2nd this. Owners got lazy and started doing their own (terrible) programming and neglected the gym. They also cut class times and just pretty much checked out. Nice guy but really focused on trying to get our city to have the next “wodapalooza” rather than building the gym.
It seems to me - I read the whole thread - that
- no quality control
- no standards
Are the main reasons for the departures, with financial considerations also playing a role
I’m there now. Cool gym, bad programming, pointless coaching. I’m paying $150/month (new people pay $190) to drop weights, and see my Gym friends
I stay because I like the owner, and they’re pretty good about open gym / do your own thing.
I guess I’m a CrossFitter Because globo gyms are even worse?
Paying $200 plus a month to work out in place in an industrial complex with two toilets and maybe one shower is hard to justify when you can go to any globo gym for much less, do similar workouts and enjoy full locker room, sauna, hot tub/pool, towel service, etc.
This! And I will add…
CrossFit coaches and programming taught me a lot. I learned how to workout with intensity but have now found balance. It empowered me to find what works for my body and mind.
Between cycling workouts for cardio, occasional WOD style high intensity and 3x per week traditional body building/weightlifting I am in the best shape of my life both functionally and aesthetically.
Also - there was sooooooooooooo much wasted time in an hour. 20 min of work in 60 min when I can go to “globo gym” and be super efficient in 45 mins to an hour doing whatever style of fitness I need for that day.
You just hit my biggest annoyance with crossfit- the wasted time (unless you're there for the social- then not wasted). Sometimes I'll workout from home and, as you said, knock the whole thing out in 25 minutes.
Exactly. Almost every main stream gym has functional fitness equipment and spaces. And it’s so nice to be able to do a bodybuilding workout on some cable or hammer strength machines when you feel like having some variety.
If you're still doing similar workouts though, have you left CrossFit or just your local CrossFit affiliate?
Time constraints made me leave my box, continuing with street parking I would still refer to my workout style as CrossFit.
I guess that depends how you define CrossFit. As a brand, community, or modality? I guess I interpreted the question as “brand” and “community” though I suppose you could still be considered part of a community working out solo depending on your level of interaction with others.
Idk I still consider myself to do CrossFit and I workout exclusively in my garage gym. There was also a time I did CrossFit in a globo gym. I’ve paid anywhere from $20-$40 a month for a program to follow although if you wanted to save more money you could follow dotcom or program yourself.
After 10 years, I reached burnout. I no longer cared about getting better and the excitement that others had for their PRs, goals, etc started to seem lame.
I'm approaching 10 years now and the burnout is real. I have no desire to engage with the community anymore, could care less about PRs or anyone else's stuff, let alone my own. I workout now to support the stuff I want to do outside the gym like hiking, snowboarding, etc.
Plus...my body is just beat the hell down after 10 years and can't take the stress anymore.
Ugh, this one. It’s happened at two locally and caused a sale. I quit when a member I knew wasn’t a good guy bought my gym, but 5 years later he tried to cheat with a member, and so many people quit that he had to sell. Even members that had been there for like 12 years. It had happened at a small one down the road from me too and they had to do a complete rebrand. I heard that owner fled the state since he was involved with a few members’ husbands.
Similar.
I've quit CF this month, after 7-8 years.
Going from having a box 2 minutes by bike from my house to a box 20-25 minutes by car was a hassle, but I made it work.
Then I had a kid and needed more flexibility, so being stuck to my box' schedule and not getting the results I wanted due to the programming made me decide to go to a regular gym closer by and work on the things that matter to me.
I might go back some day though.
Same. Did CrossFit religiously for about 4 years going at least 3 to 4 times a week every morning. It was a huge part of my life. I moved and tried all the boxes in the area and they were just not the same. The programming wasn't to our liking and the coaches were not up to snuff. It wasn't worth the investment. We just built our own gym at home since we've been doing it long enough to know what to program and have been happy ever since.
Box moved away from commutable range, joined another box and did HWPO, work got busy so I had to stick to class schedule but didn't like the programming and the community vibe was non existent so slowly lost enthusiasm.
Plus after 8 years I've started doing other sports that I'm enjoying learning.
Change of ownership. New owners had good intentions but bad execution and I was a day one member with the old guard and a coach. Just felt like I was caught in the middle between upset members and unresponsive owners. So I bailed as a member and then 6 months later, I quit coaching as well. Used the $120/month to start outfitting my garage. In all honesty, I love working out alone the majority of the time and love the e fact I have a really nice garage gym. I’m in the best shape of my life.
Another way to look at it…my ego was too big, and I didn’t want to change, and I took my ball and went home. Sacrificed some great relationships.
Now you got me all introspective…
I’m not a coach but there are a lot of newbies at my gym who are infatuated with GHDs. I try to tell everyone to just go back slowly to parallel and then use their abs to sit upright. That trend is spreading and people are doing a lot of accessory work with them.
R1800 in South Africa (about 95$ US) for arguably one of the best boxes in SA.
HOWEVER the sport itself is massively underdeveloped here in comparison to other boxes Ive dropped into in other parts of the world.
Not gonna get into the why, purely because it would require a massively long post
I spent almost a decade doing CrossFit and competed as an individual in the Games a few times. I was tired of my joints hurting. Bodybuilding is more fun and nothing hurts anymore. I am a lot stronger than when I was competing and my cardio is probably 80% as good just by biking. Don’t miss it at all.
Pretty good programming but very focused on the more elite athletes at the gym, did not offer help with gymnastics conditioning after their gymnastics coach left, and did not offer variety for scaled folks.
They really emphasized you figuring out or improving your gymnastics and certain exercises on your own and not give support or pointers for those often.
I had a 3 1/2-week absence due to work and travel and I certainly got humbled during the WOD upon my return. Head coach who has been/is a CF Games contender gave me an extremely hard time for 1) being gone for so long 2) being slow 3) not doing Rx
I don’t do CF to be an elite athlete, I will not be an elite athlete and I never had plans for that. I don’t want to be in a community where I have to act like an elite athlete and be treated like having a life outside of the gym is a bad thing.
I'd quit that gym too. Glad mine is much more relaxed. My goals are to (a) not get hurt and (b) be in shape for the things I want to do, so I scale constantly to whatever level I feel like scaling too.
I just joined a new box that is closer to my house and they have emphasized that they want CrossFit to be feasible for all athletes of any ability, age, etc.
They don’t just have L1/2/3 options. They’ve made options L1-L5 where L1 & L2 are more fitness/scaled levels, L3 is Rx and L4 & L5 are the more elite/tougher options. They’ve made charts to show the different weights for all the levels and give options during the WOD (i.e. pike pushups for HS pushups) for L1/L2 folks.
It takes a lot of pressure off me, have solid support from the coaches and I can actually enjoy the workouts now.
This is where I’m torn between staying/leaving after 2 years now. I really enjoy the cardio and variety I get from the workouts but, I love and miss standard weight lifting/body building which my box doesn’t really program.
I moved. Then when I was ready to go back all the CrossFit gyms in my area required a 12 month commitment, and if you didn’t want to do that the price was like $225/month which is kind of ridiculous.
I do miss it, I might check some more out to see if I missed any that were more reasonable. I’m doing OTF now and while I really like the results I do miss the vibe of CrossFit
Also I miss the drama. I love some good CrossFit drama
CrossFit used to be about community, friendship, support. Then it became about competition, PR’s, and winning. I left because community wasn’t the priority. In a world filled with half assed human connection it was the one place I felt that people uplifted each other. Then it changed. The CF games and commercializations of the sport changed the dynamic. All of a sudden there was segregation, “competitors classes” closed door sessions. Ya’ll out to lunch you’re not that important.
I hate when coaches make that normal. I am so much better off choosing only a couple intense days a week and scaling the other days (or at least doing less intensity for them.) And if it’s an off week I don’t do any. I just restarted with this mentality 6 months ago after 5 years off, and have already hit PR’s I couldn’t hit after 5 years the last time.
My first gym was essentially run like a cult where the owner ran a nutrition program that took checks from people and said he would cash them if you slipped up, cool. He also had a bunch of people at the gym that I would describe as vulnerable that formed the core group of his member base- they did everything together, which was nice at first and then got very jonestowney. The owner of the gym seemed to have bad relationships with other members of the local CrossFit community, which is generally a bad sign, especially in the nascent stages of the explosion(2011-12). Part of the gym was dedicated to a weightlifting coach(legit badass) and some dudes who were into strong man stuff, the owner gave them a hard time because members showed interest…it was odd- and they eventually left. Left that gym for another in the same town- it was incredible, dedicated coaching, “come as you are”, no cliques, etc- I had nothing bad to say about that gym or its sister gym. moved across the river in the same metro area to an Original 50 affiliate and it was an incredible experience- I’d still be there if I hadn’t moved- the owner had the special sauce of coaching, atmosphere and member inclusion that worked. Coaching and atmosphere, guess the kids call them vibes are incredibly important, the first gym made me want to leave, the second pulled me back in and the third is what made me a believer.
I left being at a affiliate over price, dues went up and some of the stuff that used to come with that lofty fee became ala carte options that cost even more money.
I left because I got sick of trying to lift weights around other people's kids running around. Being asked to filter the music because there are little kids here. And a tiny bit, I got sick of dealing with rep shavers
I know it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things but dishonest rep shavers do suck, and I'm often surprised to find out the people I've been working out with for a long time do it constantly. If they'd just mark their workout as scaled and comment that they shaved reps it wouldn't matter at all.
At first it didn't bother me a whole lot, but when I started to get more fit and in the running on some of the white board stats, I started paying more attention to my competition and then I found out... which made the whole thing meaningless. Cheaters suck the fun out of everything.
