In 2005, CrossFit NYC started as a workout club, meeting a couple of times a week in Central Park.

Once it got cold outside, owners found a globo gym where they could work out for $5 a head. Then they got kicked out.

“We were too loud and crazy,” explains co-owner Josh Newman. “The other problem is we unintentionally stole personal-training clients.”

All told, CrossFit NYC got kicked out of about five gyms over the course of two and a half years. Finally, owners found a 1,200-square-foot space in Manhattan.

“I remember thinking at that time, I wasn’t sure there were 25 people in all of Manhattan who wanted to do this crazy CrossFit stuff,” Newman says with a smile.

Today, CrossFit NYC has 500 members and two locations: one about 5,000 square feet and the other that is more than 10,000 square feet. And owners are looking for a third space to keep pace with growing membership.

“We’ve never done any marketing, never done any proactive PR,” Newman says. “And fortunately or unfortunately, it turns out that if you come in and you come to classes and you do the WODs, it works.”

Video by Mike Koslap