Seattle Gym Finally Celebrates One Year Anniversary After COVID Shut Their Doors
Flashback to 2020 when the COVID pandemic was just getting started— gyms all around the country had to think fast and figure out ways to get members workouts while social distancing and even lending out equipment.
Kyle Hyde, the general manager for Kraken CrossFit, says his affiliate was quick to switch over to the virtual class model and upon reopening he knew he didn’t want to stay in his original space, which was an 800 square foot racquetball court (with no windows). He had to cap his classes at 6 people and keep it very tight.
Fast forward to 2023 and Kraken CrossFit just celebrated its one year anniversary in a new space filled with some original members and new faces.
- “The shutdown for Seattle started on March 16, 2020 and like everyone else we did the best we could with Zoom classes and garage or park workouts as much as possible,” said Hyde.
- “We stuck together. I continued to send out community emails to check on everybody and kind of keep them updated on what the status was even though pretty much everybody kind of knew. And then I think it was no more than a month later I started filming classes in my garage.”
- Hyde points out that the affiliate is part of a larger gym called Olympic Athletic Club and “it wasn’t as scary as I am certain it was for just the gym owner, where that’s their bread and butter, however we all sent out a layoff notice to all our employees so that they could go collect unemployment.”
The affiliate stayed shuttered for two years and in the interim occupied a space across the street from Olympic Athletic Club, which was just being used for storage. Hyde said he brought equipment over and started to run free classes until he saw the potential the space had.
- “The space wasn’t being used, except for us. However, it needed a lot of work. Starting with $25,000 worth of concrete work to level the floor,” said Hyde.
- “But people were excited about what we were doing and everybody saw my vision of what this auto mechanic space could turn into. So we put a proposal together for the owners, and after about a year we finally got the funding and were able to build out the new gym.”
- While the gym lost members due to the delay in reopening and individuals moving away from the area, “we did have a small group of original OG Krakens that stayed with us for sure.”
- “We’ve grown our membership; we’re roughly at about 70 or 75 active members now. And the business is thriving again.”
The gym launched a benchmark workout on the one year anniversary called “The Kraken.”
For Time:
8 Rounds:
- 3 Deadlift (275/185) (225/155) (185/135) (135/95)
- 3 Burpee Over Bar
- 7 Rounds
- 4 C2B Pull-Ups
- 4 Box Jumps (30″/24″)
6 Rounds
- 5 Cleans (185/135) (155/105) (135/95) (95/65)
- 5 Ring Dips
- 5 Rounds
- 6 TTB
- 6 Cal Echo Bike
4 Rounds
- 7 Snatch (135/95) (115/80) (95/65) (75/55)
- 7 Wall Balls
3 Rounds
- 8 KB Swing (70/53) (53/35) (35/22)
- 8 Goblet Lunges
2 Rounds
- 9 Thrusters (95/65) (75/55) (65/45)
- 9 Pull-Ups
1 Round
- 10 Strict HSPU
- 10 Burpee Box Jump Over (30″/24″) (24″/20″)
Hyde’s advice for gyms struggling or going through a difficult time is to keep your goal at the top of mind.
“It was a tough road. Just stick to your vision,” he said. “I had a vision of what I imagined Kraken CrossFit to be like, and even though it’s not in the space that I originally thought it would be, I had a vision and I’m very fortunate I was able to make it happen.”
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