The Anticipation is Killing Me

We are about 2 months away from opening our first business, CrossFit Dark Athletics in Freehold, NJ and I can't tell you how anxious I am! Getting the gym prepared to open is an intense experience.  Between signing the lease and opening our doors, we faced a host of unforeseen expenses and timely delays.

I've been on the verge of a breakdown for the better part of a year, worried if I was going to make enough money to survive each month.  I've been eating away at my savings chasing a dream to become a better Coach and Educator in the fitness Industry.  I currently work training people out of my partner's garage and it has been a struggle to say the least, yet more preferable to the way I was living prior.

Before committing myself full time to coaching and fitness I was working in the restaurant business for 12 years.  I began working in the catering hall as a server and worked my way up to Production Manager.  It was a great experience and I learned a lot from it.  As head of production I was working 60+ hours a week and trying to use the remainder of my time to lift heavy weights... you can imagine how that went.  For the amount of hours I was working I wasn't earning that much and on top of that I was burning out.  I knew it was time for a change.  I quit in April of 2014 and began working for my coaches at South Brooklyn Weightlifting Club.  Unfortunately this didn't work out and I left shortly after.  Let's just call it a miscommunication on both our parts and leave it at that.  I am thankful that they gave me an out from the restaurant.  After I left there I was unsure how I was going to move forward.  I was intent on continuing my career in fitness and not return to the restaurant so I decided to set up my own gym out of my partner's garage.  It was not the best decision monetarily, but I was eventually able to acquire a decent amount of clients to train.  Some months were a struggle as I was making less than $500! If I didn't have the support from everyone around me I would have quit a long time ago.  I keep at it because I know the experience is worth more than the dollar I make for it.

We signed the lease in October and were hoping to hit the ground running, gathering all of the contractors necessary to complete the job as fast as possible.  Finally, I thought... I will be able to breathe for a while... nope.  We found out right away it was going to be a bumpy ride.  Permits, building codes and regulations, letters to city officials and more.  Even getting our business name approved took a few submissions.

As we get closer and closer to opening and as the end of the year creeps up on us, I've become more and more stressed out.  We were hoping for a January Opening, but we've been pushed back to February and possibly March.  This means more time spent waiting and biding our time until we can officially say, YES, WE ARE OPEN! I'm anxious to begin working, programming and meeting new people.  This by no means will be easy.  With all my fears and anxiety, I believe that if we can power through the first few months and endure the inevitable exhaustion of working morning to night, we will be alright.  Hopefully CrossFit Dark Athletics will be the light at the end of this very dark tunnel. (No Pun Intended!)

Pros and Cons of Lifting in a Garage in Brooklyn

For the past 15 months I've been primarily training out of my Garage.  There are definitely perks to be able to just walk outside and lift, but there is a downside.  The Garage has served has my home after I left my job at SBWC.  In there I was able to conduct business and survive over a year without having to wake up and "Go to work".  I had my own space, equipment and my own mini team that I was able to vibe with best I could given the situation.  The Garage if you are unfamiliar is a two Car set up and the useable gym space is about a 13' x 10' with enough ceiling height to go overhead.   It has all of the equipment necessary to lift, If I can do it anyone can, but there are definitely limitations. 

The benefits of having this space in a Garage were amazing.  I was able to set up a Mini- Gym designed for Weightlifting where people were able to drop weight and not have to worry about disturbing neighbors.  We could lift at anytime, but most people wanted to lift at the same time which became an issue.  In the Summer, weather permitted, it was great.  The doors were open, we were able to go outside and use the backyard area, even though you would be lifting on a slight incline.  It still served it's purpose.  In the Winter, when weather got really bad and all of the other gyms were closed, I would be able to go outside and lift.  The Garage was never really closed unless I wasn't there, which was rare.  It was private.  You came to the back, to the Garage and you had your own workout area. No one really stared or knew what was going on back there, which I guess could be a negative thing for me.  The benefit being the limited distractions of being around a bunch of other people always getting in your way weren't there.  Only about 4-5 people could be in there lifting at the same time and that's only if they were doing similar things.  2-3 was pushing it at most times.  Not exactly the way I envisioned it, but what are you gonna do?  It's what I had and I ran with it as best I could.  

What could possibly be bad about lifting in a tight Garage? The size of the space was a bit tight.  If the weight bounced the wrong way, the platform shifted on numerous occasions, the Garage door track would be hit when going overhead (sometimes), in the cold winter... brutal, 2 people at a time mainly (Any more would be crowded), if the weather was bad going outside was out so the exercises inside became limited for some of the General members.  Lifting alone sucks.  At some points I would be outside by myself and that caused me to be very unmotivated. I would get frustrated with lifting and then in turn get frustrated with things around me that I couldn't move.  Like I said before we were in the backyard so nobody knew what was going on back there and the turnover rate was pretty bad.  I had more people leaving than coming in.  I couldn't do much about that, most people actually left due to life and jobs taking them elsewhere.  I'm pretty sure nobody left because they thought I was doing a bad job, at least they didn't say that.  It was hard to keep people coming through the door where I was, but I did what I could. 

You have to be very creative when dealing with people who want to exercise and you have a limited number of things you can throw at them (especially if some of the things you want to do with them they nix right from the start.) I told them from the start what I was going to do with them.  This is not a personal training studio, this is my gym and I lift weights.  I told everyone, I will teach you how to Squat, Press and Deadlift and  throw some conditioning at you.  If what I was doing wasn't what they wanted I adjusted it to meet their needs, but the people that always came in saying, "OK, I trust you." saw the best results.   It kept me learning and guessing about how to keep them working.  I did my best to keep the people that came to me pushing themselves past where they were ready to handle.  If you do nothing regularly, doing anything will get you some sort of result, if you do it long enough, but what most people don't realize is that the amount of time you spent doing nothing or just working on one aspect of training it takes twice as long to change it and you have to work twice as hard to change your body.  It is not magic, I am no magician I cannot grant you wishes.  All I can do is show you what to do and how to do it, the rest is up to you to keep coming and push forward.  

These past 15+ months of being in the Garage were definitely Educational.  I spent most of the time learning how to train different people for different things.  I learned about how to organize times and with the limited space I was able to manage different things going on at the same time.  Everybody I had the privilege of working with has taught me something.  The people that stuck with me the entire time I thank you so much for your support and trust.  I'm certain you guys have seen the best results.  Honestly I am thankful for everyone who even tried the Garage.  It's a miracle I got anyone in that place.  Most people are always looking to try something different and I was realistic.  This was going to be a temporary situation for me, and I couldn't really expect the masses to come through.  But for those who spent some time with me, I hope you learned something about exercise and about yourselves.    There were some hard times, still are, but I've gotten through most of them.  If I had to do it all over again, I would.  I am grateful for the support and I look forward to the road ahead and the hard times to come.