Crossfit affiliates closed down

shutup

In the last two years dozens of crossfit affiliates have opened in Ireland.
Does anyone know of any that have unfortunately had to close down?

Hanley

shutup wrote: »

In the last two years dozens of crossfit affiliates have opened in Ireland.
Does anyone know of any that have unfortunately had to close down?

Any reason you're asking?

If there hasn't been yet, there will be soon I'd expect.

shutup

Hanley wrote: »

Any reason you're asking?

If there hasn't been yet, there will be soon I'd expect.

Im just asking out of interest in all things crossfit.
I was always surprised every time another one appeared though. There does seem to be a lot of choice.
Best of luck to them all.

As someone in the industry I would be interested in why you expect there will be closures soon?

Darkest Horse

Every market has its saturation point.....

Nervous Wreck

shutup wrote: »

Im just asking out of interest in all things crossfit.
I was always surprised every time another one appeared though. There does seem to be a lot of choice.
Best of luck to them all.

As someone in the industry I would be interested in why you expect there will be closures soon?

Crossfit as a fad has kinda lost steam, for one. Market saturation is another. Also, I'm pretty sure anyone can get a Level 1 cert and pay the fee to have a CF sign slapped above the door of their gym (is the cert even necessary?). The savvy gym owner may do this to draw in the CF crowd and then drop the branding (and expense thereof) after reaping the benefits of the brand recognition and gaining the loyalty of new joiners.

drdeadlift

What will the post crossfit thing be?

shutup

Nervous Wreck wrote: »

Crossfit as a fad has kinda lost steam, for one. Market saturation is another. Also, I'm pretty sure anyone can get a Level 1 cert and pay the fee to have a CF sign slapped above the door of their gym (is the cert even necessary?). The savvy gym owner may do this to draw in the CF crowd and then drop the branding (and expense thereof) after reaping the benefits of the brand recognition and gaining the loyalty of new joiners.

Yes agree with a lot of this. As a fad, it's not as new or edgy anymore. A lot of people would have tried and quit crossfit in 2013, '14 and '15. It also gets made fun of so much that people just jump on the band wagon and shout about it not being any good or about injuries.

I know of one place who got the crossfit certs and got their original membership in doing crossfit but as they grew have distanced themselves from the brand. They actually never affiliated. I think this is a great idea. You get the best of crossfit but can alter things as you see fit or in the direction you want the business to take. Also save the $3000 a year.
Another "savvy" gym have a crossfit area. It's an amazing gym but I don't get what's crossfit about the area unless it's reserved for people who want to do crossfit. Would not blame them for trying to get piece of the action though.

deadlybuzzman

drdeadlift wrote: »

What will the post crossfit thing be?

I thought it was powerlifting. It seems it popularity has risen over the last while.

shutup

drdeadlift wrote: »

What will the post crossfit thing be?

MMA?

Hanley

shutup wrote: »

Im just asking out of interest in all things crossfit.
I was always surprised every time another one appeared though. There does seem to be a lot of choice.
Best of luck to them all.

As someone in the industry I would be interested in why you expect there will be closures soon?

I think 2-3 years after somewhere opens is when you start to see them fail.

People get sick of circling the drain, never really making any money (despite working 80 hour weeks) and the initial enthusiasm they had at the start fades.

The best thing I've heard on the topic is "the day you open your own the gym is the day you stop being a coach".

Unless you enjoy the cut and thrust of business, as well as coaching etc then you're gonna be in trouble eventually, in my opinion.

I don't think we've reached saturation either for the record, you only need 100-200 people to make a gym very successful and profitable (assuming you're not engaged in a race to the bottom, which most are).

Hanley

deadlybuzzman wrote: »

I thought it was powerlifting. It seems it popularity has risen over the last while.

Everyone's a powerlifter and / or bikini competitor these days alright.

Even those who've never competed, but are thinking about it, so I guess they can call themselves "future XYZ"

deadlybuzzman

shutup wrote: »

MMA?

Very likely it's there or thereabouts too. Which would guarantee that BJJ will be the next thing after that because "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face"
It's much more enjoyable rolling around strangling each other than it is to realise how unpleasant it is when someone cracks their shin into your ribs 3 times in couple of minutes

Transform

Hanley wrote: »

I think 2-3 years after somewhere opens is when you start to see them fail.

People get sick of circling the drain, never really making any money (despite working 80 hour weeks) and the initial enthusiasm they had at the start fades.

The best thing I've heard on the topic is "the day you open your own the gym is the day you stop being a coach".

Unless you enjoy the cut and thrust of business, as well as coaching etc then you're gonna be in trouble eventually, in my opinion.

I don't think we've reached saturation either for the record, you only need 100-200 people to make a gym very successful and profitable (assuming you're not engaged in a race to the bottom, which most are).

the reality is that most DONT work 80hrs per week.

They feck about for most the day, coach 2-3 classes and tell everyone how busy they are and thas not just crossfit its in ALL gyms where the coaches piss and moan about not making enough money when they dont and wont run what they have like a business.

These are the same people that are all sunshine and rainbows for the first 2-3yrs then they realise they aint getting a sniff at car loan never mind a mortgage and what forces the change is their missus or fella getting fed up at having to pay for everything while they're off "living the dream".

yes more businesses will close and should close, people will leave the industry and as sad as that is it needs to happen because-
coaches stopped wanting to coach,
wanting to look like they can coach,
they never evolved beyond it being a hobby
and thought they could become their own personal brand because they read it on some internet marketing for "fitpros" guide which was written by a guy that never truly worked a day in his/her life as compared to someone that works for e.g. salesforce, microsoft, IBM where there are ACTUAL targets set and you're either moving up or your out.

