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Walk into a big-box gym at 5:30pm and you'll find rows of machines, a wall of mirrors and hundreds of people, none of whom are there to notice how you're moving. If you already know what you're doing, that's fine. If you don't, it can be a quiet and slightly lonely place to start. Here's how small-group coaching at TandEm CrossFit in Balcatta differs, and who each approach suits.
Big gyms are good at access. You get a lot of equipment, long opening hours and a low entry cost. Plenty of people train happily there, especially those who already have a plan and the confidence to follow it.
The catch is that the gym provides the space, and you provide everything else: the programme, the technique and the motivation to turn up. For a beginner, that is a lot to carry on day one.
At TandEm, every class is run by a coach. The session is planned before you arrive, so you don't spend ten minutes wandering the floor wondering what to do. You turn up, read the whiteboard, and the coach talks the group through it.
The group is small enough that the coach can see you. That changes a few things:
Everyone who joins TandEm begins with our compulsory Fundamentals program. It is three one-hour sessions for $220, booked at times that suit you outside our regular class times. You learn the basic movements with a coach at a pace that makes sense, before you ever join a class.
It takes the guesswork out of starting. By the time you walk into your first class, the movements and the vocabulary are familiar, and so is at least one coach.
We recommend a minimum of three sessions a week. That isn't a sales line. Train less than three times a week and your body never quite adapts. You stay constantly sore, you don't see much improvement, and motivation drains away. Three sessions is where things start to feel easier instead of harder.
Coaching makes three sessions much easier to hit, because there is always a class on and someone expecting you. Our timetable runs like this:
A big-box gym can be a good fit if you enjoy training alone, you know your way around a barbell, and you want to train at odd hours. There's nothing wrong with that.
Coached small-group training tends to suit people who want structure, who are new to lifting, or who have tried a gym membership before and found it hard to stay with. If you've ever paid for a membership you stopped using, you aren't alone, and it usually isn't a motivation problem. It's a missing-plan and missing-people problem.
Every workout scales, so you don't need to be fit before you start. You just need to be willing to turn up and try. And when class is done, The Wooden Spoon Café shares our premises at 2/76 Erindale Rd, Balcatta, with a whole-foods menu that includes paleo and gluten-free options. It's handy if you'd like a coffee after training.
TandEm is at 2/76 Erindale Rd, Balcatta, and we welcome members from right across the northern suburbs, including Scarborough, North Beach, Marmion, Stirling, Innaloo and Osborne Park.
If you're in Balcatta or the surrounding Perth suburbs and you're curious, the easiest first step is a conversation. Book your free fitness consultation and we'll talk through your goals, answer your questions and explain how Fundamentals works. You can also call us on 0402 324 368 or email info@tandemcrossfit.com.au.
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