Don't Buy Ads: Grow Your CrossFit Box

Why Write A Book?

In 2008, I combined my philosophy that I learn BEST when I paraphrase and teach with the new knowledge that I was gaining in business. When I started posting on DontBuyAds, I was telling myself stories. I was writing because I love writing, and because I didn't want to forget any of this stuff.

When we started studying psychology, behavioural anthropology, and neurology for Ignite, the applications to the business world were immediately apparent. Our brains are not those of our ancestors; our thoughts are not those of our parents. Our business is not the gym business of the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s...or even the modern-day "low-price lifetime membership" model of today.

Nearly 400 posts later, I started worrying about forgetting stuff. Affiliate owners and coaches were emailing questions about problems I'd encountered years before, and I wanted to send them the best answer I could provide. I also wanted to arrange the content from this blog, and many other things I've learned, into a more cohesive process. 

This book is the sum of 7 years of experience owning a gym, 9 years' experience coaching before owning a gym, hundreds of calls with other gym owners, big mistakes, and big victories. There's a lot of research, and many stories. 

I'm a member of the CrossFit Media Team, a position that's been incredibly rewarding. However, this book does NOT reflect the opinions of HQ, and though some on the Media Team will read it, they weren't asked to edit the book because the act would constitute a blessing they won't want to give, in the name of objectivity. 

Cover design by the magnificent Clay Weldon of 321GoProject.com, with whom I'm lucky to share the joy of helping new and existing Affiliates make their businesses better every day.

Enjoy. I sure do.

(click the book to buy it.)

PepsoDent and Coloured Bumpers

If you own a CrossFit Box or garage gym, you own bumper plates. They're a necessity. Aren't they?

For decades, folks have been doing OLY lifts with steel plates. They catch the clean, and then lower the weight with a little 'clink!' instead of dropping the bar. If they miss, they miss...but they don't drop the bar. You can make a case for bumper plates being safer, but is that the real reason we use them?

Bumper plates save bars, too. That's why gym owners like them. But do your members really care about your bars? After all, you're a millionaire business owner...why can't you take the value of one monthly membership and just buy a new bar? Sarcasm, of course...but many of your members don't know the answer.

The best feature of bumper plates is that they give clients a reward: after 21 thrusters, they can drop the bar. It looks great, adds excitement, and allows your clients to act out a dramatic sport ideal. Volleyball players get to spike the ball; baseball players can throw the ball into the crowd. We get to bail out of snatches.

This is important, because this REWARD is a critical part of the habit-building process. While bumper plates aren't 100% necessary for CrossFit, they do provide an opportunity for a benefit that ONLY they can provide.

Consider these:

A minty, "clean" feeling in your mouth has nothing to do with how toothpaste works (it would work even without the mint extracts and foamers. Both are actually aggravating your gums; that's what gives you the 'cool' sensation.) However, after you've established a tooth-brushing habit as a child, you won't feel finished until you receive that 'reward' sensation of cool mint.

Before toothpaste was popular, PepsoDent went from a near-bankrupt also-ran to dominating over 90% of the tooth-cleaning market by focusing on the reward rather than the benefits. Heck, less than half of the population brushed their teeth at all before PepsoDent helped build the habit.

Shampoo and dishwashing soap are the same, chemically-speaking. The difference is the perfume, colour, and frothing agents. The suds are the reward. Some shampoos (mostly anti-dandruff) employ different skin irritants like mint to give you the 'scrubbed' feeling, and most of us don't feel clean until after we've rinsed away a good lathering.

Most dry dog food is extremely similar to cereal. Missing are the human-friendly flavourings (though some now add artificial flavours like meat and fish.) What's stopping humans from eating them? The bone shape, the brand name, the dog pictures. In one famous study on conditioning, a professor handed out a bowl full of snacks (from which he also ate) for the length of one lecture. Students ate them w ithout a hitch. Afterward, he revealed they were dog treats. Some students vomited. This is the same effect applied in the opposite direction: a cognitive 'penalty' instead of a reward.

