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By Christine Graf
Malta resident Brandi Tyler has taken her love for CrossFit training and turned it into a career. The first-time business owner opened her own CrossFit gym, Unbroken Athletics, in September.
Located at 146 Raylinsky Road in Malta, the gym offers a range of classes to suit any fitness level. Tyler, a Level 2 CrossFit trainer, also offers individual coaching. Unbroken Athletics is one of more than 13,000 CrossFit-affiliated gyms throughout the world, she said.
A former personal trainer, Tyler was introduced to CrossFit about five years ago. It is a high-intensity form of functional training that combines strength and conditioning and utilizes movements that are performed in day-to-day life—things like squatting, running, jumping, throwing, and pulling.
The workouts are particularly effective because they combine elements of load, distance, and speed and can be modified for individual of all ages and experience levels.
“I once saw a 90-year-old woman deadlift her own weight,” said Tyler.
She began to consider opening her own gym at a time when fitness centers were shuttered due to the pandemic. During that shutdown, she coached several clients in her home’s garage. The response was so positive that she decided to move forward with establishing her own business despite having no prior business experience.
“It’s all kind of a blur, but I never looked back. I just kept going,” she said. “I think it’s because I have complete faith in myself and what I do.”
During that time, Tyler worked with a mentor who was assigned to her by SCORE Northeast New York. SCORE is a network of volunteer expert business mentors offers its services free of charge to small business owners.
According to Tyler, there is a widely held misconception that CrossFit is suitable only for hard-core workout enthusiasts.
“A lot of people are afraid of it or intimidated but I’m trying to get the message out that you don’t have to be intimidated or afraid. Everything can be scaled,” she said.
In order to encourage people to try CrossFit, Tyler offers a free introductory class as well as a free coaching session to new clients. Both limited and unlimited session memberships are available, and Unbroken Athletics offers discounts to students, teachers, military, first responders, and healthcare workers. She also offers a three-day elements class for people who have never done CrossFit.
“The class goes over all of the moves that are done in CrossFit so that when you do take the class you kind of know what’s going on,” she said.
“I just love CrossFit and have such a passion for everything about it,” she said. “There’s so much camaraderie, and it’s such an amazing community. I’ve built so many relationships just from being in the CrossFit community, and you don’t get that at a regular gym.”
Tyler is still tweaking her class schedule according to customer demand and hours will be updated and expanded as membership grows. All classes led by Tyler with a maximum of eight participants per class.
“Every day we work on different things, and everybody in the group helps each other,” she said.
For more information, visit www.unbrokenathleticsny.com.