Feeling the need to work off the excessive amounts of croissants, ice cream and macaroons I’ve consumed while in Paris, I decided a stop at a gym was in order. Reebok CrossFit du Louvre was literally 400m away from our hotel so a visit there was hard to avoid. After my unfavorable experience at Reebok CrossFit 5th Ave in New York, I really did not want to visit another Reebok CrossFit gym. However, I decided to be open minded this time because I was in another country and the convenience.
Since class times aren’t available on their website, I coordinated with a staff member to come in and join a class. After giving me a list of class times, I decided to drop in for the "7am" class on Monday. We arrived at 6:45am for the "7am" class only to discover there was no 7am class. There was a class at 6:30am and 8am. This would have been somewhat OK if we didn’t have a train to catch to London later that morning. Regardless, they offered us the open gym option, which we accepted.
Open gym may sound great and when I emailed Reebok CrossFit Louvre initially, I asked about open gym so I could do my weightlifting programming. However, open gym at Reebok CrossFit Louvre was a bit misleading… and dangerous. They have a small area in the gym reserved for open gym. However, the class is not capped or overseen by a coach, and anyone can do it. One guy was helping another guy back squat by pushing his elbows forward as the guy squatted. Another guy had a wrist injury and was overhead squatting with the barbell about an inch above his head. These were just a couple things I saw while there. Also, there were more people at open gym than attending the class so space was very tight. I wanted to get some squats in but the queue for platforms was way too long so that didn’t happen. The next thing I wanted to do was snatches, but not if I had to do it off of floor pads and not be able to drop. Unfortunately, however, there was no room for that either.
So my next thought was handstand push ups. That was quickly dismissed as I would have collided with another person doing barbell work. Therefore, I decided to do muscle ups and a short version Cindy with strict pull ups. The rings were hung in a corner right next to the elevator with protruding metal structures so kipping can be a hazard. In addition, I had to share the same tiny space with a guy who was doing a rope climb workout and another guy who was doing a workout with C2B pull ups. I don’t think it made anyone happy. When it came time to do my workout, I had to do strict pull ups so I wouldn’t kick anyone. I felt bad for the guy who was doing shoulder press 1 foot away from me since it’s not fun lifting when someone is directly in front of you. However, it was so hard to do anything in open gym and after an hour had gone by and I’ve only done muscle ups because of space, it was time to get my workout done. Good thing no one got injured.
Regardless, the workout for the day was:
Open gym may sound great and when I emailed Reebok CrossFit Louvre initially, I asked about open gym so I could do my weightlifting programming. However, open gym at Reebok CrossFit Louvre was a bit misleading… and dangerous. They have a small area in the gym reserved for open gym. However, the class is not capped or overseen by a coach, and anyone can do it. One guy was helping another guy back squat by pushing his elbows forward as the guy squatted. Another guy had a wrist injury and was overhead squatting with the barbell about an inch above his head. These were just a couple things I saw while there. Also, there were more people at open gym than attending the class so space was very tight. I wanted to get some squats in but the queue for platforms was way too long so that didn’t happen. The next thing I wanted to do was snatches, but not if I had to do it off of floor pads and not be able to drop. Unfortunately, however, there was no room for that either.
So my next thought was handstand push ups. That was quickly dismissed as I would have collided with another person doing barbell work. Therefore, I decided to do muscle ups and a short version Cindy with strict pull ups. The rings were hung in a corner right next to the elevator with protruding metal structures so kipping can be a hazard. In addition, I had to share the same tiny space with a guy who was doing a rope climb workout and another guy who was doing a workout with C2B pull ups. I don’t think it made anyone happy. When it came time to do my workout, I had to do strict pull ups so I wouldn’t kick anyone. I felt bad for the guy who was doing shoulder press 1 foot away from me since it’s not fun lifting when someone is directly in front of you. However, it was so hard to do anything in open gym and after an hour had gone by and I’ve only done muscle ups because of space, it was time to get my workout done. Good thing no one got injured.
Regardless, the workout for the day was:
- Warm Up: rowing 30 on, 30 off; Turkish Get Up
- Strength: Clean
- Workout: 10min AMRAP:
- 200m run
- 5 Clean 135#/95#
Some things I really liked here:
- Prime Central Location! Located in the middle of Paris, Reebok CrossFit Louvre is in walking distance to the metro station and many attractions including the famous Musee du Louvre. They are also the only CrossFit gym in central Paris.
- Clean and organized. Equipment is easy to find and in great condition. Everything is Rogue.
- Variety of equipment: ski erg, prowlers, sleds, ropes, platforms, benches, etc. Also, weights are in pounds instead of kilos even though they’re in Europe. You know, they’re Reebok.
- Classes all day and pretty much every day. However, finding the schedule was difficult. Here’s a schedule I found on their Facebook page. Times aren’t entirely accurate, but frequency is.
- Open Gym pretty much all day and on weekends. When I emailed, this is schedule they responded with: weekdays from 7am - 5pm, Saturday from 10am - 6pm, and from 10am - 2pm on Sunday. The open gym area is in the corner near the front of the box.
- Many showers and toilets, also really clean. In the women’s room they even had a vanity counter with blow dryers and mirrors.
- 25 Euro drop in fee per visit.
Some things that could use improvement:
- No dropping weights, regardless. You will need to use floor pads if you plan on doing anything with a barbell.
- Rules on open gym and coach supervision. There’s no space for people to do things. On top of that, people were moving really badly.
- Update website or Facebook with correct schedule.
Some pictures:
3. Box receptionist and open gym area
4. Open gym area view from the front
5. Open gym area, view from back
6. ski ergs and GHD
7. pull up area, rope, rings, next to stairways and elevator
8. view of class area of the gym
9. rowers
10. platforms, weights, rigs
11. weights
12. back side
13. back of the room
14. view from back of class area
15. mini store
16. Daily whiteboard
My experience at Reebok CrossFit Louvre was disappointing and consistent with my experience at Reebok CrossFit 5th Ave. They were both in prime locations, and from the outside, things look like they should be great, but the drop in fee is high and there are major problems. It felt just like going to a global gym, except with CrossFit equipment. The one thing different about Reebok CrossFit Louvre is that the staff is actually nice, friendly, and not stuck up. It would be great if they could get more organized.
After visiting two Reebok CrossFit gyms and not liking either visits, I think I’ll avoid going to another one for awhile. The problem is that they’re so convenient, and whether you’re busy or don’t want to spend your entire vacation working out, it becomes a very tempting option. Next time, I think I’ll just do a hotel workout. Hopefully I’ll have enough discipline to do so.
Related Posts: Reebok CrossFit 5th Ave
After visiting two Reebok CrossFit gyms and not liking either visits, I think I’ll avoid going to another one for awhile. The problem is that they’re so convenient, and whether you’re busy or don’t want to spend your entire vacation working out, it becomes a very tempting option. Next time, I think I’ll just do a hotel workout. Hopefully I’ll have enough discipline to do so.
Related Posts: Reebok CrossFit 5th Ave