Adrian Van Balen and Gary “Goose” Fisher, Co-owners of MET. Performance Lab, Home of CrossFit MPL describe their gym using their motto, simply stated as “Be Phenomenal”. They want every person in their gym to be the best version of themselves inside and outside of their walls! They give their all to provide each of their clients what they hope to be the best hour of their day.
Adrian and Goose
Their approach to health is what separates them from other gyms. Goose suffered from Crohn’s disease at a young age and had a partial resection of his small intestine and Adrian has had a full craniotomy and six weeks of radiation treatment to try and stop a brain tumor. They both know the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and being prepared for whatever life is going to throw at you.
The biggest mistake they see people make when they exercise is trying to do too much too fast. Adrian and Goose emphasized, “Everyone nowadays wants everything to be immediate. They expect to squat 500 lbs and have a six pack by their second week. People need to learn to trust the process. Health is something acquired over a lifetime. Take your time, listen to your body and enjoy the ride!”
The biggest mistake they see other gyms are making is grinding people into oblivion. They think that if someone isn’t on the ground about to puke, they did not work them hard enough. Adrian and Goose added, “You need to be smart about programming for your clients. Again, it’s about broad time domains. Keeping a client safe, while healthy over the span of years, should be your main priority. No one sitting on the sidelines is getting any healthier.”
Their members in action!
Adrian and Goose also shared with me that they were sued by their landlord for making too much noise and disturbing his tenants, who they never knew existed when they first opened. The landlord told them a CrossFit gym would be ideal for the location to try and get them in as fast as possible. Goose added, “We fought him in court for months and lost thousands of dollars, not ideal for a new business. After seven months of battling, we decided to part ways and moved an entire gym in a weekend. One month later, Adrian had brain surgery to remove his brain tumor. Throughout all of the adversity, we have never closed down and continue to grow, offering Pittsburgh a truly premier CrossFit facility!”.