I had been joining and quitting local gyms for at least 10 years. I would do better when there was some type of program where I received some instruction and coaching. Those programs never lasted very long and I would be left just showing up at the gym and trying to figure out what to do next. I purchased several workout programs online and would stick with them for a while but they always involved weight machines and I am not a very good self motivator. I had just gotten back from a week in St. John with good friends. I had not been doing any type of exercise program for at least 6 months. I think I weighed somewhere around 235 and felt miserable. Looking back at pictures from that vacation I did not like the way I looked. On Sunday September 13, 2015 I was watching 60 Minutes, they were showing a rerun of King of CrossFit with Greg Glassman. I told myself this is something I could do so I googled the CrossFit boxes in Peachtree City and called CrossFit PTC the next morning and set up an appointment to stop by and find out more.
I met with Andrea on September 29th and she told me how CrossFit worked. She did some baseline testing and I remember she had to hold my feet so I could do the few sit-ups that I did. I signed up and came to my first CrossFit class at 8:00AM the next day. I remember being impressed by how friendly everybody was and how they all introduced themselves to me. I am a little shy and took a while warming up to everyone. I knew nothing and remember asking what a WOD was. Like most things I do I jumped in head first and signed up for my first nutrition challenge 2 weeks later. I have done several of their nutrition challenges and would lose weight but always seemed to gain some back when I fell back into old eating habits. My first year after joining CrossFit I had butterflies before almost every workout. I would worry that I would not be able to do the workout or even scale it. I kept coming back seeing small improvements in weight lifting but almost no improvement in gymnastic skills. I was content to scale every workout and finish near the bottom of the whiteboard. I was talked into doing a half Murph the next year bymy CF friends. I scaled it doing ring rows and of course not wearing the vest. I thought I would never get those last few push-ups in. I vowed to do better the next year.
Early in 2017 I was asked to be part of a team that was going to do a competition at South Cobb CrossFit. I was apprehensive at first and did not feel I could keep up with those guys. They convinced me I could benefit the team so I agreed. That was when I started really putting in the extra time to improve my fitness level. I did not want to let the team down. I started coming in early for the workouts and working on GHD sit-ups, rowing and other movements that I would be doing in the competition. I improved in the things I was practicing and feel like I contributed my share to the team. That year I did a full Murph using a band for pull-ups and did not suffer as much through the push-ups as I had the previous year.
Several nutrition challenges later and after much coaching (diet, lifting and gymnastics) from the CrossFit PTC coaches, I have lost 40 lbs and my fitness level has improved drastically. I did my second competition in 2018 which I enjoyed. I have mastered many of the CrossFit skills and with some more classes and time I hope to master them all. The 2 bigs ones left are muscle-ups and hand stand push-ups. I have made many close friends at CrossFit and couldn’t imagine my life without CrossFit PTC. When people ask me why I put myself through these tough workouts I tell them “so I can be at my Granddaughter Lauren’s wedding and not be in a wheelchair”. I owe so much to Ric Thompson and all the coaches at CrossFit PTC. You have made my life so much better.
