The Compounding Effect of Consistency – Craig’s Story

I’ve been doing CrossFit for a little over 10 years now. What started as just a way to stay in shape gradually became a pretty core part of how I structure my life.

At a basic level, staying active is something I value a lot – it keeps me sane, gives me energy, and helps me show up better in the rest of my life. But over time, it’s also become a gateway to a lot of the experiences I care most about. A big “aha” for me was realizing that fitness makes a lot of the best moments outside the gym possible. The work you put in every day compounds into access to experiences that would otherwise feel out of reach – long days in the mountains, high-altitude trekking, and pushing yourself in unfamiliar environments.

I originally got into CrossFit because a friend recommended it. At the time I was staying somewhat active, but it wasn’t a central part of my life yet. Looking back, things felt a bit smaller and less purposeful. I didn’t have something that consistently pushed me or gave structure outside of work. Once I started, I got consistent pretty quickly. The community at San Francisco CrossFit was great and made it easy to just keep showing up – and once I had that rhythm, I realized it wasn’t just helping inside the gym. It was quietly expanding what felt possible outside of it.

I found Train in 2022 after CrossFit LoDo moved. By then, Train was the fourth CrossFit gym I’d been a member of (and I’ve dropped into gyms in a bunch of other cities and countries). I mean it when I say that when it comes to paying real and specific attention to individual members and going the extra mile to build community – there’s Train, and there’s everybody else. When I first joined, every coach – Brooke, Abby, Jimmy, and Dre, went 110% on those things. No other gym I’ve been in had every coach go that hard. It wasn’t just one standout person carrying the culture. It was the whole staff doing it on purpose, every day, and it made it easy to commit.

If you asked me to describe a specific adventure where my fitness showed up for me, I honestly wouldn’t pick just one. The value is being able to show up to every adventure, every time, and be up to the challenge. I love not having that hurdle – wondering if I’ll be able to handle trekking glaciers in Pakistan, summiting peaks in the Dolomites, or bagging Colorado 14ers. Plus, it’s satisfying when someone asks me “what did you do to get in shape?” and I can say I didn’t do anything different. I just kept showing up.

At this point, it’s less about chasing any single goal and more about maintaining the ability to say “yes” to whatever kind of challenge or adventure comes next. Because the work is never just the big days. It’s the normal days – the random Tuesdays, the sessions when you don’t feel like it, the consistency that stacks up over time. That’s what CrossFit has become for me after 10 years: a foundation that keeps my life bigger than it would be otherwise.

Craig Nolan