S2S Crossfit (Canggu, Bali)

On January 21, 2019 By Make Your Customers Love YouIn Uncategorized1 Comment

In Bali there are couple of Crossfit gyms depending on your location. In Seminyak there is Crossfit Seminyak and Crossfit Wanderlust and S2S Crossfit are both located in Canggu. In addition to S2S Crossfit I checked out an functional gym called Canggu Nest just close to S2S.

You can find S2S Crossfit timetables on their site but for booking they advice you to show up directly to one of the classes. I did and was enrolled in with convenience paying the drop in fee on site. The drop in price was 200 000 Indonesian Rupiah (12 €). At the gym both the coaches and people at the reception speak English.

The gym has all the basic equipment which are in quite good order. It has somewhat small facilities that enable training for up to 5-8 people conveniently. Running is done on a street that has quite heavy traffic so the running workouts tend to be a bit of nuisance at times. Barbells are good but the racks for squatting are a bit shaky especially for a taller guy like me.

The coaching was good and also the basics were explained in English. I didn’t get too much technical advice except for some instructions how to improve my pull ups which was nice. The training was done by one of the sub coaches so I didn’t get to workout with the head coach. Anyway, the training was done in English which is definitely a plus. I’d say half the people were on holiday at Canggu and the other half seemed to be going there regularly. Atmosphere was pretty relaxed.

If you are keen on working out as a group and getting advice, this gym is provides all the basics in Canggu. However, if you wish to train yourself with a brand new functional gym with all state-of-the-art equipment, I would recommend checking out the gym almost next door called Canggu Nest.

Booking and customer service 4/5

Price 4/5

Facilities and equipment 3/5

Coaching 3/5

Fun 4/5

Average 3,5/5

https://s2scrossfit.com/

Crossfit gyms in Asia – guide to finding your box

On January 21, 2019January 21, 2019 By Make Your Customers Love YouIn Box, Crossfit, LocationLeave a comment

Recently since September 2017 I have been exercising Crossfit. I decided to start it as a new sport when going to South Africa and got introduced to the sport in the beginning in Johannesburg at Crossfit Aurum. I trained with the headcoach Craig and our great trainer Julian. After returning to Finland I continued in Helsinki at North Engine Crossfit gym with Charlie, Joni and other great coaches.

When taking a trip to Asia to see different countries I decide to try to visit at least one Crossfit gym in every city I am going to and write a little memo about training with them. After all Crossfit is also a social sport. Even though you are challenging yourself, you’re also training with others at the same time so the community matters. And honestly during the trip I have met great training buddies at the gyms and talking to them has broaden my horizon culturally, not just in training Crossfit.

To set the things written here in perspective, it’s good to understand few things. On the course of my trip I have encountered cities that don’t have boxes and boxes that don’t answer to you at all if you send them a message so all of these Crossfit gyms that I joined already present best in class from a foreigner’s perspective. I tried to get into many regular gyms too along my way when Crossfit was not available and I can tell you one time visitors are not very much wanted, many gym chains like 24fitness in Japan are franchising and they have individual rules gym by gym so you never know if you are able to get in or just wasting your time! Therefore I will give my respects to all of the gyms presented here that actually answered my inquiries or enabled booking directly through a website. Thank you!

Also, I speak English which not every coach in every gym does. For me, it’s not a challenge because I’ve been training long enough to understand what’s been said on the whiteboard and do most moves at least adequately right not to break myself. If you are a beginner, your need for English instructing might and will be higher than mine.

I have been training doing gym training in some form most of my life. I played ice hockey as juvenile and did martial arts before starting Crossfit so for me basic moves have been familiar although I must say that Crossfit has provided me with way more moves in weightlifting and gymnastics that I was able to do before. In all means I’m not Mat Fraser and not in an age to really compete professionally anymore. My conditioning and weight-lifting skills give me an ability to do RX workouts without scaling most of the time depending a bit on a workout and moves. That’s my current level in the sport. In most gyms I seemed to fair pretty well in comparison to coaches and my fellow training buddies but that highly depends.

