The case study, in their words
CrossFit BC is not a before-and-after photo factory. These are real members with real constraints: kids, jobs, knees, schedules. Their words come from the 2025 community survey, shared with first names only. What changed for them, in their own words.
01 · Member since 2008
“I've come here on some of my saddest days, some of my best days, and everything else in between. It's a place like no other.”
Carolyn walked through the doors on Richards Street in June 2008 and still has her logbook. Seventeen years later she trains four or five times a week and calls the gym a family. What keeps her coming back is not the programming. It is the unspoken welcome from a coach who can tell you are having a tough day.
Carolyn T.
02 · Member since 2014, over 65
“Age is no barrier to new friendships. This is hard to find outside of CrossFit.”
Coyote walked past the Yaletown gym every morning with his dogs before finally going in to ask what CrossFit was. He keeps coming back for the friendships as much as the fitness, and he is proudest of watching newer members gain strength in their first year.
Coyote
03 · Member since 2024
“A coach said "see you tomorrow!" So I had to show up again.”
Mathieu had just quit a stressful job and needed to move his body to stay sane. He joined the 10am class, found the members welcoming, and the people he met that first week became his favourite training crew. His takeaway: the main focus is lifting each other, not just lifting weights.
Mathieu
04 · Member since 2014
“I was very intimidated at first, but have since found my forever family.”
Tish found the moms group around the birth of her son, after years of training for triathlons. The intimidation did not last. Now she trains six days a week, sometimes twice a day, just to see different people at different times. The support, she says, runs in and out of the gym.
Tish
05 · Member since 2024
“I'm here to prove that "Dad Bods" are strong bods.”
Lance trains six days a week. His motivation is simple: being able to play with his kids without being tired all the time. What he found was a legitimately welcoming space where everyone is stoked for each other, and no politics.
Lance
06 · Member since 2021
“A lot of boxes can be very intimidating. CrossFit BC makes it as approachable as possible for everyone.”
Claire moved to Vancouver from Ontario and picked the closest gym to her house, so that even on the busiest work days she could squeeze in a workout. What kept her was the diversity of people, the lack of egos, and coaches she trusts completely.
Claire
01
Nobody talks about the equipment. They talk about the people. The welcome on a hard day, the coach who says see you tomorrow, the crew that becomes a family. That is the 2% Solution in practice: small daily work that survives real life, not heroic plans that do not.
02
The longer conversation: the gym, the book and the work behind these stories.
03
The gym these stories come from is CrossFit BC in Vancouver, which Dai co-owns with his wife Christie. The same thinking runs through his programmes, his coaching and his talks.
See the programmesRead the ownership case studyVisit CrossFit BC
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