Coming “Full Circle”: CrossFit Level 2 Seminar Headed to Garage Affiliate in South Africa
Chad Theron started CrossFit in 2007 “outside in the dirt” and soon began training clients out of his parent’s backyard garage in South Africa.
That wasn’t uncommon in the pre-2010 days.
Dave Henry — the long-time owner of CrossFit London, which closed in 2022 — also started coaching in his parents’ garage in 2007. He would invite people to workouts via Facebook, charge $10 cash for the workout, and shove the money into a pencil case.
“I didn’t give out change,” he said, laughing.
Why this matters: The idea of the small garage gym has been a part of CrossFit since the beginning, and in 2024, the “back to basics” vibe of the shift to the GORUCK Era has the community remembering them fondly.
Of course, as CrossFit grew over the years, it went mainstream and left the garage for strip malls and industrial parks. Now it’s more common to see state-of-the-art facilities, like the 22,000-square-foot affiliate that six-time CrossFit Games champ Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr just opened in January: CrossFit PRVN Nashville in TN.
That being said, as much as CrossFit affiliates have grown past their humble garage beginnings, we love to look back at those early days.
Case in point: Most recently, the 24.2 live CrossFit Open announcement was held at two-time Games champion Justin Medeiros’ home garage gym, “The Shred Shed.”
[Related: The Best CrossFit Workouts for Beginners to Build Strength and Mental Toughness]
This May, CrossFit LLC is hosting a Level 2 Seminar in Theron’s home garage gym affiliate, CrossFit One for All, in Pretoria, South Africa.
Theron, CrossFit’s Country Manager for all English-speaking countries in Africa, opened CrossFit All for One just two years ago, and it’s simply a place for him, his friends, and his family to train.
He also owns a larger affiliate, CrossFit Pretoria (a gym he has owned for the last 13 years), but the “garage CrossFit gym has always held a special place in my heart,” he said. That’s why every time he and his family have moved homes since he started CrossFit in 2007, the first thing Theron has done is convert his garage into a gym.
In light of this, Theron couldn’t be more honored that his current humble garage gym, a three-car garage gym “with loads of open space out front,” will become home to a CrossFit Level 2 Seminar on May 25-26.
After watching CrossFit grow and coaching Level 1 and Level 2 Seminars for CrossFit for the past 11 years, “it’s just coming full circle for me,” he said.
While this isn’t the first Level 2 Seminar to be held in Africa—CrossFit has been running them there for the better part of a decade—this is the first CrossFit course to be hosted in a garage affiliate in South Africa. And it’s the first time since “the early days” that a Seminar has been hosted in a garage gym.
[Related: 4 Potential CrossFit Games Rookies Who Could Have a Big 2024 Season]
The big picture: Theron said he hopes that hosting the Level 2 Seminar in his garage might inspire prospective affiliate owners “who have dreams of opening big affiliates but don’t have the means right away to start a small garage affiliate and grow from there.”
“I started small in my parents’ garage and grew to one of the most well-known and longest-running affiliates in Africa. I hope to inspire others to start their journey no matter how small they begin,” he said.
Featured image: Chad Theron