I was so excited to be back in Boston last weekend! It's one of my favorite cities on the east coast and I haven't been back since college. Fortunately for us, we came just in time for the beautiful weather: sunny and clear skies. To kick the weekend off, I dropped in at CrossFit Southie for a quick workout. It was much needed given all the food and number of cocktails I had.
I dropped in for the L1/L2 class with Chuck. The workout was right up my alley! This is what we did:
- Warm Up: 3min jump rope, 2min air squats, 1min push ups, pistol review
- Skill: Muscle Up
- Strength: 15min to build up to a HS Front Squat
- Workout: 12min AMRAP:
- 20 Double Unders
- 12 Pistols, alternating
- 2 Muscle Ups
Some things I really liked here:
- The "Dream" Gym: 15,000sqft, 30 feet ceilings (and rings and ropes hung from them!), garage doors, well lit, platforms everywhere, LARGE flat usable area. See the pictures below for more details.
- 2 spaces that share the same parking lot (and yes, they have a free parking lot in Boston!)... as if the main space wasn't large enough. Over the years they expanded the main space by knocking down walls. They also have another space to run classes, on-ramps, team training, etc.
- Variety of equipment: hammers, chains, yokes, atlas stones, ropes, farmer's carry bars, axle bar, airdyne, jerk boxes, mats, benches, parallettes, tires, sandbags, etc. You name it, they probably have it!
- Tiered programming and classes done right. They also have a competitive team. Options are: Burnt Toast/Rx/L2/L1/All Levels. The purpose here is to accommodate all athletes at different levels, their fitness goals, and surround them with other athletes around the same level, whether they're advanced and competitive or those who just want to get a workout in for the day. Their blog also programs accordingly for each level. Check out their daily workout blog and their competitor's/Burnt Toast blog.
- High quality classes. I dropped in for the L1/L2 class since that was the only time I could make. Chuck broke down the double under, pistol, and muscle up very well. I appreciate the level of detail he went into each movement, and the progression steps. Another coach also helped out.
- Classes almost all day, including weekends! How many CrossFit gyms out there are open on Sunday's let alone have 6 classes? Check out their schedule!
- Open gym. Their location is so large that you can do you're own stuff without interfering the class. They also have dedicated open gym hours.
- 4 large restrooms and 6 showers, water
- Parking in the city
- $20 drop in fee. No shirt exchange, no shirt purchase to waive drop in fee
Some things that could use improvement:
- Kilogram plates and fractional plates! Would go great with all the platforms they have, and also with the barbell club.
Some pictures of the Main location:
3. view from the back
4. pull up structure
5. high rings!
6. and high ropes
7. some platforms and white boards
8. jerk boxes in the back & PRs
9. beautiful artwork of their athletes
10. more space!
11. area on the other side of the pull up structure
12. another angle
13. more platforms, yokes, and wall ball targets
14. to the next area
15. whiteboard doors on the left
16. more platforms!
17. thought this was really cool
18. another view
19. extra room in the back
Really, really nice box with almost every equipment you can imagine and pretty much open all day. The pictures above are just for their main location. I didn't get a chance to check out the one across the lot. If you're in the heart of Boston, you'll notice that it's tough to drop in at boxes w/in walking distance there. CrossFit Southie is just a 10min car ride away, or a $7 Uber ride from the Back Bay area. It's a great gym to drop in to do your own programming on your schedule and the vibe, people and coaches are great. Enjoyed my visit here and hope to come back soon!
