One of the things I like the most about CrossFit is its concept of Drop-Ins, the ability to join any CrossFit box on a class-by-class basis. There is hardly a month where I’m not out of town for a conference or meetup and so far I’ve always been able to find a box that was reasonably close. It is along the lines of what a “regular” fitness chains would offer where you can use any location of theirs if you’re a member. And I consider it a huge benefit.

Most boxes offer drop-in rates between $15 and $25 (I’ve also seen them for as little as $6), with some of them even offering weekly rates. A lot of them will also offer the first class free, asking for a fee only on subsequent visits. It’s obviously a little more expensive than a regular plan would be, but it offsets with cases where the first class is free. Although buying a shirt is probably always appreciated.

Don’t worry if you can’t find any information about drop-in rates on a particular box’ websites. All of them will have some way of communicating with them, so shooting them a quick message asking about it is usually all it takes. One time when I did that they were not familiar with the concept but were happy to accommodate me after I explained it to them, improving the drop-in experience for future crossfitters to come.

As much as I love the possibility of dropping in somewhere, my track record of actually doing it is unfortunately nowhere close to where I’d like it to be. So far I’ve only taken advantage of it four times with lots of other opportunities missed. On my recent trips to Boston, Portland, ME, Jersey City, and Brussels I had even researched where to go, contacted some the boxes, but ended up not going for one reason or the other.

The four that I did visit were great though and I highly recommend them to anyone who happens to visit those cities:

• CrossFit Embody, Henderson, NV.
• CrossFit Gold Coast, Gold Coast, Australia.
• CrossFit am Dom, Cologne, Germany.
• CrossFit Konstanz, Constance, Germany.
• BlackBox CrossFitness, Rhodes, Greece.
• CrossFit Strong, Dallas, TX.
• NorCal Crossfit, San Jose, CA.
• Kilauea CrossFit, Kilauea, HI.
• CrossFit South Miami, Miami, FL.
• Crossfit CFD, Nuremberg, Germany.

And if all else fails, there is always WODables, with exercises customized to whatever equipment you have available.