Also, I typically trained up to few times per box and most boxes I only visited once or twice. You should not mix the comments about the training to overall long-term programs, their setting and efficiency because I have not enough experience per Crossfit gym to evaluate them. The review here is based on individual workouts and how they seemed to me. What is actually very nice that most gyms have a little bit their own style and specialities in terms of warm-ups, specific workouts and other stuff that head coaches prefer and I will try to write a little bit about them here.

When comparing coaching and equipment at the gym, I am using my home gyms as benchmarks and in most cases here that’s North Engine in Helsinki. I’ve noticed their level of equipment and space to do the workouts as well as the level of fellow athletes has been the highest so far of the say 15-20 boxes that I have trained in. They provide booking, schedule and workout information online and through apps, the gym has a separate platform for weight-lifting so you can go up to very high weights if necessary, the equipment such as barbells are meant for Olympic weight-lifting, coaches do their own programs and are at least in the top of national level.

So far, I have been visiting the following Crossfit boxes in Asia:

You can find reviews about these gyms all published individually from this blog. This description should give you fairly good idea how I have been evaluating these gyms. I have also categorized each gym into points including booking methods and general customer service (email, phone, Facebook), facilities and equipment, coaching, atmosphere mainly referring to how much fun it’s to train at the gym with your box buddies and pricing from averagely expensive to highly expensive. Happy reading!

Chikara Crossfit in Tokyo

On January 21, 2019 By Make Your Customers Love YouIn Chikara Crossfit, Crossfit, Tokyo, Uncategorized1 Comment

In Tokyo I found a long list of gyms to do your workouts. In Tokyo most of the gyms provide you with an opportunity to book classes online and the drop in prices are typically around 3500 Yen (27 €) range. I was looking at Reebok Crossfit Roppongi, Crossfit Yoyogi and Chikara Crossfit and ended up training at Chikara.

I booked Chikara Crossfit class online from their site. The drop in price was 3500 Yen (27 €). The site is good and reserving a class is easy. Also you will be able to pay it online if you so wish or just go to the class and pay there by a credit card or cash. The customer service is provided in English and you get a short introduction to the gym upon your arrival. It all works pretty well.

The gym itself is made in a basement of what seems to be a residential building in the middle of Chikara area not too far away from the closest subway station. There is a little bit of wear and tear but all the necessary equipment are there and in order. Barbells are good and there is a small platform for individual weight-lifting practice. There was enough space for our class to workout efficiently.

The coaching was good and also the basics were explained in English. I didn’t get too much technical advice but then again technically the training was pretty simple, squats and WOD with couple of basic elements. Both coaches very seemed professional to me. Many of the people seemed to know each other well and I think the overall spirits in the gym were good.

We did have a group picture after workout which as a nice little detail was sent to me by email afterwards as a memory from the workout. You can see that picture here on my blog. I would say the experience was very good and if had a good one at Chikara!

Booking and customer service 5/5

Price 3/5

Facilities and equipment 3/5

Coaching 4/5

Fun 4/5

Average 4/5

www.chikaracrossfit.com

Crossfit Movement in Seoul

On January 21, 2019 By Make Your Customers Love YouIn Box, Crossfit, seoul, Uncategorized1 Comment

I only had five days in Seoul in South Korea so I only tried to contact some of the local Crossfit gyms in Seoul. To my positive surprise there were many of them. However, catching answers was like trying to get to eat in a restaurant on the night of my arrival. There didn’t seem to be too much interest on a person joining alone. Most gyms are shown in Google Maps and by Google but contacting them requires going to Facebook and some of their sites are not in English. Here are the gyms I contacted:

Crossfit Mullae (contacted them through Facebook and didn’t receive any answer)
Crossfit Movement (contacted them through Facebook, got a reply and made a booking)
Crossfit Muhan (send an email but didn’t receive an answer)

I contacted Crossfit Movement through Facebook in the evening and received a response with class schedules and prices first thing in the morning. I was able to book a class for the same day. All in English so the booking worked very well. When I arrived there was staff at the reception happily greeting me. They even let me drop in for free for the first time and pay the regular 30 000 Won (23 €) drop in fee at the second time.

