Have you ever tried CrossFit?

00:06
[Music]

00:22
[Applause]

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until i hit the stage

00:31
what's up everybody mike ham here with

00:33
another episode of greetings from the

00:34
garden state we're here in my hometown

00:35
morristown new jersey at motown fitness

00:37
with cariana antis cariana welcome to

00:40
the show thank you thank you for having

00:41
me thank you for having me here i've

00:42
never been in a crossfit gym before so

00:45
this i'm a first timer so i feel a

00:47
little bit intimidated because like i

00:48
mentioned before i have a 20

00:50
you know a month membership that i may

00:51
or might may not use at like a yeah you

00:54
know a global gym we call it a global

00:56
gym right so this is definitely a little

00:58
bit unique for me so good thing we're

01:00
not working out though this is just

01:02
being in the space yeah i'm pretty sure

01:04
i would like die you'd be okay yeah yeah

01:07
i mean

01:08
okay

01:10
um but uh all right so let's talk a

01:12
little bit about um the business let's

01:14
talk about you let's talk about you

01:15
first because obviously you own this

01:17
place so let's kind of talk about your

01:19
background and kind of weave your way to

01:21
when you start this this year

01:23
so i was not a fitness sports person i

01:26
know you said you were a baseball player

01:28
um i didn't do really sports in high

01:31
school um but found fitness kind of late

01:34
like when i was 20 21 relative to you

01:37
know kids being in sports and whatnot um

01:40
and just you know had that

01:42
experience for myself of like putting

01:44
the work in seeing some results and that

01:46
sort of got me hooked a little bit

01:48
at the time i was at rutgers um and

01:51
there was a position to work in their

01:53
gym

01:54
did that kind of took those small steps

01:56
and fast forward i ended up after some

01:58
years of doing like management in the

02:00
fitness industry i just felt like there

02:02
was something missing

02:05
from

02:06
working in the fitness industry whether

02:08
it's a personal trainer at new york

02:10
sports club or

02:11
managing a wellness center

02:13
it just didn't feel like it actually

02:15
connected to what i wanted to do which

02:17
was to really make a change in people's

02:19
lives right through fitness

02:21
um

02:22
so i quit that job and i opened a boot

02:25
camp in a park

02:27
which at the time you could do that now

02:28
it's like a hundred dollars an hour yeah

02:30
right rent park space

02:32
um i had two little kids at home and not

02:35
really much of a plan but just knew that

02:37
i had to pursue something that was

02:39
meaningful

02:40
and then i found crossfit i went to a

02:43
seminar had no idea what it was

02:45
and i guess you know at the time

02:47
crossfit started back in the early 2000s

02:50
um it was very grassroots it was very

02:53
much about um yeah having an experience

02:56
through movement

02:57
not just having it about be about the

03:00
what like right you're doing cardio

03:01
you're doing this there's mirrors it was

03:03
very community-based and it resonated

03:06
with me about

03:07
really a tool to help people better

03:10
themselves yeah so of course i went home

03:12
decided to open a gym right also not

03:14
really much in terms of like a financial

03:16
plan for that who needs that don't need

03:18
it um business whatever these types of

03:21
places i'm sure just like print money

03:22
yes you know yes we have a machine in

03:24
the back yeah i'll show you after okay

03:26
cool yeah if i could take some videos of

03:27
that maybe steal some if you need you

03:29
know um

03:30
so but you know i really

03:32
not having had experience as an

03:34
entrepreneur but i just knew i felt

03:36
really passionate and

03:38
kind of my motto not very uh

03:40
sophisticated but was like where there's

03:42
a will there's a way and was willing to

03:44
do the work so i opened in 2008 in

03:47
bernardsville okay a small space

03:49
um had some of my ladies which is kind

03:51
of funny the housewives of bernardsville

03:53
were like the first crossfitters in new

03:56
jersey

03:58
and from there just kind of kept

04:01
trucking along and it was gaining

04:03
interest and at that time there wasn't

04:05
hit training that crossfit really was

04:07
the thing that birthed hit training to

04:09
be honest

04:10
um so it was kind of new but interesting

04:12
and people

04:14
could i think sensed that this was

04:16
different there weren't mirrors on the

04:17
walls it was a unique workout every day

04:19
it was fun

04:21
um

04:22
and then you know i grew up in basking

04:23
ridge

04:24
so we would always come to headquarters

04:26
for movies of course of course and so i

04:29
used to drive down market street all the

04:30
time and there was a space to the left

04:34
those of you that are familiar with

04:35
morristown if you're not

04:37
in morristown

04:39
there was this vacant space there used

04:40
to be a motorcycle in there there was

04:42
all kinds of things that happened there

04:43
yeah and

04:44
when i opened in bernersville i would

04:46
come through there and i was always

04:48
looking at the space thinking this would

04:49
be an awesome crossfit gym for people

04:51
that don't know crossfit gyms are

04:53
big empty spaces right very commercial

04:56
type like a warehouse yeah yeah

04:58
and um

05:00
so i pursued that it got a great deal at

05:02
the time in 2010 morristown was not

05:05
where it is today

05:06
it's kind of at the

05:07
low point

05:10
and really it coincided with crossfit

05:13
taking off um at the time so

05:16
that was great i had

05:18
developed a team of people

05:20
kind of cool that

05:22
the people a lot of the crossfit gyms

05:23
now in new jersey i don't even know how

05:25
many there are yeah when i opened we

05:27
were number three

05:28
now there's

05:29
there are thousands

05:31
of locations yeah number three yeah one

05:33
okay

05:34
um so we um had a lot of people whether

05:37
they were members or coaches end up

05:40
coming in having that same path towards

05:43
finding their own desire to open a gym

05:45
and right

05:46
so yeah it was it was kind of an

05:47
exciting adventure

05:49
i worked for crossfit and uh so it was

05:53
kind of all in for a long time yeah

05:55
and then closed the bernersville gym at

05:58
one point just it was kind of too small

06:00
of a town and couldn't support it so you

06:02
had two going at once yeah okay yeah and

06:04
then we moved to this location which

06:06
we're at currently um as many know

06:09
there's a lot of construction going on

06:10
and upgrades so that old building sadly

06:13
was torn down but it's a much nicer

06:14
building now so

06:16
um and this has been our home so

06:19
definitely been an interesting journey

06:22
as a female

06:23
entrepreneur mother

06:26
in a fitness industry that's generally

06:28
male dominated but um

06:30
but i

06:31
am super proud of our gym and all the

06:33
people that have kind of come through

06:35
here as

06:36
you know staff and members yeah what not

06:39
so right so in this location you've been

06:41
here for how long again

06:42
uh i believe we moved in here in 2014.

