The CrossFit Pittsburgh Podcast
We have been a CrossFit Affiliate since 2006. We are one of the originals. My wife and I opened our doors when I was home between deployments to Iraq. It's been an amazing adventure spanning thousands of miles between us over the course of 12 years deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. We formed amazing bonds. Lost good friends. And learned a lot about ourselves and our community. Throughout the course of this Podcast we will discuss all of that and more. We will talk about the people we have encountered along the way and the lessons we learned.
The CrossFit Pittsburgh Podcast
Moving Forward:CrossFit Pittsburgh's New Location
Change is on the horizon for CrossFit Pittsburgh as we prepare to leave our East End location after more than a decade of building an extraordinary fitness community. We're just days away from opening our doors at One Alexander Center, 2585 Freeport Road—a move that represents not just a change of address but a bold step forward in our 20-year journey.
The new location offers remarkable advantages for our members. Situated just off Route 28, we're now less than 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh and the North Side. With spacious 20-foot ceilings (compared to our current 15-foot ones) and a contiguous training space uninterrupted by structural elements, we're creating an environment that will elevate your workout experience. Most importantly, this location provides enhanced safety and accessibility for our entire community—something I consider non-negotiable for our members and their families.
There's something beautifully cyclical about this move. Our new home at Alexander Center began as a racquetball club in the late 1970s before evolving into a fitness center—mirroring my own early career at Racquetball One where I met my wife while we both worked there as undergraduates. That community-centered approach profoundly influenced how we built CrossFit Pittsburgh, which began with zero members and pure passion. Now, as we "burn the ships" like Cortés and commit fully to this next chapter, I invite you to join us. After all, "the worst risk is not making a move." Check out our Facebook page for moving updates and equipment sales as we prepare for this exciting transition. What's behind us is of no concern—it's what lies ahead that matters.
Good morning. All right, it is 7.01. I don't know if it seems earlier or later, but it's been a while since we've been back with any consistency. But those of you who follow us on social media, we've already made the announcement. We are days, days away from launching to our new location. Days away from launching to our new location.
Speaker 1:We've been in this building on Hamilton Avenue at least 10 years now, in the east end, for about 13 years, all right and um. The opportunity presented itself to make a move and we uh, you know weighed all factors, so this wasn't something we took lightly 20 years of building the community that we built, and I'm very, very proud of it. I think it's safe to say I don't ever, ever, speak for anyone else, but you know, my wife and I both are very proud of the community that we created and we intend to continue that legacy. Just not here. The new location will be at one alexander's center, one alexander's center over in freeport, on a freeport road. So from where we are now, if you drop a pin in the map, straight down washington boulevard, across the highland park bridge, hit, hit 28, and you are there in maybe 10 minutes. All right, if you're coming from work. They're already on the other side, 28. Put it this way You're coming from downtown Pittsburgh or the north side? Step out your office, make a left, hit 28, and you're at our front door in less than 10 minutes. All right, 2810 Expressway, for those of you who don't know. All right, the only issue that I do understand you have to cross a. What is the legend? You have to cross a moving body of water, so if you're a vampire, that may preclude you from crossing. Other than that, you're good. But anyway, we're very excited about the building.
Speaker 1:Alexander Center started off. This is how old I am. All right, this is how old I am. In the late 70s, racquetball was a thing and two racquetball clubs opened up in pittsburgh, one of them just down the street from where I'm sitting now, on penn avenue. It was racquetball one. I believe it started in 1979 which would evolve into club one where I would work as an undergrad while at the university of pittsburgh, where my wife would work like a decade later when she was an undergrad at the University of Pittsburgh, and where I would actually come to meet her. The owners over there close family friends to this day. It was, without doubt, one of the greatest places to work, to be a part of. And I will tell you this I think, maybe, maybe subconsciously, the community that Jimmy and Linda built over there set the tone for, I think, the community that my wife and I would build, you know, 20 some odd years later, you know, with our CrossFit Pittsburgh gym, and so that, yeah, that was. I think that's a fact, that's an absolute fact. I, you know, you look at it in those terms, but the other racquetball club that opened up at the same time, roughly the same time, was called Wallbangers and it was at 2585 Freeport Road. So now, get this, because this is kind of comical.
