You would have to agree with this article fromCrossFit about how to act in a gym, having other members become tense not enjoying the place they are trying to get fit in can turn members away faster than keep them, from grunting, to bad form it is a gyms responsibility to make the environment enjoyable. Don't we wish that all gyms could be CrossFit.
Fortunately, assholes are somewhat rare in the CrossFit world—but why, and how do you deal with the occasional jerk? Affiliate owners and academics offer answers and strategies.
After finishing the WOD, the guy looked over at one of his fellow members at CrossFit Virginia Beach and said, “Is that all you’re going to lift?”
For owner Thomi Gill, that was the last straw. Less than a month earlier, this particular member had shown up at CrossFit VB. Soon, Gill noticed that other athletes seemed to tense up when he walked in the door. And when she tried to coach him, he wouldn’t listen. After he made that snide remark about another athlete’s performance, Gill decided it was time for him to go. If he didn’t get the message, Gill was ready to play her trump card: the “asshole clause.”
The waiver at CrossFit VB states, “CrossFit Virginia Beach strives to provide a positive and encouraging environment for our clients. Anyone that is disruptive or negatively influences this environment is subject to having their membership revoked. This is at the sole discretion of CrossFit Virginia Beach Management.”
CrossFit Inc.doesn’t have an official no-assholes policy. What’s taken shape is more powerful than any written directive: a culture that, as Coach Greg Glassman put it in the CrossFit Journal video Primal Fitness (Aug. 25, 2009), naturally “co-select(s) for a bunch of admirable character traits.”
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