Cover Songs and the Garage Gym Model

4 out of 5 of us NoCoast owners grew up on the Godfather of CrossFit: The legendary "mainsite" programming. We didn't even start in the very beginning. By the time we caught on to CrossFit, there were hundreds of videos to catch up on. You know the ones where your eyebrows raised and your jaw drops because you didn't know human beings could do that stuff. Or maybe you watched those videos, said, "that doesn't look so bad," and proceeded to puke at your local YMCA attempting to get through "Kelly" for the first time. Well, these times were always fun to look back on. Those old videos are almost like looking at Olympic Games footage from 1932 compared to the media we see surrounding the CrossFit Games these days. CrossFit has actually increased human capacity of an entire generation of CrossFitters. People become more and more fit every year that passes.

As the first NoCoastians, we set out to follow our dreams and open a gym. We desired to grow a community of CrossFitters who became not only fitter, but happier. We wanted to create a place called home. As the CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, had once set out to do: create the "third place." Home first, work second, gym third. And hopefully the third would make the first two richer and more enjoyable.

What surprised us was that we were led back to where we started: garage gym workouts, little to no equipment, staying flexible with programming, and having fun-being amazed that a dumbbell and baseball field could still make you want to barf. What was even more interesting, was that we laughed when we realized "Big Blue" very much resembles the old CrossFit Santa Cruz gym. Small, minimal, functional. I had to wonder how much repeatedly learning from these vids had ultimately led us to this little space. I also was reminded how no matter what the environment, the program works. The community will thrive. You will become a healthier human being. We are, in a way, back to the source. Like a fresh cover on a classic song.

Let's do this.