our vision

As I look back on the last 10 years of my CrossFit journey, it has taken me from a CrossFit journal subscriber, to client, coach, and eventually gym owner. Been a wild ride to say the least, watching the growth of a fitness giant take an industry by storm. I knew it was something different, something special, but never dreamed it would have grown into something like this.

I am sure other people have experienced something similar, is that this becomes something much larger for me than just CrossFit or the pursuit of fitness. The things I have learned and developed inside our walls truly transcend the idea of working out. It's bigger than that, and I guess I could go as far as saying that you are really learning to develop yourself as a human being overall. 

You are learning to work with a group, be part of a team, support those around you, and not because you're told to, but for the sole reason that it just feels right. The respect you earn and give are 100% developed on action, which can't be said for other places in life.

You work on weaknesses, learn how to fail, and how to communicate those failures into a plan to keep attacking those goals. This in itself is something I have yet to find a group of people successfully accomplish. A majority of people these days stand down at the first sign of difficulty, but not here. It is a place of possibility and looking for solutions rather than problems. 

At first glance it might just look like a gym of people getting sweaty, but when you see what I see daily, and watch the transformation of a person not only physically, but mentally. You start to see those characteristics bleed into other parts of life. Whether its their career, their relationships, their goals, etc. It all starts to change, they become a stronger, more confident person. These are the people that become the example for others to follow, again either in or out of the gym.

To me, there is no greater task than to help build those that can go on and empower others. Being the example to their kids, friends, family, as someone that knows how to work through some adversity in pursuit of a goal.  

What makes this truly special is it is all done while building others around them up, when the common practice these days is to break those around you down. We need more of that in the world today, and I think these places are doing their part in being a space for that to happen. 

This has been the ride of a lifetime, and I hope I can continue to teach half of what our community has taught me. 

Luke Espe

Founder

12 Labours CrossFit