Upper East Side

How/when did you get involved in CrossFit? What has motivated you to stick with it?
I’d been wanting to try CrossFit for a few months just from hearing about it. I saw the sign for CF UES coming soon one day when I was walking home, and I went home and Googled it, found an email address, and emailed right away. I started in August 2012 and haven’t looked back since. I’ve always enjoyed working out, but CF brought me back to my competitive days as an athlete and that’s been enough motivation to stick around and work on the next goal.

What do you enjoy most about being a member at EVF?
I think the community we’ve been able to build over the last few years is amazing. Working out with a bunch of friends makes me feel like I’m playing a team sport again. It’s great to have people pushing you every day.

Do you remember your first workout? Looking back how did it go?
My first real CrossFit workout was Annie. I thought I did pretty well, but we repeated it a few weeks later and my time improved so much I couldn’t believe how out of shape I had been pre-CF. It also pushed me to get those double unders down!

What were your goals when you first started? How have they changed?
When I first started I was pretty focused on wanting to do every move and do it Rx. Over time, I got my ego in check and my goals now really revolve around making sure I’m doing the movements correctly and not worrying about the weight so much. I listen to the coaches a lot more and ask their opinions non-stop. They’re the coaches for a reason!

How have you grown in that time — health, body, mind, etc.?
If you’re really lucky you’ll let what you learn from CF roll over into your everyday life.I have so much more confidence in everything I do. I think walking into a CrossFit workout thinking “I’ll never be able to do that” and then walking out an hour later thinking “Wow, I’m kind of amazing” really helps you realize that you can do all sorts of things you never realized if you just go for it.

Favorite lift and WOD?
Favorite lift is, of course, a deadlift. And my favorite WOD is Fight Gone Bad (maybe we can see this one sometime soon pretty please?!).

Least favorite movement and workout?
I hate burpees because everyone’s so fast and it makes me jealous. Least favorite workout is Fran and I can’t even do pull-ups yet. I dread the day I finally do Fran Rx — I’ll probably die.

What drives you through the door each day?
I genuinely love working out and know how important being healthy is. It certainly helps to walk in to a bunch of friends and coaches that I actually like seeing and catching up with.

Do you have any advice for new members?
If you’re not having fun you’re not doing it right. Don’t worry about Rx and what everyone else around you is doing. Ask the coaches and listen to their advice. And you should definitely smile all the time (it’s contagious).

What do you hope to achieve in the coming year?
A few pull-ups would be really great, but I’d really just like to see small improvements everywhere and no injuries. And some new friends of course.