Speaker 1:I grew up in Bloomfield area, all right. And one afternoon I get a call from a classmate of mine and he's like hey, you know, I just started to play racquetball, let's go. You know, let's go over. And I was like all right, great. So where we were, from our neighborhood, two choices, both of them about the same time frame to get there, minutes, minutes, all right. So I'm assuming that we would have come here to penn avenue. So he comes and picks me up. I mean, honest to god, we shoot down, uh, where we're from, cut through stanton heights. Uh, hit the highland park bridge, just past the zoo, we hit 28. We're. We're at wall bangers racquetball Club at 2585 Freeport Road and very, very parallel journeys.
Speaker 1:That started out exclusively racquetball and then developed a small fitness center. That fitness center on both. And these were two separate businesses. Mind you that those racquetball courts expanded and maintained racquetball, but they expanded into fitness centers and maintained racquetball, but they expanded into fitness centers. And you know, alexander's is. Alexander's Athletic Club is still there, still going strong. Now the building is still owned by the Alexander family. Alexander's Athletic Club was sold to another owner who my wife and I got to meet a week or so ago. I think it's going to be a great rapport.
Speaker 1:So this they're on one side of the building, we're on the other sideed, molested or vandalized in any way, shape and form by the population, because there is no population hanging out outside, no population hanging out outside. Anyway, like I said, I mean we've moved a few times over the years and I have to tell you, see this, you see all this, none of this was great when we first opened our doors. So it's been 20 years and I wouldn't trade a minute of it and I have to tell you it's exhausting, but in the best possible way. It's exhausting, but in the best possible way. It's like every spare minute. I'm in here and this wall behind me is probably the last piece to go, because we're breaking down the office, the conference area next door, methodically, taking out things that we, you know, we're going to move to the new location systematically and yeah, it's just, it's, it's awesome, it is absolutely awesome.
Speaker 1:And you know, those of you who've ever studied your history, or you know, I hate to say it, but we study history, we take these great stories and then we trivialize them. You know, I hate to say it, but we study history, we take these great stories and then we trivialize them, you know, with a t-shirt or a bumper sticker or a slogan. But the way I'm looking at this is there is no looking back, not a blink, not a moment. If you've ever heard the expression burn the ships, all right, you know, curiosity is getting the best of me. I must, I gotta know, and I should know this. I think it's absolute fatigue. But, yes, I, okay, I was correct, correct, correctamundo.
Speaker 1:Uh, in the 1500s, during the, the spanish exploration of the new world, right hernan cortez, when they hit landfall on the american continent. Um, he actually burned their ships. That was his message to his men, that there was no going back. Well, now it's you know, I don't know, you know like, oh, burn the ships, use AI to create your whatever you know. But truthfully, solidly, it's exactly how I feel right now. There is no looking back. That rests on the horizon, on the future, and I, you know, like I said I just right now, I keep kind of going in this perpetual loop and it's, it's awesome.
Speaker 1:I've never, ever, every time we've relocated, there were I just told my son this the other day there were times, at each of our new buildings that we moved into, I would get there set up, you know Jen would be there, the kids, and, of course, you know they were smaller at the time. I mean my gosh, five, three and basically, you know, one year old when we first opened. But you know, when they were smaller, they'd come and run and play. But you know they had to be taken home. You know, fed, bathed and put down for the night. But there were times, more than once, that I said, all right, I'm just gonna stay a little bit longer and do a little bit more work and 3, 4 am, I'd roll home, get a couple hours of sleep, wake up exhausted, but you know the good exhaustion, right, come back, coffee up and do it again and I'll tell you this was actually, this was so messed up, but I'll share it again. You know, and I'll tell you this was actually, this was so messed up, and I'll share it with you because it's funny.