The box facilities were great including the equipment. There was plenty of room for all of us about eight people to have our work out however we wanted to. This box was around in a same level in terms of equipment and space as the one in Fukuoka just slightly losing in chances to go running outside. There are stairs from the basement leading up to the street but the closest block is maybe not best suited for running. Otherwise, they will go head to head with each other.

The coaching was very good. I got great tips for my clean jerks. I think that possibly one of the coaches has done some Muay Thai because a lot of stretching moves were the same ones I used to do back in doing that sport. Such a nice familiar feeling. The English level of the coach was basic but where he wasn’t able to communicate, my fellow trainers helped me to understand what we were doing or what he wanted me to improve.

The Crossfit community seemed to be very tight. Most of the people seemed to be taking the sport pretty seriously so these guys were one the most advanced ones I had trained with so far in Asia. One of the quite small sized girls was snatching up to 150 lbs (around 70 kg) and they seemed also quite competitive. Yet, the atmosphere was very supportive and chilled. One of the guys showed me how to write my name in Korean and otherwise I stayed quite long after both workouts just chatting with people. One fellow Crossfitter’s family business was making health cranberry juices that was also offered to me for a taste. I really enjoyed working out at this gym!

Booking and customer service 4/5
Price 3/5
Facilities and equipment 5/5
Coaching 4/5
Fun 5/5

Average 4/5

Crossfitmovement/Facebook

Mr Ly Gym in Siem Reap

On January 21, 2019 By Make Your Customers Love YouIn Crossfit, Mr Ly Gym, Siem Reap1 Comment

In Cambodia I went to Siem Reap, Sihanoukville and Koh Rong Samloem. To my surprise I was able to find one in Siem Reap a little bit by accident and one in Sihanoukville (Fittness resort Sihanoukville) although since I stayed in the latter only a brief time, I didn’t get to do workout with them. In the islands the best change is to do your own 21-15-9s using your own weight at the beach.

In Siem Reap I didn’t manage to find a Crossfit gym by searching for it. Instead I found it by looking for gyms and this one came out as Muay Thai, regular and Crossfit gym combined. I just went there to hear about their class schedules and pricing. The gym doesn’t really have a booking system and if I tried to contact them by email I’m not sure if it would have worked. I found out that there were no classes due to the holidays so I I never participated a crossfit class. However, the price for drop in was 3 US dollars (2,6 €) which can be considered affordable. Regular gym was costing one dollar so I took that and went to see how it looked like.

To my surprise they had almost everything that you use in Crossfit except for the wallballs which I didn’t see anywhere. But pull-up bars, barbells etc. all were to be found. Maybe there could have been more barbells to workout with for a larger group and in all honestly the weights and barbells were not that new and state of the art but there were some really innovative solutions in place like the barbell that had car tires attached to it.

I don’t think with 3 dollar drop in fee you can be expecting all the gear to be shiny and brand new so in comparison to price the gym was well equipped. The space for the Crossfit workouts would most likely to be suitable for 4-6 people at the time. I’m not sure how many tend to train at the same time so I can’t tell you how crowded it gets. During the two of my own workouts I had I was able to use the facilities with an ease and not facing too crowded gym.

The owner and the family were all doing a bit of their own individual workouts while I was there and seemed like a really nice people. We mainly talked a bit with him about Muay Thai and he told me about the class times but other than that I can’t say much about coaching or the community at the box because I didn’t have a chance to work out with them. The classes start in the afternoon if I remember correct at 3 pm.

This gym definitely has a very good price to quality ratio. Drop in decision is very easy to make with this price!

