CrossFit^® Westway

Fantastic experience: Top CrossFit Gym Great Coaches

Negative experience: Booked through classpass and nobody turned up after 20 mins waiting at the CrossFit box door.

Negative experience: When I first started going to CrossFit Westway,it was a very pleasant surprise,not only the box was walking distance from home and work but it had a good programming and great coaches,for the 1st 5-6 months,I was looking forward to every class,even the ones that included movements I was not good at because I could see I was improving,getting stronger and faster,better at technique too. Then things started to go downhill,we lost our head coach and the programming was no longer making sense,despite several emails sent to the owner voicing my concerns,nothing changed,or actually they did,for the worse. One coach clearly doesn’t know what she’s doing,which can be dangerous,doesn’t know how to demonstrate basic CrossFit movements,scale them for us in needs be,can’t correct us if we do the wrong movement(couldn’t tell a hang clean from a squat clean),etc-I have been in different boxes and got coaches who were just starting but they knew what they were doing,they had been doing CrossFit for years prior to becoming a coach AND they had shadowed coaches for months before being allowed to teach a class alone. It’s called proper training. My review would have been very different back in the summer but I can’t find anything positive to say right now,except for the part that it’s close by and I can use the open to follow another box’s programming. Money well spent,he? And unlike the 5 reviews written by people whom I have never seen at the box despite going every day,I’m real My review is based on facts,not fiction or friendship,and we should be allowed to write reviews without fearing the wrath of the owner who clearly doesn’t take criticism well as he bans people who dare speak out. If it was not for the 2 other coaches,I would have only given 1 star *

Negative experience: This box was good when the previous head coach and coaches were there, at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately changes in the coaching team have meant the box is now not up to a decent standard and this review comes after many months of attending virtually every day. The programming is not thought through and lacks structure to allow members to make meaningful strength and technique progress. As an example, the current 8-week cycle started with 5 sets of 10 split jerks at 50% (week 1); 5 sets of 6 split jerks at 50% (week 2); and 1 rep max / 100% (week 3). The WOD are randomly put in with no apparent rationale or intended stimulus - as an example last week the programming had 3 or 4 hero workouts with no connection whatsoever to the technical or strength work done (contrast that with the previous head coach having walls balls programmed in for several weeks in various combinations before programming Karen). With limited exceptions, the coaching is also very poor, with one of the coaches in particular being totally inexperienced and unable to demonstrate or even explain most movements or give technical tips or sensible scaling options. Having been a member at several crossfit boxes I can honestly say I have never seen something like this before. The fact that members have walked out midway through classes, modified the programming and others have asked to have the coaches rota to actively avoid certain coaches speaks for itself. Often the equipment is not enough for the members and sometimes the programming includes movement with equipment that is not even present at the gym (as an example we did an entire bench press cycle without benches). 3 out of 7 days a week the schedule include only one or two classes and there are no specialist classes whatsoever. It is a shame as the location is very convenient for me, but at the moment I feel I am pretty much always just doing open gym (ie no coaching whatsoever and often having to modify the programming on my own). Also, for full transparency, the recent 5-star reviews here appear to be fake unfortunately as the individuals who have posted them have never attended classes (certainly not on a regular basis). This is not intended to denigrate anyone’s effort but I believe in honest and open feedback (which has also been communicated privately to the managers) including for fairness towards other customers who can make informed decisions. Hopefully this will be a catalyst for positive changes in the new year! By way of an update, the mature and professional reaction to my honest review was to cancel my membership effective immediately ‍♀️ Again, this probably speaks for itself…

Fantastic experience: Great gym, started as a complete beginner and the coaches have helped be become much fitter and a lot more confident each week

Fantastic experience: The team here are the best I’ve ever trained with. Both technically and personably the whole vibe is nice… and met loads of new friends

Fantastic experience: I’ve been too many CrossFit gyms and I can honestly say the help and knowledge from all of the trainers was unreal, I will definitely be training here a lot more, the energy and equipment which this gym has is real quality.

Negative experience: BE CAREFUL! All the smiles and good words about your health are FAKE, all they are interested in is your payment every month. I had to quit my job and due to the distance from this box I had to cancel my subscription, I was told it was cancelled but a month later a payment went out to them, only at this point I was pointed out of a 30 days notice policy, these terms and conditions are NEVER shown to you nor you are advised to read them. The moment you start paying for the membership you are agreeing to the terms. Just to point out I had to pay a month ( £159) for something I had NO USE for at all, asked for my money back to be pointed out to this “agreement” that I never signed. Great way to run a business, if something happens in your life you are supposed to know 30 days ahead so you can give an heads up to these crooks!! AVOID !! Edit: It's also very disturbing that after a few 1 stars review 3 5stars rewies popped out from people who have never been to the gym before.... if I could give less than one, I would. These fake reviews have been reported. Good luck in running your business! all the best. This only showed what kind of business owner I had to deal with and the kind of business he is running.

Fantastic experience: Excellent CrossFit box, recently opened! Love the space and the class size. Highly recommended! Later edit: I've been going to this CrossFit box for the past few months and I'm very happy with the programming, the workouts and the progress I'm making. I particularly love the Thursday evening strength class (Olympic weightlifting) and I'm striving to never miss it. Love love love!

Fantastic experience: Great location, coaching & equipment. Highly recommend to both new & experienced CrossFitters.

Negative experience: I am revisiting my review, following the departure of the head coach and changes in the team/programming. On the positive side, the crossfit equipment at the gym is new, classes are capped at 6 people (8 in the case of low-skill, high intensity cardio classes) and there is the possibility to book open gym. On the negative side, this box offers a very limited timetable (2, 3 classes a day). Most importantly, the new coaches are quite "green" (level 1-qualified with little or no crossfit, oly lifting, or gymnastic background). This means no particular attention to the quality/safety of movements, no scaling advice for new crossfit members (one was told to scale HSPU with wall walks, another to scale pull-ups with kip swings...), no opportunity for members to learn new skills/improve. Finally, the programming is a pretentious (yet thoughtless) mix of random movements, in some parts copying online programming (but without much of a structure), in other parts including workouts that have not been tested by the coaches and that are plain non-sense from a metabolic conditioning standpoint (e.g. a 700-rep 30-minute WOD, or a 45 reps @80% 1RM squats with high-volume strict pull-ups thrown in the mix)

Fantastic experience: What a fantastic place! Great trainers and great space. Looking forward to going back!