About Inside the Affiliate:
What is the goal of this blog?
Inside the Affiliate is a blog, which I'll be using to share what I've learned over the last 12+ years running a CrossFit gym. In the spirit of CrossFit’s open source affiliate model, I'll be discussing our class management principles, continuing education programs, and the lessons my coaches and I have learned since starting CrossFit South Brooklyn in 2007. The ultimate goal of this blog is to promote strategies that help affiliates create professional, inclusive, effective and Fun training experiences for their members.
The intention of this blog is not to assert that there is a right way to run an affiliate. It’s up to every small business owner to learn from and adapt to their specific communities and environments. I’m simply trying to start a conversation about the things that have worked really well for us, hopefully to the benefit of anyone reading. If you read about something we do and dig it, steal it and find ways to make it better. If you have a different approach to something that’s working for you, please let everyone know about it in the Comments section.
In 2017 the CrossFit Journal put out a series about CFSBK called "Inside CrossFit South Brooklyn" Check out the video below and the full playlist to see more about our affiliate!
Who writes ITA?
My name is David Osorio, and I write the majority of ITA’s posts. I'm the head coach and owner of CrossFit South Brooklyn (CFSBK), which I started in late 2007 in a park. Over the last 12 years, we’ve grown to a 1000+ member affiliate with 11 full time coaches located in a spacious 11,200 square-foot facility in Brooklyn, NY.
ITA is edited and co-written by Katharine Reece.
A little more background
I consider myself very fortunate to have known what I'd like to do with my life professionally since I was about 17. My own enjoyment training some friends and myself led me to pursue a bachelor’s degree in exercise science with the plan of starting my own gym after college. During my senior year, I was introduced to CrossFit by a police officer who was a member of the YMCA at which I was working. As it did to so many others, CrossFit struck a real chord with me and eventually led to a complete paradigm shift of how I thought about health and fitness. This was back in 2005, when CrossFit seemed like a tiny network of people around the country doing something very, very different. I affiliated in 2007.
CFSBK started that November in a small park below a subway line. After three months, I'd developed a small crew of about five to eight people who would train with me on the weekends. A fast approaching winter forced me to find a space I could rent by the hour to continue teaching classes and begin to grow my business. I ended up at the Brooklyn Lyceum where I slowly went from two classes per week and about 10 members to classes five days per week and about 50+ consistent members. Many from that crew are still with me, and I look back fondly on our beginnings. We learned plenty of lessons through a trial-and-error approach as we found our voice as a gym and community.
A little over a year later, we moved into our own facility just a few blocks down the street. We schlepped our equipment over and continued building our program. In the subsequent years we've twice expanded our facilities, first with a 1,200 square foot addition called "The Annex" and then again by adding another 5,000 square feet across the street. I couldn't be happier to work in the environment that I do with our great staff and amazing community.
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The views and business practices detailed on this blog are the opinions of the author(s) writing them and do not necessarily represent CrossFit.com or any particular CrossFit affiliate.