For more on these, read this excerpt from The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

For this reason, I prefer coloured bumper plates. Black bumpers are great, and provide many fantastic 'reward' responses to help build habits in your members. Coloured plates make people feel like they're Pyrros Dimas.

Habit

Anne was still at her desk long after 6pm. The others had gone home, but she was still finishing off the mountain of paperwork that just wouldn't shrink. Finally nearing the end, she felt a bit self-conscious when her boss came over to her workstation, but didn't want to stop. She was on a roll, and thought, "If I stop now, I may not finish at all." 

"How you doing, Anne? Looks like you're moving really fast!" her boss said. She acknowledged him, but kept on working. 

"This is the first time you've done this much work, and you're absolutely killing it. Just keep going. You're doing great, Anne!" He gave her a little punch on the shoulder.

A minute later, spurred by his encouragement, she was done. She stood to grab her jacket, and saw him standing behind her, watching. He clapped his hands together loudly. "Awesome! You did it!" She felt a wave of relief wash over her, and though she just wanted to go home and suffer in silence, she let him put an arm around her shoulders and give her a squeeze. "That was amazing. I'm proud of you! Maybe the best you've ever DONE!" 

Luke wasn't having a great day. He'd been excited all morning: being promoted from stocking the food shelves to Electronics was a big deal, but as his shift neared, he started to become nervous. Maybe he wasn't READY for the heavier boxes, or the challenging setups he'd have to figure out on his own. Maybe his boss had given him the promotion because he couldn't find anyone else. Everyone else had already moved onward and upward, and Luke was trailing behind, still doing the same job as the new hires.

When the time came for work, Luke realized he hadn't eaten for hours. He was hungry. His pants didn't match his blue vest very well, and others were sure to notice. He was short, and wasn't sure he could lift the heavier pieces high enough to reach the shelves. He didn't really know anyone in Electronics, so he put his head down and started to bumble through; one box on another, slide the cart, start from the bottom again. He had a system down...but the boxes were getting heavier, and the shelves higher to reach.

At the end of his last row, Luke looked up to see his final target: a shelf, high above his head, on which he'd have to shove the final, expensive box. A bright yellow "Team Lift" sticker was on the top cardboard flap, but there wasn't anyone else around, so Luke carefully maneuvered the box into his lap alone. 

"You need help, Luke?" he heard behind him. "I got it," he replied with more optimism than he felt. Struggling upward, he inched the box to his shoulders. A few others were gathering around him. "C'mon, Luke!" they encouraged. "You can get this!" 

He slid his hands under the box, sure he'd be leaving a sweat mark. "Here we go, Luke!" his manager yelled. "Push yourself under it!" cheered a girl from nearby Arts and Crafts. Heaving, Luke managed to slowly press the box up, and snuck the edge of the box onto the shelf. "Finish it!" called a stranger. "Just slide it on! You're almost there!" He did. Then he sat down, winded, while a team of blue-vested comrades slapped him on the back and ruffled his hair. "Awesome, Luke! That was sweet!" they said, as they congratulated him and moved on.

Think either of the above scenarios is likely?

One of the great insights I've gained while writing Enrichment Through Exercise was this nugget from Coach Ty: "No matter what else happens in the session, the client has to leave happy. This is probably the only positive feedback they'll get ALL DAY. If we make no other progress, we have to make sure the child gets praise for SOMETHING."

Enrichment Through Exercise - the book

In, "The Power of Habit," by Charles Duhigg, the author goes into great detail on the pleasure response cycle of the brain. Much like Pavlov's dogs, the brain learns to anticipate a reward associated with an activity - it drools at the thought of food - and eventually becomes depressed if it ISN'T rewarded. 

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business - the book

This is what we're up against in the fitness industry: hardwired but unconscious brain signals that reward Betty for sitting on the couch and watching television at night. The familiar brings us pleasure; the unfamiliar brings us pain. 

To encourage exercise, Duhigg recommends rewarding yourself with "...a smoothie or extra television time." I can think of a better option.

The Private Element

If there's one thing a potato farmer knows, it's this: diversify.