06:45
okay yeah so like seven or so six seven

06:48
years

06:48
um and then like over that time

06:51
like the

06:52
has it

06:53
being here in morristown and kind of

06:55
like riding the wave like you said of

06:57
morristown kind of you know expanding

06:59
and taking off has that you know have

07:01
you seen the same type of changes here

07:03
in the business like it has the crossfit

07:05
i think it was like a like almost like a

07:07
phenomenon when it first started yeah

07:09
and then you know obviously it kind of

07:11
wayne but yeah you know

07:13
yeah i mean of course like in 2010 we

07:16
opened in morristown so that 2010 to

07:18
2012 was like

07:20
like that's never gonna happen again

07:21
that was like that was like a boom of um

07:24
but i i do think as that sort of

07:27
dwindled the consistency of people

07:29
now we're on a much more consistent

07:32
established kind of path where i think

07:35
we've

07:36
i think our reputation and it's hard

07:38
sometimes to know objectively what

07:40
people think of your you know business

07:43
in that way um i think people definitely

07:46
recognize us as a crossfit gym we are a

07:47
crossfit gym but i i do know that uh

07:50
this community the word of mouth people

07:52
we've established ourselves as just like

07:54
a

07:55
a good gym to go to that gym is i hear

07:58
they're a good place to go so

08:00
i think we've got a foothold in the

08:01
community and as that's the community's

08:04
kind of grown and we've had more people

08:06
come in and a different demographic

08:08
right you know that's been

08:10
we've evolved with it yeah of course and

08:12
i think also too what would be

08:14
interesting because i was asking you

08:15
before and i feel like we should just

08:17
add it into the podcast now so like like

08:19
take me through like the process so like

08:21
you guys run group classes here like we

08:23
said that people don't really just come

08:24
in here and work out on their own right

08:26
it's really kind of about you know being

08:27
part of a group and doing that kind of

08:29
stuff right yeah so it's the easiest way

08:31
for people to understand it is it's sort

08:33
of like group personal training

08:35
so you know i started in like group

08:37
exercise where it was like step aerobics

08:39
and cardio exercise yeah so it's not

08:42
it's not really that um i mean that

08:44
could be fun every now and then i'm like

08:45
oh this could be fun bring that back i'm

08:47
gonna bring it back

08:48
um

08:49
but

08:50
it's more like if you were in a private

08:53
training personal training session with

08:54
a bunch of people so someone comes in

08:57
um

08:58
on or contrary to what a lot of people

09:00
believe you don't have to already be fit

09:03
to come here yeah my mom is speaking my

09:05
language yeah i'm this is the hook right

09:08
yeah uh my mom is 75 she comes here

09:11
three days a week

09:12
of course we have a spectrum of people

09:14
sure the point is

09:16
our goal here is

09:17
people want to get fit yeah they want to

09:19
have like be reasonable they want to

09:22
lose weight look better feel good that's

09:24
kind of like the general just efficiency

09:26
i think right

09:27
i think a lot of people though see

09:28
either

09:29
the crossfit

09:31
professional athletes

09:32
and think that's what happens here so

09:34
sometimes the barrier to entry can be

09:36
high

09:37
um because people have a preconceived

09:39
notion that they're going to come in

09:40
they're in a group they're going to be

09:42
the worst one right i mean that's almost

09:45
verbatim everybody's experience then

09:46
they come in they have this experience

09:47
like man i should have joined here

09:49
sooner i didn't realize it was

09:51
but at any rate someone would come in

09:53
and there's a workout of the day

09:56
um so there is an hour-long class you

09:59
are moving your body and working out the

10:01
whole time but the workout of the day is

10:02
kind of the thing you're building too

10:04
this sort of like all right this is what

10:06
we're doing today okay so the coach

10:08
takes you from everything from assuming

10:10
you just rolled out of bed like have had

10:12
no movement yeah all the way up until

10:14
the workout um and that means we have a

10:17
physical therapist on staff we've been

10:18
doing this a long time we

10:20
try to make it um you know generally get

10:23
people moving first then we always teach

10:25
something so

10:27
you know everybody knows what a

10:28
kettlebell is these days which is kind

10:30
of funny like 10 years ago there were no

10:32
cut about exactly um

10:34
you know even something like a

10:35
kettlebell swing we don't assume and

10:37
this is jim

10:38
it varies from gym to gym hey we're

10:40
going to review the kettlebell even if

10:42
you've been doing this you're a

10:44
super amazing yeah crossfitter right hey

10:46
there's still probably some things

10:47
you're doing that we could work on

10:49
a little bit yeah so that way you know

10:51
people's job when they come here um

