Graduate Hospital Has a Huge New CrossFit Gym — With a Boutique Yoga Studio Attached
When opposites attract.
Photograph courtesy OpenBox Athletics.
Are there two workouts less alike than CrossFit and yoga? One is high intensity — we picture muscled people flipping giant tires. The other is more soothing — we picture candlelight and gentle stretching. But at a new gym in Graduate Hospital, you can do a little of both.
OpenBox Athletics combines two of the biggest fitness trends we’ve seen in recent years: a CrossFit gym with a boutique gym attached. The purpose of the gym, according to OpenBox manager and yoga instructor Emily Tara Sabalbaro, is to create a fitness community, not just a gym.
“The idea for OpenBox Athletics came from a shared vision to create a facility which focuses on the needs of clients. A place that after you walk in the first time, you feel like you are a part of something special,” says Sabalbaro.
The CrossFit gym at OpenBox is around 4,000 of the gym’s 6,000 square feet. Photograph courtesy OpenBox Athletics.
The CrossFit gym is run by CrossFit Kite and Key, which hosts over 30 hour-long classes a week. The whole gym is 6,000 square feet, and about 4,000 square feet of that is devoted to the large, open-floor-plan CrossFit gym, where brand new rowing machines, ski erg machines, bikes, kettlebells, over 3,600 pounds of weights, and more are set for the workouts.
In contrast, The Studio is a much smaller 600-square-foot room that overlooks the main gym. This space serves as a boutique gym for hosting small-group classes — including, yep, yoga, but also Pilates, high intensity interval training (HIIT) classes, prenatal yoga, core conditioning, and a “Restore” class that is — wait for it — guided napping (Sign. Us. Up.). The Studio is stocked with Manduka Pro mats, blocks, straps, weights, stability balls, and more for the wide range of classes that will be hosted there.
The small group fitness class has yoga mats and blocks. Photograph courtesy OpenBox Athletics.
With two gyms under one roof and a handful of different workouts available, there are equally numerous ways to join. OpenBox sells monthly unlimited memberships to both the CrossFit gym and The Studio — for the grand opening through January 31, OpenBox is selling the unlimited CrossFit membership for $145 per month (normally $175) and the unlimited Studio membership for $49 for 21 days (normally $115/month). To get unlimited classes at both, it’s $199 per month, with a 12 month commitment.
You don’t have to make a monthly commitment to either gym, however: You can also just drop in for $20 a class at the CrossFit gym and $18 a class at The Studio, or buy multi-class packages.
OpenBox Athletics is now open at 1931 Washington Avenue.
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