Potatoes are subject to disease, pestulence, and the frivolity of the weather. Not enough rain? They wither. Too much? Late blight. Fungus? All the Yukon Gold are susceptible. 

There's a growing tendency among CrossFit Affiliates to limit their service offering. "We don't want just anyone," they say. "We want committed people only." Leaving aside the argument that it's our job to build commitment, setting a pricing model around only one offering - the 1-month unlimited package - means missing out on potential revenue AND an opportunity to do the best thing for your clients.

Three years ago, I wrote a piece called, "The Three Boxes," which was adapted from a book called, "How To Sell A Lobster." In a nutshell (lobster shell?), pricing should give context: a higher-priced 'premium' service should be offered to frame your main product; a lower-end 'bargain' service should be offered to allow people to try a scaled-down version. This allows for discounts and trials without modifying the price of your main service.

Offering Personal Training at your Affiliate satisfies the 'premium' service problem.

Try as they might, some clients simply don't respond well in a group setting. They're too socially aware, maybe; they're too scared of making a mistake to take a risk, perhaps. They require much more attention than others. The best service you can give them is more of your time.

Offering Personal Training at your Affiliate means they can get the one-on-one time they need to get better.

The small-group-training model, popularized by strength coaches like Zach Evan-Esh, is a good one: given that you have limited time each day, it makes perfect sense to try and make the most revenue per hour spent. If every hour of your coaching time is filled, the only way to increase revenue is to encourage clients to train together. What if every hour is NOT filled?

Offering Personal Training at your Affiliate allows you to derive income at non-peak times.

CrossFit is for everyone: soccer moms to Navy SEALs. We scale by load, but not by type. One of the greatest services we can provide is the arena of sport to those for whom fitness has seemed inaccessible....until now. For some clients, though, modifications are SO great that they can't smoothly scale up or down on their own.

Offering Personal Training at your Affiliate means you can help those who don't fit the mold. 

You have GREAT Coaches, I'm sure. They're educated. They WANT to help people, first and foremost. They also need to eat.

Offering Personal Training at your Affiliate means your Coaches can work as much (or as little) as they like, without fighting for class time. They can also take more ownership of their income, their clients' programming, and their time, by being responsible for a stable of private clients.

If it isn't raining in your market now, it eventually will. The all-or-nothing approach means that some of your best potential clients are being turned away at the porch. If your class schedule isn't completely filled, Personal Training offers a convenient way to sell your services....and do the right thing for many of your clients. Hey, it's how Glassman started....

Sense of Purpose

A producer at the Canada East Regionals shared this insight with me.

When Jewish prisoners at Nazi internment camps were finally liberated, many were debriefed on the terrible persecution techniques they'd endured. Some of their answers surprised the interviewers.

When trying to break the stoicism of the Jewish adults, the Nazi guards would put them to work: breaking rocks, building houses, stringing fences. Given a task, no matter how onerous, the prisoners would work toward the goal with resolve. Guards commented that the work seemed to strengthen the will of the labourers (we now recognize this as the 'Flow State' that comes from physical work.) 

When they dug latrines, they didn't complain. When they dug graves for their own dead - later, for themselves - they set about the job with a surprising sense of purpose. Only when they were forced to dig ditches and immediately fill them in again did they despair.

When everyone on a team is working toward a common goal - be it trying to avoid bankruptcy, building an underdog Affiliate from scratch, or scrambling to learn as much as possible - they work hard. They find fulfillment. They sleep well. They push.

When they're not sure of your goals, challenges, obstacles, and horizon, they drift. We're wired not to find comfort and solace, but to find reward. That means we seek challenge. If your staff isn't being challenged, or can't find a common rally point, they'll seek another. 

Do your staff know your intent as the Owner? Do they know your plans for the Box next year, or two years from now? Do they know your story? Do they see you fighting, and know your enemy?

Will they leave, forsaking your warm fire to seek their own dragons and glory?

My Speech To The Graduates, 2012

18 years ago, I started studying exercise at University. 

