Milwaukee County's most certified CrossFit trainer is opening a new gym in Fox Point

Milwaukee County's most certified CrossFit trainer is opening a new gym in Fox Point next month.

Sarah O'Shea's new gym, CrossFit Goodland, is located at 8797 N. Port Washington Road and has its grand opening scheduled for Saturday, March 2, offering free classes at 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. and an open house at 11 a.m. After opening, classes will typically be offered between 5 and 9:30 a.m.

O'Shea is one of 15 certified Level 3 CrossFit trainers in Wisconsin and the only one in the county, according to the CrossFit Trainer Directory. Level 3 was the highest attainable certification until a fourth level in January of 2023. There have yet to be trainers listed in Wisconsin with Level 4 certification, though it's O'Shea's 2024 goal to obtain one.

Monotonous movement is the enemy

CrossFit, or constantly varied, functional fitness done at high intensities, is where "the idea of routine, doing the same monotonous movements over and over again, is the enemy," O'Shea said. Classes, which O'Shea plans, are constantly changing and designed to guide participants through exercises that support everyday movement, she said.

"Through lifestyle changes, we as adults lose the ability to move in these functional ways," she said. "We try to retrain your body in a safe environment, how to do movements like squats properly, so that when you're outside the gym, you don't injure yourself."

Typical classes last an hour and begin with a conversation about the session's goals and targeted muscle groups. On average, the actual workout length is between 12 and 15 minutes, she said. All classes include a warm-up and cool-down, whether it be stretching or mobility.

She said the education piece is essential to her gym. She wants her members to understand as much as they can about the mechanics and physiology of movement.

"My members will go to other gyms if they're traveling on vacation and find themselves almost educating others," she said.

CrossFit is a community as much as it is exercise

There's one element of CrossFit that's not in the technical definition of CrossFit but that O'Shea sees as essential: community.

"It's like a second family. You get to know these people on such a personal level. It's such an integral and profound part of the CrossFit experience," she said.

"When you think about going to a regular gym, you might say hi to the person at the front desk. When you come into a CrossFit gym, these are your people. That is what keeps people coming back, day after day, month after month, year after year."

CrossFit is never a walk in the park, O'Shea said. "But suffering together and the support you get from each other makes everything outside the gym that much more tolerable," she said.

O'Shea said the comradery and mentorship from others in the community is what drew her in and enabled her to open her own gym.

O'Shea was introduced to CrossFit in 2012

After giving birth to her daughter in 2012, O'Shea joined a gym where she lived in Massachusetts that had a CrossFit area. She was running on the treadmill, watching a class through the window, when she realized she wanted to try it out.

O'Shea has always been competitive and into athletics ― dance growing up, track in high school, squash in college.

"After I took my first class, the instructor looked at me, and she said, 'You're home.'"

Over the years, instructors and mentors encouraged her to obtain training certifications and to lead classes.

She and her family moved to Wisconsin in 2018 for her husband's job, and O'Shea joined a new gym, eventually becoming head coach at one in Glendale. But O'Shea wanted a gym of her own.

It took a whole year to find a space, but O'Shea signed a lease in November for a spot in Fox Point after obtaining a conditional use permit from the village board.

In January, she partially opened the gym for a "founding members club," where participants were offered perks, including custom water bottles and T-shirts. The club is closed for new members, but programs and upcoming class schedules are available on the gym's website for when it opens.

Contact Claudia Levens at clevens@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @levensc13

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: New CrossFit gym, CrossFit Goodland, to open March 2 in Fox Point