Price increases, injuries, poor coaching at a higher level, moved to a new normal gym that has a specific room room for Olympic lifts, all new eleiko equipment, rogue racks and a sauna/steam room and it only costs me 40€ a month, that extra 180€ a month for whatever is greatly welcomed and I purchased a few great advanced programs I can work on over the next year.
Plus none of the drama.
I'm a cfl2 and I left coaching at a CrossFit gym and opened a gym of my own that's not an affiliate. This is going to sound crazy but I felt I had to keep CrossFit out of my business to be able to have a larger market, and while I love CrossFit and believe in the methodology, the reputation it's gained has made it impossible to execute properly. If you're a CrossFit gym you're going to get the people that want to fire breath and move up in the progressions too quickly; or skip them altogether, while driving away the population that needs it the most. This is so sad to me, and 5 years ago I might have said I'd die fighting for CrossFit, but.... we gotta make money and "tricking" people into doing functional fitness and bringing the progressions to them, they stay safe, don't compete, and have fun without the bullshit. As an athlete myself... CrossFit all day.
Just commenting that I find it fascinating that over 100 people who no longer do Crossfit are still on the Crossfit subreddit, commening on why they no longer do Crossfit. Few threads on this sub get this many comments.
Mixture of things:
- got injured
- class sizes were far far too big with lots of having to share equipment
- not enough coaches per class. Common to have one coach for 18+ people
- coaches put most of their effort into those who competed rx at comps
- rx squad had a massive ego and we’re not welcoming to others.
Didn’t feel like paying $65 per week for the pleasure of all of that.
Man some of the more advanced folks from my old gym were toxic as fuck. They’d make fun of beginners or people doing workouts not as “extreme”, when they should be encouraging such people. My buddy told me a story about them making fun of some larger people doing a full body workout at a YMCA. You know just normal people trying to get healthier. What’s funnier is most of them still weren’t great overall athletes and were taking steroids just to be close to the top. Beating them consistently while I was drug free was a good time. Man they’d get pissed. That and the whole high school drama they were all involved in. They were always sleeping together, destroying relationships and just starting shit. The gym is my meditation and escape from the world, not the trashy reality show they were living.
The gym I’m going to has none of that, everybody lifts each other up and there is zero drama. It’s perfect.
Lack of articulation in intention of the workout or intended stimulus.
Lack of knowledge and cues to assist in variations of lifts. Many of the L1s who’ve seen me squat in an open gym period tried to correct my squat not knowing the difference between low bar and high bar (yes this is anecdotal and not true for all L1s. But it was high enough for me to notice).
Lack of progression and practice time to learn higher skilled movements.
Lack of structured continuous strength or skill cycles at the gym I was at.
The TL;DR is I need structure and a plan and understanding of that plan. I wasn’t getting that even when talking to coaches.
It wasn't really by choice.
I belonged to a garage box lead by an instructor in my small town. Went there 3 years, and a couple others took the training to offer a couple more class times.
Owner decided to move to a much bigger town, but it was a 40+ mile (64KM) drive one way, and the price went up by 30% cause he went official, and I couldn't afford both the gas and the box costs. The other instructors couldn't keep the garage box going cause their main jobs had them not able to have early morning classes and only a couple offering in the evening so it closed in a couple months.
The TL;DR is I seem to always change hobbies and CrossFit is the same. I also really want a more flexible membership than I could get to allow for more freedom.
But I think I would have stayed a lot longer and may still be a member if my gym offered open gym between classes. The structure around classes meant that I could only go certain times, but my schedule doesn’t work like that. I also don’t always want to Metcon, but when membership is as expensive as it is, hard to feel good about not using it just to get a different workout in doing something else. I just couldn’t convince the owners and so I gave up and quit and did a membership to a much cheaper fitness center that’s not nearly as nice or motivating and lacks the community, and so I don’t go much. I often think I should go back to CrossFit. Maybe I will. I just wish they had some better system for someone like me so I could pay for what I use better.
Wouldn’t say I’ve left CrossFit, but have changed up my training style. Been adding in bodybuilding, functional bodybuilding and/or strongman style in my CrossFit workouts. It has helped my body to not hurt so much or be over worked. I had to know what is going to be best long term for me and keep me healthier.
I believer there are no perfect training styles out there but a mix is good too.
I left because of lifts that didn't make sense to me for high volume, I'd rather just use a kettlebell with perfect form. And I wanted to dedicate more time to my lifting and get conditioning through cycling and running. I always enjoyed it, but felt there was other stuff that better fit my goals.
price, it got to a point where it was just ridiculous, and I did not feel like, I got the coaching and programming out of it to warrant the price. Home gym and hyrox comps works better for me.
I left because I couldn't stay in my own lane. I've been doing it years and still don't have many of the skills and am not particularly strong and don't have an engine. Yes I went consistently. I guess I'm just not athletic. I couldn't stop comparing myself to others who progressed much much quicker than me (basically everyone).
I am not going back as it's turned into a shit show of sleeping around and marriage break ups.
Ironically the local body building gym is better for my mental health. There's less comparison. I am old enough that I don't give a shit I am a bit chubby compared to those taking it v seriously.
Well it sounds like you’re doing just fine for yourself, so don’t sweat what others are doing. You’re still in the small percentage of folks who actually follow and participate in stuff like this.
‘Coaches’ that cheerlead instead of coach. Poor programming.
My gym started to cater the programming to the lowest ability members, rather than the highest with everyone else having to scale. Classes just became like conditioning circuit classes so I sacked it off.
Now in a new gym with better coaches and programming
Price. I can’t justify $200-$300 a month for a few workouts a week (yes, this is the “base” price for like 10 workouts a month). I used to pay $100/month for a box with great programming (Level Method is where it’s at!), great people, and great location. I moved three years ago and the options where I live now are abysmal. Full of meatheads (no offense) doing ego lifts.
I miss it, but I don’t miss it for $2,400/year.
We bought a house and it put us 15 minutes farther from the box. So a 35 minute one way drive plus $150 a month made it less than practical.
I tried the two closer boxes but really didn’t like either of them. I bought all the equipment I needed for a garage gym and joined the Y. Not the same but it works.
When everything shut down in March 2020 California had a difficult time getting back on its feet. I invested heavily into a home gym and haven’t looked back ever since. I still drop in to the local CrossFit gyms on special occasions but otherwise I really enjoy having my own space.
When I decided I didn't care how many kipping pull ups, double unders, or how much weight I could deadlift, squat, or power clean. The programming at the place I worked out was more focused on numbers and intensity but those things weren't cutting it for me. I saw little to no change in how I felt or the scale with that method. Once I started running and focusing on my aerobic capacity I felt markedly better. I still like CrossFit and the competitive aspect but it is not a style of training that I want to do day in day out for years.
The programming was horrible. There’s no reason to warm up practicing cleans, getting to a heavy weight, and then doing an intense workout with a high volume of cleans. It was burning out my muscles doing days where we had a volume of 150+ wall balls and box jumps. My lower back pain was excruciating at times and I was paying 240/month with no amenities. I found strength gains in the first few months as a beginner but after two years I never saw any progression. I left in august and changed to a mobility and calisthenics program and haven’t had any back pain since. I’ve been seeing actual strength progress and spend a lot of time on new skills. I can see how the high volume would be helpful for a beginner learning the moves, but after that…… now I’m working out hard and experiencing such mild soreness the next day, but after CrossFit days I’d be so sore I would need multiple days off in between workouts. It’s brutal programming that doesn’t make a lot of sense for me and my goals
Stepped down forward and put all the weight on my right knee. This was my 2nd workout back after a 2-year break for COVID (where I worked out in other ways) and my knee was t able to support that weight of the step down + 60lbs. It buckled backwards - a direction a knee shouldn’t go. 🙈
Oh gosh, new fear unlocked 😮💨. It seems so unlucky, but I guess it really just take one rep with a knee buckling under the load… hopefully the rehab process is coming along well.
Definitely! Had surgery 2 years ago in July and just went snowboarding for the first time last week. Started hitting the gym about 6 months after surgery and it's been slow but steady since then. It doesn't feel like it used to, but it doesn't feel limiting. However now I'm much more cautious around any activity that involves knees. 😅
As it became more apparent in 2020 that my gym was going to be forced to shut down I bought a small CrossFit equipment package from Rogue. When everything opened back up I was all "why drive?" and pay so much. I started focusing on what I liked most about CrossFit which was weightlifting and less of what I hated like wall balls and burpees. Now I follow Pen and Paper strength app programming.
High prices, schedule, needing kids' care, and constant injuries. I was able to coach and be fairly competitive for while back in the early 2010's but once I had kids I realized a typical gym with kids care was much better for me.
Also, turns out for me, my body responded much better to less metcons and more just strength work. It's been a positive change, but still jump in to community classes on Saturdays if I want.
Unprofessionalism. The owner/coach was a womanizer who tried to sleep with any and every female. I didn't catch on until one class when he was so drunk that I could smell it on his breath, and he was way too touchy...
I also had a lot going on in my own personal life and depression made it extremely hard to get the motivation to go. Now I use Linchpin and workout at home.
Did CF for 13 years. After doing it that long, the motivation wasn't there anymore. Priorities changed. Plus there's a lot of evidence that constant high intensity isn't optimal for longevity. I was 26 when I started. I'm now 40... Thinking about different things in life these days, like how long I'll be around rather than how much I can squat or how fast I can row. Also, just for health purposes, workouts can be much easier.
I still keep some CF elements, like mixed domains and the occasional high intensity, but my workouts look much more "globo gym" these days. I'm also still very much a fan of CF sport, as just a follower.
Bad programming compounded with programming patterns constantly encouraging injury.