14 years ago, I graduated with a degree.

13 years and 364 days ago, I thought I had all the answers. I dangerously believed that I "knew enough."

13 years and six months ago, I got my first client. When I sat down to write The Perfect Training Program, I stopped feeling as if I were wearing a laurel wreath. I got scared: what was I doing?

That's when I started learning.

No one asked me, but just in case this drips through to you: you've just begun. You have foundational knowledge - we're letting you drive a car on city streets. You should be writing articles, and trying things on your friends. You probably shouldn't be writing angry emails to editors of local newspapers who dared to publish a story on "the latest weight-loss craze" (the subject of mine was caffeine pills.)

You will never know 'enough.' Do not be satisfied. Answers that were once correct will not remain that way forever; answers that are 'wrong' today may someday be the best course of action. No teacher has all the answers; sometimes the answers will change; most of the questions haven't yet been asked.

Your work has just begun.

Singularity

This is Alexei Sidorovitch Medveyev.

He's one of the greatest weightlifting coaches of all time, pioneering huge advances in periodization, biomechanics, and force development. His USSR teams dominated weightlifting from 1970-1974.

A totalitarian approach to managing athletes has its obvious drawbacks. It can also teach us much, even 40 years later. Medveyev could control when his athletes slept, and for how long; when they ate, and what; what they lifted, and when. Under his guidance, the Soviet Weightlifting program experimented with colour; sound; and even smell, marching their athletes through different types of forest after their workouts and measuring relative recovery to the 10th power (spoiler alert: Siberian Fir is best.)

You can read more about these 'best practices' in Managing The Training of Weightlifters (bottom right.) Worth the cover price just for the short paragraph on steroid usage recommendations for women.

Medveyev also experimented with coaching methods. Concerned with far more than just load, bar speed, and reps, Medveyev measured the effects of voice quality; instruction quantity; and total practice time. Prilepin's Table was developed during this period.  Other ideas were tried, measured, and discarded.

One of Medveyev's guiding principles: never give an athlete more than 
one instruction or correction in a training session.  Yes, they may need to raise their chin; they may need to stand taller; they may need to lift their hips more. All of those may be true, but only one may be corrected at a time. One instruction was useful; two instructions handicapped the athlete, splitting their attention. 

When a cue was mastered, the next was given. Information would be prioritized based on relevance, or timing. Do the same with your new contacts: on their first visit, they need to hear that CrossFit is novel, or different, or challenging, or fun, or Sport. 

As teachers, Coaches, and experts trying to deliver their message, we should remember this: one point at a time.

• Chin up.
• CrossFit is fun.
• Gluten causes gut problems.
• Widen your grip.
• Novelty helps you stick with it.
• Hips up a bit.
• Bring your friends.
• Greg Glassman.
• Babies are great squatters.
• Poke your chin through.
• No mirrors.
• Pull your shoulders down and back.
• Protein supplements usually have a lot of sugar.
• CrossFit is like Personal Training.

One point, one message, per contact. That's it. 

The Adaptive Niche

Thank you. 

Yesterday, after posting about Adaptive Athletes and their desire for competition, novelty, and challenge, I received several emails asking, "How do I get started?"

I've also been fortunate enough to connect with a few Affiliates who HAVE started. This post will serve merely as a conduit between the willing and the enabled.

We've been lucky enough to host several athletes requiring slight modifications to the workouts to participate - notably those with MS and brain injury, but also including others on crutches, in wheelchairs, and with different numbers of limbs.

Our coaches threw together a quick list of some modifications we use, and I've attached it as a Google Doc in hopes of attracting ideas from DBA readers.

Good sources for information include No Excuses CrossFit, home of the legendary Kyle Maynard, and CrossFit Walter Reed, which coaches MANY Adaptive CrossFitters. 

Above all else, don't be a 'caretaker.' My favourite quote from CFWR was on Monday's WOD blog:

"Scaling for box jumps should be any height off the ground, even if it’s one inch. Jump on something."

When all else fails, ask the athlete what they think; they'll find a way. They're good at it.

