Chase Coles

Before CrossFit, I proudly served for with my county regiment, the 1st Battalion, The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, completing peacekeeping and combat operations in Northern Ireland, Kosovo and Iraq. Following on from the military, I moved into the fitness industry and began working as a personal trainer in 2009.

I was introduced to CrossFit back in 2011 and immediately fell in love with the methodology. Fast forward to today, and I’m still training, coaching, learning and progressing. CrossFit has had a huge impact on my physical capabilities, work capacity and mental wellbeing, and ultimately changed the direction of my life.

My background as a personal trainer gave me an early opportunity to see what effective strength and conditioning could do for people far beyond simply improving fitness. Over the years I’ve worked with people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. From complete beginners through to experienced athletes, as well as individuals returning to exercise following significant injury, illness, surgery or major physical challenges.

Those experiences reinforced something I still believe today: people are often capable of far more than they realise. With intelligent coaching, appropriate scaling, consistency and the right environment, training can have an enormous impact on both physical capability and quality of life.

In 2014, Niks & I opened CrossFit Great Stour together, with a simple mission: to bring CrossFit to the community of Ashford & help as many people as possible become stronger, fitter, healthier & more capable.

Twelve years later, that mission hasn’t changed.

CrossFit Great Stour has grown into a thriving community of adults and young people, supported by a team of coaches who genuinely care about the people they work with. What I’m most proud of isn’t simply how much the gym has grown, but the culture that has grown with it. People of all ages, abilities and walks of life training alongside one another, supporting each other and continually pushing themselves to improve.

After 15 years of CrossFit, I still believe wholeheartedly in what we do. CrossFit is for everyone. The movements, loads and intensity may change from person to person, but the objective remains the same: to build a stronger, fitter and more resilient version of yourself.

For me, CrossFit Great Stour has always been about more than training.

It’s about what people become through it.