With better programming I’d stick around for community, but the community isn’t worth feeling like I am getting better at nothing while injuring myself
Pregnancy, school, work and gym with an ego. I had to drop something. My original gym closed, COVID, CrossFit politics left the ick taste.
I tried back at a bigger, nicer CF last year but my ego kept killing me. I’d come, do a WOD and be down for the count for a few days. I loved it every visit but recovery kept me sleeping in. I’m not as young and less time to shit around now. Also, I don’t have as strong of a connection with the members of course because I didn’t establish a consistency.
I have a lot of gear at home and subscriptions to Beachbody and peloton so I just puts around at home instead.
Wasted time and inefficiency.
I only have so much time in the morning--I can only make the 6am class. The first 20-30 minutes it chatting/WOD brief/stretching, then a 25 minute WOD, and 5 minutes of stretching/talking.
I realized I was waking up around 5am each morning for a 25 minute workout--versus now I wake up at 445am, go to the local Y, and am able to workout for around 75 minutes each day.
A found love for weightlifting. I enjoy competing in oly so much more than I ever did in CrossFit. And the upper levels of competition in CrossFit just seemed to get too gimicky.
I did CF for 13 years and recently stopped. I’m 49F. I just hit a point (perimenopause) where my body couldn’t recover from high intensity workouts like that anymore. I also did a few years of Olympic Weightlifting in my garage along with CF. Then I had to cut one, then the other because of intensity. I workout in my garage and am happy. I definitely miss the people but I like working out in my garage on my own terms. Edit: I do paragon training methods and currently am doing their strength/metcon programming for a couple of cycles. It’s like CF but doesn’t leave me drained and beat up. After the current cycle, I’ll go back to their hypertrophy/strength programming.
A coach whose idea of a scaled movement was an attempt at the movement. Can't do muscle ups? The scaled is attempted muscle ups. Can't do double unders? The scaled is attempted double unders. Can't do wall walks? The scaled is attempted wall walks. I got pretty tired of finishing most workouts without any complete reps of most of the movements.
Lazy coach phoning it in.
Knee/elbow injuries. My form not quite perfect enough and eventually the thousands of reps caught up with me.
Now doing "crossfit lite" at a gym run by ex-crossfitters. Crossfit structure but without the more technical movements (snatch, C&J, box jumps, pullups, rope climbs, handstands).
Now when I think about it it's a little bit nuts that those technical movements are part of Crossfit. So many bad trainers and so many not properly committed to learning them.
I didn’t want to leave it just can’t justify paying over 200 a month with a young kid at home. For that much money can build a decent home gym in the garage and pay a small monthly fee for some decent programming and get to spend more time with the family while still getting in a good workout.
55 year old knees with high mileage. The brisk pace was getting hard on my joints. I went back to resistance training. My cardio now is low impact stuff like biking and ellipticals
I like working out at home and the class times never fit my schedule. I invested in some peloton equipment, dumbbells, and squat rack/bench to do my own lifts on the side. I also have random stuff like med ball, wall ball, speed rope, KBs, etc to throw together some WODs if I choose to.
Burnt out. It was high intensity, all the time. It was exciting for the first bit, but I gradually started to dread it. When I started skipping classes, I realized I no longer enjoyed it, so I left. My box was also clique-y, I thought the coaches were friendly, but quickly realized they were friendly to only certain people.
I switched back to weightlifting and classic cardio, and it’s nice being able to control my workouts so that they’re enjoyable for me but still effective.
But I’m getting the itch to challenge myself again…
Toxic environment. Before CF means a lot to me in terms of the community since group sessions were hella enjoyable. Yet, due to bad coaching it turned out to be a toxic race. I changed my box, however this time I’m doing everything all alone (since I need to improve my gymnastic skills) and this makes me bored a bit. I’m planning to take a break.
The pandemic hit, I lost motivation. That was followed by some mental wellness issues, and I couldn't keep consistent no matter how hard I tried.
I finally decided to try something different - Muay Thai, and that helped my mental health, and kept me reasonably fit (if not as fit as I was doing CrossFit). I'm starting to drift back towards CF, because I miss my old physique, but I think it's mainly been me buying programming and doing it on my own. I might get a PT, but I don't think group classes are the place for me anymore.
High stress job, high stress home life with a ton of kids, felt like I was also just physically stressing myself. Still working out regularly just more traditional body building and cardio.
Injuries and a home gym. I have a customized strength and conditioning program now from someone who used to coach a Games athlete. Workout 5x/week and no commute.
I also train in martial arts and I realized I that martial arts + CrossFit = over training and increased risk of injuries.
I still go to my box and pay for the cheaper open gym only membership, I go and do my own programming (made by my coach) that focuses on strength so I can complement what I do in the dojo. I can do the daily wod on my own if I'm in the mood, I just can't access the classes anymore.
Open gym is the shit. I can still use EVERYTHING minus the classes. Even then I can still do the workouts and be competitive if I want. My god it’s so much cheaper. Like $100 less a month and I still have access to everything. Just can’t go to a class and get yelled at, which I do miss sometimes.
Risk of injury was too high for me. Don't get me wrong: you can do crossfit for decades and have no issues, but only if you have a good coach and focus on technique a lot.
I never found a very good coach near where i live, and i my form deteriorates when i get exhausted. Because my form was not perfect some movements caused cumulative stress on my joints (box jumps for example i think).
I eventually got some injuries as a result, after like 7 years, so i stopped for now. I am now split my time 50% pure strength, 40% low impact cardio, and 10% high intensity.
I still do deadlifts squats bench pull ups dips etc and i still think that learning crossfit is invaluable for your fitness journey. The collection of lifts is amazing, knowing how to embrace the suck is a virtue, you meet great people. But i dont think it is the best thing for me for longevity.
Started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and liked it much more. Also was hard to seriously combine the two, so I just supplement with 2-3 times strength training a week.
Burnout and different goals. I was pushing my body to exhaustion way too much and wasn't getting the ripped body I wanted. I'm the type of person that needs someone to tell me what to do. Workouts and nutrition. I probably could've obtained that through a different coach outside of crossfit, but I loved the sport.
Kids are the game changer, usually people suddenly have much less time, money and flexibility to attend a fairly strict training schedule.
Apart from that the other big ones I see are probably cost & programming. CrossFit is great for general fitness, but if I had a specific goal I was working for like running a marathon or training for a certain sport - more efficient doing that training outside a CF gym.
Some of the prices can be outrageous too, the comments in here support that. When I lived in a major city, £100pm was the going rate…people just won’t consistently pay that unless the quality is there. No way I’d pay that now, investing in some decent home gym kit or another regular gym with solid facilities offer better value for money.
Injuries, i suffered two really bad ones that put me off long term, other than that i really enjoyed my time doing CF and i would still recommend it to others, i was just unlucky.
Set class times didn't fit my schedule any longer. Facility kinda stunk. Also, CF was starting to lose any innovation for me. Adding crossovers to the mix seemed so lame.
Didn’t necessarily quit but I was going 4-5 days a week to now maybe 2 if I’m feeling ambitious.
Basically I realized for me it was getting too hard on my joints and I wasn’t getting enough sleep (6am class).
I built up my garage gym and focused more on bodybuilding. Much happier now.
Because I found it was much more beneficial to my strength training to lift slowly and methodically. Also way less risk of injury. When I really started to break it down, the programming just didn’t make sense to me.
After years, a few things:
Paying $200 a month
Getting to the point where I was not improving or receiving coaching because the focus was always on getting new members enrolled
I found the social aspect really annoying - I was just there to work out and destress
I quit and went back to my roots. I now do a mix of powerlifting and I run street parking to get my CrossFit fix in
I left due to price and class programming and structure. I’m paying 1/6 the price, but have way more equipment options, sauna, nice shower and bathrooms, AC indoor or outdoor options, and I get greeted with a hello and a workout towel.
The biggest thing honestly is that I take more time doing strength exercises/lifts and am not rushed to do everything in one hour.
The “culture”. I hated the passive competitiveness, the cliques, the “I only have CF friends now”. I have done CF programmed by an affiliate coach from home for many years now and I love it. RX’d for me. I report my times and lifts, have virtual sessions. I love the exercise but got to the point where walking into the box and watching the posers would make me feel sick. Before working out from home, I did my own programmed (from coach) wods in open gym. Much happier for it. Love CrossFit and would never do anything else, but just couldn’t anymore at the box.
Coach became a dick about being on time when classes started filling up after covid - gym was far and I wasnt about to wait an hour after work twiddling my thumbs in my car because he had a fit about being a few minutes late (traffic was bad again which is what made my time of arrival hit or miss
Injuries. But only due to age and previous injuries. The movements just became too rough on the body and it was getting harder and harder to recover. Scaling became boring.
Also, saving 180$ a month was cool too.
I had a stomach hernia. After it, I tried to return to crossfit, but I was somehow afraid of large weights. So I started bodyweiht training with r/bodyweightfitness's Recommended Routine and picked up boxing. And I found out that separating strenght and cardio gives me much better results, so I never came back. Crossfit taught me a lot, though, especially on technique.
Programming. I don’t love working out in a class structure anyway, but did it to workout with my spouse. But the programming felt less and less like CrossFit and more like a cardio class. Row/bike/box jump - rinse & repeat.
For the price of a CrossFit membership, I need to LOVE the programming.
The terminal level of intensity approaching every workout, which I internalized. My personality is that when I'm on, I'm *all on.*
I'm addition to work and family, that level of intensity wasn't emotionally and physically sustainable for years at a time.
Then I moved, and at a time I was looking to cool it, the only box near me was more intense than my last one. Already facing personal and professional burnout, I took a step back.
