Paradiso Crossfit Venice

Before joining Paradiso Crossfit, I tried A4 for 2 weeks, Crossfit Santa Monica for 4 months, and belonged to the now closed (but awesome) Crossfit BMF for 2 months. Out of this bunch, Paradiso Crossfit is by far and large the best if you are looking for top notch programming, coaching, and community.
There are plenty of scaling options for every workout to help athletes of all abilities and the hours of operation between the Venice and MDR locations make this the best bang for your buck on the Westside.

I started going to Paradiso in December of 2014. I was about 43 pounds overweight at 238 pounds, 64 years old, and huffing and puffing my way through life. I could only do a couple of pushups, and was unable to do more thereafter for the rest of the day.
I signed up for individual coaching by Jackie on the advice of my daughter and her husband. I had no idea what cross fit even was. Every week I had one objective — for one hour, to the limits of my ability, do whatever Jackie told me to do. Jackie, ever mindful of my limitations, worked around them. Over time, she transcended them.
She gave me tips on eating, and kept scrupulous records of my progress. She knew the limits of my ability, and set the next workout a few percent above that. The results were amazing.
Today, 9 months later, at 65 years old, I am 40 pounds lighter, my waist is 9 inches thinner, and I can do 6 sets of 10 pushups, a couple of pull-​ups (without any assist), lift weights I never lifted before, and safely twist my body like a pretzel. I discovered muscles I never knew I owned and feel them now with every step I take. I don’t even know what all the exercises are called, but I do them.
I feel strong, confident, and totally alive inside. I still don’t know much about cross fit, but Jackie does. We have a very productive relationship — she tells me what to do, I do it. Simple.
When I look in the mirror now, I hardly know it’s me. Recently, a co-​worker remarked in the office — «You look great. You look 20 years younger.» It warmed the heart of this old man.

Before joining Paradiso about 2 months ago, I did CrossFit for about 8 months, found that I was plateauing in strength, and really fell in love with Olympic Lifts used during CrossFit WODs but felt that I wasn’t being properly instructed in those lifts and wanted to become stronger. I searched for CrossFit gyms that had a consistent weightlifting class that would work with my work schedule, and I finally stumbled upon Paradiso. And I’m so glad I did.
My first session was a one-​on-​one with Coach Josh, who is an incredibly calm, patient, and nice guy, and from that first session I was hooked and signed up for the Barbell Club membership. I’m so new to the sport and the coach offers such great guidance, and after just a few weeks I was already feeling more confident with my lifts. The Venice Barbell Club is the reason I’m at Paradiso (I don’t do CrossFit anymore — strictly weightlifting) and it’s such a fun, welcoming, and supportive environment. Everyone’s there to cheer you on when you hit a heavy lift, offer support when you need it, and the workouts kick ass. I love it here, and I really wish other CrossFit gyms would have this kind of Olympic lifting program built into their schedules.

I live in NYC but purchased a day pass here while traveling. I went there with the expectation that I would be totally out of sorts and a bit intimidated. Quite the opposite, the employees were extremely nice, accommodating, and helpful. The class was was great, and I left completely exhausted. Efficient, positive, and tough workout. Thumbs up.

I have to say that Paradiso Crossfit is an amazing gym with excellent staff they are down to work and keep you motivate along the way.
I started doing Crossfit witht his guys and I’m extremely happy with the results and quality of workout every day. They keep a close eye on you making sure your doing things right.
Thank you guys!

Worked out here for about 2 years. During that time period they helped move me from a 195 max squat to 305 lbs. 135 lb front squat to 270 lbs. 95 lb snatch to 175 lbs. 115 lb clean and jerk to 205 lbs. they also helped me to get my first muscle up and increased my fitness. It’s an amazing gym with amazing coaches. If you’re in to Olympic lifting they have classes for that. If you’re more into gymnastics they have you covered. Lastly, if you just want to do Crossfit, they are one of the best gyms in LA for that.

Awesome community, instruction, philosophy and facility. Provides safe avenues to learn movements and become strong in ways that are diffused through your everyday life. Very uncommon is the specialized instruction for gymnastics, Olympic lifting, mobility with proper scaling provided by expert coaches.

I visited PCF while I was back in LA during the holidays. I was very happy with the quality of service and training that I received while I visited the box.
I contacted Martina to purchase a 5 session punch card. She was extremely helpful in explaining PCF’s drop in policy, programming, and setting me up with everything that I needed to register for classes.
I visited both the MDR and Venice locations. I was impressed with the facilities, the difficulty of the WODs, the coaches’ level of attention and support, and how friendly the members were.
I will definitely return to PCF every time I’m back in LA. I highly recommend this box if you’re looking for great coaches, motivating members, and an INTENSE workout.

