People who walk into a CrossFit box for the first time will notice that it looks nothing like your typical gym. Your standard CrossFit gym is a wide open space which might have previously been occupied as a warehouse or garage. Squat racks and pull up bars are bolted to the floors and walls and climbing ropes hang from the ceiling. In the nicer months, open garage doors let in sunshine and (hopefully) a breeze.
What you won’t see in a CrossFit box are mirrors. CrossFit Director of Education and Training, Nicole Carroll, said it best;
“In our gyms we don’t face mirrors, we face each other. We don’t celebrate aesthetics and swagger, but rather showing up and humbly putting in the work. We share the challenge of doing hard things because we know it makes us better humans in every way, on every level.”
Now, here’s what else you’ll feel and see when you walk into our doors:
- CrossFit is about what your body can do, not what it looks like
- We work to be fit, not look fit
- CrossFit Fargo’s membership is over 65% women
- The sport of CrossFit treats men and women the same. Same competition floors, same media coverage, same prizes. Equal work, equal reward, equal pay.
- CrossFit is one of the few places that truly celebrates gender equality and inclusivity
- Men and women learn to track their objective fitness, not sex symbol status
- People of all ages, ethnicities, and career backgrounds come together to achieve the same basic goal: to become more functionally fit.
- Men and women do the same exercises; there aren’t any Female or Male WODs, they are all the same.
- Men and women come to respect and relate with each other through camaraderie. Respect virtuosity in movement, effort put forth, and running that last 400m with a struggling athlete.
- CrossFit challenges the societal values of beauty. You’ll find the CrossFit community to be inclusive to all shapes and sizes, because this gym is inclined to embrace a balanced lifestyle and healthy body over a limited standard of beauty.
