Ray Oldenburg talks about "The Third Place," in the book, "The Great Good Place." This concept is starting to gain in popularity. Oldenburg posits that most people 'live' the vast majority of their lives in one of three places: the Home (place #1,) the Workplace (#2,) and .... the third place.
This "Third Place" is necessary for creative interaction (hobbies or sport,) and typically features a high percentage of regulars, as well as access to food and drink (at least, according to Oldenburg.)
Starbucks has seized upon this idea: while Tim Horton's was posting their "No Loitering" signs, Starbucks was installing couches and free WiFi.
A year ago, I floated a topic on T-Nation message boards entitled, "What Can A Great Gym Do....That It Doesn't Yet?" I offered a free Catalyst Gym tshirt to the best idea. Some great stuff came forward, and I was extremely proud that we were already doing 90% of the good ideas. The tshirt went to a user named "sumabeast" for his idea of a "study lounge:" couches, tables, and some textbooks.
Would this be a great idea for a GloboGym? No way. Square footage that isn't driving revenue; a membership interested in burning calories, not reading. In fact, this doesn't fit the fast-food-fitness model of compartmentalization and "No Loitering" at all!
A great idea for CrossFit? Absolutely. Since many of us rent industrial space, our ceilings are very high. That leaves the potential for a small space over the bathrooms. A couple of dorm-room-style couches, some free coffee, and some texts laying around provides a heavily-fertilized seed bed for growing your CrossFit community.
At 10am every Saturday, 16 people crowd my doorway. They're on their way out of the gym, and they're getting their cards punched while they juggle their "outside clothes," signups for other groups, chatting about Paleo, commiserating about the WOD, debating Sunday's Hopper WOD...... The discussion is great. But what if they were sitting down for a half hour? These folks would never leave.
The only thing better than reading a story online is hearing it told in person. Me, I'm building a campfire.
