WEDNESDAY WINS!
Today we one of the busiest and best guys we know. He’s got his hands full as dad of FOUR with a demanding job… and recently made the commitment to himself to get healthy. And not only is it working, it is impacting his family as well! At 7 weeks in, he did our in-house competition. And when we set up the 100K rowing challenge between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, he upped the ante and went for 200K. He’s driven. He’s seeing amazing gains. And we are in awe of him. We asked Corey to tell us a bit about his CrossFit journey and how it has affected life inside AND outside the box.
“Since joining CrossFit, I’ve started to remember why I enjoyed being in sports during high school. Between running cross country and wrestling, I was always constantly trying to push myself to achieve new goals. Once I went off to college, I didn’t have that constant drive to push myself in competition. After college, I ran through multiple gym memberships. I’d go consistently for a few months, but then the time between each visit would grow large — and I’d start to grow large as well.
After moving to Maryland, and at the suggestion of a friend of mine, I started CrossFit as part of the Men’s Challenge at the Cove. During the Challenge, I realized I missed that constant drive I had to push myself and do better every day that I had when I was in high school. Having that drive is what lead me to do the in-house competition (Clash at the Cove) in October even though I was only 6 or 7 weeks into CrossFit. And it also got me to do the 200k meters of rowing in a month.
The other thing that I’ve truly enjoyed gaining from CrossFit is the fact that I always look forward to going to the gym. Even on days when I don’t feel like doing the WOD, I still wake up and drag my butt into the box because I know that it’s a chance for me to improve myself both physically and mental.
Outside of the gym, the biggest two gains that I’ve seen is the fact that I’m less tired at work, and the change in my eating habits. When I initially began this, I would have told you that you were crazy if you told me I’d be waking up at 4:30A on a regular basis to get into the box for a 5:30A workout and not be tired at work at 3PM. I typically work 10-12 hours a day/5 days a week. Before I started CrossFit, I would have energy issues on getting through the week. There would be multiple occurrences where it would be Wednesday and I would be dog-tired and wonder how I was going to get through the rest of the week at work. Since I’ve been at the Cove, I haven’t had any weeks in recent memory where I’ve struggled with getting through my work week.
Additionally the extra energy also allows me to chase my 4 kiddos around more often without becoming tired (which is a win in my category). My involvement with CrossFit as well as the Cove’s “CrossFit Family”classes, has made my kids become interested in CrossFit too. I’m constantly getting asked on a weekly basis of when the next day will be. By the way when will the next class Marina? 😉
The other thing that I’ve gained from this experience, is the change in my eating habits. I refuse to call it a diet because in mainstream culture a diet typically makes it seem like it’s going to be a short term thing. Prior to starting CrossFit, I already had modified my eating habits due to one of my kids having food allergies to gluten and food coloring. But since joining, I’ve even modified it more as I try and follow the paleo diet on a more strict basis. That doesn’t mean I don’t have days where I cheat, and believe me there are days when I do. The biggest thing is I don’t let that one day turn into a habit.
It’s the old football adage of bend but don’t break.”
SKILL WOD
8 Reps Single Arm KB Row (use a bench, 8 per arm)
30 Second Weighted High Plank
4 Rounds
WOD
6 Rounds of:
1 Minute of Rowing (calories)
1 Minute of Burpees
1 Minute of Double-Unders
1 Minute Rest
Score = Total Reps
Corey and his “dance troupe” warm up for the Holiday 12 Days of Christmas WOD
