Reebok CrossFit 3D
KB: How did CrossFit 3D start
Ed Whieldon – 3D was founded by Karl and Rachel Steadman back in 2010 one of the 1st CrossFit affiliates in Europe, after 3 years it was clear that due to its success and the growth in popularity of CrossFit it had outgrown its current set up and we expanded into a bigger 7000sqft premises just down the road. It was a tough decision at the time, as CrossFit as we knew it was changing and much as we loved everything about the ‘old ways’ we had to move onwards and upwards, turns out it was the right decision!
What makes CrossFit 3D so special?
EW: Like most good gyms, our community is fantastic everyone gets on and loves hanging out to train and socially as well. Our coaching staff all come from different fitness backgrounds and all bring a vast amount of experience to the gym, equally we invest in them in terms of furthering their education and fine tuning their skills to constantly improve and develop them. Also at our facility, we are so lucky to have such a big open space that enables to offer so much more than just CrossFit, from fitness yoga, gymnastics to Trafford Weightlifting Club which has its own dedicated section within the gym
Carl Dickson: As Ed said community is such a huge thing for us we are all friends, throughout 3D you will see people that not only train together but hang out together, holiday together, and live together we’ve even had a few weddings from people who have met at the gym!
What have been the highlights since you opened?
EW: I think from a gym point of view highlights are pretty much weekly, seeing people achieving things they never thought possible, from phenomenal PB’s to weight loss and general life improvements, from a business point of view rattling around the big facility when we 1st moved in to well over 200 members is a real milestone achievement
CD: Every quarter we have internal partner comps that we run and it really does bring the whole gym together. We pair teams up with partners they may not even know as they may train in the morning crew or on different days and seeing them work together and have fun as they all have 3D in common and of course the after parties are something else!
Just recently we completed our 1st term of CrossFit 3D Kids for pre-school, kids and teens, we were so pleased how this went and the number of sign ups we had was way more than we expected, being able to extend what we offer to the little ones is really great
What's your coaching philosophy?
EW: For us as a team its understanding every members needs and goals, if they are happy to chill in class, aspirations of being a competitive CrossFitter or even a current Team GB triathlete we will make sure they are moving well staying safe and getting the correct stimulus form the programming as well as taking into account what their goals and needs are as everyone is different!
CD: As a coaching team we always want this to be fun, this shouldn’t be a stressful thing we are training to be fit healthy and improve our lives and it’s important to remember that. As Ed mentioned the team all have different and varied backgrounds in the fitness word and all bring a subtle variance to how they deliver the programming and that variance is what makes us different.
What are your members like?
EW: They’re great, we have more than 10 classes a day at 3D and each group is different and generally you see the same faces in the same timeslots the morning crew is like a whole other gym as they rarely see the PM guys, it’s great to see when we have our internal comps and socials how everyone gets on as they all have a love of 3D as the common denominator.
CD: It’s great to see how members change from when they 1st join rocking up in basic gym gear and being a bit quiet, fast forward a few months and its sharp looking branded gear and bantering along with the rest of the class it’s great to see people come out of their shells. I also love the mix we have grandparents, Dr’s, plumbers students, professional sportsmen, lawyers who all just mix it no matter what their background, im sure someone could do quite the social study on our gym!
What happens in a typical day at 3D?
EW: Early start! The morning coach opens up around 5.30am in preparation for the 2 morning classes the first at 6am, which are 2 of the busiest classes of the day, once they are done and dusted our open gym starts so a lot of flexible workers can come in and get their workout done and a lot of the coaches have private PT clients they train. At 12.30 the lunch crew come in for their session, then a bit of time for admin and maintenance! Having such a big facility there is always something that needs doing from loo rolls to fixing an assault bike we are always getting something done. Then around 4.30 the craziness starts as everyone finishes work, we have 6 classes every evening that are always busy and they run every 30 mins on different sides of the gym if it’s a Thursday we have the weightlifting club on and Manchester Triathlon club in for their session and finally at 8.30pm some 14 and half hours later ! we close… it’s not uncommon to have well over 150 people through the gym on a typical day
What does the future hold for you guys?
EW: We are always looking at how we can improve, whether that’s investment in our equipment, tweaking the layout of the gym, investing in our coaching team and their education, marketing to bring in new members. It’s a constant cycle we are on to get better and try and be the best we can
CD: long term would be to open a second affiliate, taking all the lessons and best practice we have learned from 3D and its massive evolution from 2010 and putting it into a 2nd gym. Not necessarily in the Manchester area but looking at somewhere we could position ourselves to bring fitness and healthy lifestyles to more people. We have also recently re branded with a new logo and we are working on a new website with a new stream of apparel and an improved retail strand to the business
Later in the year we are hoping to put on a weightlifting competition and an inter box affiliate competition similar to ones we have run in the past
You can find CrossFit 3D on Facebook and Instagram
