How is FearNaught different from a regular gym?

CrossFit FearNaught is not an anonymous facility where you train alone: our members are part of the FearNaught Family. We’ll be ready for you from the very first class you book: when you arrive to train your name will be with everyone else’s on the whiteboard and your coach will guide you in scaling (personalising) the work to suit your own capability. Every workout is carefully programmed – not only for that hour, but also to sit within the week and month of planned training so you get the best results from your hard work. As well as coaching the group, your coach will offer specific input on your performance such as technique pointers for your lifting or targets for your cardio work. You’ll learn to move well before you move fast or lift heavy because we’re building fitness, not ego. Everything you do develops meaningful and useful fitness that translates into the ability to cope with everyday movement demands.

Can you tell me a bit more about CrossFit?

CrossFit is still a relative newcomer to the UK but has around 4 million participants in the USA. CrossFit was built on a definition of fitness that recognises the importance of breadth rather than excellence in one speciality area. This evidence-based training program therefore develops your metabolic fitness alongside your strength, mobility and gymnastic skill, rather than focusing on one aspect of your fitness or sporting ability. CrossFitters can outrun a lifter and outlift a runner. Workouts are carefully programmed to elicit the best improvements across all the modalities, so that members who attend regularly can safely make significant gains across all areas of their fitness whatever their stage in life. Because of its effectiveness and breadth, many people use CrossFit to support their participation in a chosen sport.

CrossFitters are resilient, both physically and mentally. In essence, we are preparing ourselves to meet whatever challenges may present in life. Every movement we train is ‘functional’ – it translates into improved ability in natural movements that may be demanded of us every day.  The intensity and focus of CrossFit training also helps us to become accustomed to working through physical discomfort and meeting psychological challenges – skills that carry over into our lives outside CrossFit. You can learn more about CrossFit in general here and find plenty of interesting articles here. Of course, we’re always happy to chat more about our favourite subject too!

I’m a beginner – will I be able to join the classes?

Everything in CrossFit can be scaled (modified) so that it provides the right amount of challenge for you. Whatever your level you’ll train alongside the other members and you’ll bump fists with them when you all reach the end of the workout. Your coach may tailor the WOD to match your capacity and skill level so that you get the most from your session but you’ll work just as hard as everyone around you. You do not need to be in good shape to start CrossFit, but you’ll soon be in good shape once you get up and running! There’s a good explanation of how scaling works here.

What happens at my first session?

We’ll ask you to come along a few minutes early so we can show you around the ‘box’ (CrossFit gym), answer any questions you might have and talk you through the session that’s programmed for that day. You won’t need anything special – just some clothes and trainers that are easy to move in and a bottle of water. Everyone else will arrive and there will be an explanation of the WOD followed by a warm up and, depending on the structure of that day, there may be additional accessory work to complete or some mobility work.

The class always lasts one hour, but the structure of the session and content of the workout will vary hugely and unpredictably – that’s part of the fun!

Do I have to commit to a minimum membership term?

We don’t require a minimum commitment, but our monthly membership has a 30 days’ notice period. 

Can I buy single classes or blocks of classes?

With the exception of our free trials, we don’t offer individual classes; all our members either purchase monthly memberships that allow them to train on one class each day. Memberships are cost-effective, being roughly equivalent to the cost of only two individual sessions per week (far less often than our members tend to train).

Do you offer Open Gym and speciality classes?

One of our strengths at FearNaught is our exceptional in-house daily programming, and this is the main focus of what we provide and should form the backbone of your training week. We do offer Gymnastics and Barbells classes, to enable members to work on areas of weakness, as well as a Power Athlete class for advanced athletes. Open Gym runs on Sunday mornings so that there is an opportunity for members to practice at their own pace, consolidate skills or catch up on a missed WOD from the week (Open Gym is supervised but not structured or coached like a class). Saturday morning WODs are always fun, with a team or partner to share the pain!