10:54
they're not professional fitnessers

10:56
they're people that have jobs and for

10:58
them to know and retain some of this is

11:01
like they just want to come and have fun

11:03
so it's our job to kind of make sure

11:04
they're safe and then we make sure

11:06
everybody for that workout let's say

11:08
it's we combine like weightlifting body

11:11
weight and cardio in any number of

11:14
variations that's kind of the cross

11:15
switches right so if it was running

11:18
you're going to do this three times

11:19
you're going to run

11:20
you're going to come in and do 10

11:21
push-ups and you're going to do 10 jumps

11:23
on this box

11:25
usually we start the clock so there's a

11:27
little bit of that competitive element

11:28
sure

11:29
not with other people as much we

11:31
encourage it but perhaps you're going to

11:32
do that again in a few months wow last

11:34
time i could barely run yeah

11:37
you know i'm not looking at you but yeah

11:39
you know

11:40
um you're not looking at me yeah i think

11:42
you were maybe but i do run in the

11:44
morning now i just i started doing that

11:45
because i feel like so that workout

11:46
would be good for you wakes the body up

11:48
yes i don't go fast or far but i do

11:50
something just down to the end of the

11:52
driveway back

11:53
uh around the block okay

11:55
um but so that might be like my mom is

11:57
not going to jump on this box right yeah

11:59
she might jump on a plate she might ride

12:01
the bike she might walk so i think

12:03
that's where you know people miss that

12:06
you know 90 of people are not doing all

12:08
exactly the same thing yeah there's some

12:10
variation people come to us with bad

12:11
knees bad backs like life happens to

12:14
people sure our goal is to get them

12:16
moving and having fun you know the best

12:19
form of fitness is the one that

12:21
people want to come to again

12:24
yeah and so if people you know we have

12:25
people here this everyone can do this

12:27
this isn't for everyone and i think

12:29
people who don't

12:30
who app make absolutes about whatever

12:33
their modality is whether it's yoga or

12:35
pilates or spinning like

12:37
yeah everybody can do that it might not

12:38
resonate with everyone yeah so we have

12:40
people come try it it's kind of like i

12:42
hate this or i love this experience like

12:44
i'm in how did i not know about this or

12:47
like i'm not even gonna walk on the

12:48
street i'm gonna avoid this place like

12:51
the plague so but you know i i think

12:53
people surprise themselves when they try

12:55
it they find that oh wow i felt like

12:57
someone was paying attention i was

12:58
really safe the people were welcoming um

13:01
so that's kind of the the basic

13:03
experience of how people come here but

13:04
it's all mostly class-based it doesn't

13:07
make sense you're coming for the

13:08
coaching right you're coming for the

13:10
programming you're coming for the

13:12
environment to come in here by yourself

13:14
there are people that might do that as a

13:16
member they have access to that but

13:18
that's not really where the value is

13:19
right it's being around the other people

13:21
yeah and how many um people do you have

13:23
on staff so like are you coaching all

13:25
these classes right so i actually at

13:27
this point don't coach really i'm not on

13:30
the schedule at all right and that's

13:31
sort of been a evolution over time for

13:34
sure when i opened i was there for

13:36
everything

13:37
um but it's great because now we have a

13:39
team of like 12 coaches

13:41
um three that are more of the full-time

13:44
nature coaching quite a bit and then you

13:46
know part-timers who have been here for

13:49
a very long time who have we have a

13:51
dentist we have we have all these people

13:53
but they just love

13:55
this that they keep it as part of it's

13:57
it's a passion project to coach one or

13:59
two classes a week yeah that's awesome

14:02
um all right so so we're a little bit

14:03
over what our normal time on our first

14:06
segment no that's okay that was that was

14:07
great he gave me everything that i

14:08
needed and i barely had to ask any

14:10
questions um so

14:12
we're gonna take a short break okay uh

14:13
we're gonna come right back this is the

14:14
greetings from the garden state podcast

14:16
we're here in morristown new jersey at

14:17
motown fitness i'm mike hamm she's

14:19
karyana anthies we'll be right back

14:24
today in new jersey history is sponsored

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can scale and grow to learn more head to

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on december 6 1886 poet joyce kilmer

14:37
best known for his poem trees was born

14:39
in new brunswick new jersey he would die

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by a sniper's bullet in a world war one

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battlefield in france in 1918 and that

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is today in new jersey history

