CrossFit Upper West Side – Where Community Fuels Strength

I am one of the founding members of CrossFit NYC. I became an owner in 2007 and sole owner in 2019. My background is not in fitness. I have a BS in Electrical Engineering from New York University and an MBA from Columbia University. When I joined CrossFit NYC, I was CEO of two midsized companies on Long Island: Dairy Barn Stores (then a chain of 60 drive-through convenience stores) and Oak Tree farm Dairy (then one of the two remaining milk processing plants in NY State south of Albany). I am 66 years old and do CrossFit an average of three days per week.

CrossFit is not a franchise. Affiliates owners have significant flexibility in how they run their businesses. The public image of what CrossFit is comes from a blend of 15,000 CrossFit affiliates and millions of CrossFitters. My job as owner and general manager of CrossFit NYC (now the oldest CrossFit affiliate in the world) is to take what is best of the CrossFit methodology and make it work in Manhattan. To accomplish that objective,I have assembled what I believe is the best team of coaches in this city. I have given them the facility, the space, the resources, the equipment, and the support they need to improve the fitness of anyone who is willing to put in the work.

Brian’s athletic career began in high school, where he trained in gymnastics and competed in track and field (and became one of the original members of CrossFit NYC). Brian graduated from Syracuse University in 2012 with a BS in Exercise Science. He has been a full-time member of the CrossFit NYC coaching staff ever since. He has now coached over 10,000 classes at CrossFit NYC.

For the past twenty years, Brian has trained and competed in weightlifting. He also runs Black Box Barbell, an Olympic Lifting specialty program at CrossFit NYC. He has competed at numerous local and national events, earning some national medals along the way. Brian has trained many athletes to compete at local competitions, qualify for national level events, earn Master National medals, and set state Master records.

Brian typically coaches classes at CrossFit NYC Monday thru Thursday late afternoons and evenings.

If you are interested in the Black Box Barbell program or training privately with Brian, he can be reached at [email protected]

Credentials
B.S. Exercise Science
C.S.C.S.
USAW Level 2 Coach
CrossFit NYC Senior Coach
Manhattan Barbell Club Coach

Jim’s athletic career began early in life with soccer and baseball. In college, he competed as both a pole vaulter and as a heavyweight rower. After college he continued to compete, having reached elite levels in rowing (2K row @ 6:16, 5K Row @ 16:46) and in cycling (Cat 2).

Jim opened CrossFit 212 in 2011 and sold it in January 2020. He competed at the CrossFit Northeast Regionals in 2011, 2014, and 2016, as a member of the CrossFit 212 team the first year and as the team’s coach the last two years.

Jim has a BAS in Exercise Science from University of Delaware and an MBA in Entrepreneurial Studies from Baruch College Zicklin School of Business. He was formerly a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist with the National Strength & Conditioning Association before switching to CrossFit.

Jim coaches and is available for private training at both CrossFit NYC locations.

Claire first got into athletics in middle school, when her dad made her join her school swim team. She ended up loving it, and continued her swimming career at Tufts University, from which she graduated in 2016.

After a couple months of aimlessly watching reality TV on an elliptical at a YMCA, Claire realized that she missed the competitive, team-driven atmosphere that swimming provided and joined a CrossFit gym near where she was working as a teacher. She found that CrossFit was the perfect combination of competition and fun, and loved it so much that she started coaching in 2020, and at CrossFit NYC in April 2023. Claire holds a NASM personal trainer certification, CrossFit Level 1 certificate, and a Masters in Special Education from New York University.