“In 2012, my wife told me about this CrossFit class she was going to and how challenging it was. I told her it couldn’t be that tough. Turns out I was wrong. Back then, the first-timers were dropped right into a full session, and I’ll tell you, it beat me up. But I loved it - that challenge of doing things I had never done before and really pushing myself. Within nine months I became a certified trainer, and when the opportunity came to become an owner, I jumped on that.
We opened Survival in Bay City in 2013, and moved into our new facility here on Washington in 2021. We went from 1600 to 7000 square feet so we can run multiple classes and offer more for our clients.
These days the joining process for new members is better than when I started. You’re going to meet with a trainer first. Before you lift any weights, we talk through your abilities and goals. We call it the no-sweat intro. After learning more about you, we start with five personal training sessions. We want to see if you can squat safely, what your push-up form looks like, things like that. Then you’ll join classes feeling confident about your abilities.
We had a client that couldn’t jump rope when she started. She would jump over the rope once, then have to reset and repeat. Eventually, she got the hang of it and was ecstatic. Now she’s stringing together double jumps. Those are the kinds of things that make this worthwhile.
I work a full-time job outside of this. There’s not much money in owning a gym, but watching people start believing in themselves and getting stronger and more confident is the real payoff.”
—Jason McCrandall, Survival Fitness Bay City
“I started CrossFit in 2009, then became a trainer in 2016. I had tried traditional gyms before, but the group atmosphere and everyone motivating each other just sold me this.
A lot of our clients started at another gym. I’m glad those options exist, but not everyone has the motivation to do it alone. You’re walking around trying different machines and can feel pretty lost. Here, you show up and a trainer is here to motivate and lead you through a workout. This is what you’re doing today - you know what you’re walking into and the camaraderie creates a great atmosphere.
My favorite part of being a trainer is seeing that transformation in athletes from the beginning of their journey. It’s super rewarding to be a part of that. We meet with people at various stages of fitness who have different goals. Maybe they want to lose weight or gain muscle or work on coordination. Having that mix of cardio and strength training helps with all of those goals.
My favorite workout is called ‘Karen’. It’s super simple: Do 150 wall balls as quickly as you can. A wall ball is where you take a weighted ball, drop into a squat, and as you lift out of the squat you throw the ball up against the wall. Catch and repeat. It’s a pretty killer full-body workout.
CrossFit gyms are super supportive groups. We can get competitive but there’s also so much encouragement, and that’s good for everyone.”
—Adam Fry,Survival Fitness Bay City
“I had lost 50 pounds through walking and watching what I ate. Since starting at Survival, I’m down another 80 pounds and I’ve gained so much strength.
Before this, I can’t recall looking forward to exercise a day in my life. A work friend knew I was working on a healthier lifestyle, and she basically begged me to join her for the on-ramp sessions here for beginners. I said ‘nope, that’s not really my style’ (laughs). I had been to a gym maybe ten times in my life and had never touched a barbell.
I finally caved and signed up for my first month. I really started to click with the people here and realized working out can be fun - it was crazy to think it could be something I actually looked forward to.
I’m a social person. I like that I can come here and talk and make friends. The coaches want to help you, lift you up, and watch you succeed. That’s what drew me in, and I’ve kind of become addicted to that. I’m incredibly grateful for the support and finding a fun way to stay healthy - it’s so important for so many facets of life.”
—Maggie Wood, Survival Fitness Bay City
