Our Story

Tony Koens 

Founder of TImberwolf CrossFit 2011, 

Founder Timberwolf CrossFit North 2014 

CF Games Team captain 2014 

CF Games Team coach 2016 

CF Games Team captain 2017 

2018 Master Weightlifting World championship 5th place 

2019 Master Weightlifting World championship 5th place 

2020 Survived Covid 

CF Games Team coach 2021 

In 2011 my wife Laura and I moved from Salt Lake City to St. Paul Mn with our 1 year old daughter and 2 year old son to open Timberwolf CrossFit. We were poor. My wife was in college full time, I was working a labor job for low pay. We were literally living in a crappy basement apartment below college kids while raising 2 babies. 

When we got to St. Paul we moved in with my aunt. To get started I cashed in my 401k from my previous job and sold anything of value I didn’t need. We had $15k to get started. 

We found a small space in a dark ugly building. I collected scrap steel to make a rig and bought second hand equipment.  From there we opened. I coached every class every day for the first 12 months. I had no idea what I was doing, I just knew I loved coaching and was set on making it. At the end of 12 months we were barely making enough to cover our bills and  I was getting burnt out. 

I had a small group of very loyal clients. I announced that we were really struggling and came up with some marketing ideas using them to help spread the word. They were all for it. 

I implemented some new marketing techniques and from there we grew quickly, by the end of year 2 we were doing well and still growing.

In 2014 we decided to keep expanding and opened our 2nd location. Timberwolf CrossFit North located 20 minutes north of our original spot. This time I had more of a budget and knew what I was doing. By the end of month 1 we had enough members to cover our rent on that spot. By month 4 we were making money and the community was coming together. From there we continued to grow, build the community and develop programs for our coaches and members. 

In 2015 we moved our original location to a bigger building. In 2016 we expanded again to neighboring space.  In 2017 we had outgrown our space at our 2nd gym and moved that to a larger spot.  From there we continued to operate and focused on building group of the best coaches in the midwest. 

The Pandemic: It was rough on everyone. Gyms were closing all over the country. For us it was not as bad as most gyms. In fact of all the gyms owners I talked to it seemed we had it the best. Why? Because from day 1 we were transparent about how we operate and the focus was on the community. The community saved us. We were closed down for 4 months in 2020 and limited the rest of the year. We borrowed out equipment to members, we continued to pay our coaches and did what we could to provide for our members. Some had to quit or put accounts on hold but others stepped up offering  to pay more even though they were not able to attend classes. 

In 2021 my wife and I decided to move to San Diego. The -20 degree winters were killing us and my wife had been away from her family for over 10 years.  At this point the gyms were running themselves. We had managers and coaches in place. We knew though that eventually what we built would suffer without the owners being involved. We had already sold our 2nd location to one of our coaches in 2019. We decided to sell our original location to another one of our coaches. It was a hard decision. Both gyms continue to flourish and we have great relationships with them still. 

After the move to San Diego we spent the first year remodeling our house. I bought into a small barbell company and have been helping them grow. Over the years I have consulted for friends  and former  coaches that have gone on to open their own boxes. Now I sit with this knowledge from my 10 years of running gyms and want to share it so the next logical step seems to start a consulting business.