Nearly a year after he was leading classes by the river, Joachim Marty now has more than 100 members at CrossFit Original Addicts.
Four years ago, Joachim Marty was in a motorcycle accident. He suffered 13 fractures on his right leg, two on his pelvis and multiple rib and elbow fractures. Doctors told him he wouldn’t walk normally again.
“Last weekend, I ran 10 miles,” the 27-year-old Parisian says.
Only a year after his accident, Marty tried CrossFit. He wanted to get fit and a friend introduced him to a “whole new way” of training, he says.
“I was in my living room and my first WOD was Cindy,” Marty says. “After 11 rounds in 20 minutes, I was lying in a pool of sweat, wondering what had happened.”
For nine months, Marty did CrossFit in his apartment. Due to a lack of space and equipment, he focused on bodyweight movements.
“I was completely hooked,” he says, “but I knew little about the community and the spirit of CrossFit.”
In 2011, he traveled to Colombia to visit his wife’s family. He dropped in at CrossFit Bogota. The owners, he says, had the perfect life.
“They lived on the top floor of their gym and had an amazing community,” Marty explains. “They worked out and socialized together. Everybody was friendly and encouraging. I realized that I wanted to do the same with my life.”
Returning to Paris, he joined CrossFit France in the suburbs to obtain the community experience.
“Despite the 60-mile drive through heavy traffic, I trained there daily,” Marty says.
But in December of that year, CrossFit France closed without notice or explanation. Marty and a few fellow members wanted to continue working out together.
“We started meeting in Paris to WOD,” he says.
They bought some equipment and met daily by the Seine River — sometimes in sub-freezing temperatures.
“People were inviting their friends, siblings and co-workers,” Marty says.
“We put some money in the piggy bank and bought more equipment. I took the seats out of my car and carried around 300 kg (in) bumper plates, six Olympic bars, six sets of rings, eight (med) balls, 14 kettlebells, two homemade pull-up bars, lacrosse balls, bands and mats.”
There were 70 to 80 people training weekly, Marty says. And he was running multiple classes a day to accommodate demand.
“I didn’t ask for money until we were affiliated,” he says. “I viewed the teaching experience as an internship.”
Even though Marty had already passed the Level 1 course, opening a box in Paris seemed like an impossible feat.
“Real estate is expensive,” he says, “and I had little money and no experience running a business.”
But Marty’s attitude changed when a friend told him to stop making excuses and start finding solutions.
“I realized I had a unique opportunity to start a box with the people that were already showing up,” he says.
Marty found four fellow CrossFitters willing to invest in his potential affiliate.
“It took two months to find a place,” he says, “and another two months to renovate the space.”
On September 10, CrossFit Original Addicts opened its doors. The box offers seven to eight classes a day and three weekend classes.
CrossFit is still relatively new in France with only about five affiliates in the entire country. Likewise, Marty says, the neighbors seem skeptical.
“They stare when they see us running down the street with sandbags or sitting on the sidewalk after a WOD,” he says.
Also attracting skepticism is the paleo diet. Asking members to try the no-grain approach in such a bread-loving country has been difficult, Marty says.
“People look at me like I’m from outer space when I describe paleo eating,” he says. “We’ve converted 10 to 15 percent of our members.” To help encourage the dietary change, CrossFit Original Addicts will host a one-month food challenge in January.
“I hope we can convince more people to eat less bread, rice and pasta,” Marty says.
Nearly a year after he was leading classes by the river, Marty now has more than 100 members at CrossFit Original Addicts. As the box grows, he says he’s focused on maintaining the relationships that made opening the affiliate possible.
“What we have is really amazing,” he says, “and I want to protect that.”