Booking and customer service 3/5
Price 5/5
Facilities and equipment 3/5
Coaching N/A
Fun N/A

Average 3,5/5

MrLyGym/Facebook

Saigon Sports Club in Ho Chi Minh City

On January 21, 2019 By Make Your Customers Love YouIn Crossfit, Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon Sports Club1 Comment

In Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) I contacted two Crossfit gyms found from Google and received one answer:

Saigon Sports Club (I contacted them through online from and got replied by email for booking)
Crossfit GYM (I did send them a message through their Facebook site without ever receiving an answer)

Saigon Sports Club replied to my booking inquiry the next day. You can send them one through their website using an online form. The class schedule can also be found from their website. In addition to Crossfit they also do large variety of martial arts, regular gym and pool facilities.

You can drop in for the class for 300 000 VND (11 €) and by paying 200 000 VND extra (8 €) you can also enjoy other facilities such as showers and pools and are provided with a locker. If you just want to do the workout, take the normal pass, you can leave your bag next to the Crossfit workout area. The customer service at the reception was friendly and swift and even though being few minutes late because of the traffic I was quickly able to join the class.

The crossfit area is huge having lots of space in doing workout with even a larger number of people. There were around 10 people at the class and the space and equipment were more than plenty for everyone. The barbells are good, the pull-up bars high enough and there are a lot of air bikes and rowing equipment. All in all, very well equipped gym for the price.

The coaches seemed very professional. For the class we had two first one telling the program and second one showing the moves. I got good tips for my power snatches and pull-up kipping so I was really happy with the coaching. All instructions and the class was done in English. Definitely a big plus! The people consisting mainly from expats seemed to know each other well so apparently everyone trains together quite often. The atmosphere was one for bigger boxes. People come and go and the main group keeps tight.

This Crossfit gym has a great price to quality ratio! It will definitely get you there.

Booking and customer service 4/5
Price 4/5
Facilities and equipment 5/5
Coaching 5/5
Fun 4/5

Average 4,5/5

www.saigonsc.com

Crossfit Hakata in Fukuoka

On January 21, 2019 By Make Your Customers Love YouIn Box, Crossfit, Crossfit Hakata, Fukuoka, Location1 Comment

After not having success of finding boxes to train in Kanazawa or Hiroshima I was thrilled to find one in Fukuoka called Crossfit Hakata. That was literally the only Crossfit gym I was able to find in a city searching from Google in English.

It was pretty easy to make a booking to Crossfit Hakata. Check out their schedule from the website and use an online form to make a booking. The confirmation came in after an hour or two so most likely someone checks the reservations manually. The drop in fee was 2000 Yen (16 €) which was also pretty decent comparing to prices in Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo. When I arrived 15 minutes before the first afternoon class excited as I was, the gym was still empty. There was a cleaner but surprisingly he was able to speak couple of words in English and tell me that the coach was coming in a few minutes.

In terms of equipment and facilities the gym was by far the best I had in Japan. I could state the best one what I had seen so far. They had pull up bars and nice space outside to do also outdoor workouts. The inside facilities were spacious and all equipment state of the art from barbells to everything else including skipping ropes. Especially when comparing the drop in fee to the equipment and what other boxes charge in Japan, I would go on to say this one is a hidden gem. The class had five participants are we easily had space to do our workout where and however we wanted without distracting each other’s moves at the WOD. Also this gym enables running outdoors which is not necessarily the easiest to arrange in most Crossfit gyms in Japan.

Both of the workouts I did was with one of the coaches, Kenzo. His level of English was limited. Yet, I had a very nice talks with him and got few nice tips in both workouts I did. I had a feeling that all four coaches are very professional in their Crossfit so would definitely say that this gym will get you further in the sport. The gym was around three years old so most of the fellow trainers had been training around a year or a bit more. As my amusement I also heard they used to have a Finnish coach there.