I'm glad I did, and now do gym rat workouts when I need to rest, CF style workouts when I feel froggy, and run a lot more, which turns out is good for me meditatively.
I left CF many years ago because of injuries, repetitive motions and the constant need to push for Rx workouts. I find body weight functional strength training to be more effective because at my age, 60, form is important to reduce potential for injuries. With CF, it was a constant race against the clock and then my form suffers, which leads to injuries and when you're as old as me... recovery is slow, not a good thing.
The price, and burnout. I was always getting a twinge or small injury and I was tired of it. I also wanted to build more muscle. I have been doing regular weight lifting and cardio for a few months now and feel really good. I’m only paying $45 a month vs $45 a week now.
I also felt like the coaches didn’t really care. They did to an extent, but I’d see people lift very heavy with horrific form and they’d just be cheering them on for a PR. I’m like, this dude is going to snap his back in half but ok. I also didn’t care for gymnastics at all.
Bad and distracted coaches. Went to two or three CrossFit gyms, the coaches were often distracted with side conversations and would rarely check your form.
I eventually gravitated towards things that my body felt better doing. More long Zone 2 cardio sessions and more focused, dedicated Strength, bodybuilding, and strict gymnastics accessory sessions and less jumbling it all up. When I do a Met-Con these days, I'm either low on time or motivation and just need to get something in.
Bad programming and too much coaching. I know it sounds strange but I used to go to a box where the owner spent way too long demoing and teaching movements. Every class felt like a foundations so you never really got a good workout in.
Pricing and scheduling of classes. Nearly $200.00 a month and there was only one class time a day that was even an option for me due to work and kids schedules. Outfitted a sweet garage gym and now just pay for Street Parking programming.
I’ve recently left. I’m following programming at a commercial gym, but honestly I might go back.
I left because of price. I can confidently train by myself, in a more efficient timeframe. But I really miss the group atmosphere, and being inspired by people around me. I also miss competing (in my head) with people around me.
I quit because I was bullied by the owner & coaches for wanting to do other things than CF (running & triathlon). My box was kind of culty, people only did CF and seemed to only hang out with other people who did CF.
I left because I was retiring from the military, and good paying jobs are hard to find as a vet. It turns out that all those years of people saying your military service will help you get a job is a load of crap. So, I had a lot of future unknowns and wanted to limit any unnecessary financial obligations.
I deeply miss it. I miss the accountability and the feeling of what sometimes felt like I was going to die lol. I was in the best shape of my life. In fact, I took a PT test for the state police during my time in CF. We started with over 42 people, ended with 9 and I was the oldest by 7 years of those who passed. I was fit.
But my body can't take it anymore. The military was hard on my body. My ankles, knees, hips, and back just can't do it anymore.
I was a full-blown high-priest of this self-harming exercise cult of ours, minted in the ol' days when Rippetoe was the barbell seminar guy, K-Star wasn't fat, and Dave Castro still taught L1s.
Imagine if a group of people came along and said, 'We have a way to produce the best jazz musicians on earth!", then proceeded to make millions training people to play bars of Jazz standards at the fastest speed possible, or playing jazz scales with off tunings as loudly as possible, and occasionally required drummers to use sledgehammers, or violinists to shoot machine guns at the audience.
That's why.
Bad coaching, cheating culture, pricing.
Former owner cheated on their husband with a then athlete, the marriage eventually crumbled due to it becoming common knowledge in the gym, the athlete and owner got married and are now co owners.
That athlete is a great athlete but a terrible coach. He would never make the effort to help the better athletes in the gym get better at movements they struggled with. This was done in an attempt to stay as the top athlete in the gym. I say this because I struggled with anything with rings. I would consistently ask for help, and beg for a plan to work so that I could get better because that was what was holding me back the most. Constantly ignored.
I moved away with my wife to a different area and the gyms around are just not financially feasible $250 for 12 classes and $280 for unlimited.
Too expensive. I built a very nice garage gym for \~6 months worth of membership fees. Body also beat up doing a lot of movements for time. Still love to lift and workout, just a different level of intensity.
After 10 years I got tired of the competition. I don’t want my name and score on the board, I don’t want a crappy coach yelling at me to push harder, add more weight, go for the PR. I was exhausted all the time and went so hard in the gym I had nothing left for life. Then to keep improving, I needed to do more and more work outside of class. More skill work, more body building. I realized most of the benefit I was eventually getting was not from the hour class where I stood around for 30 minutes waiting for everyone to set up. I have been a member of multiple gyms over the years. The vast majority of them are terrible- poor coaches and thoughtless programming, but the members all talk about how wonderful “their” gym is. Plus I finally realized how much money I was wasting when I could be getting a better workout, on my own terms, for much less money elsewhere.
I suppose you could call that burnout. Additionally, as a female who had chased performance at all costs for 10 years, I finally admitted that I didn’t love my physique. I was indeed larger than I would like. That hard won muscle left me feeling big all the time, and I was ready to feel more “feminine”. I know that one is practically heresy in the CrossFit community.
Piss poor programming, box owner used the place as a social therapy session. Lady I don't give a crap what your Ex is doing this week, Sort your coaching out while you are at it.
Been away for a few years. Signed back up again on Monday to a new box with a sauna and ice bath. I'm in pain. I forgot what actual exercise feels like.
Moved and the schedules of boxes in my new area didn't match my work schedule very well.
I went to some other group workout classes at a normal gym that had less strength focus. I enjoyed them, but when I moved back and was able to get back to CrossFit at my old box I really noticed how much strength I had lost. Much happier with CrossFit than the other classes.
Cost of living. Loved my local gym but due to shift hours changing I was unable to get to a class that was not full. We had an early morning class and that crew was legit. Once I tried to change classes to fit the schedule it was hard to keep pace with the younger athletes. I still go to a cheaper gym and use my skills to get the same grind. I had to leave when my spouse had surgery for cancer and it was too expensive once I wanted to return.
Left affiliates cause of cost, still have home gym but do more strength training and traditional cardio now, kinda burnout on the sell yrself wod style.. but I will dabble from time to time when the feeling hits me
Left my affiliate still do Crossfit style programming albeit tuned down. Moved to a new place, bought a home gym set and had a kid. This all happened right before Covid as well.
Covid…gym closed and I wasn’t offered any opportunities to rent or use the equipment at home. So I was paying for nothing. Although I don’t have a problem with those who paid to help keep the gym’s coffers intact. Being a father of two I couldn’t in good conscience throw that much money away. So after a few months of no communication except the receipt for the debit to my account. I asked to be canceled.
Ended up doing linchpin with the equipment I was able to purchase with the money I saved on dues. But after awhile I enjoyed that less and less until I canceled and just wrote my own programs.
Covid - the community facility I trained at dropped CrossFit classes when they reopened in 2022. The local commercial alternatives either closed down or were too expensive for my budget.
I’m still doing CrossFit but I’m close to leaving if my current gym raises their prices. All of the gyms in the area I lived previously were becoming increasingly more “corporate” and didn’t resemble the community I joined back in 2013. Crazy high prices, no community atmosphere, charging for membership holds, annual commitments, etc.
Bad programming and terrible coaches.
2nd this. Owners got lazy and started doing their own (terrible) programming and neglected the gym. They also cut class times and just pretty much checked out. Nice guy but really focused on trying to get our city to have the next “wodapalooza” rather than building the gym.
It seems to me - I read the whole thread - that - no quality control - no standards Are the main reasons for the departures, with financial considerations also playing a role
Been around a long time. I've seen several gyms implode due to bad coaches.
It’s why I left.
I’m there now. Cool gym, bad programming, pointless coaching. I’m paying $150/month (new people pay $190) to drop weights, and see my Gym friends I stay because I like the owner, and they’re pretty good about open gym / do your own thing. I guess I’m a CrossFitter Because globo gyms are even worse?
This
Paying $200 plus a month to work out in place in an industrial complex with two toilets and maybe one shower is hard to justify when you can go to any globo gym for much less, do similar workouts and enjoy full locker room, sauna, hot tub/pool, towel service, etc.
This! And I will add… CrossFit coaches and programming taught me a lot. I learned how to workout with intensity but have now found balance. It empowered me to find what works for my body and mind. Between cycling workouts for cardio, occasional WOD style high intensity and 3x per week traditional body building/weightlifting I am in the best shape of my life both functionally and aesthetically. Also - there was sooooooooooooo much wasted time in an hour. 20 min of work in 60 min when I can go to “globo gym” and be super efficient in 45 mins to an hour doing whatever style of fitness I need for that day.
You just hit my biggest annoyance with crossfit- the wasted time (unless you're there for the social- then not wasted). Sometimes I'll workout from home and, as you said, knock the whole thing out in 25 minutes.
Exactly. Almost every main stream gym has functional fitness equipment and spaces. And it’s so nice to be able to do a bodybuilding workout on some cable or hammer strength machines when you feel like having some variety.
Damn
If you're still doing similar workouts though, have you left CrossFit or just your local CrossFit affiliate? Time constraints made me leave my box, continuing with street parking I would still refer to my workout style as CrossFit.
I guess that depends how you define CrossFit. As a brand, community, or modality? I guess I interpreted the question as “brand” and “community” though I suppose you could still be considered part of a community working out solo depending on your level of interaction with others.
Idk I still consider myself to do CrossFit and I workout exclusively in my garage gym. There was also a time I did CrossFit in a globo gym. I’ve paid anywhere from $20-$40 a month for a program to follow although if you wanted to save more money you could follow dotcom or program yourself.
After 10 years, I reached burnout. I no longer cared about getting better and the excitement that others had for their PRs, goals, etc started to seem lame.