Speaker 1:Um, the first day open for business, we opened with no members, zero members. It was passion. It was 100 passion and love of of crossfit. That that was it. So we opened a CrossFit affiliate with zero members. But you know, once we put out the word, I'll never forget this.
Speaker 1:We got an email. We had a very, very primitive website. I made it myself and honestly, I think it was bad. It was bad. What you realize, what you had realized, what you had to work with. At the time, the only platform I could find for like a do-it-yourself was I think it was Yahoo based. And so I did this real primitive website and we had email. Right, we set up email and, excuse me, we set and I got an email from this young man, city of Pittsburgh, newly graduated, city of Pittsburgh, firefighter, and he writes hey, you know, in the firefighting community we hear a lot about CrossFit.
Speaker 1:You know I see your opening your location. You know I have two friends would love to get involved. So I wrote back and I said, hey, great. I said I have two friends who would love to get involved. So I wrote back and I said, hey, great. I said you know we're actually not open yet. It's imminent, you know we're having. You know the space was all set, ready to go, freshly painted, and all that. We were actually waiting on our first equipment delivery. So I told him that. So he writes back, as only a enthusiastic young crossfitter would do, and he's like hey, man, that's fine. He's like you just tell us when the equipment's coming, we'll come over and help you unbox it.
Speaker 1:So but, um, you know, I don't know, I think if you tried that business model or maybe you know you're a business major and you write a paper on that as your startup plan, you'd probably get laughed off campus right, but that was it was, I'd do it again. I would do it again. So you know, as far as oh, and here's the truth, it's always risky when you make a move, but the worst risk, the highest risk, is not making a move, all right, it's not when you realize it's a trivialized version again. But what's that? What's the thing you know when you look for a home, when you look for a business. One of the three most important things to look for Location, location, location, right, well, it is, it absolutely is. And a better, safer location? I don't do that for me, all right. I've been in some of the nastiest places on the face of this earth and I always did okay, all right. But my wife, my daughters, my son, our members and their families, their safety is paramount. I will not compromise that, I will not. All right. So, um, now, that's that, that's it and that's all. And, uh, we're super, super excited. Matter of fact, we've put out some um, I, you know we start off this every so often like, hey, let's do some spring cleaning and if we have some equipment that is still absolutely serviceable, just um, you know that is still absolutely serviceable, just you know.
Speaker 1:Here's an example the Rogue climbing ropes. You know the old school hemp climbing ropes. We had three of them here in the newspaper. This is funny, 20 years. The first two climbing ropes I bought were marine line, literally, you know, inch and a a half, but they were a marine weave that can get wet, stay wet, exposure to salt water these things are virtually indestructible. We have 15 foot high ceiling in our first location. I bought two and they have worn. How do I want to say this? They haven't worn. The wear and tear on these ropes is virtually nil. They are as good, if not better, than they were when we first got them. They're still hanging up in our space. Um, also around the same time. Maybe, yeah, it might have been the next, the next generation.
Speaker 1:We wanted more ropes, so I bought two um poly, some kind of poly blend, and I used one outside at our house and, as you can imagine, that one got a little bit. It didn't wear badly. Did not wear badly, but from the elements, exposure to the elements, rain, water and so forth. I hung it from a tree in our backyard, but exposure to rain and so forth, it got um pollinated. I guess, not mold, I guess maybe it's a variation of mold. It's probably some science guy out there, you know. Actually that is a spore and spores are mold. You know what I mean. Like it turned from the pollen in the air but it didn't affect the, the durability. It's, it's still. You know, I actually, I think I pressure washed it a couple times over the years, hung it back up, but uh, so the two marine lines and the polymer line are still here, they're still going strong.