14:52
all right we're back this is the

14:54
greetings from the garden state podcast

14:55
we're here in morristown new jersey at

14:56
motown fitness with cariana anthes um so

14:59
in the first segment we kind of learned

15:00
a little bit about your background the

15:01
background of the business kind of a

15:03
little bit more flesh out what actually

15:05
happens in here because i feel like a

15:06
lot of people walk down what is this

15:08
dumont dumont dumont street you want

15:10
street

15:18
so this is dumont in morristown uh and i

15:21
feel like a lot of people just walk by

15:22
here yeah they see the motown on the

15:24
cool side yeah i've definitely taken

15:26
pictures of it right right and posted it

15:27
at various places but i had no idea like

15:29
what actually went on here until one day

15:31
i was like watching people run up and

15:32
down the thing and i was like oh that

15:34
must be a crossfit gym right or there's

15:36
a fire right but they're running back

15:38
into the building so i mean maybe

15:40
they're fighting it but you know i would

15:42
i would doubt it they didn't look like

15:43
they had the appropriate gear but um all

15:46
right so so we kind of learned like what

15:47
happens here but let's can we get deeper

15:49
into like maybe the benefits of someone

15:51
doing something like this because like

15:53
we just mentioned like a whole bunch of

15:54
stuff you know pilates yoga right right

15:56
and you said that

15:58
something can work for anybody yeah as

16:00
long as they're like in on it yeah um

16:02
can we talk maybe more about like why

16:04
crossfit is like your thing right like

16:07
wow that eventually kind of became your

16:08
thing i mean i think crossfit

16:11
as i mentioned earlier some of the

16:13
intangibles like

16:15
um

16:16
you know there is something to be said

16:17
about

16:18
having a little bit going into workouts

16:20
most people here go into it feeling not

16:22
i don't say nervous but like i don't

16:23
know if i can do that and

16:25
you know

16:26
regardless of if you're just a

16:27
recreational fitness person

16:29
what kind of helps with motivation is

16:32
continuing to achieve

16:34
things so like oh wow i jumped on that

16:36
box i

16:38
you know did a little more weight or

16:40
whatever it is um

16:41
and i think you know

16:43
those small little goals for people is

16:46
is for sure a benefit and in making it

16:48
about something that when you leave the

16:50
four walls of this gym it does influence

16:52
you outside of here that's really what

16:54
we care about what happens in this one

16:55
hour of your day right is less important

16:58
than really the benefits that you get in

17:00
the other 23. yeah um

17:02
but you know when you look at fitness

17:04
and

17:05
you know my husband and i own another

17:06
small gym that isn't the crossfit gym so

17:09
i can kind of not completely objectively

17:11
because i do own a crossfit

17:13
but you know this type of

17:15
training what's great about it that

17:17
maybe other trainings don't um have is

17:20
you are moving your body

17:22
through like your joints through a full

17:24
range of motion so something like and

17:26
i'm an endurance athlete myself so i

17:28
love biking but biking

17:31
you're not sitting down standing up uh

17:33
running is you know has certain things

17:35
that are great but it lacks other things

17:37
so from a physical

17:39
like my mother i mentioned 75 it's

17:42
really important for her to like sit

17:43
down and stand up yeah once you like

17:46
if you don't use it you lose it right

17:48
you know strength training we all know

17:50
that's super important for people and i

17:52
think people get the like okay i should

17:53
go to the gym and lift some weights and

17:55
do some cardio i mean blood pressure all

17:57
that you know pretty much any list of

17:59
health benefits

18:01
people i don't think it's for lack of

18:02
knowing like

18:04
exercise good you know

18:06
weight training good right but i do

18:08
think it's the

18:10
it is those

18:11
it it is the intangibles that is really

18:14
the true benefit because it's what has

18:16
the person come back and say yeah has

18:18
them build confidence um

18:21
has them feel like

18:22
things that maybe they didn't think were

18:24
within their reach like now they're like

18:26
thinking maybe a little differently

18:27
about it yeah um

18:29
and what's really unique about

18:32
i will say about crossfit is um

18:36
the community which you know in the past

18:38
has gotten sort of there's a borderline

18:40
of like

18:41
you know people who aren't in it it's

18:42
like is that thing a cult or you know

18:43
people are really into it yeah like you

18:46
don't have to wonder if someone does

18:47
crossfit they will tell people it's like

18:49
having a podcast i tell people yes they

18:51
all know

18:52
right um

18:53
but i think it is

18:55
like just such a unique community and

18:57
people don't know what other people

18:58
maybe do for work how much money they

19:00
have what car they drive

19:02
you can't like you can't buy hard work

19:04
and there is an element of hard work

19:05
here um doesn't mean every day you have

19:08
to come in here and almost have a

19:09
near-death experience that's not what we

19:11
encourage uh in fact that's not good for

19:13
you

19:14
right um i would imagine that but

19:16
but it's about people supporting each

19:18
other just as like human to human yeah

19:20
and and i i'm sure that exists in many

19:22
other things as well it's not unique to

19:24
crossfit but that's kind of what is

19:26
cultivated here and

19:28
i think the variety as well from a

19:29
technical side anything

19:32
that is like monotonous you know you

19:35
could love it it's like you love this

19:37
like one smoothie yeah and then after

19:39
about 20 days of that smoothie right

19:40
you're like oh my god i cannot have the

19:42
smoothie again exactly so there's enough

19:44
variety here for both your

19:47
you know attention span and your body to

19:49
kind of continue to want to hang on to

19:51
it so that's kind of what i would say is

19:53
the

19:54
sure multitude of benefits to what we do

19:56
right and we talked a lot about how like

19:58
you know the focus here is on um you

20:00
know growing confidence and being a part

20:01
of the group and it's like you know kind

20:03
of everybody rowing the boat in the same

20:05
direction to a certain degree um so like

20:07
also how many people like on average

20:09
would be in a class yeah here i mean it

20:12
definitely varies there's some classes

20:14
that are like a more popular class that

20:17
might be 15

20:19
and there might be you know 10 to 15 is

20:21
usually the average okay um you know

20:23
there's been times on a saturday a

20:25
community class that people are all into

20:27
it's like

20:28
20 people those there's there's less of

20:30
that i think people are um

20:32
yeah we're kind of at a place where

