Eastside Strength and Conditioning

Hands down my favorite weightlifting gym I’ve dropped into to date. Top of the line equipment, plates, and coaching. If you are in the area and are a weightlifter this has to be on the top of your list for places to work out at.

AMAZING place. Michael and Carrie are great trainers. No matter your skill level they can help break down the exercise or scale the workouts to your level. The people that workout here are amazing too. Great community.

As someone new to Crossfit, I found the training and support here to be exceptional. The trainers are friendly and smart and focus on good form and safe movements. The workouts were tough but fun. I have never been this satisfied with a training experience.

ESC is an unconventional place. Where most gyms are satisfied with their users cycling as quickly as possible through machines, ESC provides small group coaching (with copious 1-​on-​1 encouragement and form guidance) in barbell strength training and crossfit-​type metabolic conditioning. There are no machines, only barbells, kettlebels, pull up bars, that kind of things (ok, there are a few rowers and stationary bikes…)
I have been training there since June 2011, and they have helped me not only get much stronger, but also get over a shoulder injury that had not improved in 6 months of rest. The coaching goes beyond strength and mobility, and also covers stretching, recovery, and proper nutrition. Good place.

I’ve been training at CFES (aka Eastside Strength & Conditioning, Fulcrum Barbell Club) for 18 months. I’m absolutely satisfied: great trainers, programming, and community. I’ve been to CF gyms all over the Seattle area and all over the country, and am confident CFES is one of the best. Furthermore they’ve invested in a wider variety, quantity, and higher quality set of equipment than is commonly seen. E.g., 4 GHDs mean movements like hip extensions can be part of an everyday WOD, even with a bigger class.

I never knew that physical pain could be so rewarding.
This is my gym. My usual trainer is Carrie. I think she hates me… or loves me. I’m not really sure. I go there with my room mate before work with between 4 and 8 other people. We pick up heavy things and set them down, throw things, jump, run, lunge, squat, roll around, and all kinds of other things that you do when you’re getting a good diverse workout, but it’s a bit different. You workout as a group. There’s no «put on headphones and tune out world» going on at this gym. You know everyone you work out with. They are your cheering section and you are theirs. Your common bond is that Carrie or Aaron, or Mike has given you all a work out that hurts and you just kind of have to do it. It hurts, it sucks… sometimes I think I’m going to puke (but haven’t yet… I understand that it does happen on occasion) but we’re all in this together. At the end of the hour, I leave feeling completely spent but accomplished – then go work at a computer for 8+ hours.
It’s a Crossfit gym. It’s based on principles for rapid development and maintain life-​long strength and independence. We do things that I never imagined myself doing and find myself liking it. There’s quite a bit of work-​out philosophy behind the Crossfit method, but I haven’t researched it enough to know much about it. I just like that I’m getting stronger and staying reasonably flexible and tracking my progress and seeing the difference it makes in the rest of my life.
This is where you would go if it’s important to you to maximize the benefit of the time you put into the gym.

I’ve tried all the crossfit gyms on the eastside and this one is the best, hands down. Trainers are awesome and so are the people that work out there.