CrossFit box's in Lubbock Texas and a proper cool down

While visiting family here in Lubbock Texas I wanted to visit a CrossFit box. There were 7 to choose from:

Flatland CrossFit
CrossFit Throne
CrossFit Wild West
CrossFit Paladin
Capstone CrossFit
Compass CrossFit
Hubbcity CrossFit

I googled reviews for each CrossFit box. There was only 1 review for all 7 box’s, it was on Yelp. It was for CapStone CrossFit and it had an excellent review.

Next I called all 7 box’s and asked what the drop in policy and fees were.

-Hubbcity CF and Paladin CF didn't answer their phone, I left a couple messages with the questions I had but they never returned my calls.

-Flatland CF and CF Wild West was $15 for my wife, $15 for myself ($30 total) for the entire time I was visiting Lubbock, or the purchase of a shirt ($20).

-CF Throne was $20 per day per weekday visit, Saturdays workout was offered free. $80 for the 3 days for my wife and I.

-Capstone CF was $13 per day per person $78 for my wife and for all 3 days.

-And Compass CF said if I was a member of a box anywhere else in the world we could attend their box for free as long as I was visiting Lubbock.

We chose Compass CrossFit. My cousin Greg went with me the first day. Even though he wasn’t a member of a box anywhere else they still let him workout for free. The members were extremely friendly and welcoming, the workout was great, and the trainer (Tim) was friendly and informative. He took the time to explain the workout, the proper form of all the exercises before the workout began. He spent some extra time explaining things to my cousin since he was a CF virgin.

Compass CrossFit had a couple things I'd never seen before, their clock not only had a timer but also tracked the rounds completed. Post workout the gym members kept track of their workouts on wodify, I'd always tracked my workouts old school on a pad of paper. I like the idea of my WOD being recorded online where I can look at it anytime or compare previous workouts. I think once I get home I'm going to start an account with Wodify.

After the workout they had all of us do a cool down 400 meter jog. I've been wanting to start doing a cool down on my own post WOD. Instead of stopping completely from an intense aerobic or strength training session it is very important to slow down gradually for about 5 minutes or longer. Cooling down prevents venous pooling when coronary blood flow demand is very high. In other words the heart is a very a efficient pump, its great at pushing blood to the areas being worked out. But the heart can only push blood. Of course, if you've pumped blood up to the brain, gravity will bring it back to the heart. But what about the blood in your legs, how does it get back to the heart? Not so obvious, is it? It's almost a design flaw. There ought to be two extra sub-hearts, one in each foot, to return blood to the main heart. What happens instead is that the muscles act as mini hearts. Each time a muscle contracts it pushes blood out of it and into your veins. And here's why you need to "cooldown." If you've been out running or doing a WOD, a lot of blood has been directed down to your leg muscles to support your running. If you stop exercising and just stand there or decide to sit in a chair, the muscles stop contracting. The pooled blood just stagnates there and the blood volume available for the rest of your body reaches dangerously low levels. There are some people, myself included who believe that not cooling down sufficiently over time can damage the heart. So I need to start cooling down, I haven't been. And then in theory after my cool down I should stretch. I should, but I never stretch. Never will.