Kendall Square CrossFit

I have been CrossFitting since 2009 and been to 40+ CF gyms. This is a new, budding gym which shows a lot of promise. Jared, the owner, is a knowledgeable guy who follows the Kelly Starrett mobility method; if you’re unaware what that means, simply put: you WILL be more durable. They seem to be expanding nicely and have all the requisite equipment. Some people just aren’t cut out for the intensity of CrossFit (as evidenced by a few reviews). CrossFit is not Jazzercise or P90X. It might be tough, but if you’re serious about your fitness and committed to making it to class then you will see results.

This place rules. My only complaint is sometimes David lacks skill in picking quality Pandora stations at times. One time during a WOD the first 5 minutes were us grinding out to Shaws commercials. lol. jk love you all!!!

I have been a member at KSCF since they opened in December 2013. When I started I was only able to do one pull-​up and I am now able to do 10 in a row in May! I have never felt better about myself and my strength, and I’ve also gained confidence in my ability to try new things and conquer my fears.
I attribute these positive changes to the coaches at KSCF and the other crossfit members. In particular I really enjoy Katie T’s classes because she is an excellent teacher and incredible crossfit athlete herself. The atmosphere amongst members is friendly and supportive and I couldn’t be happier with my decision to commit to a membership at this box.
There is a bonus at KSCF at well — getting a gym membership to CAC included which has allowed me to take spin classes and body combat classes as well as use their weight room. The locker rooms at CAC have also been renovated recently and have nice showers, sauna, steam room etc… Overall KSCF is an awesome box!

I’ve been doing crossfit at KSCF for 2 months now and I absolutely love it. It’s not the closest (or cheapest) box to me, but I’ve tried others and KSCF has been the best. The membership includes a membership at Cambridge Athletic Club which is such a huge bonus because a lot of the other places I’ve checked out are much more garage like and don’t offer much else except crossfit. The trainers have been great and I’ve never felt like I couldn’t ask them for help on form or weight suggestions. Everyone there is super friendly (members and trainers alike). I have left every class feeling stronger and ready for the next one. If I had the time, I’d be there 5 days a week.

I really wanted to love this place — but the pros were outnumbered by the cons, which included snarky comments mixed in with a bait and switch. Maybe I encountered them on two off days. I won’t be going back a third time to find out.
Pros:
Close to work
Great schedule
Great price point
Super friendly directors
Cons:
During my first demo/​on-​ramp class on 5/​6, I was told that I squatted wrong. Which cool, fine, tell me what i’m doing wrong. Instead the girl, instead of repositioning me, made me do some on my own, looking HORRIFIED. There were only 2 of us in the on-​ramp class… which was a great opportunity for them to correct what I was doing. Instead, she just watched and shook her head a lot.
I have NEVER done CrossFit before. Ever. The only experience I had with weights was doing some deadlifts and squats at a boxing gym in Southie. The thought of doing an over the head lift was daunting. I don’t remember even what lift they were trying to teach me, but apparently, I wasn’t doing it right. The pro here was that Jared, the actual coach for the class I signed up for, made me feel ok with feeling weird and took the time to tell me what I needed to do.
At the end of my first demo/​on ramp class, the girl trainer took us out to the main area to stretch out. She told me that I «wasn’t ready for crossfit», because of some imbalances I had in my legs and hips. She told me I couldn’t come back to crossfit until I had a mobility assessment, and worked on these issues.
Here’s the thing about this — CrossFit is meant to be scalable and for people of all shapes, sizes and mobility. I was recommended to start CrossFit as strength training to my running regimen. I’m always willing to listen to how I can improve, but telling me that I can’t do something because I’m not strong enough to start? That seems weird when one of the values of CrossFit is for everyone to join in, and make it a workout for themselves.
Anyways.
On ⁵⁄₁₃ I go in for my «mobility assessment». The trainer talked to me about my goals, (completing my first marathon), and did a body fat measurement with a weird hand held thing that said my body fat was 32%. Weird, since when I got it done with calipers in January during my physical assessment at my doctor, he clocked me in at 22%.
As he’s going through my goals, he makes note that my goal body fat should be at 20% (down from his reported 35%) and my weight should be down 25lbs. At this point he told me «Imagine you are running around with a 25 lbs weight around your waist. That’s basically what’s happening… and so without that, you will improve your running.» (I’ll note I wear a size 4/​6, and have no body issues or issues with my weight. I’m not quite sure where 25lbs will come off from?) Asking someone to lose 12% body fat, who is not overweight, is irresponsible.
When we finally got to the mobility part, he had me do maybe 15 squats. This was really the only useful information I got out of him. He said when I squat that one of my foot rolls out, which comes from a weak ankle, which in turn shifts my back to arch a little more than it should. He put my ankles on a little weight (so it mimicked a high heel) and I squatted almost perfectly. Sweet! I have weak ankles. Now that I know where my weakness comes from, I can scale my CrossFit WOD to help me strengthen them, right? NOPE
What I got was a bait and switch, that I needed to sign up for 6 — 10 weeks of personal training to work on my ankles and tight hamstrings before I could even THINK of joining in on a CrossFit WOD. All I need is a membership and personal training ranges from $ 85-​$ 65 per session… «The more sessions you buy, the cheaper they are, just for you to know.
Which is weird, because I have friends of all shapes and sizes and mobility capabilities who go to different Crossfit boxes who have all be assisted in SCALING their workout but never being told they COUDLN’T do it.
Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.
I’ll be finding a box that won’t try to bait and switch me by crushing my self esteem just to make a buck.