Northwest CrossFit was established in 2008 as one of the first CrossFit gyms in Seattle. It grew tremendously over the years and changed the lives of countless athletes, including us. In 2011, we (Kate and Nate) joined out of curiosity: who were these people running in and out of the building and lifting scary-looking weights? We fell in love with the community, the workouts, and the fitness we gained.
In early 2020, we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to own our favorite gym. Nate had been saying to Kate for years that his dream retirement gig would be to run a CrossFit box. We intended to lean into CrossFit, while putting our spin on the workout styles and community.
In summer 2020, some actions by CrossFit HQ convinced us that we couldn’t be part of that brand. We won’t detail them here, but we realized we were better off establishing our own brand of fitness. We reached out to our members for input, and Green Lake Strength & Conditioning was born.
Some key things we kept from CrossFit:
- Great coaching. Coaches help athletes significantly and continually improve.
- Group workouts. We find people are happier and more motivated working out with a group of people, especially when they get to know each other.
- Workout style. We liked the balance of aerobic and strength training, focused on movements that translate to real life situations.
Some key things we changed:
- We added workouts specifically targeted for injury prevention. We call this bullet-proofing.
- We took away “RX” weights (suggested weights for workouts). We found they encouraged people to lift too heavy.
- We took away leaderboards. We found they made people emphasize speed/intensity over movement quality.
We hope you appreciate how we’ve grown as a community. We are so grateful for you all, and we look forward to working together to build strength and confidence for everyone in the Green Lake community, for many years to come.
Want to read more?
Here’s a bit about our philosophy.
Here’s a bit about our programming.
