Enterprise Coworking recently partnered with local Mountain Strong Denver CrossFit and Rock Climbing gym! We interviewed Will Gordon, owner of Mountain Strong, to learn more about what makes their gym different. MSD has been open for about two & a half years. Creators Will Gordon, Matt Lloyd, Jamie Gatchalian, and Anne Mahlman had a vision to create a gym where their passions for training hard and the outdoors could merge. Will has a 10 year background in CrossFit, more than that in climbing and attended Penn State on an athletic scholarship. Matt and Jamie are both professional climbers. Anne was a collegiate pole vaulter turned CrossFitter & climber. This dynamic group is an athletic powerhouse that you definitely want training you.
D – Hey Will! Mountain Strong sounds awesome. Can you tell me more about what makes Mountain Strong unique?
W – We offer classes that are a hybrid of CrossFit and rock climbing training. We find people who both are and are not into CrossFit come in and get hooked on what we offer. Each workout has a climbing spin-off so every day people can choose to do the climbing training variation of the workout or the general conditioning (CF) version. We are the outliers in both the climbing gym world and the CrossFit world and we try to be different and fun!
D – How do you create a sense of community at Mountain Strong?
W – Our community is fantastic and is developed in a couple of different ways. We have gym events where we basically just have fun, and we have groups of people within the gym who go for outdoor adventures together. From climbing trips to Mexico, having the first group to summit Mt. Rainier last season, trips to Indian Creek and Moab to climb or mountain bike, our weekly uphill ski group that goes to Loveland/A Basin, the Pikes Peak marathon and other adventure races, and even just days spent in the Flatirons or at a brewery, our members are extremely active and living the lives they want to live. We take pride in preparing them physically for anything they want to do, even if that’s just being in shape to feel good about themselves.
D – How does your gym include all levels of fitness?
W – Our workouts are all scalable. Meaning, we can modify them to each individual person’s needs. You’ll often find a professional climber training in the same workout class as relative beginners. We write the workouts designed around the best athletes in the gym and modify them for everyone else. Each day we have the modifications decided beforehand and we guide each athlete in their modifications so they can make the most of their training time. We want everyone giving nearly 100% in each session, regardless of ability or fitness level. As long as people try hard, they will see the benefits of our training style!
D – Do you have advice for our members who are interested in getting involved in CrossFit or rock climbing for the first time?
W – Just hop in and try it. The hardest part is the first step. We seem to be fairly intimidating from the outside, but once you’re in the gym you realize that no one is there to judge anyone, we’re there to train hard and have fun. Sometimes we start new people off with 1-on-1 sessions to shake off some of the intimidation factor but we treat it all on a case by case basis. We also have a 3 week Foundations course if people need a little bit more help with their quality of movement. We try to invest in the person and their movement before just throwing them into a class without guidance. We also tell new people that everyone was new at some point and to ask questions and just have fun. If training isn’t fun, it won’t be sustainable. Shake off the intimidation and come check us out!
Thanks, Will!! Check out Mountain Strong Denver gym at http://www.mountainstrongdenver.com/. As an Enterprise Member, you get to enjoy a discounted monthly rate – Sign up through Will Gordon and you can get a 6 month membership for only $130 per month!
