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South Philly’s first taste of the strength and conditioning program, originally a workout from the west coast, came in 2006 from a CrossFit-inspired bootcamp headed outdoors by Eric Neri and Wil Vicinus.
A hamstring injury from a running incident pushed Vicinus, of 11th Street and Snyder Avenue, to become intrigued with the new, atypical — but effective — style of exercise, and soon had him hooked as a trainer, even when Neri moved away.
“I decided that I was having fun planning the workouts and starting to learn more about how to train people, so that’s when I thought, ‘Hey, maybe I could try to make a business out of this,’” Vicinus said.
Vicinus got his group of about 20 athletes affiliated with CrossFit in 2007 and moved most training sessions, especially during inclement weather, to the basketball court under Interstate-95 at Front Street and Washington Avenue. This quickly dubbed the dedicated athletes as “the crazy people under the bridge.”
Vicinus said South Philly needed a workout training program like this, to turn around the “we’re here to eat cheesesteaks” kind of pride the area is known for.
Athletes hung pull-up bars and gymnastics rings to complete basic workouts, but sessions were never a full-fledged, all-inclusive and barbell-training CrossFit experience.
“The idea [of CrossFit] is that we don’t specialize in one particular type of working out, so the athletes never know what they’re gonna get and they don’t follow any of the traditional models, like breaking down the workout by body part,” Vicinus said.
In 2008, Vicinus and his crew moved into their first facility on the 800 block of Alter Street.
Vicinus said there was, “basically just enough [space] to have a roof over our head.”
FearlessAthletics spent several years developing the program, improving training methods and gaining community involvement. In 2010, it was able to move to its current location, a former beer distributor almost three times the size of the gym’s old establishment.
“We didn’t even really consider going too far away, staying in South Philly was our No. 1 goal when we moved,” Vicinus said. “It just makes more sense to be here. It’s my home as well as the members’ home.
With a large open space and a few weights here and there, FearlessAthletics’ base is plain and simple in its look as much as in its nature.
“A lot of CrossFits are called boxes because basically all you need to do CrossFit is just four walls and a roof,” Vicinus said. With no special machines or equipment needed, Vicinus, who has numerous CrossFit certifications, wants members to know what it is they are there for.
“They’re going to be coming in here to work hard, they aren’t gonna be pampered,” Vicinus said. “They are gonna be pushed, it’s gonna be challenging and if we make it all bright and pretty and shiny and full of machines, they’re gonna think it’s just like every other gym out there.”
CrossFit sessions at FearlessAthletics are mixed-level classes where 10 to 15 participants work side by side for one hour. Workouts are modified for beginners to high-level athletes in terms of weights and variation of exercise.
“The beginners benefit from it because they’re working right alongside somebody with more experience. They have somebody to look up to, somebody who can help teach them,” Vicinus said. “The more experienced folks get the benefit out of it because they get to learn by teaching now, rather than just learning by doing.”
Those attending the gym vary in age from their 20s to 60s and train three to five times a week. There are different workouts every day of the week, with sessions in the morning, afternoon and evening Monday through Friday and morning sessions on Saturdays and Sundays.
“You never know what you’re going to run into every day,” David Zaveloff, from Ninth and Wharton streets, said.
Zaveloff and his wife joined FearlessAthletics last July to get in shape for their wedding, and have stuck with it ever since. “Variety helps a lot when it comes to overall strength and conditioning,” Zaveloff said.
Vicinus and six others are instructors at FearlessAthletics, offering bootcamp classes and personal training as well as CrossFit sessions, hoping to be more accessible to the community, Vicinus said.
The gym keeps members involved outside of the gym by promoting participation in national and local fundraising efforts, and also encouraging new relationships by holding team-building events — like going rock climbing or to soccer games – throughout the year.
FearlessAthletics has participated in CrossFit’s national fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where the participating athletes raised money individually and plans to do a fundraiser this fall for a local charity, with hopes to open the competition to the community, Vicinus said.
Jackie Hamilton, from Eighth and Christian streets, said she joined FearlessAthletics when she started going to law school at University of Pennsylvania last summer.
“I think it’s the thing that makes me do well in school,” she said.
Hamilton said she appreciates the environment CrossFit provides — an hour-long workout with likeminded athletes and busy professionals automatically gives her a social group to hangout with in a city full of diverse individuals.
Vicinus finds how everyone interacts as the “most rewarding part.” “It’s not like they’re just showing up to come in and work out and go home,” he said. “They’re actually showing up to see their friends — they come in early, they stay late.”
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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