Where Everybody Knows Your Name

One of the things that impressed me the most when I first started CrossFit was the fact that by the second class the coach knew my name. And he didn’t just know my name, but also the name of every one of the dozen or so participants in my introductory class. The fact that he would take the time to learn everyone’s name spoke to a level of involvement and care that I wasn’t necessarily expecting, and appreciated greatly.

Once I progressed beyond the intro class, I found that being known by name was a basic component of belonging to my gym. After warm-ups when we gather to review the day’s strength work and WOD, time is taken for everyone to introduce themselves. Also, everyone’s name is written on the white-board in order to record scores, but it is also a helpful aid to learning names. Even though I am not particularly good with names, I make my best effort to learn my gym-mate’s names, especially those who I see on a regular basis. I figure that if I appreciate it when someone knows my name, others will likely appreciate it if I know theirs. Seems simple enough, get to know the people who you are working out with.

I contrast my experience, however, with what a work colleague once told me about his gym-going routine. I knew that my friend liked to work-out, so in the course of discussing our shared interest, I told him about discovering CrossFit. Among other things, I mentioned how great it has been to meet so many interesting and fun people at my gym. He responded that in all the many years in which he had been going to the same gym, he had not met a single person. He related that, instead of learning people’s names, he had actually made up names in his head for the people who he saw frequently. Wow. I have never attended a conventional gym, so I found this very surprising in contrast to my own experience in CrossFit. Hearing this from him just made me appreciate even more working-out at a place where everybody knows my name – and I know theirs.