Reebok CrossFit Glevum
KITBOX: Hey, Dan! Can you give us a brief history of your box to start with?
DAN: Opening our doors at the beginning of 2012 and starting out with just friends and family was a great time for us all. At the time, I believe there were quite a few individuals in the area who were doing WODs, either in standard gyms, colleges or local parks - so there was quite a buzz about the sport. We were extremely proud to be the first CrossFit affiliate to open in Gloucestershire.
We’ve since grown to see over 100 individuals each day and I believe it has come down to fostering a close knit community and a strong support system that encourages each member to strive for success.
Why did you decide to open the box?
Whilst studying at University, I found myself committing more and more time towards training and encouraging others to take more of an interest in their health and fitness. If I wasn't in lectures, training or coaching in some way, I was trying to learn more about CrossFit, and the impact it was having on others around the world. And so I found myself spending all of my time doing my ‘hobby’ and I couldn't get enough of it.
I soon realised that was an opportunity for me to return back to Gloucester and make a career out of it. Ultimately, at this point I realised this was a passion of mine and I needed to devote 100% of myself to making it work.
When we opened Glevum, our aim was to motivate the local community and provide an environment in which people felt safe, supported, and encouraged. We saw that the standard gym experience was failing people so we chose to do something about it.
What makes Glevum so special?
Our motto is “For the community, by the community” and this is at the heart of everything we do here at Glevum.
The gym is a tool for us to make a positive contribution to the local community through promoting health and wellbeing, but also through providing our members with a sense of belonging and the opportunity to develop new friendships. To this end, we organise a number of events throughout the year which are outside the gym.
We recently organised a family picnic day where a whole bunch of us met on the top of a local common for a game of rounders in the sunshine. Unlike many gyms, we actively seek to have members from all walks of life, from the children who come to our kids club to our oldest member at the grand age of 70! Above all, we are dedicated to our members and their success, and aim to make each individual feel equipped, empowered and supported in the pursuit of their goals.
What have been the highlights since opening the box?
It has to be the sense of community we have created. In the last two years, Glevum has grown to be able to deliver one of the largest grass-roots fitness competitions, the Wild West. The competition has grown to hold 144 teams, with over 500 athletes in total & over 500 spectators.
In line with our community-minded philosophy, we now have an extremely talented team of staff that work for the event alongside a huge wave of committed volunteers who help us stage the competition every year, it has been a source of great pride for us to see our members collaborate together, give up their free time and show their support in making the event a success. They are truly some of the most generous people and without them, there would have been no way that we could have provided a competition like it.
Check out our review of Wild West 2015 here.
What's your coaching philosophy?
We consider it our mission to enhance the quality of life of our members through physical fitness. To achieve this, we endeavour to provide support, education and encouragement in a setting where people can gather to have fun, be active and learn more about themselves. Most importantly, we want each member to feel confident that we know them as individuals and will support them in fulfilling their goals.
What are your members like?
Our clientele is very diverse. We have people of all ages & backgrounds, each having different goals but sharing very similar attitudes towards training, health & fitness. The majority of our members come to us wanting nothing more than to come in and feel good about themselves. We don’t have the zealous competitiveness of other gyms and it is not our primary aim to be regarded as having the best athletes; instead we attract members who care about improving their health, enjoying their time with other like minded individuals, supporting their longevity and enhancing their physical well being.
What happens in a typical class?
Here at Glevum we are in the process of evolving a new and unique model. From the initial point of contact, we pair up clients with coaches to help them understand and define their aims in joining us. Newcomers first complete a number of private training sessions and continue to meet with their coach once every quarter for individualised private sessions even once they have graduated to our group classes.
Our members come to us with a variety of different goals and abilities, they all train together in one place, follow a program that is more specific to their needs under the leadership and direction of a coach, who keeps up to date with their progress within training.
To begin, we first assess the client’s movement, physical abilities, and work capacity through a range of tests spread out over a number of sessions. The tools we use to assess are individually tailored to the clients and their specific needs. We believe that having a personal coach helps to keep clients on track and motivated.
What does the future hold? Where do you see the box in 5/10 years?
Our vision has always been to have more space to enable us to work more individually with each client. Our 3 year goal was to move to a bigger facility, which is now under way.
Our aim for the next 5 years is to continue to focus on building positive relationships in the community. To grow our knowledge & experience and strive to make the service we offer better. In 10 years our goal is to be recognised as the area’s leading training facility for health and fitness.
We're sure you'll agree Glevum sounds like a pretty awesome box to be part of. If you need more convincing, check out this video:
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