20:34
people are a little more spread out and

20:35
we have more classes maybe that's part

20:37
of it but right um yeah so you're

20:39
getting nobody feels like they're being

20:42
singled out and like having all the

20:44
attention on them right but we make sure

20:46
that we're that everybody feels that

20:48
connection with the coach like wow i was

20:51
like spoken to like so they use my name

20:53
i know what to do nobody ever feels lost

20:56
in the right crowd which can happen

20:59
and is one of the things with group

21:00
fitness like a big class i would imagine

21:02
you could just like never talk to

21:04
anybody yeah which is how you train your

21:06
coaches and hey like this the priority

21:08
here is like yes there's technical

21:09
things about being a coach it's really

21:10
important to know

21:12
there's a lot of knowledge

21:14
but the main thing is like making sure

21:16
people feel cared about and taken care

21:17
of when they leave

21:19
they're going to remember more that like

21:21
you really took care of them than if you

21:23
gave them some amazing sure tip about

21:25
where your knee is relative to your

21:27
ankle like who cares you know it's like

21:29
so that's kind of a

21:31
part of just building a staff that can

21:34
can navigate that of course and then

21:36
also i mean you said like so seven years

21:38
here in this location and and kind of

21:40
you know 15 to 20 people or 10 to 15 on

21:44
average in a class um and then over the

21:46
last like 18 because we're recording

21:47
this in october just so everyone

21:48
listening knows when we're recording

21:50
this like over the last 18 months or so

21:52
sure obviously i'm sure there was plenty

21:54
of times where there wasn't anybody here

21:56
because they were not allowed right um

21:58
so like what was it like navigating that

22:00
kind of stuff and getting yourself out

22:02
to the end here where you said you know

22:03
you have more classes and more people

22:05
getting involved and doing this kind of

22:06
stuff

22:07
yeah i mean what is unique about having

22:10
a community gym like this versus maybe a

22:12
global gym like retro or gold's gym

22:15
is people do feel tied to

22:18
the the coaches the owner each other

22:22
so like many people we moved online but

22:26
there was something about like showing

22:27
up for people that was like something

22:29
people really looked forward to like

22:30
okay at least i have

22:32
that i have this class we lent out all

22:34
of our equipment like all right guys

22:35
like we're gonna still have something

22:37
that you can count on as part of

22:39
something that's important in your day

22:41
there's a workout it's not this it's not

22:43
just push-ups and sit-ups every day

22:44
because that would get old um so china

22:48
keeps some normalcy keeps some

22:49
connection so we really

22:51
of course we lost people um but relative

22:55
relatively speaking most of our members

22:58
stayed on

22:59
some offered to pay for other members

23:01
who lost their job like it was just

23:02
really a

23:03
an incredible time um and then when we

23:06
were able to open it definitely took us

23:08
a few months it kind of felt like

23:11
where is everyone um like the apocalypse

23:14
or something they're all stuck to their

23:15
couches right you know yeah or afraid or

23:18
right of course like yeah or just not

23:20
able to get going and i will say i think

23:23
probably the past two months

23:25
i feel like there's been more of an

23:27
uptick now

23:28
in just the consistency of people coming

23:30
in trying it people that aren't maybe

23:33
fit

23:34
like are more of like a non-fit

23:37
person who maybe wasn't all into

23:39
crossfit before

23:41
um that are saying like yeah i'm curious

23:43
about this i want to give it a try yeah

23:45
um so that's really encouraging because

23:47
i do think if we didn't learn anything

23:49
from

23:50
a health crisis and a pandemic about our

23:53
health stay healthy yeah and so that's

23:55
been really great and it's been awesome

23:56
to see just new faces and kind of

23:59
build and evolve and

24:01
you know we don't discriminate against

24:03
sure any fitness level and like we

24:05
really

24:06
are for everybody right right um and

24:08
then also were there things because you

24:10
mentioned going online and doing virtual

24:12
stuff and lending out your equipment but

24:13
were there any things that maybe you

24:15
implemented and maybe not because i feel

24:17
like this stuff has to happen here for

24:18
the most part any things that you did

24:20
over the course of the last 18 months

24:22
that you were like hey if not for that

24:24
we would never have tried this so maybe

24:27
this is something we're going to keep

24:28
going in the future even beyond just you

24:30
know covet times yeah i mean we had um

24:33
you know it occurred to me early on

24:34
being in the greater crossfit community

24:36
there are athletes there are other

24:38
coaches

24:40
that it would be weird two years ago to

24:42
be like will you do a virtual thing for

24:44
us and be

24:48
so we ended up having like these amazing

24:50
world class coaches and people that you

24:52
know could jump in and coach us like

24:55
that was sort of i think everybody in

24:57
the world opened up to the

24:59
virtual space and for us it just closed

25:01
the gap a little bit between

25:03
other communities and ours um

25:06
you know some of the outdoor types of

25:08
events um just kind of popping up and

25:11
thinking oh yeah we could do that

25:13
training for things like we have an

25:15
endurance community like all right

25:16
everyone's going to train on this

25:17
program and then we'll all go to this

25:20
event like you don't necessarily have to

25:22
you can all be following something and

25:23
feel like you're

25:24
you know with other people without being

25:27
physically in that space so yeah i think

25:29
that was all um an opportunity i think

25:32
it also just

25:33
not really like a thing we did but it

25:35
definitely opened our eyes to what

25:37
matters to people

25:39
like at the end of the day and what is

25:41
sort of irrelevant yeah um and it made

25:43
us appreciate when we could do things

25:45
that you can't do during a pandemic like

25:47
we had a

25:48
competition recently and it was just

25:50
such a great vibe and people had fun and

25:53
that there was like an awareness during

25:54
it like wow this we couldn't have even

25:57
been here sharing the space yeah and

25:58
just it makes you a little more right

26:00
because you don't realize it until it's

26:02
like it's taking it away and then once

26:04
it's taken away you're like oh wow that

26:05
was like really important to me or

26:07
whatever so um awesome all right so

26:09
we're going to take our second break our

26:11
last break of this episode uh i'm mike

26:13
ham this is the greetings from the

26:14
garden state podcast we're here at

26:15
motown fitness in morristown new jersey

