I live and work downtown, so I love having CrossFit Central just a few blocks away from my home and office. I have thoroughly enjoyed the great coaches and CrossFit Central community over the past three years. CrossFit Central has definitely added to the great quality of life in Austin.

I have played sports my entire life, so fitness has always been important to me. Throughout my life I have generally kept in good shape, but I haven’t been in great shape since I was in my early 30s. I have had ongoing lower back problems and very stiff shoulders for a very long time. I figured that was just life and the way my body was built.

Since joining CrossFit Central, I have dramatically improved the way I approach fitness and nutrition. I have had dozens of CrossFit coaches over the years but the coaches at CrossFit Central were the first to identify my stiff shoulders as a problem and, more importantly, had a solution. My poor body alignment was causing my lower back problems and my immobile shoulders were making it difficult to strengthen my back. I couldn’t do any overhead lifts properly and I was going to continue to get injured. I have worked extensively with Big Mike on shoulder flexibility and activation in the gym, and he also recommended doing weekly myofascial release massages and dry needling to help loosen my stiff shoulders and restore my range of motion.

I have also taken advantage of CrossFit Central’s Fire and Ice Program to improve recovery. I never thought it was possible to improve my shoulders, but over the past three months, my shoulder mobility has improved 13 degrees and I am starting to be able to do overhead lifts with proper form.

I participated in the I Am CrossFit program to learn more about nutrition and get leaner. I started the program in January at 11.4% body fat, which I figured was fine and didn’t think it was possible to get lower than 10%. Coach Chris put me on a high protein, high fat and low carb zone diet plan. I was shocked he would put me on a high fat diet since I was trying to lose fat but it worked. Changing my nutrition gave me more energy during my workouts and throughout the day. I started working out first thing in the morning which makes me more mentally alert throughout the day. I also think my body was recovering faster as I was able to start doing four classes per week instead of just two. The most shocking change was that I dropped to 7.2% body fat in April and by June I was down to 6.3% body fat while increasing my muscle mass. Coach Chris and the CrossFit Central I Am CrossFit program gave me the knowledge and tools to dial in my nutrition and achieve results I never thought possible.

One of the benefits of these CrossFit Central programs that I am most proud of is being able to share what I have learned about nutrition with my parents to help them maintain their strength, energy and active lifestyle and be a good role model to my ten nieces and nephews.