Who Else Wants to Visit an Affiliate Box Abroad?

With the holiday season upon us this means 3 things:

1. Vacation time
2. Traveling
3. Gluttony and altered diets.

If you haven’t done so already, this makes for the perfect opportunity to visit an affiliate box abroad, whether in a different state or foreign country.

You’ve heard the annual, cortisol inducing reports in the media by now, about more Americans traveling than ever this year. Soon, we’ll be to the point that more Americans are traveling over the holidays than our total population.

You get the picture. Hordes of us will be flying around, navigating the country and other parts of the world like a 3D chess game. In fact, our holiday traveling has gotten so intense, we train for it now. 

Preppin' hard for that connecting flight at O'hare.

Americans will take the time to post another pin flag on the map by visiting a new location of their favorite leisure time activity. Whether that’s a stadium, a brewery, a national park, or in this case, an affiliate box.

What better time to take the opportunity to visit an affiliate box abroad than now, when it’s nearly impossible to avoid and resist all those carb-laden, holiday dishes? Or what about if you’re indulging in rich, foreign delicacies? Many of us secretly know that we harbor nagging guilt from not training in days while scarfing down food that we can’t resist.

If you feel an overwhelming desire to escape your family or hotel room and get some precious time at the gym, here’s your guide to visit an affiliate box abroad.

Quiz: Easier to Find an Affiliate or Domino’s?

This seems like a trick question, doesn’t it? I mean there are Domino’s everywhere, around the world right? Indeed, there are 15,000 of them as of 2017.

Believe it or not, there are 15,500 affiliates worldwide! There are only 6 other corporate chains that have more locations.

So you can find an affiliate box almost as easily as you can find a KFC bucket or Big Mac, which is simultaneously awesome and this evening’s nightmare fuel. Point is, you can’t use scarcity as an excuse. The countries with the most gyms after the U.S. are: Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Argentina, Italy, et. al.

These countries synch up well with affiliate box representation, according to this map. After the U.S., Europe has a firm grip on second place, followed by Brazil, Australia and China, and the South Pacific.

Now that you’re probably within a W.O.D. or burpee A.M.R.A.P. of an affiliate box, what do you do when you show up unannounced?

Just Say No to Persona Non-Grata

Of course, if you’re visiting a new affiliate box to workout, you want to be welcomed as warmly as possible. Most of this responsibility falls on the affiliate box, which we’ll talk more about in a minute. To get the most benefit from your visit, you want to show up and be a courteous and respectful guest.

The functional fitness community boasts fine camaraderie, so a visit to a different affiliate box is like finding a new family. That said, we all know families have different protocols. To make sure you integrate with your new affiliate crew in a seamless manner, be the best guest and follow these 4 rules of thumb. But a good visit isn’t only up to the guest, the host has a role to play as well.

Try not to make the host mop your puke. 

Affiliate boxes hosting a visitor have a few more responsibilities and things to do to ensure a quality experience for the guest. If there’s one person who knows what it takes, it’s Greg Lukas. He’s visited over 500 boxes worldwide and has compiled a list of 10 commandments for box owners when welcoming visitors.

Now that you’ve got your affiliate box guest etiquette down pat, where are you going to use it?

Seeing More Boxes Than UPS

If you’re hitting the tarmac over the coming weeks, and you’re in the market to visit a an affiliate box abroad, where should you go?

Here’s a enticing list of the top 10 boxes around the world, ranging from Champaign, Illinois, to Cape Town, South Africa, to Bali, Indonesia. Yes, please.

If those don’t get you excited, here’s another list from one of my favorite travel websites, the Matador Network. This list gives a tip ‘o’ the hat to the countries with the most affiliates: the U.S., Brazil, and Italy. They also throw in a few other surprise locations.

Find yourself staying within American borders? No worries. Here’s a list of the 15 most badass boxes in the States, including our hometown guys at Crossfit Central, representing us in Austin, Texas.

Last but not least, if you don’t find yourself flying, but are craving W.O.D.s on the high seas, you can now yell “ahoy matey” with your box brethren. The WOD on the Waves cruise takes place from January 21-25, 2019 and features all your functional fitness superstars. The cruise leaves from Miami and hits ports in the Bahamas. For a little bit more info on WOD on the Waves, check out this article here.

Think Outside the Box

There you have it. You have all the necessary info to do some “unboxing” of your own this holiday season. With affiliates as prevalent as fast food chains and special, functional fitness events held on cruise ships, you’re well stocked with places to train while you’re on the road. Who knows, maybe you’ll meet the surrogate family you crave if yours gets too hard to handle. No reason to drink your way through it, when you can “box” through it instead.

Photo credit for featured/thumbnail image courtesy of Jami at Outsider's ATX.