The community seemed to know each other very well and having fun training together and so did I. During the weekend I went to see the Sumo wrestling tournament that happened to be in Fukuoka. I still remember one the fellow Crossfitters giving me tips in which temples to possibly find the Sumo wrestlers if I wanted to see them. Since, it’s in their custom most of them live in the temples during the tournament. This definitely turned out to be my favorite Crossfit gym in Japan that I went to in terms of price to quality ratio!

Booking and customer service 5/5
Price 4/5
Facilities and equipment 5/5
Coaching 4/5
Fun 5/5

Average 4,5/5

www.crossfit-hakata.com

Crossfit Umeda West in Osaka

On January 21, 2019 By Make Your Customers Love YouIn Box, Crossfit, Crossfit Umeda West, Location, Osaka1 Comment

In Japan I visited Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo, Kanazawa, Hiroshima and Fukuoka. I was able to find Crossfit boxes in Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo and Fukuoka. The gym training overall for a tourist in Japan is a bit more challenging due to the fact that English is not a widely spoken language and many regular gyms only provide monthly packages.

In addition to Crossfit, I was able to join Joyfit and Anytime Fitness in some locations for a variating price usually between 500-1000 Yen (4-8 €). Even though cheap, some gyms allow you to go to a drop in only ones. Apparently it depends on the individual gym since both chains seem to be operating with a franchising model and their website won’t provide information whether a certain gym lets you drop in and for what price. The other challenge is that the facilities are variating. Almost all of them are not suitable for proper weight-lifting. In some of them you are able to do that but drop the weights on the floor and you will receive some long unhappy looks.

In Osaka I tried contacting the following Crossfit gyms:

Crossfit Osaka Jo (tried reaching out to them through Facebook but never received a reply)
Crossfit Umeda West (send an email and got a reply and was able to go and do a workout)

There are also others like Crossfit Minami and one near Hommachi station. The latter doesn’t have contact details to be found in English. Minami located in Shinsaibashi has English site and drop in for 3300 Yen (around 26 €) and also schedule and booking chance on their site but I never tried it out because my accommodation was in other direction. Maybe next time!

Crossfit Umeda West can be reached through an email. I asked them if I can drop and got a reply on a following day in English. The process took two days and I managed to book myself a workout at the box. When I went there everyone at the lobby were super happy and even seem excited to have me train with them. A very pleasant first encountering. The price for drop in I think was 3300 Yen (around 26 €) that I would consider expensive considering the gym size.

The facilities are relatively smaller than with most gyms I have trained. The Japanese boxes tend to have more limited space anyway apparently due to higher rents but even for Japanese standards Umeda West is smaller. The gym has most equipment you would expect the Crossfit box to have. The wallballs I didn’t see but they would not work in this gym anyway, at least for me, because the ceiling is way too low. Therefore, the pull-up bars are located too low for someone at my height (1.87 m) making it harder to do kipping pull-ups. The box facilities hardly allow weight-lifting due to the limited space and equipment. I guess that is not a focus area here but more functional and cardio workouts.

I trained with one of the Japanese coaches who seemed very excited about the workouts and people working out with him. His English skills were very limited but I was doing fine by getting instructions also from my fellow trainers. This was maybe funkiest and closest community that I trained with so far! Everyone seemed to be pushing it together which made that one workout I had with them memorable. I also got great tips where to go, what to eat and what to do in Osaka from a fellow trainer Masato. So the community here deserves extra points.

So, to sum it up – if you are looking for the gym to train with strongest and hardest Crossfitters, that might be found elsewhere. On the other hand, if you are looking for a family-like training community to join to improve your conditioning, this might be perfect you!

Booking and customer service 3/5
Price 3/5
Facilities and equipment 2/5
Coaching 3/5
Fun 5/5

Average 3/5

Crossfitumedawest/facebook

Crossfit Kyoto

On January 21, 2019 By Make Your Customers Love YouIn Crossfit, Crossfit Kyoto, Kyoto, Uncategorized1 Comment

In Kyoto I found just one gym to contact. . I sent Crossfit Kyoto an email and received a swift response back in English and I did book a class with them. They also have online booking through their website. There might be other Crossfit gyms in the city but locating one through Google and Google Maps didn’t seem to work out.

