What WE want and what YOU need.

Two weeks ago I spoke about the problems in the fitness industry in that too many instructors or trainer’s will allow clients do more of what they want and zero of what they need i.e. they will get them to work up a sweat through some high intensity manner with ignorance to movement while paying no attention to improving mechanics, imbalances and writing a smart Programme fit for purpose. You can read about it more here http://bit.ly/2d8gs1D This leads me onto outlining and explaining why we do what we do and what the perfect client is for us because not everyone wants what we are selling!! Firstly the core of what we do is CrossFit. In a nut shell we do functional movement i.e. squats and deadlifts which are movement you perform in life multiple times a day. We do various forms of these functional movements so we provide lots of variance to keep things interesting such as front squat, back squat, goblets squat, sandbag squats to name but a few and finally we had intensity which can come in many forms such as added weight, the more weight you lift the more intensity you add, or you can do a movement with no weight such as a burpee and do it really fast to add intensity. So in short CrossFit is constantly varied, functional movement with high intensity workouts. Because we do such skilled barbell movements like barbell squats, deadlifts and Olympic lifts even we need to ensure people move A) correctly and B) safely. We ensure this by getting all our members to go through a detailed fundamental course and having expert coaches on our floor at all times who constantly work to improve athlete’s movement capabilities and their technique.  Effectively, if you can’t do something without a weight then you won’t be doing it with a weight. This leads me onto the frustrations from the above attached article, clients don’t know any different about movement and its our job to educate them so they can understand the need to move better and be healthier which should be the number one priority over things like aesthetics.  If a client can’t move well and do basic movement patterns such as squatting, pressing, and hinging and pulling correctly, they are 100% guaranteed to get injured in daily life as they get older. For this reason we place a MASSIVE emphasis on movement and the importance of always moving better and then when you move well you can perform better. Also, unlike most gyms we don’t just want to flog you day in day out we want to give you balanced Programmeming including mobility work, activation and potentiation to get everything firing just as it should, just because the lower lats should work to stabilise a shoulder joint overhead doesn’t mean it does, just because the glutes are the prime workers in a squat doesn’t mean they are.  We like to Programme really boing stuff which ensures that what in theory should work is actually working. We like to Programme movements which restore balance to the body, we like to Programme movement which gets people strong and mobile all the while ensuring people are moving safely and most importantly better. In a nutshell instead of going to a personal trainer, a physio for an old injury and a yogo instructor we do our job so well that we get you fitter and stronger, while getting your body pain free and moving better than ever. But because we go into such detail and so much important stuff that few others do in the industry and pay so much attention to things like movement performance and mobility as opposed to how sweaty someone got we make a big trade off…… the type of client we want to coach.  We could easily have hundred’s of members or more doing super cool circuit style classes with the emphasis on fun and energy and buzz with flashing lights and banging tunes, all while giving people everything that they want ( a sweaty body after a fun energetic low skill workout) with zero of what they need and clicking our heels all the way to the bank.  Instead we want a smarter type of member, a client who realises and understands the importance of improving their mobility so they can get in and out of a car or toilet unassisted, so they can stay supple and injury free into their twilight years, so they can be strong for purpose and bulletproof etc etc.  These are the members we want and keep. If you are the type of person that simply wants to get a quick sweat on, get in and get out and couldn’t give two shits about how you move or the impact this has on just about everything, then you are the type of person we have no interest in working with!! At Guerilla Fitness we have some of the country’s best coaches, producing multiple international level athletes and at the opposite end of the spectrum we have changed the lives of hundreds of people since we opened. We are doing what is right by our members and working to help them not just look better now, but to be healthier in 30-40-50 years time.