The big news this week is that we (by which I mean I) decided to nix the T-Town Throwdown. The idea of not doing it had been on my mind for about a week after I did a self-assessment and realized that I was procrastinating on doing my part in order to finalize the permit. When I go from simply being slow to get something done to actively avoiding it, I've revealed to myself that I don't want to do it. And that means I need to step back and reconsider what I'm doing and why. When I did so in this case, I saw how much stress I was already carrying and the event was still four months away. Then, when in a numbers meeting with Leon I saw how much the cost of the Throwdown would affect the business, I brought the idea up to him. We both agreed that the gym gets little direct benefit from the event: it lost money last year, broke even the year before, and we didn't see an appreciable uptick in membership either time. In other words, we spend a lot of money and time and stress to put on an event that doesn't benefit the business. So why are we doing this again?
Instead, we'll take that time, energy, and money and put it towards doing our core competency better. Two areas that we want to improve are our beginner program and trainer education. This isn't to say that those areas are currently lacking. I know nearly every trainer in every gym in the city and I can honestly say that our training staff and program are second to none. But it can always get better, and I want it to be so much better that there is no comparison between us and anyone else.
We'll also host a couple of smaller invitationals so we can still scratch that competitive itch. I've got emails out to some local gyms to gauge interest and have already heard back from our amigos at CrossFit Federal Way, so they're a go.
Speaking of programming, you may or may not know that Jared, Leon, and I beta test our daily program a week or two ahead of time. We usually do it mid-day and spend most of our time trying out rep schemes, movements, or work volume. We skip the things that we've done before or have a reasonable idea of how it will fit into a regular class. Well, after watching all the personal records that have been set lately, we're kind of jealous. There is a huge benefit in regular progressive training, such that if you skip too many training opportunities you don't get the full benefit. So for the near future, we'll be joining the rest of the gym and doing the full daily WOD. Expect to see our names on the board. Oh and don't worry about the beta testing. We've built up such a huge surplus of modules for classes that we can easily design the program with confidence in how it'll all fit together for a group.
There are more things that have been on my plate and that I think y'all would find interesting, but none that would fit into this set of topics. So this will be a short post and I'll write a longer more in-depth one next time.
By Morgan on Sunday, June, 22, 2014