I joined CrossFit Central because I was looking to join an actual CrossFit box when I moved to Austin. Prior to CC I lived in Lawrence, KS and worked out with my best buddy Reese. We would workout in his car port, and a local gym when it got below 20 in the winter. I have lots of great memories doing deadlifts in the snow, or doing Fran when it would be thunder and lightning out. But we were working on our own, and we had been following the main site for probably four to five months before we really understood the ‘time’ component of CrossFit. We went from doing Fran in 20 minutes, to doing Fran in 7 minutes (at a scaled weight) and ‘Whoa!’ that’s different. So when I decided to move to Austin, I was very excited to join an actual Box and see what effect it would have.

I lost 40 pounds and 16.4% body fat!

I have now progressed to RedBlack Gym and have put on an additional 30 pounds of muscle.

If you thought I was a positive person before CrossFit Central, then you haven’t seen the new level.Being around the CrossFit Central community has elevated me to a new level. I absolutely love that I am surrounded by positive people who are making change in their lives. I love listening to Carey Kepler and Jeremy Thiel talk about imagining big changes and then doing them. I love watching them challenge their coaches with that same attitude. I honestly just feed off it. I have always been a big believer in the idea that if you can dream it you can achieve it, so its awesome to be around others that are like that.

I continue to struggle with the mental barrier that I can’t do this because I am weak or not ‘in shape’ enough. This has come from a lifetime of thinking that of myself and holding myself to ridiculous standards. But I find that all of my training has given me new mental tools in the ability to not give up until a job is done (after all I am not doing Karen) and given me confidence in myself. I still have a long way to go in this regard, but my Coach and recently my participation in competitions is starting to give me new sources of confidence.