By Kerry, Owner & Head Coach, CrossFit Arvada
Let me tell you about the phone call I get at least once a week.
It goes something like this: “I saw your gym online and I’m really interested, but… I’m not in good enough shape for CrossFit. Maybe once I lose a few pounds? Or get a little stronger first?”
Every single time, I smile. Because I’ve been part of this gym for 14 years — first as a member, then as a coach, now as the owner. And every single time, my answer is the same:
That’s exactly why you should come in.
The Myth That’s Keeping You Out of the Best Shape of Your Life
CrossFit has a perception problem. Flip through social media and you’ll see highlight reels of chiseled athletes flipping tires, doing muscle-ups, and lifting weights that look impossible. It looks exclusive. Intense. Like a club you have to already be fit to join.
I get it. I really do.
But here’s what those highlight reels don’t show you: the 67-year-old grandmother in the back row who just deadlifted for the first time and can’t stop grinning. The 45-year-old dad who came in 40 pounds overweight and is now outpacing people half his age. The member who walked through our door on a walker two years ago and now coaches her grandkids’ soccer team.
That’s what CrossFit Arvada actually looks like.
Who Actually Works Out Here
I’m Kerry. I’m 54 years old. I’m a former nurse — and I want to tell you something I don’t say enough:
I was you once.
In 2012, I walked through the doors of CrossFit Arvada as a nervous first-time member. I had no idea what I was doing. I was intimidated. I wondered if I belonged. But the community pulled me in, the coaches met me where I was, and something clicked that I hadn’t found anywhere else.
By 2015, I had fallen so deeply in love with what this place does for people that I became a coach. I wanted to give other people what this gym had given me. And in 2020, I became the owner — because I believed in this community so completely that I wanted to spend the rest of my career protecting and growing it.
I’m not telling you this to brag. I’m telling you this because I have been a beginner in this gym. I know what that first nervous walk through the door feels like. And I promise you — it’s worth it.
Our youngest member is 5. Our oldest is 83. And I mean that literally.
In any given class at CrossFit Arvada, you might find:
- A 38-year-old mom who hadn’t exercised since college and was terrified her first day
- A 71-year-old retired teacher who comes four times a week and hasn’t felt this strong since his 30s
- A teenager training for high school sports
- A 55-year-old woman who told me she “wasn’t athletic” when she joined — and just hit a personal record on her back squat
- An adaptive athlete who competes at the CrossFit Games level
- A beginner who showed up last Tuesday for the very first time
Every single one of them does the same class. Because every single movement is scaled to meet them exactly where they are.
What “Scaling” Actually Means — And Why It Changes Everything
This is the part that surprises most people the most.
In CrossFit, every workout can be modified. Not as a consolation prize for being out of shape — but as a coaching tool to make the workout right for your body on that specific day.
Can’t do a pull-up yet? We have progressions that build you toward it while still giving you a great workout today. Bad knees? We modify the squat. Never lifted a barbell in your life? We start with a PVC pipe and build from there — no ego, no rush.
A coach designing a workout for an 83-year-old looks very different than a coach designing a workout for a 19-year-old athlete. That’s the point. Our coaches are trained to see you — your body, your history, your goals — and program accordingly. I know this not just as the owner, but as someone who has been on both sides of that coaching relationship for over a decade.
You will never walk into CrossFit Arvada and be handed a workout that isn’t right for where you are today.
“But I’m Too Out of Shape to Start”
I want to gently push back on this one, because I hear it constantly and it breaks my heart a little every time.
You don’t get in shape before you join a gym. You get in shape at the gym. That’s what we’re here for.
Coming in “not fit enough” is like saying you need to learn to swim before you take swim lessons. The lessons are how you learn. The gym is how you get fit.
And here’s the truth from someone who has been a member, a coach, and an owner of this gym: the people who come in the most out of shape often make the most dramatic transformations. Not because they worked harder than anyone else, but because they had the courage to start.
That courage? That’s the hardest part. And you’d be doing it in a room full of people cheering you on.
What Your First Class Actually Looks Like
I want to demystify this completely, because fear of the unknown is real.
You arrive. A coach greets you by name — we know who’s coming in, and we look forward to meeting you. You’re not thrown into the deep end. We walk you through everything.
The class starts with a warm-up, which eases your body in and gives you a feel for the movements. Then the coach explains the workout and — this is important — shows you the scaled version alongside the advanced version. Nobody is watching you or judging you. Everyone is focused on their own work.
You do the workout at your pace, with your modifications, with a coach nearby if you need anything. When it’s over, people high-five. They ask how it went. They remember your name next week.
That’s it. That’s CrossFit Arvada.
What People Are Surprised By
After 14 years, the thing that surprises new members most isn’t the workout. It’s the people.
They expect a gym. They find a community.
They expect to feel judged. They feel welcomed.
They expect to be the slowest, the weakest, the most out of place. Instead they find a 68-year-old and a 22-year-old doing the same workout side by side, cheering each other on, and grabbing coffee together after.
One of my favorite things a member ever said to me: “I’ve belonged to four gyms in my life. This is the first one I’ve ever actually looked forward to going to.”
That’s what we’re building here, every single day.
A Note From the Nurse — and the Member — in Me
Before I was a coach or an owner, I was a nurse. I spent years in healthcare watching people manage conditions that were directly connected to inactivity — preventable things, treatable things, things that movement could have helped long before they became crises.
And then I found CrossFit Arvada as a member in 2012, and I saw firsthand what consistent, coached movement does for real people of all ages and abilities. It wasn’t just fitness. It was people getting their lives back.
That’s why I became a coach in 2015. That’s why I became the owner in 2020. Not to create elite athletes (though we do have some of those). But to give our Arvada community a place to get stronger, move better, reduce pain, have more energy, and live longer.
Fitness isn’t a luxury. It’s preventive medicine. And after 14 years of living and breathing this gym — as a member, a coach, and now its owner — I can tell you with complete confidence: it works. For everyone.
Come Try It — On Us
Your first class at CrossFit Arvada is free. No commitment, no pressure, no judgment.
Come see for yourself who actually works out here. Come meet the 83-year-old who will probably outlift your expectations. Come find out what it feels like to finish a workout surrounded by people who are genuinely rooting for you.
We’ve been part of the Arvada community since 2012. We’d love for you to be part of ours.
📍 14700 W 66th Pl #6, Arvada, CO 80004 📞 (720) 331-8891 🌐 crossfitarvada.com
Classes available mornings, evenings, and Saturdays. All fitness levels welcome. Seriously — all of them.
Kerry joined CrossFit Arvada as a member on day one in 2012. She became a coach in 2015 and took over as owner in 2020. A former nurse, she brings a background in preventive health — and over a decade of personal experience on both sides of the coaching relationship — to everything she does at the gym.
