"We decided to penalize each member of each class as a way of making the point about how important it is to clear away equipment, and to take care of the gym for others.”
Pictured was a chalky mess on a black, rubber mat with a jump rope carelessly tossed nearby.
"Every class next week has earned 25 burpees because Saturday's athletes could not clean up after themselves. Please take care of your gym!" reads the admonishment from CrossFit Thames on its Facebook page.
This form of punishment has been instituted at a number of boxes in Europe. Much of the time, the guilty members themselves are dealt burpees for arriving late to class or not clearing away equipment after they’ve finished using it. This also used to be the case at London’s CrossFit Thames. Until recently.
These days, if a member forgets to write his score on the whiteboard, doesn’t put away equipment or is late for class, every member of every class receives the burpee punishment.
“We used to deal out individual burpee penalties,” co-owner, Phil Morton, says. “But we found that after a while, people weren’t doing them because they didn’t have time in the class. We decided to penalize each member of each class as a way of making the point about how important it is to clear away equipment, and to take care of the gym for others.”
Initially, CrossFit Thames coaches received a mixed reaction to the group punishments. The sentiment changed over time.
“It actually turned out to be a lot of fun and a great way for them to work on their burpee movement,” Morton says. “With everyone doing them simultaneously, we were able to watch and teach them how to improve their technique. We have seen some great improvements in form as a direct result of this.”
Burpee penalties, he adds, are a good way of ensuring good housekeeping.
“The majority of people are really good about time keeping, tidying up and being courteous to others,” Morton says. “But occasionally — particularly after a tough WOD or a WOD which requires a lot of equipment, such as bumpers and plates, kettlebells, Ab Mats, dumbbells, for example — people can forget to put it all away.”
Morton says he and his coaches chose burpees over other exercises because of their reputation.
“Burpees are universally regarded as one of the least favorite of all the CrossFit disciplines, and so people are not always keen to do them,” he says. “Also, they are a bodyweight exercise and so don’t require any equipment to get done.”
Still, burpees aren’t the only punishment doled out at CrossFit Thames.
“We do sometimes use other penalties, such as partner wall balls,” Morton says. “Whilst these get our point across, we also use them to get people engaging with each other, making new friends and ultimately enjoying the time they spend here.”
Although CrossFit Thames embraces penalties for undesired behavior, other affiliates are deliberately staying away from such group punishments.
“We did consider applying some kind of penalty system for our members, but decided against it,” Dominic Beardwell, owner of CrossFit Black Five, in Manchester, says. “We haven’t really experienced any serious problems with late attendance or general housekeeping.”
If a CrossFit Black Five member leaves equipment out, a coach will “have a quiet word with them” and ask them to clean it up, he adds.
Beardwell adds: “This approach seems to work well for us.”