NOT FIT ENOUGH FOR CROSSFIT?
NOT REALLY.

Why "getting fitter first" is not a thing

You do not get clean before you step into the shower. You do not get strong before you lift weights. And you do not gain confidence by waiting at home until you already have it.

The idea that there is a baseline level you need to meet first is the idea itself. It does not exist anywhere in the gym, only in your head. And it is the reason people are still sitting on the same couch with the same plan a year later.

Everyone who trains here now once stood in that doorway for the first time. Including the person lifting the heaviest today.

But isn't CrossFit really intense?

CrossFit has that reputation because of the videos. Competitive athletes, olympic lifts, people flying across a rig. That is what CrossFit looks like at the top level — not what Tuesday 19:00 in Gorinchem looks like.

In our classes someone who is 25 trains next to someone who is 58. Someone with ten years of experience next to someone who started last week. They do the same workout. Just scaled.

Scaling means: less weight, fewer reps, a different variation of the same movement. Can't do a pull-up yet? You do it with a band, or on the rings with your feet on the ground. Is a barbell squat too much? You squat to a box, without weight.

The intent of the workout never changes. The execution does, per person, every class.

What if I'm the only beginner?

You are not. Someone new starts here every month.

More importantly: nobody is watching. That sounds like a polite thing to say, but it is simply the reality of group training. Everyone is focused on their own breathing and their own remaining rounds. The only one actively watching your technique is the coach, and that is exactly what they are there for.

What your first week looks like

You train with us for free during your first week. No membership, no notice period, no sales pitch afterwards.

Before your first class you WhatsApp or email us briefly. We ask where you are coming from, whether you have any injuries and what you want to achieve. It takes five minutes and is only there so the coach knows who you are before you walk in.

Your first class you arrive fifteen minutes early. The coach walks you through the box, shows you where everything is and explains what is on the board that day. You simply train along in the group — not separately, not at the back.

The rest of the week you try whatever you like. CrossFit, Bootcamp (often outdoors), Open Gym, Run Club. Anything goes. Most people do three or four classes that week, which is exactly enough to know if it suits them.

After that week you hear from us what we saw and what we would advise. Want to continue? We choose the format together. Don't want to? That is fine too, and you will not hear from us again.

What to bring

Sportswear and shoes suitable for indoor use. A water bottle. Nothing else.

No gym bag full of gear, no equipment of your own, no preparation needed. Gloves and tape can come later, if you ever need them.

Three hours a week is enough

You do not need to build your life around it. Three one-hour classes a week is just right for most people: enough to make progress, little enough to keep up alongside work and family.

A class is ten minutes of warm-up and technique, twenty minutes of strength, thirty minutes of conditioning. Strength, conditioning and mobility all come round within a single week. That has been thought through — that is the coach's job, not yours.

A year from now

The people who have trained here the longest have one thing in common, and it is not natural talent. They simply started once, at a moment that was not convenient yet.

A year from now you will wish you had started today. That is not motivational talk, that is just how it keeps turning out.

Just start

You train with us for free during your first week. You are not committing to anything and you do not need to know anything beforehand.

CrossFit Gorinchem, Schelluinsevliet 17/19, 4203 NB Gorinchem. We are the only official CrossFit affiliate in Gorinchem, and have been since 2016. Our Bootcamp has been running here since 2012.