Trial Class
CrossFit Kyoto 🎉 10th Affiliation Anniversary🥂🍾
2011 & James Bond 😉
In 2011, when nobody in Japan was familiar with the name CrossFit or what it involved, I started CrossFit for myself.
I didn’t want to get fat and I wanted a workout that James Bond might do to stay ready between martinis. Being from the UK I am, of course, naturally already 3/4 of the way to being James Bond, so adding CrossFIt was all that was needed 😜
It seemed a good idea to me, as well, BUT - to borrow a few lines from Gloria Gaynor’s song “I Will Survive” -
🎵 At first I was afraid, I was petrified
Thinking that CrossFit was to hard to coach, its scope too wide... 🎵 (TBC)
Growing the Vision and Expanding on all Levels
In the beginning I just wanted the members of our first small outdoor classes at Takaragaike park (Northeastern Kyoto) to experience the same benefits I had received from working out hard: a release of stress, and the strength and endurance to apply to new fun skills like handstands and muscle-ups.
That initial vision has expanded as we have grown and learned so much from everyone who has passed through the doors of CrossFit Kyoto during this past decade. In this our 10th anniversary year, while we still want people to be strong & fit, we are evolving together with the meaning of ‘Fitness’. All around the world fitness is no longer just “work capacity across broad time and modal domains” as stated in the Level 1 CF Certification handbook.
At CrossFit Kyoto we believe that true fitness must include sustainability over time, not just for individuals as we age, but also for the planet 🌏 as a whole, since we as a society need to honestly and passionately consider the environmental and social results of our actions. Maybe we could now call fitness “increased ACTION capacity across broad time and GLOBAL domains”?
THANK YOU !
This is a long-winded way of saying a BIIIG THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us grow and evolve since that day in May 2011. We would not be where we are now if it weren’t for each single one of you, your passionate contributions, the fun & joy you bring to the CrossFit Kyoto gym daily, the unforgettable moments and the uncountable laughs together! We have been touched, inspired, challenged and supported by you all, and we feel deeply grateful to every single person. You are truly precious and awesome! ARIGATO! 🙏
For a Hundred and More Years 🎉
Here’s to staying happy and healthy together for another 10 years ‘...and why not 100 years?’ says Ela 😉 !
Why not indeed? SO now you’ve finished reading how about doing 100 burpees right away to celebrate with us 😜
And... just in case you're interested: 🎼 A Song is all it takes to Survive... 🎵
Russell’s CrossFit Kyoto version of Gloria Gaynor’s song “I Will Survive”
🎵 At first I was afraid, I was petrified
Thinking that CrossFit was to hard to coach, its scope too wide
But I spent so many days just doing training for myself
That Ela cried, “you should share what you’ve applied”
It’s been 10 years, not the same space
It turned out Takaragaike park was both too hot and cold a place
And so we found an indoor gym
Where the program could expand
Our CrossFit Affiliation was the third throughout this land
Go on now go, run out the door, 400 meters
Is the distance in the workout you’re in for
And even though there’s burpees, no the whiteboard doesn’t lie
We will not crumble, we will not lay down and die
Oh no not us, we will survive
As long as we know how to love we know we’ll stay alive
We’ve been here for a decade, and it is all thanks to you
So we’ll survive, we will survive hey hey…. 🎵
The actual Gloria Gaynor’s song “I Will Survive”
We’ll be adding more verses 😀 as we approach our traditional October Anniversary celebration 🥳 so stay posted !
