1. How long have you been Crossfitting? 3 1/2 years

2. What is your occupation? I manage procurement of brewing and packaging materials for several brands for Pabst Brewing Company.

3. Where are you from? Born and bred in Texas, bouncing around Dallas and surrounding suburbs the entire time.

4. How did you hear about CrossFit Strong? I was looking for a new gym that made more sense from a distance perspective between home and work, and that could also help me continue to grow and improve at Crossfit and all related things. A friend of mine knew of Strong and pointed me this direction. I showed up for a test class, and everything went so well, I didn’t want to go anywhere else but Strong.

5. How have you seen yourself change – mentally or physically – since being a part of CFS? The vibe at Strong is infectious, and it’s so much fun to come to class. When the workout looks like something awful, or has movements I know I’m not great at, I’m still motivated to come to class and enjoy all of the awfulness with everyone else that came to class. I’m also entirely obsessed with the Oly weightlifting class, my whole week is better when I get to be a part of that class and work on those skill sets, I can see a difference in so many different aspects of how I attack and accomplish movements.

6. What is your favorite move? Power clean all the things!

7. What is your least favorite move? Pistols, by far.

8. What has been your favorite WOD so far? We did a workout a couple of months ago with heavy cleans and sprints on the bike, which is normally something I despise, but I ended up really enjoying the workout overall.

9. What has been your least favorite WOD? Anything that ends in double unders. 

10. What are some of your goals that you have for yourself in the next year? The list doesn’t really end, but I’d like to be able to do a full snatch at 100lbs, power clean 180, deadlift 275, figure out butterfly pull ups, handstand walks, and try to get my first bar muscle up.

 

11. How do you see CrossFit as different from other programs? I think the main differentiation between Crossfit and other weight programs is the team atmosphere, of everyone slogging through a WOD together, and the flexibility and variability of movements. I do weight training on my own with a powerlifting coach, and while that program is extremely helpful and does what I need it to for strength, I enjoy the Crossfit WOD’s because they force me to do movements I might not be comfortable with, in front of and with other people. It provides an opportunity to learn, and a motivation that a team sport person like myself really depends on.

12. Did you think a sport of elite fitness would ever be for you? I started Crossfit to get into better shape and be stronger so I could play more soccer. Soccer is pretty much my motivation for everything. My goal is to play soccer as long as I can, safely, and after that is no longer an option, I can imagine I’ll be looking to get more heavily involved in olympic lifting and other competitive sections of this whole fitness world. 

13. How can other people relate to your story? I’m competitive and dislike doing things I’m bad at in front of people. Everything was difficult and confusing at the beginning, and I didn’t think I’d ever understand the instructions on these complicated movements or remember what the difference was between a power and a hang, or how you’re not supposed to lift things with your arms and use your legs, or how to calculate lbs vs kg in your head (still can’t do this), but I saw a difference in my mood and my body that made all the difference trying to be a human on a daily basis and it’s worth coming back to the gym every day for that. 

 

14. What is the dumbest thing you have heard at CFS? Someone screaming “Why is it so hot?!” in the middle of an open air gym in May in Texas….

15. What is the funniest thing you have seen done at CFS? Dimara spending a sprint WOD trying to ask Kim questions so that she had less time to row and Kim subsequently running away from her so she couldn’t ask more questions, made me laugh enough that I couldn’t row fast enough to finish one of the sections. I didn’t mind.  🙂

 

16. What is your most memorable moment here? Setting new PR’s for back squat, press and deadlifts in one day because told me I had to keep putting more weight on the bar was pretty neat.