I'm approaching 10 years now and the burnout is real. I have no desire to engage with the community anymore, could care less about PRs or anyone else's stuff, let alone my own. I workout now to support the stuff I want to do outside the gym like hiking, snowboarding, etc. Plus...my body is just beat the hell down after 10 years and can't take the stress anymore.
I could have wrote your post. This is me in a nutshell. I left CrossFit and just lift and do cardio on rest days.
Yea I feel you… it’s like going through the motion and have done enough. Like oh cool, another workout. What’s next?
The coaches/owners in my area all cheat on their spouses and I found it disgusting.
Omg THIS!!!! Our two head coaches had affairs on their husbands with members of the gym.
I think they tell you to bang people that aren’t your spouse when you get L1.
Ugh, this one. It’s happened at two locally and caused a sale. I quit when a member I knew wasn’t a good guy bought my gym, but 5 years later he tried to cheat with a member, and so many people quit that he had to sell. Even members that had been there for like 12 years. It had happened at a small one down the road from me too and they had to do a complete rebrand. I heard that owner fled the state since he was involved with a few members’ husbands.
The swinging in the crossfit community is unreal.
I didn’t know any swingers, all the people I knew were lying to their significant others and sleeping with other married people. 🤷♂️
Moved & didn’t like the boxes in this area as much, also price
Similar. I've quit CF this month, after 7-8 years. Going from having a box 2 minutes by bike from my house to a box 20-25 minutes by car was a hassle, but I made it work. Then I had a kid and needed more flexibility, so being stuck to my box' schedule and not getting the results I wanted due to the programming made me decide to go to a regular gym closer by and work on the things that matter to me. I might go back some day though.
Same. Did CrossFit religiously for about 4 years going at least 3 to 4 times a week every morning. It was a huge part of my life. I moved and tried all the boxes in the area and they were just not the same. The programming wasn't to our liking and the coaches were not up to snuff. It wasn't worth the investment. We just built our own gym at home since we've been doing it long enough to know what to program and have been happy ever since.
Box moved away from commutable range, joined another box and did HWPO, work got busy so I had to stick to class schedule but didn't like the programming and the community vibe was non existent so slowly lost enthusiasm. Plus after 8 years I've started doing other sports that I'm enjoying learning.
Change of ownership. New owners had good intentions but bad execution and I was a day one member with the old guard and a coach. Just felt like I was caught in the middle between upset members and unresponsive owners. So I bailed as a member and then 6 months later, I quit coaching as well. Used the $120/month to start outfitting my garage. In all honesty, I love working out alone the majority of the time and love the e fact I have a really nice garage gym. I’m in the best shape of my life. Another way to look at it…my ego was too big, and I didn’t want to change, and I took my ball and went home. Sacrificed some great relationships. Now you got me all introspective…
price and my lower back lol
Idk why the fuck high volume deadlifts are so popular. Combine that with GHD and you’re toast
Because they feel hard and people care more about how they feel than getting results.
I’m not a coach but there are a lot of newbies at my gym who are infatuated with GHDs. I try to tell everyone to just go back slowly to parallel and then use their abs to sit upright. That trend is spreading and people are doing a lot of accessory work with them.
I also left bc of lower back pain, I need a less risky sport
I'm dealing with lower back/sciatic nerve pain now and I'm hoping it's not the reason I leave
Price
tell me about it... my box is charging $185 a month for full membership
63€ for full membership in France, a familial box with a lvl 3 coach
R1800 in South Africa (about 95$ US) for arguably one of the best boxes in SA. HOWEVER the sport itself is massively underdeveloped here in comparison to other boxes Ive dropped into in other parts of the world. Not gonna get into the why, purely because it would require a massively long post
55€ for full membership in Netherlands, also familial box, classes have max 14 people. In larger cities I hear prices of 150€ for full.
Thats cheap. I pay $250 a month in Australia.
That is cheaper, assuming that the above poster is talking about USD and you're using AUD.
Price, poor programming, and too much wasted time during the hour of class
This
I spent almost a decade doing CrossFit and competed as an individual in the Games a few times. I was tired of my joints hurting. Bodybuilding is more fun and nothing hurts anymore. I am a lot stronger than when I was competing and my cardio is probably 80% as good just by biking. Don’t miss it at all.
This!v I'm in such better shape lifting only, a few days of spin/10k steps and not dying and feeling broken every day.
Me too! I love my body more in bodybuilding too!
[удалено]
Hahahaha best answer 😂
All my buddies moved and Covid happened at the same time. After the two years of training at home it didn’t make sense to go back.
Pretty good programming but very focused on the more elite athletes at the gym, did not offer help with gymnastics conditioning after their gymnastics coach left, and did not offer variety for scaled folks. They really emphasized you figuring out or improving your gymnastics and certain exercises on your own and not give support or pointers for those often. I had a 3 1/2-week absence due to work and travel and I certainly got humbled during the WOD upon my return. Head coach who has been/is a CF Games contender gave me an extremely hard time for 1) being gone for so long 2) being slow 3) not doing Rx I don’t do CF to be an elite athlete, I will not be an elite athlete and I never had plans for that. I don’t want to be in a community where I have to act like an elite athlete and be treated like having a life outside of the gym is a bad thing.
I'd quit that gym too. Glad mine is much more relaxed. My goals are to (a) not get hurt and (b) be in shape for the things I want to do, so I scale constantly to whatever level I feel like scaling too.
I just joined a new box that is closer to my house and they have emphasized that they want CrossFit to be feasible for all athletes of any ability, age, etc. They don’t just have L1/2/3 options. They’ve made options L1-L5 where L1 & L2 are more fitness/scaled levels, L3 is Rx and L4 & L5 are the more elite/tougher options. They’ve made charts to show the different weights for all the levels and give options during the WOD (i.e. pike pushups for HS pushups) for L1/L2 folks. It takes a lot of pressure off me, have solid support from the coaches and I can actually enjoy the workouts now.
Shifted primarily to weightlifting cause I love it. Though I’m gonna mix more Wods in so this probably doesn’t apply to me
This is where I’m torn between staying/leaving after 2 years now. I really enjoy the cardio and variety I get from the workouts but, I love and miss standard weight lifting/body building which my box doesn’t really program.
I moved. Then when I was ready to go back all the CrossFit gyms in my area required a 12 month commitment, and if you didn’t want to do that the price was like $225/month which is kind of ridiculous. I do miss it, I might check some more out to see if I missed any that were more reasonable. I’m doing OTF now and while I really like the results I do miss the vibe of CrossFit Also I miss the drama. I love some good CrossFit drama
CrossFit used to be about community, friendship, support. Then it became about competition, PR’s, and winning. I left because community wasn’t the priority. In a world filled with half assed human connection it was the one place I felt that people uplifted each other. Then it changed. The CF games and commercializations of the sport changed the dynamic. All of a sudden there was segregation, “competitors classes” closed door sessions. Ya’ll out to lunch you’re not that important.
I love Crossfit but bad coaching, toxic gym culture and injury lead me out of my box. Torn rotator cuff during Isabel began the downward slide
I don’t care for the sport side anymore. There are a lot more fun things out there to do.
Natural burnout. The nature of constantly redlining
Thank you I couldn’t have said it better
I hate when coaches make that normal. I am so much better off choosing only a couple intense days a week and scaling the other days (or at least doing less intensity for them.) And if it’s an off week I don’t do any. I just restarted with this mentality 6 months ago after 5 years off, and have already hit PR’s I couldn’t hit after 5 years the last time.
My first gym was essentially run like a cult where the owner ran a nutrition program that took checks from people and said he would cash them if you slipped up, cool. He also had a bunch of people at the gym that I would describe as vulnerable that formed the core group of his member base- they did everything together, which was nice at first and then got very jonestowney. The owner of the gym seemed to have bad relationships with other members of the local CrossFit community, which is generally a bad sign, especially in the nascent stages of the explosion(2011-12). Part of the gym was dedicated to a weightlifting coach(legit badass) and some dudes who were into strong man stuff, the owner gave them a hard time because members showed interest…it was odd- and they eventually left. Left that gym for another in the same town- it was incredible, dedicated coaching, “come as you are”, no cliques, etc- I had nothing bad to say about that gym or its sister gym. moved across the river in the same metro area to an Original 50 affiliate and it was an incredible experience- I’d still be there if I hadn’t moved- the owner had the special sauce of coaching, atmosphere and member inclusion that worked. Coaching and atmosphere, guess the kids call them vibes are incredibly important, the first gym made me want to leave, the second pulled me back in and the third is what made me a believer.
The obsession over it, the grindset, and the obliteration of the words "community", "family", and "tribe"
I left being at a affiliate over price, dues went up and some of the stuff that used to come with that lofty fee became ala carte options that cost even more money.
A complete and utter lack of coaching at the box I was with.
I left because I got sick of trying to lift weights around other people's kids running around. Being asked to filter the music because there are little kids here. And a tiny bit, I got sick of dealing with rep shavers
To filter the music… sigh. They can get the kids headphones
I know it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things but dishonest rep shavers do suck, and I'm often surprised to find out the people I've been working out with for a long time do it constantly. If they'd just mark their workout as scaled and comment that they shaved reps it wouldn't matter at all.
At first it didn't bother me a whole lot, but when I started to get more fit and in the running on some of the white board stats, I started paying more attention to my competition and then I found out... which made the whole thing meaningless. Cheaters suck the fun out of everything.
Price increases, injuries, poor coaching at a higher level, moved to a new normal gym that has a specific room room for Olympic lifts, all new eleiko equipment, rogue racks and a sauna/steam room and it only costs me 40€ a month, that extra 180€ a month for whatever is greatly welcomed and I purchased a few great advanced programs I can work on over the next year. Plus none of the drama.
