CrossFit East Kilbride
This month's Box of the Month is CrossFit East Kilbride. Find out why in our interview with the owners, Ally and Simon. 👊
What's the story behind CrossFit East Kilbride?
Ally was introduced to CrossFit in 2011 and immediately became hooked. After a year spent travelling, he decided to turn his aspirations of becoming a business owner, together with his passion, into a reality by opening a gym.
On a night out with friends, he confided in Simon about his plans. Simon, a long-time friend and fellow CrossFitter, was living in London and working for an Investment Bank, but his passion also lay with the sport. Following that conversation, the duo worked tirelessly over the next 12 months and their dream became a reality when CrossFit East Kilbride opened in June 2013.
We were both passionate about the sport, and with only one other affiliate open in central Scotland at that time, we knew there would be demand. Ally had worked as a PT in East Kilbride and already had many clients who were enquiring.
What makes your box so special?
I would say it’s a combination of the sport itself, our coaching and most importantly, our members. We take time with our members, we encourage them and try to get them to realise their full potential. For many, the results have been literally life changing. And through that, great friendships have been formed and there genuinely is a great sense of community as is made even more evident by our social calendar!
What have been the highlights since you opened?
There have been many in such a short space of time – on a personal level, reaching the Meridian Regionals this year as a team, winning Battle of the Boxes, Celtic Cup along with many other local competitions, and Ally being classed as the Fittest in Scotland are all up there.
As for our members, watching several start to compete in their own right as well as others just achieving their own personal goals, whether it mastering a gymnastic movement such as a handstand push up or even simply to feel better about themselves, it’s all inspirational to be a part of.
What's your coaching philosophy?
Our coaching comes from the heart – keep it simple, give members your attention and make it enjoyable.
What are your members like?
Our members are all different – we have the accident prone ones, the sarcastic/cheeky ones, the insecure ones and the focussed ones. But in one respect they are all the same – they all share a passion and they have all individually helped us to make the welcoming and caring box that we are proud to own.
What happens in a typical day at East Kilbride?
We run eight WODs a day starting from 6am until 7.30pm. In between WODs, we have Open Gym where members can come in and work on things of their choosing with the coaches on hand for advice should they need it.
We run fewer WODs at the weekend and we try to make them slightly more fun by having Team WODs where the members tend to get very competitive!
No matter what, the box is always a hive of activity!
And finally, what does the future hold for you guys?
We are hosting our first competition this year ‘Proving Grounds UK’ on 18th September which is exciting and we have some even bigger plans for next year which we can’t share just yet…
It would be awesome to see it still going strong and hopefully we would have a bigger facility.
If all our plans go well, we will be running a large UK competition and a few other things such as expanding on CrossFit Kids…
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