The final day of my week of CrossFit was frustrating not because it was physically taxing or emotionally draining. No, it was frustrating because it never happened. But my failure to fit a fourth workout into my week provided me with the opportunity to bring what I see as the only two real drawbacks to training at Indy CrossFit.

Unlike most gyms, Indy CrossFit has a set schedule. You come in the morning, you train as a group, you leave. Or you come in the afternoon, you train as a group, and you leave. If you can’t make the morning class you’ve got the afternoon class. If you can’t make the P.M. class, well then you’re effed until the next day the gym is open. CF workouts aren’t easily duplicated in other gyms where loud grunting, dropping weights, and running between stations will attract the attention of so-called trainers, and they won’t be coming over to admire your clean-and-jerk technique.

Since I missed Friday’s workout due to a family commitment, I decided to attend Suffer on Saturday, the 8:30 a.m. class I attended on my birthday. Except Suffer on Saturday doesn’t exist anymore. It’s now Suffer on Sunday, which I would have known had I gone to Friday’s class, but we’ve gone over that already. I also would have known had I checked the Indy CrossFit blog but I didn’t. In a lot of ways ICF’s size and familiar atmosphere are great but the close-knit nature of the gym means you are either 100% in the loop or totally in the dark.

In fairness I’ll say that neither of my mini-critiques are enough to dissuade me from training at Indy CrossFit or suggesting the gym from others. ICF isn’t like other gyms. Maybe it will work for you. Maybe it won’t. I know for sure that if I could afford it, I’d be back there on Monday hitting it hard. It’s not in the cards right now but I hope to be dry heaving just off of Brookville Road again sometime in the not-so-distant future.