The owners Russel and Ela turned out to be foreigners with ability to speak both English and Japanese so you can get instructions in both languages. Russel from England is also the head coach at the gym. The drop in fee is 3500 Yen (around 27 €). The good thing is that they sell packages for multiple workouts so if you are staying in town for longer, the price gets cheaper.

The gym itself is in two floors, the upper floor having the dressing rooms. The lower floor contains the training space which was of a good size for the class of about six. The barbells were good, made for Olympic weight-lifting and pull-up bars high enough for me to workout efficiently. The gym is well-equipped and spacious. The only downside is that the neighbors apparently are not big fans of noise (as they never are in Japan) and you are instructed not to drop down the weights. This puts a little restrictions on weight-lifting with higher weights. Therefore, achieving the highest results in your workouts might not be as easy. I would expect them to do more five rep max repetitions than one rep max workouts but that I would not be able to tell for not having an opportunity to join for more than one class.

The headcoach Russel did give me good tips throughout the workout from stretching to weight-lifting and even filmed some of my squat cleans to show me how to improve the position. Getting instructed in English was definitely also a plus. Russel was assisted by Ela who also helped people to improve our technique and performance! You could tell that they are in it seriously.

The trainers seemed to be other fellow travelers and regular community members. I had the pleasure training with Japanese that seemed to be enjoying it as a group and knew each other very well. The other travelers were from Singapore so I think we had a nice group of people doing the class. After the workout we did a small photoshoot together which I unfortunately I don’t have to include in this blog. I think this gym might actually have pretty intense community too which I always consider a plus!

Booking and customer service 5/5
Price 3/5
Facilities and equipment 3/5
Coaching 5/5
Fun 4/5

Average 4/5

www.crossfitkyoto.com

Crossfit Slash in Beijing

On January 21, 2019 By Make Your Customers Love YouIn Beijing, Box, Crossfit, Crossfit Slash, Location, Uncategorized1 Comment

In Beijing there are several gyms which almost all need to be contacted through email. I only contacted Crossfit Slash because of my limited time and their convenient central location in Sanlitun. I sent Crossfit Slash an email.

I trained once at Crossfit Slash on my three day visit to Beijing. I was able to make a booking by sending an email to the gym and receiving a reply during the same day. There was no booking option online but email worked as well. The box is located inside a bigger complex building in Sanlitun area which is popular area for nightlife, restaurants etc. in Beijing and centrally located.

The challenge in finding the box was that Google Maps actually located the building 200 meters away from where the gym actually was so I was wondering around for some time trying to find the entrance. Once I found the North entrance I missed the elevator going down to basement since there are no signs that the building actually has a Crossfit gym so you will have to focus a bit to find it to the basement where the instructions can be seen on the wall. Once you find the gym there are welcoming staff at the reception giving you your locker key and showing you to the locker room. The drop in price was 180 RMB which is around 23 €.

The gym seemed very well maintained and equipment what you would expect from a Crossfit gym. The barbells were for Olympic weight-lifting and they even had a small platform for weight-lifting. The general space could have been bigger but at least at the time of my workout, there wasn’t too many people at the class so it would have been an issue.

I trained with one of the more junior coaches and overall the session was good. I got few tips mainly regarding the stretching part though which admittedly is not really more strongest area. Since I only did one workout, it’s pretty hard to comment on the coaching in general but I felt I had a good class. The coach did not speak too much English though but if you would end up having classes with the headcoach Tim that I originally spoke with, I would expect having a very good English speaking coaching.

Booking and customer service 3/5
Price 3/5
Facilities and equipment 4/5
Coaching 4/5
Fun 3/5

Total score 3,5/5