Speaker 1:Then the other three were rogue hemp. And again that user preference, right, some people like the hemp because it's tactile, you know, it's a little bit like sandpaper, right? Some people don't like it because of that, because if you're not careful you know it'll chew you up. But the first three we bought, I don't even remember how long they lasted, but it was not long, it wasn't. They started once they started to go, once they started to fray, and I think, cause and effect, you know, and as they hung, this building has, structurally, it's got I-beams every maybe 15 feet, so like a grid pattern, the new space will not have that, which you know. It's the little things, right, they were here, we worked around them and it worked. But I think it's one of those scenarios where you don't know how nice it is not to have something until you don't have it and then you have a contiguous, uninterrupted space, which is awesome.
Speaker 1:And I think I'm not criticizing Rogue's ropes at all. I mean, rogue doesn't make them, they sell them. You know it's hemp, but I think the natural fiber wears differently. I think the natural fiber wears differently, and one of the things that we did was, just out of, you know, trial and error, as they hung on an I-beam on the ceiling. We would pull them to the side and wrap them around the I-beam posts, and I'm not sure if that little bit and they're smooth. It wasn't like they were razor sharp or edgy. But I'm wondering if just wrapping around and leaving them there now we're not under any pressure. The only weight was the weight, you know, their own weight, but I'm wondering if that created a little bit of an abrasion every time you did it. Who knows?
Speaker 1:Um, the new ones we replaced them with. We didn't do that to retain them. I just I put like a simple bungee around the i-beam and then we would just loop the climbing rope through it. But we'll see. Here's the, here's the punchline, though. The punch line is these are 15 foot ceilings here in this building and those are 15 foot ropes. Uh, the new location has 20 foot ceilings. So, anyway, these ropes are, uh, hopefully on their way to a better home and, um, you know, we're going to get some longer ropes.
Speaker 1:Anyway, in the process of doing that, we just started to take a look at every piece of equipment we've accumulated over the years that has fallen into disuse. We just, you know, don't need it, don't use it, so we've stacked them, stored them, you know, put them in every nook and cranny. So what we've been doing is giving some of them away. You know, giving some of them away. We'll post that on Facebook and a couple sets of, I think. What do we have left? A couple full sets of Atlas stones and those are actually kind of cool, old school, like before Rogue came up with the what do they call them? Atlas Stone sandbags kind of thing, which is a great idea conceptually it really really is. But these are the old school molded. I made them myself and it was a hoot. We've got some really good molds from Rogue and Mix.
Speaker 1:The Concrete actually added this uh, I believe it's like it's shredded like fiberglass. So these fibers that you throw into the concrete mix, mix it all up. So when you pour them, like inside that, that concrete ball, you have these like fiberglass, like you know, shreds like fiber, and that reinforces the, the, the, the atlas stone, right, but um, two, I think they're um five stones to a set 45, 95, 105, 155, I mean they they go from small and manageable to, uh, large and heavy, but anyway, we've got two sets of those left. I believe someone's coming for the jerk box. God with this thumbs up. I hate it but I love it. Someone's coming for a jerk box set tomorrow. Built them, used them and then didn't, so that was available. Got a lot of cool stuff. So if you're in the market, if you're interested, check out Facebook marketplace, and we still have a lot of things too. We're calling the herd, so to speak. Calling the herd. As I look at the security camera with a teary eye, am I going to miss delivery trucks and delivery drivers swarming like hornets all around the building? It's not like it's a hazard. Oh, anyway. Anyway, things you won't miss, but yeah, so check out the new space.
Speaker 1:2585 Freeport Road, pittsburgh, pa, 15238, for CrossFit Pittsburgh's next chapter. All right, burning the ships and looking forward. As a great Italian race car driver said, every rental car he ever picked up anywhere he ever traveled, first thing he did he jumps in the car, yanks off the rearview mirror, throws it in the back seat. He was with a reporter one day and he did that. And the reporter said to him well, oh my god, why, why would you? Why would you tear off the rearview mirror? And the driver looks at him and said because, uh, what's it behind me is of no concern, all right. So have a great weekend, have a great day and, uh, crossfit pittsburgh, next chapter coming at you. All right, have a great one.