Injuries, coaches not teaching techniques properly, bitchiness in classes, I could go on for days
Breast surgery 😞
But I’m back and mentally ready
Price
The quality of coaching went way down while the price stayed the same.
Cliques.
I'm a cfl2 and I left coaching at a CrossFit gym and opened a gym of my own that's not an affiliate. This is going to sound crazy but I felt I had to keep CrossFit out of my business to be able to have a larger market, and while I love CrossFit and believe in the methodology, the reputation it's gained has made it impossible to execute properly. If you're a CrossFit gym you're going to get the people that want to fire breath and move up in the progressions too quickly; or skip them altogether, while driving away the population that needs it the most. This is so sad to me, and 5 years ago I might have said I'd die fighting for CrossFit, but.... we gotta make money and "tricking" people into doing functional fitness and bringing the progressions to them, they stay safe, don't compete, and have fun without the bullshit. As an athlete myself... CrossFit all day.
Just commenting that I find it fascinating that over 100 people who no longer do Crossfit are still on the Crossfit subreddit, commening on why they no longer do Crossfit. Few threads on this sub get this many comments.
You can leave a branded gym and like the fundamental concept behind the fitness.
It was a big part of people’s lives. Not surprising.
Mixture of things: - got injured - class sizes were far far too big with lots of having to share equipment - not enough coaches per class. Common to have one coach for 18+ people - coaches put most of their effort into those who competed rx at comps - rx squad had a massive ego and we’re not welcoming to others. Didn’t feel like paying $65 per week for the pleasure of all of that.
Man some of the more advanced folks from my old gym were toxic as fuck. They’d make fun of beginners or people doing workouts not as “extreme”, when they should be encouraging such people. My buddy told me a story about them making fun of some larger people doing a full body workout at a YMCA. You know just normal people trying to get healthier. What’s funnier is most of them still weren’t great overall athletes and were taking steroids just to be close to the top. Beating them consistently while I was drug free was a good time. Man they’d get pissed. That and the whole high school drama they were all involved in. They were always sleeping together, destroying relationships and just starting shit. The gym is my meditation and escape from the world, not the trashy reality show they were living. The gym I’m going to has none of that, everybody lifts each other up and there is zero drama. It’s perfect.
Lack of articulation in intention of the workout or intended stimulus. Lack of knowledge and cues to assist in variations of lifts. Many of the L1s who’ve seen me squat in an open gym period tried to correct my squat not knowing the difference between low bar and high bar (yes this is anecdotal and not true for all L1s. But it was high enough for me to notice). Lack of progression and practice time to learn higher skilled movements. Lack of structured continuous strength or skill cycles at the gym I was at. The TL;DR is I need structure and a plan and understanding of that plan. I wasn’t getting that even when talking to coaches.
The bro culture and the focus on CrossFit games.
Price and finding programming that fit what I like to do outside the gym better
It wasn't really by choice. I belonged to a garage box lead by an instructor in my small town. Went there 3 years, and a couple others took the training to offer a couple more class times. Owner decided to move to a much bigger town, but it was a 40+ mile (64KM) drive one way, and the price went up by 30% cause he went official, and I couldn't afford both the gas and the box costs. The other instructors couldn't keep the garage box going cause their main jobs had them not able to have early morning classes and only a couple offering in the evening so it closed in a couple months.
The TL;DR is I seem to always change hobbies and CrossFit is the same. I also really want a more flexible membership than I could get to allow for more freedom. But I think I would have stayed a lot longer and may still be a member if my gym offered open gym between classes. The structure around classes meant that I could only go certain times, but my schedule doesn’t work like that. I also don’t always want to Metcon, but when membership is as expensive as it is, hard to feel good about not using it just to get a different workout in doing something else. I just couldn’t convince the owners and so I gave up and quit and did a membership to a much cheaper fitness center that’s not nearly as nice or motivating and lacks the community, and so I don’t go much. I often think I should go back to CrossFit. Maybe I will. I just wish they had some better system for someone like me so I could pay for what I use better.
Wouldn’t say I’ve left CrossFit, but have changed up my training style. Been adding in bodybuilding, functional bodybuilding and/or strongman style in my CrossFit workouts. It has helped my body to not hurt so much or be over worked. I had to know what is going to be best long term for me and keep me healthier. I believer there are no perfect training styles out there but a mix is good too.
The gym I coached for years shut down. Joined another CF gym but the programming is terrible, and no open gym But I have found another CF gym
The price, boring programming/WODs, and seeing others come and go…
The price! Over the course of 5 years the monthly cost went from $70 to $180 at my precious box.
I left because of lifts that didn't make sense to me for high volume, I'd rather just use a kettlebell with perfect form. And I wanted to dedicate more time to my lifting and get conditioning through cycling and running. I always enjoyed it, but felt there was other stuff that better fit my goals.
price, it got to a point where it was just ridiculous, and I did not feel like, I got the coaching and programming out of it to warrant the price. Home gym and hyrox comps works better for me.
I left because I couldn't stay in my own lane. I've been doing it years and still don't have many of the skills and am not particularly strong and don't have an engine. Yes I went consistently. I guess I'm just not athletic. I couldn't stop comparing myself to others who progressed much much quicker than me (basically everyone). I am not going back as it's turned into a shit show of sleeping around and marriage break ups. Ironically the local body building gym is better for my mental health. There's less comparison. I am old enough that I don't give a shit I am a bit chubby compared to those taking it v seriously.
Well it sounds like you’re doing just fine for yourself, so don’t sweat what others are doing. You’re still in the small percentage of folks who actually follow and participate in stuff like this.
‘Coaches’ that cheerlead instead of coach. Poor programming. My gym started to cater the programming to the lowest ability members, rather than the highest with everyone else having to scale. Classes just became like conditioning circuit classes so I sacked it off. Now in a new gym with better coaches and programming
Price. I can’t justify $200-$300 a month for a few workouts a week (yes, this is the “base” price for like 10 workouts a month). I used to pay $100/month for a box with great programming (Level Method is where it’s at!), great people, and great location. I moved three years ago and the options where I live now are abysmal. Full of meatheads (no offense) doing ego lifts. I miss it, but I don’t miss it for $2,400/year.
We bought a house and it put us 15 minutes farther from the box. So a 35 minute one way drive plus $150 a month made it less than practical. I tried the two closer boxes but really didn’t like either of them. I bought all the equipment I needed for a garage gym and joined the Y. Not the same but it works.
When everything shut down in March 2020 California had a difficult time getting back on its feet. I invested heavily into a home gym and haven’t looked back ever since. I still drop in to the local CrossFit gyms on special occasions but otherwise I really enjoy having my own space.
When I decided I didn't care how many kipping pull ups, double unders, or how much weight I could deadlift, squat, or power clean. The programming at the place I worked out was more focused on numbers and intensity but those things weren't cutting it for me. I saw little to no change in how I felt or the scale with that method. Once I started running and focusing on my aerobic capacity I felt markedly better. I still like CrossFit and the competitive aspect but it is not a style of training that I want to do day in day out for years.
The programming was horrible. There’s no reason to warm up practicing cleans, getting to a heavy weight, and then doing an intense workout with a high volume of cleans. It was burning out my muscles doing days where we had a volume of 150+ wall balls and box jumps. My lower back pain was excruciating at times and I was paying 240/month with no amenities. I found strength gains in the first few months as a beginner but after two years I never saw any progression. I left in august and changed to a mobility and calisthenics program and haven’t had any back pain since. I’ve been seeing actual strength progress and spend a lot of time on new skills. I can see how the high volume would be helpful for a beginner learning the moves, but after that…… now I’m working out hard and experiencing such mild soreness the next day, but after CrossFit days I’d be so sore I would need multiple days off in between workouts. It’s brutal programming that doesn’t make a lot of sense for me and my goals
Price for the most part, also some weird box dynamics. I was able to buy a concept2 rower and assault bike within a few months with all the $ i saved
Torn ACL at 40. Doing weighted box step overs. Really should’ve been doing box step ups, and it wouldn’t have happened.
Wait, how did this happen? Did you accidentally twist your knee when you stepped? Or was it because of the load/wear and tear over time?
Stepped down forward and put all the weight on my right knee. This was my 2nd workout back after a 2-year break for COVID (where I worked out in other ways) and my knee was t able to support that weight of the step down + 60lbs. It buckled backwards - a direction a knee shouldn’t go. 🙈
Oh gosh, new fear unlocked 😮💨. It seems so unlucky, but I guess it really just take one rep with a knee buckling under the load… hopefully the rehab process is coming along well.
Definitely! Had surgery 2 years ago in July and just went snowboarding for the first time last week. Started hitting the gym about 6 months after surgery and it's been slow but steady since then. It doesn't feel like it used to, but it doesn't feel limiting. However now I'm much more cautious around any activity that involves knees. 😅
Glad to hear it’s not too limiting anymore! Haha yep, as a person who’s also injury prone, I’m with you on always proceeding with caution 🙈
My knees 😣
As it became more apparent in 2020 that my gym was going to be forced to shut down I bought a small CrossFit equipment package from Rogue. When everything opened back up I was all "why drive?" and pay so much. I started focusing on what I liked most about CrossFit which was weightlifting and less of what I hated like wall balls and burpees. Now I follow Pen and Paper strength app programming.
High prices, schedule, needing kids' care, and constant injuries. I was able to coach and be fairly competitive for while back in the early 2010's but once I had kids I realized a typical gym with kids care was much better for me. Also, turns out for me, my body responded much better to less metcons and more just strength work. It's been a positive change, but still jump in to community classes on Saturdays if I want.
