Walter of KillIt CrossFit talks about the dynamic at his box between the various age groups.

Hello. This is Peter from Fringe Sport, and I'm on the line today with Walter Finch of Kill It CrossFit. Walter's just up the road from us in Round Rock, Texas. Walter, what'd I miss in that very brief introduction?

Walter Finch: Sounds like you got it all.

Got it. So tell us a little bit about yourself, your background before coming to Kill It CrossFit.

Walter Finch: Before Kill It CrossFit, we were pretty much just your standard high school athlete, played a few sports. Football, basketball, and then I'd say about 6 years ago, doing the regular gym thing and then 6 years ago my wife told me about this thing called crossfit. I was like yeah you don't get a workout in about 5 or 10 minutes right? So I kind of blew her off. She was doing it in the garage, had some friends doing it and then one day I finally decide to join her and instantly loved it.

So we did that in the garage for a little bit and then one night she decided that we should actually open physical location and move out of the garage. That was three and a half years ago. 

Wow. And were you training athletes in your garage or your neighbors or was it just you and your wife and then all of the sudden you said "hey I love this so much I want to do more of it?"

Walter Finch: Yes, the neighbors, friends and family pretty much anybody that felt like working out. Like-minded folks just working out.

And in those early days when you guys were just doing it out of your garage, how did you spread the word? Or how did more people-you know friends and family-how did they start working out with you?

Walter Finch: I believe it was just word of mouth and like Facebook posts that my wife would put up and our friends would see and be like "oh I want to come over." And then people in the neighborhood would see us working out in the garage or running up and down the street.

Awesome, that sounds great. So what did you do professionally? You had mentioned kind of collegiate athletics or something like that. So what were you doing professionally before you decided to open up?

Walter Finch: Yeah that was high school athletics. Before that professionally I am a paramedic for the city of Austin. So there is quite a bit of physical demand there so just kind of training with that. Did a little bit of training with our medical SWAT team that's physical training.

Got it. So how long ago did you affiliate Kill It?

Walter Finch: Three and a half years ago.

Awesome. And what was the process like there to go from being in the garage to having a full fledged affiliate with a location and all that?

Walter Finch: You know it was a little scary, a little exciting not knowing what's going to happen. The process with HQ CrossFit is actually fairly easy, we were also fortunate to have you guys in town. That made getting gear for the box a lot easier than I thought it would be. That was awesome. But yeah HQ was fairly simple, fairly straight forward. You get your level one and with the experience and the practice we already had it just grew from there.

Well I love hearing that about the gear, thanks for the kind words. How would you describe the culture of your box and your programming and training style?

Walter Finch: The culture of our box I feel is very family like, it's what people have described it as. We have, you name it, people from their sixties, to young teenagers in high school working out there. Everybody works out together, it's a friendly environment very laid back and relaxed environment. But when it's time to get after it, people push hard and do really well. I'd say our training, we really kind of try to do a little bit of everything. My wife has a gymnastics background, she did gymnastics competitively when she was younger. I was more in to the weights and so I think we do a pretty good blend of mixing those two together.

I love it. And just so some of our other listeners and readers know, Round Rock is a kind of a suburb of Austin - Dell computer is headquartered there. So how do you think being a family box like that plays in to the gymnastics side and different aspects of your box. Are people, are adults, training with their kids together or how does that work?

Walter Finch: Yeah we actually have quite a few families where the parents and kids train side by side. It kind of helps give a competitive edge - I like to say old guys rule. You know to teach the kids a thing or two. But yeah being a suburb and all of that the scaling really comes in to play with the different folks, how the older they are obviously has decrease some of the impact stuff. But with the younger kids you can really kind of push the envelope. We take that into consideration when we do our programming.

I love it. What do you think about your interaction with some of the other boxes in Round Rock and the Austin area? Can you describe the community feel there with different boxes?

Walter Finch: Oh man they are awesome. We have a lot of boxes in the greater Austin area and the ones that are close to us, we get along with pretty well. We show up to their competitions and our athletes that compete there. Troy from CrossFit Hutto had the Facebook group for the owners and there is really lots of positive interaction there also. We go out to support their athletes when they go to big comps also.

I love it, love to hear that. If there was one thing that you would say that your box or you guys do that's world class or really sets you apart, what would that one thing be?

Walter Finch: I would say our attention to detail. Both me and my wife and our coaches, we are all really big on fine tuning your movement and your form because we feel that's what's really going to take you to the next level. So if you are tired and you break down, you have that good foundation that will keep you moving and keep you injury free.

I love it, love to hear that. And actually as I age and get a little older ... I'd been doing high school and a little bit of collegiate athletics and then I did cross fit ... The older I get the more I think that form and attention to detail is super important.

Walter Finch: Absolutely.

So I interview a lot of different box owners. The next person I interview-I don't even know who's next on my calendar-what's one question you think I should be asking them?

Walter Finch: Shoot I don't know, sorry I wish I could help you.

No worries. Cool, well this has been really interesting for me, is there anything else you would like to add?

Walter Finch: No, not really. If you are in the Round Rock area, and you feel like getting a workout in, we have drop-in for free for current cross fit athletes. So come on by.

Awesome. I love it. I had been checking out your website before, killitcrossfit.com. Is that the best way for people to get a hold of you guys and to reach you?

Walter Finch: Yes sir. There's links to our contact stuff there - email, our phone and then our social media stuff is on there also.

I love it. Cool, awesome. Well it been a lot of fun talking to you and again this is Walter Finch from Kill It CrossFit in Round Rock, TX. Again Peter Keller having a great time. Thanks for your time Walter.

Walter Finch: Thanks Peter, have a good day.