A new kind of training with Crossfit on the Island

By Sherria Jones | gargoyle@flagler.edu

The large, open space would catch anyone’s attention. Wooden boxes of different sizes, several different weights, pull up bars and rings take over the space and it is easy to wonder what takes place here.

This is the Crossfit gym. Crossfit could best be described as the sport of fitness. It combines the physical and mental aspects commonly used in fitness and adds a time limit or makes it a race to add to the level of intensity. It easily becomes a friendly competitive workout and a way of life.

The owner of the Crossfit gym, Bobby Appleby was immediately drawn to the idea of crossfit.  It was the next level of a workout he had been looking for.  “I’d go to the gym and then go for a long run,” he recalls.  Crossfit combines several different movements, both strength and cardio, into one workout. Those who participate feel a sense of physical and mental accomplishment afterwards, said Appleby.

Jessica Erceg, senior accounting and business major at Flagler College, is proof of that.  “Crossfit defines a part of who I am and who I can become,” she said.  Erceg has been devoted to crossfit for the past three months.

 “I like it [crossfit] because it pushes me to lift more or work harder, and I feel great after the workout,” said Ellie Clark, a junior sport management major at Flagler. Clark recently began crossfit training with Appleby after attending with a friend.

Appleby says he always knew he wanted his own gym.  He signed up for certification as a crossfit trainer right away and began working toward his goal. The gym has now grown to a little over 20 members. The gym has come a long way from having nothing but a few mats, jump ropes and using cinder blocks for weights.

The gym is more like a big family. Appleby said one of the ways his gym operates so well is because each of the members have personal relationships and enjoy spending time together as a whole whenever time allows. 

Fitness is Appleby’s passion and he hopes to be able to share that passion with the community. He said he hopes to be able to expand the gym in the future to accommodate more needs. If crossfit is not for you, he wants to be able to provide something that is. 

Alan Swanson, 2006 Flagler Alumni, has been training with Appleby for four months now.  He has seen results all around. He said, “Crossfit gives me more strength, energy, and confidence than anything else I’ve tried and it’s the most physically rewarding program out there.”

“It is the greatest challenge,” said Erceg.

For more information, or to get involved, Bobby Appleby can be reached at 860-227-5189 or bobbyappleby@live.com