Proud owner moment: Diablo hosted another Northern California Affiliate Owner Gathering on Saturday for 40+ owners & coaches who came to learn & share experiences – to be better affiliates and coaches. 5 of the 6 guest speakers were Diablo Coaches! Coaches Jamie Lee, Jackson Miller and Maddie Griffin shared their insight to building a successful coaching business inside a CrossFit gym and Coaches Amanda Hari and Herald Hernandez joined another media pro, Matt Souza from CF Livermore to share ideas, tips and strategies for social media production and posting for CrossFit gyms.
“Focus is the art of knowing what to ignore.” James Clear
Choose Your Days. Choose Your Times. Stick To Them.
On my most recent podcast, my friend Tim Dymmel, owner of CrossFit Palo Alto talked about how he operates his business and onboards new members. I’ve mentioned this before: CFPA is a smaller gym than Diablo with limited class space. But, Tim maximizes his space and prevents over-booking by selling “days and times” to new members. In other words, if you want to join CFPA, you must choose the days and times that are available: ie, MWF at 6AM or TuTh at 5PM, etc. Once you’ve joined CrossFIt Palo Alto, you’re bound to your days & times. The only way you could switch is if another day/time came available.
For Tim and his coaches – this method works efficiently. He always knows how many total spaces he has AND how many members he needs to achieve full capacity. Even better, Tim’s members know that if they cancel, they may not ever be able to get back into the same day/time slot. As a result, the members are bound to a ritual – a system – a habit.
Diablo, on the other hand, offers scheduling flexibility for our members – they can come when they want as long as there’s a space open when they reserve a space up to 3 days in advance. Our schedule flexibility is very appealing to prospective members and certainly contributes to our large membership base. However, schedule flexibility is not conducive to habit formation. In fact, our most consistent and most tenured members are the ones who come regularly at the same times and days – ie, our 5A & 6A crews.
The bottom line: Tim’s average member participation and retention are likely better than Diablo’s – yielding better average fitness per person. So what’s the lesson here? If you want to improve your overall fitness (and health) – choose your days and your times and STICK to them. BE THAT PERSON! Make your CrossFit a non-negotiable on your weekly calendar.
#itsup2us
SAVE THE DATES & RSVP!
- Nov 27, 8:30AM – Thanksgiving Day Totally Unofficial Turkey Trot! – this is our 18th annual Trot and we’re returning to our favorite spot: Hidden Lakes Park in Martinez. This place is fantastic and features a kids playground, a very nice soccer/football field and walking track, and miles of trails in the surrounding Open Space. We’ll create a cool, fun course for our Diablo crew AND have a fun walking trail for strollers. Family, friends, doggos are all encouraged to attend!
- Dec 12, 7:00PM – RSVP ON THE APP – Diablo’s Annual Holiday Party at the Back Forty Texas BBQ Roadhouse & Saloon in Pleasant Hill! We’ll have the upstairs banquet & bar area all to ourselves for dinner, drinks, fun and dancing. Please be sure to RSVP on our app – for your partner too. Don’t miss this!
INTERMITTENT FASTING CHALLENGE: WEEK 6 – OMD
> 3 DAYS OF OMD: ONE MEAL A DAY – on any 3 days this week, only eat ONE MEAL within 24 hours. This is commonly known as the “OMD Plan.” Be sure to include a balance or protein, carbs and fats. And of course, avoid excess sugars and processed carbs, or you’ll likely find yourself hungry too soon!
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- IF CHALLENGE WEEK 1 (Oct 12-19): Complete 2 days of “16/8” – 16 hours of 0 calories, and 8 hours for eating.
- IF CHALLENGE WEEK 2 (Oct 20-27): Complete 3 consecutive days of “14/10”
- IF CHALLENGE WEEK 3 (Oct 27 – Nov 2): Complete 3 CONSECUTIVE Days of “16/8” – 14 hours of fasting and 10 hour eating window.
- IF CHALLENGE WEEK 4 (Nov 3 – Nov 9): Complete a 24Hour Fast.
- IF CHALLENGE WEEK 5 (Nov 10 – Nov 16): Complete 5 consecutive days of 14/10.
Important, during your hours of eating, prioritize protein and healthy foods. Black coffee, water and non-sweetened electrolytes are ok during fasting hours.
CROSSFIT OPEN THROWBACK: 20.4 LIVE AT DIABLO!
Every week until the Open, I’ll be sharing some awesome memories from our long history of Open & Games participation.
The 2020 CrossFit Open happened in October 2019 – as an attempt by CrossFit to shift the competition schedule. Diablo was asked to produce an Open Event – ON OUR OWN! Fortunately one of our members was a production manager for the Games – Aaron Kelly – and he pulled together the resources to make it happen. We then reached out to Rogue fitness for some equipment for the event – and they delivered! We also called our media announcer friends, Sean Woodland and Tommy Marquez to do the play by play, while our friend Logan Vanderpool did the ringside announcements. Somehow, we were able to pull it off in front of almost 100,000 live viewers – on Halloween!
PROGRAMMING ** THIS WEEK **
- Mon: Bike-Push Ups-Sit Us – 6RFT: 250/300m Row, 10/15 Push Ups, 250/300m Row, 20 Sit ups.
- Tue: Snatch!
- Wed: RMU Skills. Metcon: T2B & DUs – Amrap 7m: 7 T2B & 35 DUs
- Thu: Back Squat. Metcon: KBs & WW – Amrap 8m: 5KB, 1WW, 10KB, 2WW…
- Fri: Bench – Echo – SB Carry: 12 DB Bench Press (#35/50), 15/20c Bike, 200m SB Carry (#40/60)
- Sat: Pull Ups – DB Snatch – BJ. Amrap 20m: 9 Pull Ups, 12 DB Sn, 15 Box Jumps (35/50#)
- Sun: Run- Clean-Burpess. 5RFT: 200m Run, 4 Sq Cleans, 8 Bar Facing Burpees
OUR PODCAST IS BACK! – Tuesdays at 12P PT (mostly)
- Nov 13: CF Palo Alto Owner Tim Dymmel – Owner Bitch Sesh – This was a really fun session. If you want some insight to ownership and our gripes.. tune in.
- Nov 4: Diablo Member and Master Brewer, Chris Graham shares his physical transformation story and biohacking secrets!
- Oct 28: Zia Rohrbaugh Is Betting on CrossFit – Despite experiencing a 100% rent rate increase in her Encinitas location, 15+yr owner Zia is opening a 2nd location in Oceanside in Jan 2026.Also available on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.
CRAIG’S LIST: We Found A New Steak House!
Prime Steakhouse & Martini Garden in Walnut Creek. This location was formerly Scott’s Seafood at the corner of Bonanza and N.California St. The Steaks were outstanding – Yvonne had filet and I had the Ribeye. Service was fast and enjoyable and the Watermelon Martini.. too good. You’ll spend about $100pp.
Make it an awesome week!
Craig
