For David and Kristen Miller, fitness isn’t simply a job —it’s the foundation of their life together.
The husband-and-wife team shares a home, a family, and a business as the owners of CrossFit Medford, where they’ve spent more than a decade helping people transform their health while creating a community that feels more like family than a gym.
Ironically, Dave Miller had never even heard of CrossFit when his own journey began.
“My first job out of college was as the general manager of a Planet Fitness,” he recalled. One day, two members, Mr. and Mrs. Letchford, asked if they could do CrossFit there. “I asked, ‘What is CrossFit?’ Mrs. Letchford wrote crossfit.com on a small piece of paper.”
He had no idea that note would completely change his life.
Soon, Miller immersed himself in everything CrossFit — trying every workout he could find, watching lectures from CrossFit founder Greg Glassman, and reading every article available.
“It was the first time in my life that fitness made sense to me,” he said. “I grew up as a wrestler. My dad had a gym in our basement so I worked out all the time. I lifted, I ran, I did workouts I found in Muscle & Fitness magazines — but once I found CrossFit, there was no going back to that stuff. I told Kristen we would open a gym, so we did, and it’s one of the greatest things in my life.”
Kristen was just as quick to embrace it.
The two met while attending Rider University, where Dave was a wrestler and Kristen a swimmer. After Dave introduced her to CrossFit in 2009, she says she was instantly hooked.
Before launching CrossFit Medford, Dave had already stepped into another family legacy, taking over Wrecking Crew Wrestling, the youth wrestling club founded by his father and several local dads.
CrossFit Medford began inside that wrestling facility in Lumberton before relocating to Medford in January 2013, where it has been for the last 13 years.
Describing CrossFit as a mix of gymnastics, weightlifting, and cardiovascular endurance, the Millers made sure their 5,000-square-foot studio is packed with barbells, bumper plates, dumbbells, kettlebells, rings, and mats for gymnastics, several running routes, rowers, bikes, and SkiErg (stationary cross-country skiing) machines.
“Greg Glassman defined fitness as increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains — which basically means a fit person can do more work over any duration of time with multiple types of fitness elements. In CrossFit, you can always be fitter or better. It is a never-ending journey and you keep increasing your fitness level for as long as you do it. It’s the greatest thing to happen to fitness, ever,” Dave said.
While CrossFit Medford offers personal training and nutritional guidance, its heart remains its group classes.
And Dave noted that CrossFit is truly for anyone: “For as long as we have been in business, the hardest part is walking through the door. Each class is coach-led and we will teach you proper mechanics of any of the movements that we do. The best part of CrossFit is it is universally scalable. We can alter any workout that’s on the board to create something that you can do.”
Dave serves as head coach and programmer, while Kristen coaches several classes each month. They’re joined by a dedicated coaching staff that includes Beth Pulaski, who also leads the Teen and Youth CrossFit programs, along with Lee Ann McGloughlin, Carla Mercurio, and Steve Pratt.
And one of CrossFit Medford’s biggest success stories has come from one of their own.
“Steve Pratt started with us at a point in his life where he knew he had to make a change,” Dave said. He noted Pratt, a fireman, was about 60 pounds overweight and he realized his fitness was affecting his performance on the job. After joining CrossFit, he lost that weight. “He has now run several marathons and duathlons and continues to do CrossFit, [and] run and bike all over the country,” Dave said proudly.
Dave said he’s also proud of the family atmosphere that he and his wife built. Having children ages 12 and 8 who literally grew up at the gym, he said they both understand how difficult it is for parents to get in their workouts.
“What you’ll find inside are a bunch of people just like you: teachers, lawyers, small business owners, and anyone else you can think of,” he said. “The group of people you meet inside our walls are some of the hardest-working, good, solid people who you want to surround yourself with.”
They also immerse themselves in the local community.
Dave grew up in nearby Southampton, and attended Lenape High School in Medford. His parents owned an insurance agency in Medford, so he has visited the town his entire life. His mother grew up in Birchwood Lakes under her maiden name Meyer: her uncle Bob Meyer was one of the original builders of homes in Medford, and her cousin Bobby Meyer has continued to build in Medford. Bob Meyer Memorial Park is used by the Medford Youth Athletic Association programs.
“Medford is a great town that has transformed since we started our business,” Dave said. “Our end of Main Street received a makeover around 2020. What was once an abandoned building and parking lot was renovated into a coffee shop, a BBQ restaurant, and a brewery.”
Another building is now an eatery run by one of Dave’s high school classmates.
“It’s a true family town,” Dave said. “The educational system is great and the youth sports are great, which gives families some of the best opportunities.”
