Inspiring Conversations with Brandon Garcia of CrossFit ELM

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Garcia.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
In 2004 I started training a few friends while I was in college. I was already on track for a degree in Sport and Exercise Science (I finished in 2006) so training my friends confirmed I was good at it and that I loved helping people find confidence through physical fitness and health. From there, I stepped into a role as a personal trainer and gym manager at SNAP Fitness in Eaton Colorado shortly after graduating where I would work until 2012. I was first introduced to CrossFit in 2008 where I mostly made fun of it. As a traditional exercise specialist CrossFit didn’t seem to fit what we thought was possible for training. However, as I studied it deeper I realized that there might be some method to the madness so finally in 2011 I took the CrossFit Level 1 certificate course and immediately fell in love with their method, the science behind how they trained, and how they taught people to eat and change their body. In 2012 I started my CrossFit gym in my garage. We grew slowly and modestly and finally moved out of our garage in 2015 and recently grew to a second location in 2024. Over the years we’ve changed hundreds of lives, helped people lose hundreds of pounds, helped gain back strength and mobility in their lives, and grow confidence to tackle life changing events like getting engaged and married, going for promotions and new jobs, heading back to school, or finally getting healthy enough to have a baby. 13 years in business and I’ve fallen more and more in love with the CrossFit method. It allows me to do what I love to do; change lives on a daily basis. It’s also rewarding to be one of only a few CrossFit gyms open 10+ years as original owners.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Absolutely not. There’s been many lessons that I’ve had to learn over 13 years in business. As a trainer your commitment is to your clients and to helping them change their lives. You’re not necessarily focused on running a business. What you learn though is that if you don’t run the business like a business you won’t have a business to change lives with, so you have to learn how to run a business efficiently. That means having the courage to charge what you need to charge to stay in business, it means being willing to have tough conversations with customers or employees, it also means long stints of time without making very much money. When you start out you’re trying to build your own business and build yourself in your own space. Finances get tight as you’re trying to grow that business because you pour everything back into that business which is stressful on your family. That’s someplace I’m blessed. I had family and friends around me who supported me even when things were the toughest. Trying to navigate our way through the 2020 shutdowns was particularly difficult for gyms, so thinking through and executing on a plan of how to serve our members. Learning how to keep the business afloat taught us a lot about quick, positive action in caring in ways other business owners didn’t. Over the years I’ve had to learn what it means to go from a solopreneur to now a business owner with employees. Those employees now depend on our business being fruitful so that they can make a living as well. It changed how we thought about our business. Even though I’m still a coach on the floor, I’ve had to learn how to teach that skill to others so I can be a business owner and focus on growing the business. That means turning over tasks and authority over those tasks to the other coaches. Also along the way I’ve had to learn how to negotiate things like building leases and the necessary services for the business to keep things within a budget. Also, realizing that I had to surround myself with partner businesses that are there to support my business to build real success. They are good at what they do, so let them help you. One of the biggest was learning how to build and stay in a budget. Money discipline isn’t necessarily innate to really anybody but is a non-negotiable to win in business. Learning those skills as a business owner while still being a trainer has helped me stay in business where other gyms couldn’t quite make it

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Obviously by the name of our business we offer CrossFit. Now I know that on the internet CrossFit has an infamous reputation but for those of us who follow the CrossFit method the way it was originally designed, we know that that’s not the case. On the internet, most of what you see about CrossFit is just things like fail videos and crazy-psycho-fit people (an actual quote from one of our members when she started) but what happens daily in CrossFit Gyms is not that. What happens daily inside CrossFit Gyms is incredible community and real, usable fitness. In our gyms we specialize in making people who don’t feel comfortable in a gym feel welcome in ours. We do that by showing people, whether they’re brand new to fitness or 20-year gym veterans, how to move well without getting hurt, how to workout without burning out, and how to fuel your body outside the gym to not just lose weight but also add health. We’ve also focused on building gym communities that are welcoming to anybody who’s willing to come in and put an effort. It’s really the thing that separates a CrossFit gym community from everybody else. Crossfitters, real true blue crossfitters, value effort over everything else. If you’re having a bad day and you come in and give everything you’ve got even though you’ve had a bad day, everybody in that class is going to give you respect and a high five. The other thing that we’re known for is the way we take time to actively coach the people that come into our gyms. This isn’t a flippant “hey here’s the workout, have fun” it’s coached from the first minute to the last minute and there’s a coach watching and making sure you’re doing the right things for you for that workout every single time you come in. And we hear it from people who, for one reason or another leave our gym, and then end up coming back because and tell us “no one cares like you care”. It shows because we’ve had people who are members of our gym for 10+ years that kind of longevity in a gym is unheard of and we’ve got several. As a gym owner and a head coach nothing makes me more proud than hearing members say how much they love their coaches and then hearing my coaches say how much they love the progress, the effort, the amazing things that are happening in our members lives because they’ve built better health. It tells me that they care and that they’re focused on changing people’s lives in an impactful way.

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
If you want to level up in business, you NEED a team. I am a very “I’ll do it myself” kind of person. But that became the wall my business got stuck on. As soon as I figured out how to pass skills, passion, and authority to the people around me who were for me, I was no longer the bottleneck. Build a team. Lead the team. Support the team. They’ll help you build bigger than you ever imagined.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.crossfitelm.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crossfitelm
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrossFitELM/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@crossfitelm