26:16
with cariana antis we'll be right back

26:21
it is time for new jersey fun fact of

26:23
the day did you know that new jersey has

26:25
a state fish the brook trout

26:27
and that is your new jersey fun fact of

26:29
the day

26:32
all right we're back for our last

26:34
segment here at motown fitness in

26:35
morristown new jersey this is the

26:37
greetings from the garden state podcast

26:38
i'm mike ham with cariana anthes uh so

26:41
we've spent the first two segments

26:42
talking about the background of the

26:43
business your background the benefits of

26:46
doing crossfit type stuff and then we've

26:48
talked a little bit about the last 18

26:49
months and we kind of got ourselves past

26:51
that um so now we're going to get into

26:53
my favorite segment of the podcast the

26:54
community stuff because that's what we

26:56
do for every every single show or every

26:58
single episode um and because this is a

27:00
podcast that's focused here on stuff in

27:02
new jersey we want to know what's going

27:04
on with you in the community at large

27:06
and all that so um talk to me because

27:08
we've said several times you've said

27:10
several times that this is a community

27:11
gym yeah i wrote that down because i

27:13
thought that was a good thing to

27:15
segue into this part of the conversation

27:17
um so talking about the community what

27:20
are some ways that maybe motown fitness

27:22
gets involved with the community whether

27:24
here around morristown or new jersey or

27:26
morris county or whatever yeah um one of

27:29
the things we're actually starting just

27:31
in november which is kind of and we've

27:33
dabbled in it in different ways is um

27:36
you know outreach with kids um

27:39
providing a program that offers

27:41
scholarships to kids coming in and

27:43
training in the afternoons

27:45
um one of our members has actually like

27:47
spearheaded that so as of november in

27:49
the afternoons we had a fundraiser

27:51
recently for it forging youth resilience

27:54
is the name of the it's associated with

27:56
crossfit a lot of crossfit gyms have

27:57
gotten involved

27:59
and she's actually

28:01
funding that and we have a lot of our

28:03
members that got behind it so

28:05
you know because we know the power of

28:08
movement

28:09
having a safe place to come

28:11
community having a mentor that cares

28:13
about you irrelevant again of like what

28:16
you're doing in here shots jumps

28:18
whatever yeah that is so important to

28:21
um

28:22
to young people yeah so being able to

28:25
offer that to them free of charge um

28:27
that will be something amazing for

28:30
specifically morristown right there's

28:32
some amazing people doing this elsewhere

28:34
and they've been kind enough to just

28:36
share what they've done and how they've

28:38
done it so we're excited about that and

28:40
that's huge to continue to get the word

28:42
out to schools she's working with that

28:44
um

28:45
you know to encourage these kids to come

28:47
in bring friends whatnot

28:49
so that's big we do um some you know my

28:53
husband is a veteran so we are

28:56
you know very mindful of like the

28:57
veteran community um and while it's not

29:00
specific maybe to new jersey or

29:02
morristown this year we are doing an

29:04
event

29:05
it's really just it's step ups

29:07
so it's not a whole crazy workout it's

29:09
like can you step on something and step

29:12
off

29:13
and it's really about raising awareness

29:15
and fundraising for um veteran suicide

29:19
which is a huge issue in our country so

29:22
you know i think in this area we live in

29:24
bernardsville it's not very

29:27
we're not the military culture isn't

29:29
really on our radar um not good or bad

29:31
just it's not and so you know getting

29:33
people involved in that it's a very um

29:37
meaningful workout to do in a group

29:38
everybody can do it and it definitely

29:41
has you pause and cultivate some

29:44
yeah appreciation but also

29:46
spreading some education to people

29:49
so we often have

29:51
fundraisers i mean it's sometimes tough

29:53
to

29:54
cut back on you know everybody has a

29:56
cause but most of

29:58
uh most years we have one or two that

30:00
are

30:01
things that are near and dear to members

30:02
hearts whether it's a family member

30:04
that's got a diagnosis and we're raising

30:07
you know funds for

30:08
uh research or

30:10
otherwise so it's really um yeah we're

30:14
really fortunate that we can we always

30:15
have people getting behind

30:17
those things that we do and

30:19
um we're hoping that we get them bigger

30:21
morristown community involved i think

30:23
sometimes it's

30:24
a hesitation of

30:26
it becomes unfortunately about like the

30:28
business and it's not about the business

30:30
at all we would be happy to host and

30:32
bring boxes to any parking lot and not

30:34
mention us whatsoever right um but it's

30:38
not about that it's about you know doing

30:40
it for the right reasons so we're

30:41
hopeful to get um you know we have

30:43
obviously great relationships with some

30:45
of the other gyms and we try to we hope

30:47
that people embrace it as like

30:49
you know rising tides raise all ships

30:52
and just the more we can do if somebody

30:54
needed our space for a fundraiser and

30:56
they own a whatever i mean that's really

30:59
how things should should go so those are

31:02
kind of two things that are going on now

31:03
and um

31:05
yeah we're always looking for ways to

31:07
bring our community out into the bigger

31:09
community and

31:11
have a positive impact right and and i

31:13
love that you said that too because i

31:14
feel like like i'm a firm believer in

31:16
like if you put out good into the world

31:18
like eventually good comes back to you

31:21
and that's not why you do it but you

31:22
just

31:23
you just start like the vibe that you

31:25
put out you attract those same vibes so

31:27
if you have like a crappy vibe you're

31:29
going to attract people with crappy

31:30
vibes and most likely crappy people uh

31:32
but if you put out good and then you

31:34
know you're getting good back and one of

31:35
the things that you were talking about

31:37
in the previous segment about you know

31:39
uh navigating the last 18 months was

31:42
just the

31:43
the reverse relationship like the

31:45
community kind of lifting up what you

31:47
guys do here because they know that it's

31:49
important so can you talk maybe a little

31:51
bit more about about that and like the

31:52
importance of like the reverse

31:54
relationship so like the community kind

31:57
of supporting what you guys do here

31:59
yeah and i think that is something

32:00
morristown obviously during the pandemic

32:02
that was a huge um initiative you know

32:05
people

32:07
i think more than ever in my time owning

32:09
a business

32:10
was

32:11
really a an action-based effort of

32:14
people to support you know i think it's

32:18