Download Seated substitutions

Mimetic Desire

Desire is not a straight line. 

Rene Girard, an anthropological philosopher, puts forward the notion that all of your desires are borrowed from other people. You want this because they want this, or they have it already. 

Girard posits the model of desire as a triangle, not a straight line:

                                                       OBJECT

                    SUBJECT                                                    MODEL

We desire something - an object, a characteristic, an attribute - because we see that others have it, and their possession reinforces the idea that the object is desirable. In this triangle, the Model is the current possessor of the habit or object.

Consider a woman, 40 years old, who visits your Box for the first time today. Her name is Mary. When she's searching your location on Google, does Mary desire to do a pullup? No; it's not yet in her realm of known possibilities. She doesn't care about pullups because she's never seen one done by a woman, perhaps. Mary just wants to lose 20 pounds.

When she's standing at your front desk, Mary still doesn't want to do a pullup. She wants to survive without "sweating too much" or committing another social faux pas. Her goal in session #1 isn't to make friends or experience "the community": it's to survive with ego intact. She doesn't want to embarrass herself.

And then...she sees Julianne hitting five beautiful kipping pullups in a row. Julianne is 40. Julianne has abs. Julianne puts chalk on her hands, and swings her legs like so, and can actually pull her chin above the bar in midair. Wow.

CrossFit thrives at providing behavioural Models, and providing clear paths to mimickry. Not only can we show you Julianne, but we can map you out the ways to BE Julianne.

Successful businesses in all industries do this well: here's Julianne. She likes this purse. You want the same purse? Here's how to get it.

Interestingly, Girard takes the step further, suggesting that when the model and the subject become equals - when Mary can finally link 5 kipping pullups - they become rivals. They compete for acquisition of the object - they start to compare each other's max pullup numbers. As the rivalry grows, the value of the object increases. This, too, is where CrossFit shines: by offering the competitive element, clients can move up through the hierarchy of desire without changing their mode of pursuit (in this case, gyms.) 

How does this affect you? Simple: pack the gym with models of behaviour. If you have to do it for free, at first, do it for free. Take one from Skip Chase's book, and invite every waiter and hairdresser in town - models who are constantly in front of people, chatting - and have them do CrossFit for three months. The biggest risk is inviting a new person into an empty gym: devoid of models, they have nothing on which to base their desire for CrossFit.

(You don't have to say, "You can come free!" Instead, give them a coupon for 3 free months. That way your rate is unaffected, and you're giving away a coupon, not a freebie. Small difference in fact, big difference in the psychology of your other members.)

The Ultimate Retention Tool

When this magazine cover hit the walls yesterday, CrossFit affilliates and students were quick to jump all over it - not because they meant ill for the writer, but because they were eager to demonstrate that they knew more than Big Media. If you can't see the bottom of the picture, it describes an "Overhead Squat" movement as one of the 'CrossFit Five.'

The best way to keep your clients? Make them smarter than your competition. If they know more than the Personal Trainers at other gyms, they won't switch. If they know more than their friends, they'll talk. If they know more than they knew before, they'll stay. Just keep that delicious train of knowledge coming.

Learning is addictive. Our educational model doesn't approach this in the right way - yet - but we're working on it.

 The keys to teaching new information, and keeping people excited about it:

• Present information when the client is most open to suggestion (post-workout)
• Demonstrate its relevance (this will help your power clean) 
• Recall what they already know
• Allude to more information that will become available when the current 'level' has been mastered

Drug dealers know this method. So do the Masons, so do the Buddhists, so do most Western-hemisphere political parties, and so does Mel Gibson. Promotion through the ranks means access to more information....and thereby greater adherence to dogma. Learn, rise, remain.

Our role of Learner has never been easier. Our role of Teacher has never been more opportune: find information, make it accessible through sharing and translation and relevance, and help your clients make progress.

 Access to information is addictive. Sharing knowledge is one of the strongest social reinforcement tools we've developed over our milennia of evolution. We're primed to learn, and to stay loyal to the font of knowledge until it's dried up. It won't, ever.