Crossfit Kel-Core

Join this gym. You will not regret it. The owner, Kelvin Nivens, is as thoughtful, knowledgeable, and skilled as they come. Not only is he a great coach, but he’s just delightful to be around. The crowd at the gym is equally awesome, and folks are incredibly encouraging and fun.
I’ve been working out with Kelvin for nearly a year now, and am so glad I began Crossfit under his tutelage. He has been incredibly patient, explaining the workouts clearly and what they aim to do. He focuses on form, and makes sure to correct bad habits that could result in injury down the road. What is cool about his attention to detail is not just that he wants you to do the exercise correctly, but he cares about your success and wants to help you to achieve your goals.
His workouts are awesome. They are always challenging, requiring a mix of skills. Kelvin also works with a local physical therapist, and runs a mobility class every Saturday. It’s the type of maintenance that keeps you in top form and able to take your workout to the next level. There are a fair number of gyms in Santa Cruz, but I cannot recommend this one highly enough.

The first time I met Kelvin we mostly talked. We discussed my fitness history, my motivation, my goals and my challenges. He listened, watched my movement, asked important questions, and invited me back for more. I came back, and have done so 3 – 4 times a week ever since. For the last 5 years he has proven himself deeply committed to insuring not only my safety, but my confidence and growth as a «vintage» athlete. I, in turn, am motivated to keep coming back not only for his excellence as a trainer and coach, but his excellence as a human. I recommend CrossFit Kel-​Core with enthusiasm!

I honestly never thought I was in shape enough to start attending any sort of structured fitness class, group, gym, etc. Being close to 350 pounds, I was out of breath walking to and from the car. I’d been healing from a recent knee injury and didn’t think I’d be able to do anything that I assumed took place behind those walls! I clearly have never been an ideal candidate for a trainer. Talk about a challenge right? Hello Kelvin & Crossfit Kel-​Core!
This place has changed my life, hands down. Big statement? Absolutely. But not as big as the positive changes being in this group have introduced into my everyday life! Energy, Stamina, Flexibility, Strength (seriously amazing strength!) and some serious weight loss! Forget getting out of breath walking to the car, I go out of my way to park at the end of the parking lot, and high tail it the whole way!
Kelvin has never made me feel like the «challenge» I know I can be, and has been such an amazing source of support. He’s also personally had such a positive affect on my attitude! An example you ask? The word «Yet». Tiny word, HUGE meaning. I no longer say, I cant do that without the word «yet» at the end. Because the reality is I may NOT be able to do it at this time, but bet your sweet cheeks I’m going to work and work until I CAN. He takes the time to be sure you understand what your doing, why your doing it, and how to do it right! (form form form!!!)
He’s also helped me shed 66 pounds in a little over 13 weeks! I’m just starting a long journey, but know I have a Trainer and workout group that will help me continue my awesome success, build my self confidence (not to mention my ego), and hear my pain! Working out has become such a big part of my life, not a chore, but something I look forward to. Every week is a new challenge.

Kelvin is amazing! He does a great job explaining the work out. He constantly has great suggestions on perfecting each movement and spends tons of time giving great feedback so I can perfect each movement.
Because of his background in fitness and personal training, he knows how to do the work out safely and is great at recommending modifications if you have any pain or previous injuries in need of protecting. That way you can still get a great work out.
It is the most intensive training and challenging workout routine I have ever done. I’m guaranteed to get a thoroughly perfect, yet safe, work out in one hour. I know that training with Kelvin keeps my body in the best shape possible so I can participate in other sport activities as well as doing my day to day work without resulting aches and pains, or feeling terribly sore after.
I plan on working out with Crossfit Kel-​Core for years to come!

I cannot recommend Crossfit Kel-​Core and the head coach, Kelvin Nivens, highly enough. I’ve been WODin’ at Kel-​Core for 2+ years and my husband for 1+. New to Crossfit, Kelvin spent a great deal of time helping us learn the movements. His attention to detail on movements and his cues are always helpful. Kelvin goes the extra mile to serve his clients and is always ready to answer a question or help a client scale a movement so they can do it appropriately. The community is encouraging and uplifting. I’ve made many friends and even hang out with folks outside of gym hours!
I have been to other Crossfit gyms and have seen coaches who do not pay attention to detail and ask their athletes to just «grit it out». While hard work is a requirement at Crossfit Kel-​Core, Kelvin and his coaches are just as concerned with form. Form, form, form. This is a huge asset to Kel-​Core and will help you become a much better athlete than just the ones who «grit it out». You will have both your body AND your mind challenged as you work to build strength and conditioning that stands upon fantastic technique and a huge emphasis on mobility. In my opinion, this is an amazing asset of this box. Those who want to live their WHOLE lives (not just in their 20’s) fit and in shape need to consider going to Crossfit gyms that have this approach.
Come to Crossfit Kel-​Core and embrace a lifestyle of fitness and body mechanics that will help you in all areas of life. I can’t recommend this gym enough!
Bonus: Kelvin cleans his gym daily. Many boxes are fairly dirty, with so many athletes running around and clapping off chalk to prep for their pull-​ups, etc. At Kel-​Core, you will go down to hold a plank and will have to look really hard to find dirt or chalk. This attention to cleanliness speaks directly to my previous main point about attention to technique and mechanics.

I am so glad to have this box! Kelvin is one of the nicest, most knowledgeable, and fun Coaches I can imagine.
I have been working out with Kelvin for a year now and I’m hooked. I have always considered myself athletic having played 8 different organized sports throughout high school and my childhood but had always got my exercise and stayed fit through sports. Now at age 28 without regular sports practices, I have really been wanting some sort of way (beyond yoga which is not enough) to really strengthen and get/​stay fit. But I have never liked going to gyms and it is so much harder to motivate on your own. Aside from when my high school PE class did a weight/​gym class rotation for a few weeks junior year I hadn’t spent hardly any time at a gym or box before so it was very new for me. I didn’t know what a kettle bell was!
Group CrossFit classes were the perfect solution and Kelvin was the perfect Coach to introduce me to this type of training that was completely new to me. The intro courses really set the stage so that you understand the roots and philosophy of CrossFit and the importance of learning the basic movements and lifts properly BEFORE adding weight to be sure you are doing the movement safely and correctly with maximum efficiency.
The workouts are different every time so it never gets old/​routine/​boring and with a group there to encourage you, you work harder and WANT to go. So much better then working out alone. Kelvin always introduces the movements of the day by reminding us of all the key points of performance for that movement to be sure we are ready to perform it safely and efficiently, protecting our muscles and joints and getting the most benefit out of the movement. Even if it is just a push-​up which we have all done thousands of Kelvin will remind us the importance of doing it right and review the key points of doing a proper push up. That’s a responsible Coach!
Surfing is my main sport these days and I definitely notice more power in my surfing. But the coolest part is how many more waves I can catch! I have so much more endurance now. After catching a long wave to the inside, I can turn right around and paddle straight back out through several waves holding my breathe etc. and I get much less winded then I used to. That gets me back out to catch another wave sooner, not needing rest time. So rad!
Music can be a huge part of getting you through a tough workout and to top it off, Kelvin is practically a music Encyclopedia. He is always switching the genre and plays great music at every class… crucial.