There are an equal number of strength and conditioning facilities that have opened in the last few years and the same issues exist there.

nice_guy80

X-Fit

you heard it here first

Nervous Wreck

And second!

Mellor

shutup wrote: »

MMA?

deadlybuzzman wrote: »

Very likely it's there or thereabouts too. Which would guarantee that BJJ will be the next thing after that because "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face"

I'd have assume that mainstreaming of that was already underway.

deadlybuzzman

Mellor wrote: »

I'd have assume that mainstreaming of that was already underway.

Underway yes but with all the mcgregor bandwagon jumpers increasing the profile of MMA in this country I think straight jiu jitsu will keep getting more and more popular for a long time yet

My gym has moved away from the crossfit brand. While the owner, and the coaches do like the ethos of CF and have benefited hugely from it, they feel that the cons outweigh the pros for remaining an affiliate. They have the backing of their members, and they have, as Nervous Wreck said earlier, built a good client base. Crossfit classes wasn't all they did anyway, but it was their bread and butter in the early days. They've been gradually building their own brand without the Crossfit name, and have now dropped CF entirely.

I'd say more and more will do the same.

LuckyLloyd

Not sure how useful anecdotal evidence is. Sandyford / South Dublin / Dublin is still choked with them from what I can see. My gym (Crossfit Sandyford) does not trade on Crossfit being a salve to all of life's problems and embraces a more rounded general strength and conditioning approach, but seems to feel the affiliation is still useful at attracting business.

Actual macro statistics on the number of Crossfit Gyms per area would be very interesting, but I've never seen them published. Moreover, the stat I'd really be interested in is how many crossfit / s & c facilities have been in business owned by the same people for five years or more. I'd imagine that is very rarefied air.

There's an 'oooh shiny' weakness to people who train imo, and that also gets reflected in some of the people I've met who coach or own gyms. That's not to say that being close minded to innovation would be a good thing, and fitness is an industry that seems to be constantly awash with new information and approaches. But the basics don't really change and, in theory, there should be no real reason why a good well run facility couldn't establish itself for decades on a simple basis of 'we believe in people getting stronger, getting better conditioned and eating well'. What you end up calling that; or what philosophies you borrow from along the way to achieve same shouldn't really matter.

Transform

in simple terms we are now at the point where the level of coaching matters and the customer is starting to realise this.

EVERY gym is well equipped so now the customer doesnt give a sh1t if the gym advertises itself as having "top of the range equipment" (good lord!) because all they should and do now care about is can and do the coaches coach well or have they just become so old and cynical that they no longer want to actually coach any more?

Its NOT a crossfit thing, its business in action and the prize goes to the gym/coach etc that runs it in that way.

I run my own business and co-own a gym in kildare thats 8,500sqft and the coaches (3 full time staff) they make more money than any other coaches know in any similar facility, we can only ensure this because its making money and our staff and their development is number one not the customer.

LuckyLloyd

Transform wrote: »

in simple terms we are now at the point where the level of coaching matters and the customer is starting to realise this.

EVERY gym is well equipped so now the customer doesnt give a sh1t if the gym advertises itself as having "top of the range equipment" (good lord!) because all they should and do now care about is can and do the coaches coach well or have they just become so old and cynical that they no longer want to actually coach any more?

Its NOT a crossfit thing, its business in action and the prize goes to the gym/coach etc that runs it in that way.

I run my own business and co-own a gym in kildare thats 8,500sqft and the coaches (3 full time staff) there make more money than any other coaches know in any similar facility, we can only ensure this because its making money and our staff and their development is number one not the customer.

Not surprised that you'd be doing things the right way.

I'd agree that people value coaching even if they wouldn't exactly verbalise it like that - i.e. the beginner thinks in terms of how much attention they're getting or whether they feel comfortable while having fun. Or the more experienced trainee may just think in terms of progress even if he isn't aware of all the work put into achieving that by a coach or coaches.

That said, there is still a portion of the market that are chasing atmosphere and want to be in a gym that's cool where everyone is 'beasting' or whatever. I could see how it would be tempting to try and build a business (or start one at least) based around that. But the more intense an atmosphere at a gym the more likely it is to run into problems imo. I'd imagine the stable long term paying customer is going to be the customer more quietly determined about their goals and just looking for their bit of consistent progress each year.

Transform

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Not surprised that you'd be doing things the right way.

I'd agree that people value coaching even if they wouldn't exactly verbalise it like that - i.e. the beginner thinks in terms of how much attention they're getting or whether they feel comfortable while having fun. Or the more experienced trainee may just think in terms of progress even if he isn't aware of all the work put into achieving that by a coach or coaches.

That said, there is still a portion of the market that are chasing atmosphere and want to be in a gym that's cool where everyone is 'beasting' or whatever. I could see how it would be tempting to try and build a business (or start one at least) based around that. But the more intense an atmosphere at a gym the more likely it is to run into problems imo. I'd imagine the stable long term paying customer is going to be the customer more quietly determined about their goals and just looking for their bit of consistent progress each year.

ie you're my ideal customer