What People Are Saying About CFCH and How YOU Are Making a Difference
by Teresa Trojanowski
“Amazing CrossFit Gym! The gym itself is a great size with tons of fun equipment. The coaching is excellent. The members are so friendly. Every single person introduced themselves to me.... great experience!”
“Great gym/box. Great owners. Great athletes. It's tough to be out of town and want to workout with people you don't know. I felt like I was a part of the gym. Each time I'm in Houston and need a box it will def be this place.”
“What a great place to drop in. So welcoming! It’s a huge facility with great vibes and such nice people. The huge fans saved my life in this humidity! I’ll be back.”
“Great WOD, great coaching, and great people! I dropped in as a visitor and everyone introduced themselves and made feel as if I had been going there for years! Thank you so much and until next time!”
“I travel into Houston for work and visited a few CF gyms. Central Houston’s qualified and experienced coaching staff was the first thing that caught my eye. After one visit I was hooked that this was my box away from box! Everyone is so welcoming and friendly. Every time I walk in the door it makes me feel like I'm home. Plus the workouts are always challenging. Solid mobility work and technique focus. All around best box in Houston!”
These are just a few of the reviews from the CrossFit Central Houston Facebook page. If you knew how many times visitors or new potential clients say to us something along these lines, you might never again miss the opportunity to smile and greet someone at the gym. We’ve been mailed follow-up thank you notes, and had CrossFitters from all over the country visit on the recommendation from someone in their hometown who’d previously come to a class at CFCH.
Do you remember your very first CrossFit class? It’s a safe bet that whether you were brand new to fitness or an experienced athlete, you were intimidated. People heaving barbells over their heads, weights clanging; others knocking out multiple reps on pull-up bars; or people kicking upside down and doing handstand push-ups against a wall… who wouldn’t be a little (maybe a lot) nervous about jumping into a class with these people?! “Everyone is so fit….” is a comment we hear often from those looking on while waiting for their Free Trial class to start.
Or how about the person from out of town who walks into the gym for the first time? I love the review above that mentions, “It’s tough to be out of town and want to workout with people that you don’t know.” Think about it: how often do you see a group of 15-20 people hanging out together, and decide that you, all by yourself, are going to walk up and join in a conversation with this group of strangers? But that’s a little bit like what’s happening when someone is dropping-in to CFCH. Then there’s the visitor who, on top of that, is dealing with an extra burden: We are currently the closest box to the Houston Medical Center, so not only do we have quite a few physicians and students as members, but we often have family members of patients visiting. Their father is here getting cancer treatment. Their daughter is having surgery. They come to CrossFit as a means to relieve stress, or maintain some sense of their normal routine during a tough and turbulent time.
So what do all of these people get when they walk through the doors of CrossFit Central Houston?
YOU.
They get you. Even before they have a chance to experience the programming or the coaching…they experience this community. And it’s obvious by the feedback that we’re getting that you are making a huge difference to people!
For that new person: think of how much CrossFit has changed your life. When you smile and strike up a conversation with them, you’re helping ease their nervousness. This increases the chances that they come back, and that THEY TOO, might be changed by the CrossFit lifestyle. Just in the last few weeks, a pair of ladies came in to try CrossFit for the very first time and were, admittedly, extremely nervous. CFCH was the first stop on their list of CrossFit gyms in the area that they were planning to try. One of the women told me later that they were so blown away by how friendly everyone was (“they introduced themselves to us and made us feel so welcome!”) that they immediately signed up for OnRamp, and decided to scrap visiting any other boxes. They felt like they’d already found their place.
For that visitor: you never know why they’re here. We recently had someone in who’s newborn son had been Life Flighted to Texas Children’s Hospital. He’d spent days in the hospital with nothing to do but wait to see if his son would make it, until he finally decided that he needed to get out for some CrossFit stress relief and a tiny glimpse of his normal routine back home. This was almost 4 months ago, and he just messaged me again yesterday to let me know that is son is doing well, and re-thanking us for those much needed drop-ins. Maybe it’s a medical reason, or maybe it’s just a work trip or vacation - it can still be impactful. We had some visitors vacationing from Europe a few days ago, and CFCH is their entire experience of CrossFit in the US!
I share this to let you know that YOU are making a difference to so many people! I know because I get to read all of these reviews, emails, thank you cards, and hear stories of people who found us on the recommendation of a friend all the way in California…. and a constant thread is how welcome you make them feel. So, I’d like to first: thank you for being such an outstanding community of people; and second: encourage you to keep it up, because it really does matter.