Hand me the kettle bell, I'm going in

August 20, 2013 9:26 AM

After a month of at-home kickboxing and adjusting my diet to include more than tacos, I'm beginning to feel the love for physical activity and healthy living. Now I find myself looking for CrossFit gyms in Philadelphia that won't scare me away. Snowflake details inside.

I've been doing 35 minutes of kickboxing 4 x a week for the last 5 weeks (I just started using a resistance band to amp up the power of my punches), and I am loving being so active and actually having triceps again. I'm starting to feel like I want to at least try CrossFit. I'm just wary of a few things:

a) I need a space that is both female and queer friendly.
b) I need a space that is welcoming to newbies. While I am fitter than I've been in a long time, I'm still pretty soft and squishy. And slightly socially anxious.
c) I need a space that does not go crazy about paleo. While I have been following a loose version of paleo since I started working out regularly and I am happy with the results, I have a very long and storied history of eating disorders and I cannot (and will not) deal with nutritional bullying.
d) Within walking/short drive distance of Fishtown.
e) Flexible schedules. I currently work from home, so my days are more or less open. But I also work several night jobs that would rule out hitting the gym during normal "after work" hours.

posted by picklesthezombie to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

Best answer: If you can easily grab the El, I know a lot of people who go to Center City Crossfit. I can't speak for their attitudes about paleo, but other than that, it fits your bill. Most of the people I know who go there are women; at least some are queer; most started as total crossfit newbies and speak highly of it as a welcoming friendly environment. Admittedly, they were all pretty gung-ho about "yeah I'm totally gonna do crossfit WOOOO!" but they've actively spoken of it as a place they felt good about being newbies.
posted by Tomorrowful at 9:38 AM on August 20, 2013

(Important disclaimer: I don't do crossfit myself, I just know a lot of people who do.)
posted by Tomorrowful at 9:49 AM on August 20, 2013

You want Center City Crossfit. It fits all of your needs and then some.
posted by melodykramer at 10:15 AM on August 20, 2013

Unfortunately for me, I hear WAY too much about how wonderful Fearless Athletics/CrossFit South Philly is from my queer, female friend. Fortunately for you, you'll probably love it.
posted by jrichards at 11:05 AM on August 20, 2013

Former Fearless member here (have since moved to DC). It definitely fits your queer-friendly and not crazy/paleo/culty requirements. However, it's not within walking distance of Fishtown (neither is CC Crossfit). Given your location, I'd strongly recommend Crossfit Novem. Lots of super nice and friendly people there and a flexible schedule.

Good luck! Crossfit is fun and Philly is a great place for it.
posted by ethorson at 11:38 AM on August 20, 2013

I don't have Philly-specific recs, but I wanted to chime in that as an obese woman (who'd been doing some kickboxing and other gym stuff) I was pretty scared of the downsides I'd read about Crossfit. My CrossFit has ended up being incredibly welcoming, awesome, and bs-free. I was almost disappointed to find out that I didn't get to trot out my anti-paleo-bullying speech. Now I thoroughly love everything about it (and am more fit).
posted by ldthomps at 11:42 AM on August 20, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks everyone! I just signed up for Elements classes at Center City CrossFit (after the fact, it turns out that the instructor is also a friend of the woman who inspired me to get more fit in the first place, so I'm pretty excited!)
posted by picklesthezombie at 4:11 PM on August 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

So one of the most important things to consider about Crossfit is the quality and intelligence of your coaches, as it will stand between you and injury. From a friend I've heard Rob Morris at Fearless Athletics/Crossfit South Philly is a good coach. He coaches mornings. So though it's far away, if it's not too late I would go check him out.
posted by Anonymous at 7:54 PM on August 20, 2013

There is an amazing CrossFit-like gym in Mt. Airy called Urban Athlete. My wife and I went there for 3 years while we worked there. It's a phenomenal community of people. It's owned by a woman, it's certainly great for beginners, and it leverages all of the diversity of Mt. Airy/Germantown/Chestnut Hill. Definitely worth a look.
posted by scblackman at 10:45 PM on August 20, 2013