in all honesty it's easier to support a

32:19
restaurant or a shop and there's a whole

32:21
other thing with like joining a gym and

32:23
a commitment like you can buy a piece of

32:25
pizza take out workouts yeah

32:27
virtual i guess but it's different right

32:29
it's just there's a whole other slew of

32:30
things there and like you said anybody

32:32
can buy a slice of pizza yes and eat it

32:35
it's you know take one for the team um

32:38
so but i do think that is it is a very

32:41
um

32:42
mutual

32:43
you know relationship where people we

32:46
recently have a coach that's leaving

32:47
after 10 years and moving and met his

32:49
wife here and you know kind of a great

32:52
story of

32:53
community what better story is there um

32:56
but you know we had a going-away party

32:58
and it was just incredible to hear

32:59
people saying like how yes like they

33:03
during the pandemic is a great example

33:05
continue to give back because this

33:08
community has given so much to them yeah

33:10
um the woman that's that's doing the um

33:13
supporting this this effort with kids

33:16
you know she lost her son and joined

33:18
this gym right after and it was what

33:21
kind of helped support her and get her

33:23
through and so i think when people have

33:25
that experience somewhere whether it's

33:26
whatever it is

33:28
it's so important and

33:29
you know you can look back to all sorts

33:31
of tragedies in history the community

33:35
being in community with other people

33:37
like that's how we're wired yeah and so

33:39
i think when people feel really

33:40
passionate about it they are willing to

33:43
give back we had a competition we had 15

33:45
people volunteer an entire day

33:47
to just move boxes around

33:49
i'm always like amazed by that because

33:51
you don't take that for granted or right

33:53
especially now like we were saying yeah

33:55
like something that definitely sticks

33:56
with you for sure um

33:58
okay awesome so if people are listening

34:00
to this episode and i can't imagine that

34:02
they're not thinking what i'm thinking

34:04
like hey like this sounds like something

34:06
i want to like try yeah like how how do

34:09
they even go about like what's the

34:10
process to get themselves like started

34:12
here right so there's a couple different

34:14
things we do have for many people

34:16
they're like i'm not going in there to

34:18
just a normal class

34:21
which i get we do have a beginner course

34:24
that happens like four times a year so

34:25
it's like you're only with other people

34:27
that are beginners and that we launched

34:29
like well we just finished one so

34:31
there's a beginner class you can come

34:33
and take a class at any time and it is

34:35
our job and we have many people that

34:37
have lived to tell and are still members

34:40
who like we will not have you like all

34:42
right you're gonna hop over that bar and

34:45
do a bunch of twists like that's not

34:46
what's happening we're giving an

34:47
experience of like where you're at we

34:49
ask what your experience is and you're

34:51
basically coming in and being like okay

34:52
yeah i like this vibe

34:54
i like this coach i like these people

34:56
i'm interested in trying this again so

34:58
you can always just take a class and try

35:00
it and then starting this

35:03
well probably in november we have like a

35:06
designated day sundays at 11 a.m if

35:09
you're someone new

35:11
you can kind of come in and it's a

35:12
specific class sort of time to be with

35:15
the coach and you know many people feel

35:17
like they they want to ease into it they

35:19
want to come check it out talk to

35:20
someone um you can always do that so i

35:23
think that's the like just taking the

35:24
first step whether it's just coming in

35:26
and talking to us or you're like yeah

35:28
you know what i'm going to go for it i'm

35:29
going to take a class

35:30
or

35:31
i'd like to do it but i need to do like

35:33
the beginner

35:34
from step one i think it always depends

35:36
on the person

35:38
but as i said people are

35:41
always taken care of and it's you know i

35:43
think it's an interesting people come to

35:44
a spinning class or yoga class and that

35:46
culture we don't think as much about

35:49
can i do this you know um yeah but

35:53
sometimes people can get you know have a

35:54
hard time getting out of their own way

35:56
here so yeah um so yeah there's a lot of

35:58
options we always have encourage people

36:00
to just reach out and

36:02
come

36:03
come to the gym first step in the doors

36:05
and yeah like like you like pass the

36:07
sign right yeah yeah across the

36:08
threshold you know come in here and see

36:10
what it is and all of our memberships if

36:12
people you know were not very much i've

36:14
realized after 14 years of business i i

36:17
don't think i've never been the hounding

36:19
people i've experienced it on the

36:21
receiving end as a

36:23
you know

36:24
as a whatever you call it patron of

36:27
places like

36:28
someone emailing me a thousand times is

36:30
not going to get me to change my mind um

36:33
so yeah people come they try it hey

36:35
how'd you like the class if you're

36:36
interested this is what we do

36:39
they either say like thanks no thanks or

36:41
we do have a pretty high rate of people

36:43
that say yeah

36:44
i want to keep keep going so it's a

36:46
month we don't do more than a month i

36:49
mean during covid we just cut it back

36:51
because there's so many people moving

36:53
and right doing the whole like unless

36:55
you move 20 miles away thing like in

36:57
chasing like it's just yeah it's not

36:59
reasonable so

37:00
you do a month if you love it great and

37:03
if it's not for you then

37:05
you know you had a month of fitness so

37:07
it's pretty pretty low-key i would say

37:09
but like so you don't even but like you

37:11
said you don't even need to be a member

37:12
you could just be like hey i'm coming to

37:14
this class yeah you just come try it

37:16
right and we get information we let the

37:18
coach know like there's a series of

37:20
questions so we have some sense of like

37:21
hey

37:23
yeah like where are you at and then what

37:25
have you been doing for the last

37:27
31 years the only problem we have is

37:29
when people

37:30
don't listen to the coach and they're

37:32
like and and i will be fully transparent

37:35
that that can be

37:36
the one pitfall of sometimes the energy

37:38
in a group class

37:40
it kind of reminds me of like the office

37:41
episode of dwight like spinning

37:44
um

37:44
and like no we're cooling down

37:47
so anyway if you are like okay we're

37:49
gonna just do this you're like no i need

37:51
to jump on that box like that person

37:53
meanwhile nobody's paying attention to

37:54
what you're doing they're all on their

37:56
own thing

37:57
and you overdo it and then you're like

37:59
all right how was the clash like it was

38:00
just way too hard you're like but i told

