"From the time he was in the police to running the café and now owning CrossFit Geo, Adam has never changed," his wife says. "What happened is he found a place where he could truly help people and give back."
At 23, Adam Brown joined the NSW Police Force, Australia's oldest and largest police organization, because he enjoyed working with people. After six years as an undercover officer, he spent most of his time trying to be invisible — out of uniform, no name.
So in 2006 — 11 years after joining the force — he went part-time at his day job and opened a café with his wife, Johanna.
Within six months, they realized running a café was not for them.
“We had this romantic idea we would be sitting around drinking lattés, making friends and building relationships with those in the local community,” Adam says. “We had no idea it would be 14-hour days on our feet with no friends or family.”
The next year, Adam went back to working full-time for the force. But in the aftermath of the Wood Royal Commission report, which found systemic corruption entrenched throughout the force, the “blue brotherhood” was under pressure. The force was taking a toll on Adam, his wife says.
“The police (have) always been known as a bit of a boys club where there can often be quite a bit of partying and drinking,” Johanna says. “That was hard for Adam because he has always been so health and fitness conscious.”
Adam felt his police job was “getting a bit stale” and wanted something more.
He started personal training on the side, running boot camps and conditioning programs for friends and family. Doing so made him realize how much he missed helping people.
Although the allure of being a full-time personal trainer was strong, it was not strong enough. Over the next two years, Adam continued to train friends and family while also working police surveillance.
But in 2008, he found CrossFit. For the first few months, he did the workouts on his own. Then he began introducing the training methodology to friends and family.
“I really fell in love with CrossFit and thought it was something I would like to do as a profession,” he says. “But I’ll admit I was a little intimidated by it. I was quite happy doing it on my own in my garage with friends. But watching the videos and seeing so many amazing athletes, I wondered if I could ever be a coach.”
As he watched more videos and read more articles, he began to feel like coaching was not so far-fetched.
“I used to download every video from CrossFit.com and the Journal,” Adam says. “Then I started to see there were regular coaches that were not only focused on competition, they were also about empowering and helping people. That’s when the penny dropped and I thought this was something I could do.”
In 2010, he successfully completed the CrossFit Level 1 and Coach’s Prep courses, joined a local box and volunteered at the Australia Regional.
“At every step of the way I was just blown away by the community and level of support,” he says. “When I walked into Inner West CrossFit, I was amazed at how open, friendly and helpful the coaches and members were.”
The real epiphany came at the Regional.
“Everyone from the athletes, coaches and spectators come together and you can see there really is a sense of community,” Adam Brown says. “I had never seen or felt anything like that before. It was then I realized this was something I had been searching (for).”
Soon afterward, Adam set about opening his own affiliate. It took him several months, but in August 2011 he found the place to build that vision. CrossFit Geo is nearly seven miles west of downtown Sydney, nestled between the city’s two great waterways: the Parramatta and the Lane Cove River.
Brown recently celebrated his box’s one-year anniversary. In that time, it has grown to more than 100 members.
Amanda Wilson, one of CrossFit Geo’s first members, attributes much of the affiliate’s success to Adam.
“Adam really does bring us all together,” she says. “He organizes regular barbecues and social events and we are all encouraged to bring friends, family and little ones. He is so inclusive that you can see he is really trying to build that sense of community.”
The goal is to make CrossFit Geo a special place where everyone feels welcome, Adam says.
“I want my box to be a safe haven where my members feel good about themselves,” he says. “On top of that, I put on the social events and encourage everyone to compete because I want them to experience what I found when I discovered CrossFit.”
Johanna says her husband has finally found his calling.
“From the time he was in the police, to running the café and now owning CrossFit Geo, Adam has always been Adam. He has never changed,” she says. “What has happened is he found a place where he could truly help people and give back. What he found was CrossFit and for Adam, that was a real community.”
