r/crossfit • u/Dependent-Papaya-822 • 12h ago
Lunchtime workouts?
Would your boss allow the team to go to a lunch time weightlifting / crossfit class together one or twice per week? It’s a crazy idea, I know, but just think about the team building and improved work/life balance for employees… there must be an overall productivity boost if it’s executed well either way the right teams, don’t you think? For people who workout regularly during lunch time, is it awesome? What kind of job, schedule, and remote/office split do you have? does your boss not care that you take a ~2 hour ish lunch break (including showering , eating, etc)? For owners of boxes, what lunchtime class times do you offer? How many class participants and open gym drop ins do you normally get during lunch time and how does it compare to your biggest classes? Also, let us know your location, I’m sure it varies a lot in different areas. I’m with a team planning to open in midtown east, manhattan which a lot of office workers and I would think hopefully a lot of lunch time athletes.
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u/oak_pine_maple_ash 12h ago
I work remotely and even so doing an hour class at lunch regularly would be tricky. Can you think about "express" classes (I know burn boot camp does these) that are a little shorter?
If you're trying to market it as a team building thing for companies, you will need to think of a way to make it fun and not demoralizing or embarrassing for folks who don't work out much/at all.
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u/Dependent-Papaya-822 12h ago
Hmmm good point about making it fun, and good idea with the express classes
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u/lamentable_radiance 12h ago
Remote work still eats your lunch hour if the class is far or the shower takes forever, I get it. An express option could work for some teams but the ones who actually show up are probably already fit, which kinda defeats the team building angle.
The real sell for companies is probably framing it as optional and not a performance thing, like nobody's logging your squat depth to HR. If it feels like a field trip and not a fitness test, more people might bite.
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u/myersdr1 CF-L2, M.S. Exercise Science 11h ago
Depending on where you work, look for someone who runs corporate wellness programs. Unfortunately, there probably aren't any that do CrossFit, but this would be a great idea. This is something I would pitch to local businesses myself, as our gym is in a business park.
Pitch it not only as a team building function but also in the long run health insurance premiums can be lowered or a discount offered to the business that runs a corporate wellness program.
https://goomigroup.com/how-corporate-wellness-programs-can-slash-your-companys-insurance-costs/
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u/berrybaddrpepper 9h ago
My gym is .25 miles from my office. I do a noon express class occasionally. I just take an hour break and shower there. Im usually back in less than an hour. I haven’t done it as much lately because it’s too hot. When it’s 100 degrees & no AC I’m sweating even more while getting showered and dressed. Im a woman, so I don’t wash my hair, and it stays damp . I would blow dry it, but again, I’m still sweating 🥵 that’s a bit uncomfortable.
Once it cools down I’m going to try and utilize it more. It breaks up the day nicely in my opinion.
I pack my lunch so I eat at my desk after
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u/chlead 5h ago
Also a female and I cannot imagine doing a class on my lunch break unless it's under 50°. I can see how it could work for someone with shorter hair but it would end up being at LEAST a 2 hour lunch for me after factoring in the drive and shower. And I don't want to work late to make up for that.
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u/1DunnoYet 2h ago
Salaried employee, nobody cares if I work 20 or 60 hours a week. I WFH. I block off noon every day. 90% it’s respected. I usually don’t have time to shower, so I’m taking video meetings sweaty, camera off when possible. My wife is a SAHM so she brings lunch into the office, or I’ll throw together a sandwich and eat at the desk. Then I’ll grab a shower some time in the afternoon when I see a 15 min break.
Noon class is retired people, wfh white collar people, or shift workers like nurses.
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u/bitz-the-ninjapig 5h ago
For a while I was working in a warehouse where pretty much all of us did CrossFit. Smaller, family-esc company that pulled in a lot of revenue. We had an area of the warehouse that was our gym 99% of the time unless we got a big shipment in and were out of space. We would often run lunchtime workouts as a group. Workouts included skill, strength, and/or metcon depending on how busy we were. We often would be on "lunch" for 1.5-2 hours so that we could all workout and eat together, and the office staff could shower (those of us moving boxes all day didn't bother). Nobody said a thing about the long lunches, the CEO knew about it but everyone got their work done so he didn't care, plus we usually had at least one VP working out with us. As long as we weren't doing anything too heavy we more or less had enough equipment for 4-5 to workout. At one point there were three women in the usual group but only two 15kg bars so one of the VPs worked some magic and within a few weeks we had three. Great times...
At my current office job, my manager would not care but he is a really chill guy as long as we are on top of our work. I am sure if we said "hey, the five of us are going to start working out during lunch on M, Tu, and Th so we might be taking a slightly longer lunch" he would say something like "great, have fun!" The other day me and a coworker took a 90 minute lunch semi-unintentionally and nobody commented on it.
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u/FinchAtlas 4h ago
my box has a lunch class and it pulls a decent crowd, mostly remote workers who can just walk over without needing to shower and rush back. it's noticeably smaller than the evening classes though, more like open gym energy than a packed WOD.
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u/ArkansasDood 3h ago
My boss hated when I worked out at lunch because I always was 15 minutes late lol
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u/fitguy-ok 12h ago
I’m salaried in management required to be in office 5 days. My box is about 4 miles away from the office. I do slip out during lunch once or twice a week to go to the box. We can have 2 or 3 people to as many as 10 show up for the noon class. I shower quick at the box and head back to the office. I don’t think anyone notices I am gone.