38:01
you not to jump on that box so that's

38:03
really the only problem if you don't

38:06
heed the advice of what we're telling

38:08
you we can't really control that but

38:09
otherwise people always have a great

38:11
experience if they're not a member and

38:12
they just want to come in try it yeah

38:15
what are some other places they can go

38:17
to get more info like website instagram

38:20
obviously yeah so you can go to

38:21
cfmotown.com

38:25
and we also have our instagram motown

38:26
underscore fitness

38:29
those are basically the two main places

38:31
on that instagram handle of course

38:33
there's a link tree with some of the

38:34
stuff we do but um those are basically

38:36
the two

38:37
right on the website it says take a

38:39
class

38:40
right that seems very straightforward so

38:42
that's kind of it

38:44
but yeah um and then also i mean i

38:46
forgot to ask this earlier and this will

38:48
be kind of like our closing question as

38:50
kind of like looking into the future

38:52
you know like um what are some maybe do

38:55
you have goals that you want to try to

38:56
accomplish with this place is it to have

38:58
like more locations is it to have this

39:00
place have classes like all day you know

39:02
like what are some things that you're

39:03
trying to maybe accomplish yeah um i

39:06
wouldn't say more locations i think um

39:10
one's enough

39:11
yeah yeah our other gym and just having

39:13
had that experience like you really

39:16
um

39:17
because it is you know such a close

39:19
community because it does really rely on

39:22
personal connections

39:23
it's not like just open up a place and

39:25
put some people in and go there really

39:27
has to be that care and i think people

39:29
get into trouble when they try to just

39:31
do the math and like oh if we just have

39:33
three of these we'll just triple or

39:34
whatever right um

39:36
but yeah i mean really it's to

39:39
continue just have people come through

39:42
the doors and

39:43
you know gr grow of course but i i don't

39:46
have a number i just i do hope for

39:50
more of like the the bigger community

39:52
that we can

39:54
you know break through some of the

39:56
the problems out there with just health

39:58
in general you know one of the things

40:00
that happens when you start working out

40:02
of course it's that will help your

40:04
health yep but it does change something

40:07
that all of a sudden now there is like

40:08
maybe i should care also about what i'm

40:10
eating and it's a gateway drug into like

40:13
other things that you know right now

40:15
there's also a huge mental health crisis

40:17
we know that and movement and mental

40:19
health are

40:21
connected because it turns out your body

40:23
is you know all connected to your brain

40:25
right um yeah so you know that's

40:28
definitely more of what we do in our

40:29
other gym but for this gym just

40:32
continuing to help people yeah be be

40:34
better each day and share that with

40:36
others and um

40:39
you know i guess that's my one thing is

40:41
sometimes i think our gym can be

40:43
misunderstood or types of gems like this

40:46
and then that's such a frustration

40:47
because it keeps people from maybe

40:50
having potential or reaching goals that

40:53
they

40:54
they could have

40:55
you know otherwise

40:57
reached if they

40:58
understood us better right exactly yeah

41:00
yeah no i think that's great and and

41:02
like because you're kind of going off of

41:03
that i think one of the things like

41:04
we've talked about it a couple times is

41:06
like like whatever like the stigma might

41:08
be or like whatever like the

41:10
um

41:11
what's the word i'm looking for it's

41:12
like intimidating yeah a little bit like

41:14
you were talking about yoga and spin

41:15
class like most people can sit on a bike

41:17
and spin the wheels yes you know most

41:19
people can lay on a mat and like just

41:22
play

41:23
like that i'm a pro

41:26
but uh but this one because it has like

41:28
you know so many different things they

41:29
have to do i think people may get scared

41:31
off but what i will say um as we kind of

41:33
wrap up this episode is like i just

41:35
reached out and you were like yeah come

41:38
on in right and you're like the nicest

41:39
person you even you know full disclosure

41:41
offered to buy me a cup of coffee before

41:43
this i don't know if you were trying to

41:44
like schmooze you butter me yeah

41:47
horrible things exactly right yeah but

41:49
um but yeah like that was one of the

41:50
things that i just you know not that i

41:52
didn't expect that but i think it was

41:54
just one of those things where just kind

41:55
of shows just like the welcoming

41:56
atmosphere of a place like this because

41:58
this is being open exactly yeah right

42:00
you're just a well-welcoming place

42:02
person all that kind of stuff so um if

42:04
people are looking or listening looking

42:06
at this episode listening to this

42:08
episode i guess that they're looking on

42:09
on youtube over there um

42:11
but uh but yeah so people are listening

42:13
to this episode and they want to check

42:14
it out um the address we said was on

42:17
dumont 38 dumont place place we think

42:20
it's true yeah we're going with places

42:22
yeah we've been um i mean you own a

42:23
business here and i live here and yes

42:25
it's place yeah it's definitely i should

42:27
i probably

42:28
you you go second in that order

42:31
i should probably know the address of my

42:32
gym

42:33
that's how just we're just so relaxed

42:35
and chill we don't even know our address

42:37
there's a giant motown on the wall

42:39
outside that's our identifying calling

42:41
card yeah um awesome so they can come

42:43
down check it out all that kind of stuff

42:45
reach out ask questions you know get

42:47
educated on it and then try it yeah you

42:49
know and instagram's a great place

42:51
because we you can kind of stalk us

42:52
there we can kind of see some of the

42:54
types of people

42:56
we post like events we do and i think

42:58
that's kind of where people go to kind

42:59
of see like can i see myself in this

43:01
crowd and do i like what they're putting

43:03
out or are these people crazy yeah i

43:05
hope i hope the final thing is okay yeah

43:07
right

43:08
gonna have to go back and look at that

43:10
right well thank you yeah of course of

43:12
course thank you so much for doing this

43:14
thank you for having me in the space now

43:15
i'm gonna go take a bunch of videos and

43:17
and sign up for a class um and maybe die

43:19
but you know we'll see uh but uh awesome

43:22
so thank you again for doing this this

43:23
has been the greetings from the garden

43:25
state podcast we're here at motown

43:26
fitness in morristown new jersey with

43:27
cariana antes i'm mike hamm thank you

43:30
for listening

43:33
[Music]

43:39
[Music]

43:39
[Applause]

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[Music]

44:05
you