Boost Fit boss Workman won over by CrossFit

Boost Fit's Sharaf Workman made the jump to CrossFit and is riding the wave. Photo/Michael Cunningham

Boost Fit owner Sharaf Workman was once fighting against the current of CrossFit.

But after watching it rise both as a sport and a business, he decided to join the movement.

CrossFit is far from a trend. It is now one of the biggest sports in the world with more than 385,000 people taking part in the World CrossFit Open.

Workman said the incredible rise of CrossFit was something he saw coming and the community was a big driver of it.

"I saw these guys come from being nothing but I saw what their motto and ways were and thought "these guys are going to blow up'," he said.

"We did the same sort of stuff at the time and I knew they were going to go mental. Once they got to Australia I knew it was over.

"Anyone can do CrossFit, anyone can do it. It is a huge community. You do get that clique sort of thing but our CrossFit stays right away from that.

"Everyone is equal. You aren't a better person because you do CrossFit and that's the kind of thing you hear from other CrossFit gyms."

CrossFit is a strength and conditioning programme consisting mainly of a mix of aerobic exercise, callisthenics (body weight exercises), and Olympic weightlifting.

CrossFit Inc describes the programme as "constantly varied functional movements executed at high-intensity across broad time and modal domains," with the stated goal of improving fitness, which it defines as "work capacity across broad time and modal domains".

Northland has four CrossFit affiliates - Boost Fit, Far North Cross Fit, CrossFit Whangarei and CrossFit Kerikeri.

Workman's gym Boost Fit was running cross-training during the rampant rise of their competitor and eventually found themselves joining the industry driver.

"Before CrossFit we were doing sweet, we'd have 25 to 30 people at every class but then CrossFit started taking off and people starting leaving," he said.

"I thought of turning the gym to CrossFit a couple of years back but people were like "Nah don't do that, you're Boost Fit" but it doesn't have the power.

"We were struggling for a while. We were fighting a battle against CrossFit for some time until we became an affiliate.

"One of the reasons we became an affiliate is that we were losing business and now we've got that added marketing from being a CrossFit affiliate.

"You've either got to ride the wave or drown."

For a gym to gain CrossFit accreditation, they need to pay a $4000 annual fee, but Workman said the marketing and branding they got from the name more than made up for it.

Workman said the sport could be used as a driver for healthier living, something the media did not always point out.

"A lot of today's media does this whole "be skinny" craze and it needs to stop. It should be all about being healthy and clean. That's what you are after."