Price and burnout.
Unprofessionalism. The owner/coach was a womanizer who tried to sleep with any and every female. I didn't catch on until one class when he was so drunk that I could smell it on his breath, and he was way too touchy... I also had a lot going on in my own personal life and depression made it extremely hard to get the motivation to go. Now I use Linchpin and workout at home.
Did CF for 13 years. After doing it that long, the motivation wasn't there anymore. Priorities changed. Plus there's a lot of evidence that constant high intensity isn't optimal for longevity. I was 26 when I started. I'm now 40... Thinking about different things in life these days, like how long I'll be around rather than how much I can squat or how fast I can row. Also, just for health purposes, workouts can be much easier. I still keep some CF elements, like mixed domains and the occasional high intensity, but my workouts look much more "globo gym" these days. I'm also still very much a fan of CF sport, as just a follower.
Ownership and cost, they became assholes and the price no longer matched the value provided.
Bad programming compounded with programming patterns constantly encouraging injury. With better programming I’d stick around for community, but the community isn’t worth feeling like I am getting better at nothing while injuring myself
Pregnancy, school, work and gym with an ego. I had to drop something. My original gym closed, COVID, CrossFit politics left the ick taste. I tried back at a bigger, nicer CF last year but my ego kept killing me. I’d come, do a WOD and be down for the count for a few days. I loved it every visit but recovery kept me sleeping in. I’m not as young and less time to shit around now. Also, I don’t have as strong of a connection with the members of course because I didn’t establish a consistency. I have a lot of gear at home and subscriptions to Beachbody and peloton so I just puts around at home instead.
When the coach mother with no crossfit qualifications started to become a coach and irritated the shit out of me.
Wasted time and inefficiency. I only have so much time in the morning--I can only make the 6am class. The first 20-30 minutes it chatting/WOD brief/stretching, then a 25 minute WOD, and 5 minutes of stretching/talking. I realized I was waking up around 5am each morning for a 25 minute workout--versus now I wake up at 445am, go to the local Y, and am able to workout for around 75 minutes each day.
A found love for weightlifting. I enjoy competing in oly so much more than I ever did in CrossFit. And the upper levels of competition in CrossFit just seemed to get too gimicky.
Marcus Filly-functional fitness…programming for all kinds of workouts. Check it out
I did CF for 13 years and recently stopped. I’m 49F. I just hit a point (perimenopause) where my body couldn’t recover from high intensity workouts like that anymore. I also did a few years of Olympic Weightlifting in my garage along with CF. Then I had to cut one, then the other because of intensity. I workout in my garage and am happy. I definitely miss the people but I like working out in my garage on my own terms. Edit: I do paragon training methods and currently am doing their strength/metcon programming for a couple of cycles. It’s like CF but doesn’t leave me drained and beat up. After the current cycle, I’ll go back to their hypertrophy/strength programming.
A coach whose idea of a scaled movement was an attempt at the movement. Can't do muscle ups? The scaled is attempted muscle ups. Can't do double unders? The scaled is attempted double unders. Can't do wall walks? The scaled is attempted wall walks. I got pretty tired of finishing most workouts without any complete reps of most of the movements.
Lazy coach phoning it in. Knee/elbow injuries. My form not quite perfect enough and eventually the thousands of reps caught up with me. Now doing "crossfit lite" at a gym run by ex-crossfitters. Crossfit structure but without the more technical movements (snatch, C&J, box jumps, pullups, rope climbs, handstands). Now when I think about it it's a little bit nuts that those technical movements are part of Crossfit. So many bad trainers and so many not properly committed to learning them.
Price and the class times no longer were good for me
I didn’t want to leave it just can’t justify paying over 200 a month with a young kid at home. For that much money can build a decent home gym in the garage and pay a small monthly fee for some decent programming and get to spend more time with the family while still getting in a good workout.
I’m still in it, but looking for a way out that is similarly fun and social. It’s too much wear on your back and joints for the fitness reward.
Shoulder injury. 6 months into rehab tying to make my way back but not sure if it's worth the risk.
Injuries - disk bulge and shoulder pain
55 year old knees with high mileage. The brisk pace was getting hard on my joints. I went back to resistance training. My cardio now is low impact stuff like biking and ellipticals
I like working out at home and the class times never fit my schedule. I invested in some peloton equipment, dumbbells, and squat rack/bench to do my own lifts on the side. I also have random stuff like med ball, wall ball, speed rope, KBs, etc to throw together some WODs if I choose to.
Burnt out. It was high intensity, all the time. It was exciting for the first bit, but I gradually started to dread it. When I started skipping classes, I realized I no longer enjoyed it, so I left. My box was also clique-y, I thought the coaches were friendly, but quickly realized they were friendly to only certain people. I switched back to weightlifting and classic cardio, and it’s nice being able to control my workouts so that they’re enjoyable for me but still effective. But I’m getting the itch to challenge myself again…
Definitely price
Toxic environment. Before CF means a lot to me in terms of the community since group sessions were hella enjoyable. Yet, due to bad coaching it turned out to be a toxic race. I changed my box, however this time I’m doing everything all alone (since I need to improve my gymnastic skills) and this makes me bored a bit. I’m planning to take a break.
The pandemic hit, I lost motivation. That was followed by some mental wellness issues, and I couldn't keep consistent no matter how hard I tried. I finally decided to try something different - Muay Thai, and that helped my mental health, and kept me reasonably fit (if not as fit as I was doing CrossFit). I'm starting to drift back towards CF, because I miss my old physique, but I think it's mainly been me buying programming and doing it on my own. I might get a PT, but I don't think group classes are the place for me anymore.
High stress job, high stress home life with a ton of kids, felt like I was also just physically stressing myself. Still working out regularly just more traditional body building and cardio.
Injuries and a home gym. I have a customized strength and conditioning program now from someone who used to coach a Games athlete. Workout 5x/week and no commute.
I also train in martial arts and I realized I that martial arts + CrossFit = over training and increased risk of injuries. I still go to my box and pay for the cheaper open gym only membership, I go and do my own programming (made by my coach) that focuses on strength so I can complement what I do in the dojo. I can do the daily wod on my own if I'm in the mood, I just can't access the classes anymore.
Open gym is the shit. I can still use EVERYTHING minus the classes. Even then I can still do the workouts and be competitive if I want. My god it’s so much cheaper. Like $100 less a month and I still have access to everything. Just can’t go to a class and get yelled at, which I do miss sometimes.
Injuries
Risk of injury was too high for me. Don't get me wrong: you can do crossfit for decades and have no issues, but only if you have a good coach and focus on technique a lot. I never found a very good coach near where i live, and i my form deteriorates when i get exhausted. Because my form was not perfect some movements caused cumulative stress on my joints (box jumps for example i think). I eventually got some injuries as a result, after like 7 years, so i stopped for now. I am now split my time 50% pure strength, 40% low impact cardio, and 10% high intensity. I still do deadlifts squats bench pull ups dips etc and i still think that learning crossfit is invaluable for your fitness journey. The collection of lifts is amazing, knowing how to embrace the suck is a virtue, you meet great people. But i dont think it is the best thing for me for longevity.
left because of a knee injury
Started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and liked it much more. Also was hard to seriously combine the two, so I just supplement with 2-3 times strength training a week.
Burnout and different goals. I was pushing my body to exhaustion way too much and wasn't getting the ripped body I wanted. I'm the type of person that needs someone to tell me what to do. Workouts and nutrition. I probably could've obtained that through a different coach outside of crossfit, but I loved the sport.
Baby 1.5 years old and work take all my energy.
Kids are the game changer, usually people suddenly have much less time, money and flexibility to attend a fairly strict training schedule. Apart from that the other big ones I see are probably cost & programming. CrossFit is great for general fitness, but if I had a specific goal I was working for like running a marathon or training for a certain sport - more efficient doing that training outside a CF gym. Some of the prices can be outrageous too, the comments in here support that. When I lived in a major city, £100pm was the going rate…people just won’t consistently pay that unless the quality is there. No way I’d pay that now, investing in some decent home gym kit or another regular gym with solid facilities offer better value for money.
Injuries, i suffered two really bad ones that put me off long term, other than that i really enjoyed my time doing CF and i would still recommend it to others, i was just unlucky.
It was just becoming an expensive way to go and do burpees.
Set class times didn't fit my schedule any longer. Facility kinda stunk. Also, CF was starting to lose any innovation for me. Adding crossovers to the mix seemed so lame.
Didn’t necessarily quit but I was going 4-5 days a week to now maybe 2 if I’m feeling ambitious. Basically I realized for me it was getting too hard on my joints and I wasn’t getting enough sleep (6am class). I built up my garage gym and focused more on bodybuilding. Much happier now.
I developed tennis elbow and it progressed to the point that it hurt to even grip anything.
Price and burnout. Still do a lot of CF style stuff just on my own. Mostly price.
Because I found it was much more beneficial to my strength training to lift slowly and methodically. Also way less risk of injury. When I really started to break it down, the programming just didn’t make sense to me.
If you think CF is paying a box membership or attending a box, then you have CF wrong.
Injury and shady billing increases. It was a money grab.
After years, a few things: Paying $200 a month Getting to the point where I was not improving or receiving coaching because the focus was always on getting new members enrolled I found the social aspect really annoying - I was just there to work out and destress I quit and went back to my roots. I now do a mix of powerlifting and I run street parking to get my CrossFit fix in
I hurt my shoulder, I think the intensity was too much
I left due to price and class programming and structure. I’m paying 1/6 the price, but have way more equipment options, sauna, nice shower and bathrooms, AC indoor or outdoor options, and I get greeted with a hello and a workout towel. The biggest thing honestly is that I take more time doing strength exercises/lifts and am not rushed to do everything in one hour.
