You wouldn’t expect to find CrossFit coaches inside a California jailhouse – but at Avenal State Prison, northwest of Bakersfield, that’s exactly what you’ll encounter. 

Inmates here aren’t just serving time; they’re running warm-ups, refining movement patterns, and cultivating a fitness culture that’s transforming lives. 

For the men in the yard, the gym isn’t just a place to sweat. It’s where they find purpose.

Avenal State Prison and Its Unlikely PE Teacher

Avenal is a level-two prison with minimum to medium security, holding about 4,000 inmates at any given time. 

• Built in 1987, it is the state’s second-largest prison.

Bryan Eskew’s official title at Avenal is “Teacher, Physical Education,” but he does much more. Eskew holds a role that exists in many prisons, and his job is similar to that of a high school athletic director. 

He manages everything from equipment procurement and distribution to organizing inter-facility leagues, intramurals, and other recreational activities.

Eskew started doing CrossFit in 2013, and as soon as he began working for the prison system, he knew it was a program that could work well there.

Breaking Through

“I printed out a bunch of CrossFit L1 (CF-L1) training manuals to help guys understand, and I went yard to yard,” Eskew told the Morning Chalk Up in an interview. 

• “There was a lot of resistance, because there are many guys formerly from gangs, and they have a very specific style of exercise that they are accustomed to. Getting guys to wrap their minds around this different form of fitness was a challenge.”

Eskew eventually ran into an officer who told him that “this CrossFit thing” he was pushing was already happening over on Echo yard (the yards have different names, and Avenal has six). 

Eskew headed over to meet the incarcerated people (IPs) working out there, and sure enough, they were doing CrossFit training. The movements were limited because California banned barbells and other weightlifting equipment in the late ‘90s.

• “Now I have something to build off of,” Eskew said, “I was going to do whatever I could to feel their fire and add whatever I could to grow this.”

Finding CrossFit on the Inside

Adam Baker and Michael Razo are IPs at Avenal. Razo has been in the system since 2003, growing up in gangs. 

• “In 2012, I was reading a magazine, and I came across a CrossFit article, and the wording attracted me,” Razo told Morning Chalk Up. “I wanted to create my own exercise, but I was limited. So I was crafty. I engineered a pull bar with some braided sheets, and I did a CrossFit workout.”

In 2017, he was moved to a lower level (prisons use a level system, with lower-level facilities allowing inmates more freedom) and watched the CrossFit Games on CBS for the first time. 

• “They were doing handstand walks and pistol squats, and I used to do that stuff when I was younger and into break dancing, so I started to incorporate those into my exercises,” Razo said.

Meanwhile, Baker was shown a WOD Bible by a friend in 2016 and began doing the workouts. It mostly involved body weight and gymnastics, and a few years later, someone saw him doing muscle-ups in the yard.

• “Someone came up to me saying, ‘Oh, you do those kinds of workouts,’” Baker remembered, “There’s another guy here who does these.”

Razo and Baker met and have been training partners ever since. 

Building Coaches, Building Futures

The two men continued to learn about the CrossFit methodology, reading books and researching online, and Eskew soon made contact with them.

Eskew was aware of another prison in Northern California that had been an affiliate for a brief period. However, he found some issues with its program that led to its shutdown.

• Eskew explained: “In my opinion, the mistake was that the physical education teacher was the only one who held the CrossFit L1. So that person had to do every single class session, because he was the only one certified to run a class. He got burnt out.”

Eskew knew that, in order for this affiliate to work, he needed IPs to obtain CF-L1 certifications as well. 

• Eskew would be the non-commercial affiliate licensee holder, and the IPs would take the ownership of the affiliate, running the entire program and coaching all the classes.

In early March this year, 16 men at Avenal earned their CF-L1 certifications and have taken on more than just coaching.

• “They take on the business mindset of running an affiliate, even though it’s inside of a correctional institution. They track athlete data, and we’ve partnered with Beyond the Whiteboard, which has provided us with a free subscription to support this effort. I want them to focus on retention and recruitment of new members, equipment management, and having meaningful programming,” Eskew said.

This business mindset enhances the value for the IPs, as they might find employment upon their release from parole. 

Eskew has assisted the coaches in creating business cards and used a specific tablet app (IPs have access to tablets with guarded internet access) to build a small website for each coach.

Razo and Baker had been trying to find a way to get their CF-L1s for a long time, and they were thrilled when Eskew made it happen.

• “It was something that I wanted so bad that when it was over, I came back and I couldn’t believe that it was done. I felt like I had woken up from a dream I didn’t want to wake up from,” Razo said.

He continued: “It was an experience that was once in a lifetime for me. For that small time, I didn’t feel like I was in prison. I felt like I was actually doing something productive. It was a dream come true.”

Scaling, Nutrition, and Creativity

The CrossFit affiliate at Avenal even offers an on-ramp class in the afternoon, teaching men the basics and introducing them to the movements. And like any other CrossFit gym, everything is scalable.

Razo writes the programming, with Pat Barber’s words in the back of his head, “anything can be CrossFit.” Having limited access to equipment means Razo has to be creative.

But as we all know, CrossFit isn’t just training; it’s also about nutrition, and it’s hard to focus on your diet when you’re incarcerated.

• Razo explained what IPs can do: “Obviously, it takes a little bit of money, but they do sell pouches of tuna, which we encourage the guys to rinse out because it’s packed with grease and oil. We encourage guys to understand their macros, how to measure everything, and learn how much their body needs, no more, no less.”

Most of the men taking CrossFit classes follow a vegetarian meal plan, which includes extra eggs and fruit. 

There is always a way.

Building Community, Breaking Barriers 

At the heart of CrossFit is the community, something that is often lacking in prison.

• “It’s given me a purpose,” Razo said, “It has put me in a position where I can give to people. And that does something for me, I feel like as I’m making other people better, I’m making myself a better person.” 

Building community has been the best part for Baker, too. “It’s huge because in prison, most of your interactions with people and relationships are really loose. Things happen in prison. People get moved, and you never know what’s going to happen, so you really don’t have friends. It wasn’t until this that I started making friends.” 

He turned to Razo and squeezed his shoulder.

• “This is one of my best friends, and it’s only through CrossFit that that was possible. Prisons are also often segregated by race, mostly through the gangs. It’s unfortunate, but that’s how it is. Our group has just kind of shattered all of those walls. It’s people who would never normally interact on any other prison or any other yard.”

Credit: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation