly motivational, if only to stoke my anger. Half-way during my second 400m run, I slow to a walk, thinking I'd catch my breath while away from Symonds' watchful gaze. Unfortunately, nearby construction workers take over the panopticon: "Keep running," a man calls out, "you're in last place."
"Second-last," I correct him, with more than a touch of vitriol, but pick up the pace.
I was warned by another participant that crossfit becomes addictive and the endorphin rush is well-beyond anything I've experienced dumbly plugging away on a machine. I finish third with a time of 16:36 and as I record it on the white-board, that sense of competition swells in me. I want to try again, my mind having already cushioned the lung-crushing effort I'd experienced just moments ago. Then, I remember Symonds' words to me when I attempted to flee the pull-up station after a particularly lacklustre attempt: "Was that 21," he asked slyly, "or was that 20.5?"
Well played, Symonds. Well played.
Photos by Brian Morton
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If you choose to charge your clients a whopping $150/month then DON'T CANCEL CLASSES just to host "celebrities" or "private training". If you must, then maybe you should reconsider lowering your fees. (In the fitness industry, clients who cxl on their trainers are still expected to pay for the missed session. So if the coaches cxl on their clients...)
Also, you've been open only 4 months now so please please PLEASE do not cut your paying clients short by giving half-ass coaching sessions and continually "capping" workouts. If you continually have to "cap" workouts, then maybe you should also consider the level of difficulty in your daily workouts.
This is a wonderful gym in a thriving community. You started off on such a high note, don't start slipping now...
i worked out at goodlife with a personal trainer.
i needed a personal trainer. unlike Brian and ccm, i don't have the discipline to really keep at it unless there is an investment (or a penalty perhaps).
in any event i have moved to RLVCF from good life and find it well worth the investment. a good group of participants with some great coaches.
it works well. give it a try.
$150/month for only 2 classes a month and $240/month for unlimited. Most Crossfit gyms that i have attended are about $140-160/month for unlimited classes.
Just food for thought.
Cheers people!
If these guys put half the time into keeping things fresh as they do in their social media efforts, I might cough up the ridiculous $250 per month. I tried it, but don't see the value, Goodlife at $36 a month is a deal.
Once I heal up it will be time to move on to a regular gym, with regular prices and real personal trainers that care about the safety of their members.
Encouragement is there to motivate, not to force you to do anything that is hurting you or causing injury. The weight was probably too heavy for you, and that was a choice that you made. Scaling workouts is highly encouraged at RCFLV because none of the trainers want to see someone get injured. Sorry to hear that you injured yourself, but take responsibility for your actions and don't blame others for your ego.
20 people in that one class represent a $5000.00 monthly paycheque for these guys. I know that Reebok must demand a significant portion for its brand, the turnkey operation (who is doing all the thinking for these juice monkeys anyway? Why start a real business when you can slap on a recognized corporate logo, pay franchise fees, and be told how to run a business? You don't even have to graduate from Western, just ask dad for a loan!). But they should realize that their remaining clients that are willing to give Reebok $250 a month for its brand should be protected! Ask yourself, how many suckers are out there anyway? A non-renewable resource I say!
When I hurt my shoulder I was (Encouraged as you put it) to keep on going, rather than resting and maybe consulting a doctor. Lara you say take responsibility for your actions and don't blame others for your ego; well it seems like you people at Reebok Crossfit Liberty Village are not taking any responsibility for you actions and are now blaming your members for your lack of education in fitness and lack of compassion for people in general.
Shame on you Reebok Crossfit Liberty Village, shame on you!
http://www.thedreamlounge.net/crossfit-injury/
http://gawker.com/5928989/
http://www.endofthreefitness.com/is-crossfit-injury-ridden/
http://www.crudefitness.com/training/how-crossfit-forges-elite-failure/
2) If you talk like a gym douche, you probably are. Your ripped abs and perfect gluts will be masked by the stupidity that pours from your mouth. Think about this when you comment.
3) If you feel it costs too much, go price some real estate in Liberty Village. Its brutal.
4) You can get the same results through other forms of "Cross" training. Join a climbing gym. Join a running club. Join a cycling club. Join a rowing club. Take yoga lessons. Go to chapters and buy books on nutrition, then READ them. Sign up for a boot-camp session. Enrol in a martial arts program. All of this you can do for the price of a year at RBCF.
5) Excuses don't burn fat and tone muscle. Period.
Thanks Again
A friend doing crossfit recommended I join to get back to form and back to racing. I have to say some of the attitudes and comments have really turned me off. I am not worried about the cost as I recognize I need a coach to get me through the hurdle and re-create the hard core environment I was used to. Unfortunately, to see people dissing new attendees really made me question call to inquire about a membership. You know, I used to kick ass and I was looking for a place that was tough but safe to get a once dedicated athlete back into shape and help me get over the self confidence hit I have taken falling out of racing form.
It is interesting, in all my races we had rules that you must help a racer in trouble or you were disqualified for life as ignoring a racer in trouble could mean life or death in Northern Canada. This created a great community of hard core and new racers all working towards a common goal of racing, winning, improving, and connecting. I don't get this feeling from the comments.
Perhaps I am wrong and someone else can convince me that these comments are the exception and not the cultural attitude.
Like it says Reebok Crossfit is the sport of fitness and it has arrived. I am a huge fan and believer yo.
I think the culture of competition of us at RCFLV helps us become better at being us! The culture is eat or be eaten! And i love it
LMFAO
You don't know hardcore like crossfit hardcore!!!
If your in my way when i on fire doing box jumps, damn straight I will step on your face to get ahead of you! I just hope I have my cleats on when I do it!
Go back to paddling your canoe and stay the f otta my gym, we don't need no more noobs at RCFLV - classes are to full already!
Like they said Goodlife down the street, do that for a few years b4 u ready to challenge us
And we never paddled anything, ever! Ha ha
Goodlife Clare monde, all the way until you grow some ballz!!!
Thanks all
The owners are simultaneously misguided and über arrogant (as a previous poster eluded, let's call it Western U entitlement). Both owners, N&J, could have used a couple years of training at Goodlife, and if they had, I wish they had picked up a bit more humility and compassion along the way.
As a first hand witness, I can see why the reported injuries are common, and why the cutthroat culture has become rampant. Not sure what Reebok has in mind, but I hope this isn't it.
I am no longer a member, and I don't see myself going back. I don't like the culture, and I don't think a person there would even glance back at a racer in trouble, despite the polished and manicured promotional videos the website portrays. Incredibly (pricey) glossy media, note the self aggrandizing glamour shots of the owners, circa my girlfriend grades 9 thru 10...really? You paid for those? You're hot)
In my opinion, this place would justify $150 a month if it shed the gloss, attitude and arrogance. Unlikely knowing the owners' need for promotion at the expense of paying members.