Joe DeGain is the owner of 810 CrossFit in Grand Blanc, Mich., and part of the HQ Seminar Staff. In this video, he describes how he found CrossFit, brought it into his profession as a high-school teacher and coach, and started his own box.
DeGain’s first CrossFit workout was Helen.
“Of course, just like everybody else, your first experience with CrossFit, it just crumbled me into the ground. I was ruined—and then very, very curious as to what the rest of it was,” he says.
DeGain slowly came around to embrace CrossFit in its entirety. He even incorporated CrossFit into his sports coaching and as a club at the high school where he worked. He shares how his own athletes and Coach Glassman have motivated him. As a result, he opened his own box and has watched his tight-knit community grow.
“The reason that I love this place so much is very much the community that it brings in,” he says.
8min 41sec
Additional video: Zone Chronicles: Fort Riley by Pat Sherwood, published May 17, 2009.