Loving Thy Neighbour, by Rich Vos

Rich Vos reminds us of something important. With all this talk about intra-CrossFit competition, it's important to remember that two (or more) CrossFit boxes in the same area can have a synergistic effect.....

Three athletes of CrossFit Covington compete in a CrossFit Total Party at CrossFit Hustle

Allow me to gush. I absolutely love my competition! Technically, CrossFit Covington is my business rival. They’re 10 minutes away and close enough to a big city to draw potential athletes. But we see it a different way (much to the surprise to bankers and people with an MBA).

We’ve been working together for the last five months to promote CrossFit to the surrounding areas and grow each other’s box. In just that short time, here are things we’ve done to grow our communities:

• We took competed together in the Queen City Sectionals, a self-named version of the Reebok CrossFit Games Open.

• We challenged each other to a facebook race to 500 “likes” with a 1,000 burpee penalty to the loser.

• We lend each other equipment for events.

• We are hosting Fight Gone Bad 6 at one location because the other’s is too small.

• We promote and attend events at the other’s gym.

• We suggest potential athletes become members of the other’s gym due to budget, location or training needs.

Yeah, you read the last one right. With the different types of training and costs, we actually suggest people train at a competing gym.

What’s great about the CrossFit HQ business model is that it gives each gym the liberty to price, train, program and advertise how it likes. Because CrossFit Hustle and CrossFit Covington are so different, we can connect in a way that benefits us both.

There’s very little overhead (relatively speaking) for CrossFit gyms, which means we don’t need the entire city knocking our doors down for training. We need anywhere between 30 and 75 athletes to pay the bills. The more the better, but keeping to yourself won’t help as much as engaging with other affiliates.

If Covington picks up an athlete, that’s great! They’ll tell all their friends about their training and perhaps one lives closer to Hustle or has different training needs that make my gym more attractive.

If you’re a gym with a neighboring CrossFit, don’t be shy! Connect with them and find ways to promote the brand that will benefit you in the long-run. And, hell, it’s more fun when you have more CrossFitters in competitions.