Know the Coaches
Luke
Najla
Tiffany
Level I Certified
CrossFit Kids Certified
CrossFit Gymnastics Certified
CrossFit Joint Mobility & Recovery Certified
I.S.S.A Certified
Luke Kayyem was born in Los Angeles, raised in Palm Springs and grew up in Hawaii. By spending every minute outside as a child, sports, athletics and fitness were not only a passion but quickly became a lifestyle. Luke attended the same prep school (Punahou in Oahu) as our President Barack Obama and continued his education in athletics playing football in San Diego and Baseball in Sacramento.
Luke married his high school sweet heart Najla and has two beautiful children, Kanon and Camille. After moving to Scottsdale in October of 2007 Luke began his manifest destiny and started building his dream of owning and operating one of Arizona’s fastest growing School’s of Elite Fitness— CrossFit Scottsdale. He believes his success in the fitness industry began 10 years ago.
When Luke first started in the industry he was 19 years old and bodybuilding was “all the rage”. Luke went from running a 45,000 sq.ft. “globo gym” to opening his own 150 sq.ft personal training studio. “I began to change my programming and I noticed greater client results when I was forced to incorporate functional movements, due to the size of my facility,” said Coach Kayyem. Squatting, jumping, pushing, and pulling became the focal point of his workouts. This training method eventually became known and recognized globally as “CrossFit.”
CrossFit teaches you how to use your body as a machine. Incorporating these principals in his team training has allowed Luke to coach 35 students in a day and even train seniors alongside experienced athletes.
Luke prides himself on his community service and has been able to integrate community based events and non-profit support into the CrossFit Scottsdale network.“Doing the right things, for the right people, for the right reasons.” – Coach Luke Kayyem
Level I Certified
CrossFit Gymnastics Certified
My husband Luke and I have been working out together since we were in 10th grade. Without talking to a single person, we would walk into our local globo-gym. I would go over to the cardio section and Luke would walk over to the bench press…I would spend 45 minutes on the elliptical machine, reading a magazine and getting no results he would spend an hour pumping iron and looking in the mirror. It wasn’t until we started doing CrossFit that we really worked out together.
It was fascinating to me that I was getting faster, leaner and stronger doing less traditional weight training and spending less time in the gym (actually doing physical exercise). Now I realize that it takes a really long time to get strong so in the meantime I am enjoying the other benefits of CrossFit (an enhanced self esteem, the feeling of empowerment, team camaraderie and of course a better, leaner, toner body).
It was after my second child that I decided to really hit it hard. 7 months after I really got serious about training, I had dropped 25 pounds, changed my eating habits and got in the best shape of my life.
I love the fact that CrossFit is a grass roots fitness revolution and that we are at the fore front of it. It’s a media based company whose goal is improving human performance which is in line with what I do professionally. I am the Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations for a real estate development firm and consult for CrossFit affiliates nationally helping them get to the next level by achieving their business goals and create lasting marketing and branding platforms and programs that help promote their business, increase student retention, enhance coaching practices and establish them as a leader in their market.
I believe that the true beauty of the CrossFit method is that it is scalable, effective and efficient making it the perfect application for any committed individual. Functional movements are essential for independent living thus this program works for everyone regardless of age, ability or strength.
Level I Certified
Nutrition Certified
CrossFit Joint Mobility & Recovery Certified
CrossFit Kids Certified
I am CrossFit! It amazes me that something that you never expected or dreamed of turns out to be exactly what you were meant to do. This has been my experience with CrossFit. I was lucky enough to be working as a nutritionist within the same facility as CrossFit Scottsdale when Luke was just conducting some small group classes. I enjoyed being active but hadn’t done any regular activity since my high school days of dancing and cheerleading. I would dabble here and there, get really consistent for about 2 weeks and then get bored. So my focus was nutrition but I decided to sign up for a month of classes 2 x a week to try it. CrossFit has taught me many life lessons. I am convinced that a 20 minute CrossFit workout can teach you more about yourself than years in therapy. The first lesson I learned was humility. In my first class I got 45 minutes into it and turn pale, and spent the rest of the time plus 2 hours trying not to throw up. I had thought at the time that I was in decent shape. I realized then that I was missing something in my life physically. I was certainly humbled by a seemingly simple workout and didn’t want that to happen again.
I did really good about attending class for a month or two and enjoyed being more active but treated it pretty casually. I had enjoyed the workouts but that’s all it was to me at the time, just a great workout. I even stopped going for a couple months for reasons that don’t even seem important now. It wasn’t until I was going through probably the most stressful time in my life that I came back to a class. I felt so invigorated and good at a time when I was so unsure of the future, my life and what I was doing it all of it. I knew after that workout that if I didn’t commit to a regular routine of classes that I would probably let the stress overtake me. This was my sanity, I needed a regular dose of what CrossFit had to offer and the only way I was going to get it was to add another class to my week so that every other day I was in a class. I committed to it and haven’t looked back and I can honestly say that CrossFit has changed my life.
I feel stronger not only physically but mentally. I have found muscles I didn’t know I had and a confidence that I have been missing for way too long. I am definitely in the best shape of my life and there are things that I can do now that I never thought I could do. All you need is to experience that once in a CrossFit workout and I promise that it will translate into other areas in your life. I find myself saying any difficult situations that if I can do ______ in CrossFit then I should be able to handle this. They say CrossFit makes you better at life. At first that meant to me the benefits of functional movements and being able to move better. Now I know that they really mean life, all of it! I now get to participate in a sport where in high school I was never confident or brave enough to do.
Life lesson from CrossFit number 50: the power of commitment. Six months after I made that commitment to myself I received my Level 1 CrossFit certification, became a CrossFit coach, and became heavily involved in the business side of CrossFit Scottsdale. Two months after that I received my CrossFit Nutrition Certification and have completely integrated both aspects into and apart of CrossFit Scottsdale. I absolutely love every minute of it and know that this is what I was meant to do with my life. I had only half of the picture before. Now I have the whole thing and I like what I see! I look back and I am amazed at how far I have come in such a short amount of time and I have CrossFit and Luke to thank for that. I am so grateful that I get to motivate and teach people how to get all that CrossFit has to offer. I get to give people the tools and empower them to make their life better in anyway that they want it to be. That is what CrossFit has done for me. The biggest life lesson I’ve learned from CrossFit: Just like having to do “FRAN”….Life is going to be hard, you’re not going to like it, but you get through it all the same and are better because of it.