Lately it seems that there's a new fitness center or yoga studio opening every week in Detroit.
CrossFit BMW (which stands for "Benchmark Workouts"), on Cass between Charlotte and Peterboro in Midtown, is among the more recent openings. It offers something a little different than a traditional gym.
CrossFit is a national brand that achieves health and fitness through an interdisciplinary approach, incorporating weight-lifting, gymnastics, sprinting, rope-climbing, and other high-intensity exercises with an emphasis on cardio, strengthening, and conditioning. It's ideal for professional athletes and WSU students (and they get both).
Different elements are combined daily to create a unique "Workout of the Day" (WOD), and no two are ever the same. The result of the physically exerting hour-long WOD is similar to that of a one-hour session of personal training, only in a group class format and at a fraction of the cost.
"(CrossFit BMW) is membership-based and open to everyone," says owner Jarrod Bell. He started a CrossFit affiliate in metro Detroit six years ago and has wanted to open a gym in the city from the beginning. When the building on Cass (owned by Midtown developer Joel Landy) became available, Bell jumped at the opportunity. "As long as I’ve been (doing this) I’ve been eyeing that building."
In addition to the WODs, CrossFit BMW offers power-lifting classes and will be adding additional classes in the future, which will likely include gymnastics, yoga, kickboxing, and kids' CrossFit. Bell also hopes to put together an Olympic lifting team.
A monthly membership costs $185 and includes unlimited classes, personal training and fitness coaching. (Students, law enforcement, military personnel, firefighters, and teachers receive a discount.) "When you start talking personal training at the YMCA and L.A. Fitness, that’s just an admission fee," says Bell. "We offer personal training on a daily basis for that amount in a goal-based fitness gym and training studio."
Source: Jarrod Bell, owner of CrossFit BMW
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg
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