I have worked out at a few different CrossFit gyms on the WestSide, but what stands out the most about Paradiso’s gym (both in Venice and MDR) is their staff and their training methodolgy. I constantly hear about how people are intimidated by the olympic lifting, the gymnastic skills and the strength that CrossFit athletes are expected to perform. Don’t get me wrong, I was one of them. I was put through an introductory program called on-​ramp, and it taught me all the basics necessary to be able to comfortably join a group class. The coaches are extremely attentive to any past or exisiting injuries and/​or limitations and help you customize each workout, where it is still challenging. They provide all sorts of additional education on nutrition and its correlation to your workouts. As far as the facility itself, the Venice gym is bigger than the MDR location, has newer equipment, but the attention you get from the staff is the same. I love that I can go to either the Venice or the MDR location and know that I am in good hands. I highly recommend this gym!

I had never done Crossfit before Paradiso’s Venice gym. I was extremely hesitant to lift heavy barbell weights and push myself to the limit with WODs. The only intense exercise I had done was boxing, and I could not find a boxing gym that appealed to me in all of Venice.
Paradiso offers a 2 week On-​Ramp course that allows a beginner of any exercise level to learn the technique and build the endurance to take part in regular classes. I did the On-​Ramp, made it through, and have been going to this gym 4 days a week since October (give and take with holidays).
What Paradiso has done is not only build the best Crossfit gym I have ever seen, but build a community of healthy like-​minded people who work out, hang out, and inspire one another to be fitter healthier beings.
The coaches are incredible. They are attentive. They will tell you when your form is wrong and help you correct it to prevent injury.
They push you, but never push you too far. The coaches take the time to know you. In a group class of ten other people, they’re still watching you. They tell you when you can handle more, and they tell you when to stop.
The environment is friendly, warm, and wonderful. Going to the gym is a fun part of the day, and I have never been in better shape. I find myself getting stronger each month and I owe that entirely to this gym.
If you are living in Venice or MDR and have only dabbled in thoughts of Crossfit, do the On-​Ramp now, and join Paradiso. I’ve never been happier.

I dropped in to paradiso on vacation during Labor Day from Nashville and I had a great experience. The facilities were clean and organized, trainers were helpful and welcoming as well as the members. I did ‘Helen’ RXed for the first time and I almost died, but everyone was encouraging and pushed me and I made a great time. I highly recommend this box.

I love me some PCF!!!
I started at Paradiso Crossfit– Marina Del Rey a year ago this month and since the Venice box has been opened (January 2013), I have mostly been attending classes there. Not only have I improved tremendously as an athlete and learned so much about myself, I’ve made some amazing friends and had the opportunity to do so many fun outings with this group of people! The Mammoth snowboarding trip this year was a highlight for me as Snowboarding is my all time favorite sport, but we’ve also had a blast running races together, doing fund-​raisers, surf lessons/​surf-​days, hiking days, camping, beach-​cruising triathlons, etc. PCF is such a well rounded place with an awesome community of fun-​loving people. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to workout and get to know more people since moving back to Santa Monica.
Furthermore, the coaches at PCF are so awesome, understanding and knowledgeable. They are thorough coaches who not only care about the members taking care of themselves, but they push us to the right limits, with safety as their first concern.
I could go on saying more and more excellent aspects to why being apart of Paradiso Crossfit will not only give you an amazing workout and help make you stronger, but it will also bring such a positive quality to your life. I am so thankful to be apart of such a great community and start my day out there each day! :o)

Paradiso Crossfit is like this wonderful workout community. I usually go to the Marina Del Rey box, but I’ve been to the Venice box a few times (membership carries over between the two.)
The people are good, the workouts are intense, and it’s a lot of fun. I love PCF.

This Venice box is the second Paradiso gym. In many ways it’s the same as the Marina box, which has been reviewed extensively on Unilocal.In some ways, though, it’s even better. The equipment is newer and top-​of-​the-​line and the box is bigger. Also, even though it’s in the heart of Venice, there is plenty of parking (there’s plenty of parking at the Marina location as well).
Below is the review I posted of the Marina box, which applies equally to the Venice box:
Paradiso Crossfit is kind of amazing. I’ve been to quite a few boxes (the term for crossfit gyms), and the experience at Paradiso far exceeds the others. Here are a few reasons why. First, the instructors, every last one, are thorough. They listen to you, they hear your concerns, they are knowledgeable about injuries, they see little things that can make you a better athlete. Also, they’re nice. Seriously nice.
The box goes above and beyond a typical crossfit gym in other ways as well. They have a farm delivery CSA-​type program where you can get a box of produce every week. They have a special deal with US Wellness Meats so you can get grass-​fed beef at a discount. They sell Stronger Faster Healthier fish oil so you don’t have to pay shipping.
The gym is also constantly having fun outside-​the-​box events, where you can put your fitness to use functionally. We’ve done mountain-​climbing, a mini-​triathalon, snowboarding, SUP, etc. There are weekly running and swimming classes, as well as specialized olympic lifting classes. Yoga was added recently. Amazing.
The classes are limited in size, so you have sufficient individual attention.
I’ve made a lot of great friends at this box, and you will too — hurry up and join us!