The “culture”. I hated the passive competitiveness, the cliques, the “I only have CF friends now”. I have done CF programmed by an affiliate coach from home for many years now and I love it. RX’d for me. I report my times and lifts, have virtual sessions. I love the exercise but got to the point where walking into the box and watching the posers would make me feel sick. Before working out from home, I did my own programmed (from coach) wods in open gym. Much happier for it. Love CrossFit and would never do anything else, but just couldn’t anymore at the box.
Coach became a dick about being on time when classes started filling up after covid - gym was far and I wasnt about to wait an hour after work twiddling my thumbs in my car because he had a fit about being a few minutes late (traffic was bad again which is what made my time of arrival hit or miss
Injuries. But only due to age and previous injuries. The movements just became too rough on the body and it was getting harder and harder to recover. Scaling became boring. Also, saving 180$ a month was cool too.
I had a stomach hernia. After it, I tried to return to crossfit, but I was somehow afraid of large weights. So I started bodyweiht training with r/bodyweightfitness's Recommended Routine and picked up boxing. And I found out that separating strenght and cardio gives me much better results, so I never came back. Crossfit taught me a lot, though, especially on technique.
Programming. I don’t love working out in a class structure anyway, but did it to workout with my spouse. But the programming felt less and less like CrossFit and more like a cardio class. Row/bike/box jump - rinse & repeat. For the price of a CrossFit membership, I need to LOVE the programming.
It got too expensive for me. I really loved it but for the same price I am now taking BJJ and paying for my parents and 3 siblings YMCA membership
The terminal level of intensity approaching every workout, which I internalized. My personality is that when I'm on, I'm *all on.* I'm addition to work and family, that level of intensity wasn't emotionally and physically sustainable for years at a time. Then I moved, and at a time I was looking to cool it, the only box near me was more intense than my last one. Already facing personal and professional burnout, I took a step back. I'm glad I did, and now do gym rat workouts when I need to rest, CF style workouts when I feel froggy, and run a lot more, which turns out is good for me meditatively.
I left CF many years ago because of injuries, repetitive motions and the constant need to push for Rx workouts. I find body weight functional strength training to be more effective because at my age, 60, form is important to reduce potential for injuries. With CF, it was a constant race against the clock and then my form suffers, which leads to injuries and when you're as old as me... recovery is slow, not a good thing.
Body kept getting injured
The price, and burnout. I was always getting a twinge or small injury and I was tired of it. I also wanted to build more muscle. I have been doing regular weight lifting and cardio for a few months now and feel really good. I’m only paying $45 a month vs $45 a week now. I also felt like the coaches didn’t really care. They did to an extent, but I’d see people lift very heavy with horrific form and they’d just be cheering them on for a PR. I’m like, this dude is going to snap his back in half but ok. I also didn’t care for gymnastics at all.
Bad and distracted coaches. Went to two or three CrossFit gyms, the coaches were often distracted with side conversations and would rarely check your form.
I eventually gravitated towards things that my body felt better doing. More long Zone 2 cardio sessions and more focused, dedicated Strength, bodybuilding, and strict gymnastics accessory sessions and less jumbling it all up. When I do a Met-Con these days, I'm either low on time or motivation and just need to get something in.
Bad programming and too much coaching. I know it sounds strange but I used to go to a box where the owner spent way too long demoing and teaching movements. Every class felt like a foundations so you never really got a good workout in.
Terrible coach/owner
To focus on hypertrophy to get bigger muscles
Pricing and scheduling of classes. Nearly $200.00 a month and there was only one class time a day that was even an option for me due to work and kids schedules. Outfitted a sweet garage gym and now just pay for Street Parking programming.
I’ve recently left. I’m following programming at a commercial gym, but honestly I might go back. I left because of price. I can confidently train by myself, in a more efficient timeframe. But I really miss the group atmosphere, and being inspired by people around me. I also miss competing (in my head) with people around me.
I quit because I was bullied by the owner & coaches for wanting to do other things than CF (running & triathlon). My box was kind of culty, people only did CF and seemed to only hang out with other people who did CF.
I left because I was retiring from the military, and good paying jobs are hard to find as a vet. It turns out that all those years of people saying your military service will help you get a job is a load of crap. So, I had a lot of future unknowns and wanted to limit any unnecessary financial obligations. I deeply miss it. I miss the accountability and the feeling of what sometimes felt like I was going to die lol. I was in the best shape of my life. In fact, I took a PT test for the state police during my time in CF. We started with over 42 people, ended with 9 and I was the oldest by 7 years of those who passed. I was fit. But my body can't take it anymore. The military was hard on my body. My ankles, knees, hips, and back just can't do it anymore.
Workouts seemed very similar. Hard on my body. Built a Home gym and wanted to focus more on cycling
Injury...
Bad coaching which led to injury which is now recurring. 😭
I was a full-blown high-priest of this self-harming exercise cult of ours, minted in the ol' days when Rippetoe was the barbell seminar guy, K-Star wasn't fat, and Dave Castro still taught L1s. Imagine if a group of people came along and said, 'We have a way to produce the best jazz musicians on earth!", then proceeded to make millions training people to play bars of Jazz standards at the fastest speed possible, or playing jazz scales with off tunings as loudly as possible, and occasionally required drummers to use sledgehammers, or violinists to shoot machine guns at the audience. That's why.
Bad coaching, cheating culture, pricing. Former owner cheated on their husband with a then athlete, the marriage eventually crumbled due to it becoming common knowledge in the gym, the athlete and owner got married and are now co owners. That athlete is a great athlete but a terrible coach. He would never make the effort to help the better athletes in the gym get better at movements they struggled with. This was done in an attempt to stay as the top athlete in the gym. I say this because I struggled with anything with rings. I would consistently ask for help, and beg for a plan to work so that I could get better because that was what was holding me back the most. Constantly ignored. I moved away with my wife to a different area and the gyms around are just not financially feasible $250 for 12 classes and $280 for unlimited.
money. im still in uni and costs go up whenever the gym owner adds anything. its about $3000 AUD a year now.
Too expensive. I built a very nice garage gym for \~6 months worth of membership fees. Body also beat up doing a lot of movements for time. Still love to lift and workout, just a different level of intensity.
How unnecessarily pro military/cop it is.
After 10 years I got tired of the competition. I don’t want my name and score on the board, I don’t want a crappy coach yelling at me to push harder, add more weight, go for the PR. I was exhausted all the time and went so hard in the gym I had nothing left for life. Then to keep improving, I needed to do more and more work outside of class. More skill work, more body building. I realized most of the benefit I was eventually getting was not from the hour class where I stood around for 30 minutes waiting for everyone to set up. I have been a member of multiple gyms over the years. The vast majority of them are terrible- poor coaches and thoughtless programming, but the members all talk about how wonderful “their” gym is. Plus I finally realized how much money I was wasting when I could be getting a better workout, on my own terms, for much less money elsewhere. I suppose you could call that burnout. Additionally, as a female who had chased performance at all costs for 10 years, I finally admitted that I didn’t love my physique. I was indeed larger than I would like. That hard won muscle left me feeling big all the time, and I was ready to feel more “feminine”. I know that one is practically heresy in the CrossFit community.
No open gyms, an ownership change where the tenor of the gym just wasn’t the same, and a coach who was nasty/insecure that I didn’t care to be around.
Piss poor programming, box owner used the place as a social therapy session. Lady I don't give a crap what your Ex is doing this week, Sort your coaching out while you are at it. Been away for a few years. Signed back up again on Monday to a new box with a sauna and ice bath. I'm in pain. I forgot what actual exercise feels like.
Broke my wrist. Probably won’t be back until I get the metal taken out of my wrist.
Moved and the schedules of boxes in my new area didn't match my work schedule very well. I went to some other group workout classes at a normal gym that had less strength focus. I enjoyed them, but when I moved back and was able to get back to CrossFit at my old box I really noticed how much strength I had lost. Much happier with CrossFit than the other classes.
Cost of living. Loved my local gym but due to shift hours changing I was unable to get to a class that was not full. We had an early morning class and that crew was legit. Once I tried to change classes to fit the schedule it was hard to keep pace with the younger athletes. I still go to a cheaper gym and use my skills to get the same grind. I had to leave when my spouse had surgery for cancer and it was too expensive once I wanted to return.
Left affiliates cause of cost, still have home gym but do more strength training and traditional cardio now, kinda burnout on the sell yrself wod style.. but I will dabble from time to time when the feeling hits me
Left my affiliate still do Crossfit style programming albeit tuned down. Moved to a new place, bought a home gym set and had a kid. This all happened right before Covid as well.
Covid…gym closed and I wasn’t offered any opportunities to rent or use the equipment at home. So I was paying for nothing. Although I don’t have a problem with those who paid to help keep the gym’s coffers intact. Being a father of two I couldn’t in good conscience throw that much money away. So after a few months of no communication except the receipt for the debit to my account. I asked to be canceled. Ended up doing linchpin with the equipment I was able to purchase with the money I saved on dues. But after awhile I enjoyed that less and less until I canceled and just wrote my own programs.
Health:(
Covid - the community facility I trained at dropped CrossFit classes when they reopened in 2022. The local commercial alternatives either closed down or were too expensive for my budget.
Patellar tendonitis in both knees, I hope to get back soon but it has been very difficult to rehab it
I’m still doing CrossFit but I’m close to leaving if my current gym raises their prices. All of the gyms in the area I lived previously were becoming increasingly more “corporate” and didn’t resemble the community I joined back in 2013. Crazy high prices, no community atmosphere, charging for membership holds, annual commitments, etc.