The Best Places to Workout in London: Crossfit Shapesmiths
Although we love the chance to play with some fun new gym equipment, sometimes workout classes can be unnecessarily complicated. If you prefer your workouts a little more functional, with back to basics weightlifting and no-nonsense conditioning, we get you. And this is exactly why Crossfit Shapesmiths, located right next-door to Clapham Junction Station, could just be the place for you…
What Is Shapesmiths About?:
They’ve taken all the great selling points of Crossfit boxes – community, functionality, daily WOD’s – and combined it with well-educated and experienced coaches, and scalable workouts. They “believe in keeping fitness simple and doing the common, uncommonly well in all aspects of our gym and community.”
It’s in a pretty cool location too – seven converted railway arches, in fact.
Your Average Class Looks Like:
Whatever class you join, you can expect it to be about an hour long and full of full-body, functional movements, but the great thing about Crossfit Shapesmiths is that there isn’t an average class – as the WODS (aka. workout of the days) change, you guessed it, daily. Book yourself into Crossfit skills if you're looking to improve your technique, or join either one of their daily WODs, Open Gym & Engine sessions (their more cardio-focused, conditioning WOD).
The Best Thing About Shapesmiths:
The super welcoming atmosphere and all-around great community, A lot of people think of Crossfit boxes as pretty intimidating places, where there’s no room for the weak or weedy. Don’t get us wrong, there’s some seriously impressive strength from the guys at Shapesmiths, but they are certainly not intimidating. Everyone will make you feel right at home, whether you’re a total beginner or Crossfit pro, and the helpful coaches will scale the workout for you so that you can go at your own level.
Our Top Tip:
Feeling nervous before your first class? As we said before, it’s very accessible and scalable to all abilities, but we recommend heading down early to chat to your coach before class – they’ll put you at ease and be sure to keep an eye on you during the session.
Oh, and how could we not recommend having a post-workout protein shake afterwards too!