Once Upon a Time…

For some time I have wanted to share with everyone my experiences in training with
Aimee and CrossFit in general. A lot of you reading this have been with me since the
beginning and may have noticed my personal changes first hand but I wanted to reach out
to all of the newer members and show them what they can accomplish with some hard
work. I have attached four really embarrassing pictures that were taken up to one year
before I attempted my first CrossFit class. At my peak, I was an impressive 252 pounds
and an even more massive 38.9% body fat. I remember these numbers very distinctly
because in my mind, I tried to convince myself that they were average for someone my
height (5’8’’). It was not until one of our members (Dave Z) made photography his
career and started taking tons of pictures did I realize just how far I had declined and just
how many chins I had developed. I became disgusted to look at myself in pictures and if
possible, I tried to avoid the lens. For those of you getting to know Dave, you will soon
learn how impossible that is.

Before getting into everything, I think a small history lesson is appropriate as some of
you may be able to relate to parts of it. Being overweight is something that just sneaks
up on you. When I graduated high school, I weighed 165 pounds. I was always
extremely active since I was training for soccer or volleyball year round. I was able to
eat whatever I wanted and keep the weight off. When I went off to college, I decided to
try out, as a walk on, for the D1 soccer team. Long story short, I didn’t make the cut and
with that, my physical activity plummeted to next to nothing. Eventually my horrific
eating habits caught up to me and I managed to put on 30 pounds in one year. I had
heard of the freshman 15 but 30 seemed a bit ridiculous, but none of that mattered
because I had a girlfriend and she loved me for who I was, right? Throughout my 4
years I steadily fell into a comfort zone and the pounds just kept adding up. After college
I decided to go to graduate school and the stress of the program combined with the stress
of a 7-year relationship coming to an end pushed me to new heights. It really was a
never-ending cycle…I was stressed and sad so I ate and drank heavily and as the weight
poured on, I became sadder, thus eating and drinking more. Luckily I still had a morsel
of resolve. I had a number in my head and I vowed that if I ever weighed more than that,
I would change. That number was 250 pounds. It was the first time I would reach that
weight.

I was lucky in the fact that I had a good support system (sound familiar?)…my roommate
at the time was one of my best friends and he said that he would like to improve his
health since his mother and father were extremely obese and he did not want to end up
like them. We did what everyone too embarrassed to go to the gym does…buy a
BowFlex. To their credit, I used their machine like it was the only thing that would keep
me alive and I ate exactly what they told me to eat. In the first year, we both saw extreme
improvements in our physical condition and I managed to drop 30 pounds. How much of
that was just a result of eating healthier I will never know. My muscles were getting
bigger but I still had very little endurance. Just when things were starting to pick up and
people were starting to comment that they could tell I was losing weight, the
unimaginable happened, my best friend was tragically taken away from us as a result of a
genetic heart disorder. Not only had I lost my best friend, I lost the only person that was
pushing me to improve myself. As you may imagine, working out after that was just not
the same because I was not pushing myself against someone else, so I took the easy way
out…I stopped working out and my BowFlex became a coat rack for many years to
come. Not surprisingly, the weight immediately came back on as my exercise and diet
quickly deteriorated. This was the second time I hit the 250 plateau and it brings us to
2007.

I knew I needed to do something so I tried to stop eating fast food and I focused on Lean
Cuisines because they have to be good for you, right? I am sad to admit that there were
times when I had fast food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Miraculously, thanks to
Lance Armstrong, I developed a love for biking and I rode around town and I enjoyed
going to my complex’s gym to ride the stationary. Again, as a result of doing something
and eating less, I managed to drop 20 pounds and that is when I met Aimee. On our first
date, I weighed in at around 230 pounds, which is roughly how much I weighed in our
engagement pictures that you have seen and how much I weighed on my first CrossFit
class in June of 2008. As embarrassing as it is, please note how much of a belly I have in
the one engagement picture. My gut is actually hanging over my belt. How attractive!

Enter CrossFit. My first class was Chelsea. For those of you that may not know, Chelsea
is 5,10,15 (Pull-ups, Push-ups, Squats) on the minute for 30 minutes. Your score is how
many minutes you can go completing each of the exercises and then how many rounds
you finish in the remaining time. My score was 2/3. So I was able to complete the reps
for the first two minutes and in the remaining 28 minutes, I only completed 3 rounds.
That was where I was at in my physical state. When I came home, I could not raise my
hands to touch my face. Some people may be thinking well at least it was Rx, well you
would be extremely mistaken. When I first started CrossFit, I could not even do one pull-
up with the black band. The score that you see was achieved by performing jumping
pull-ups, no-where near chest to deck push-ups, and some of the ugliest squats you have
ever seen in your life. I only wish we had some of my earlier workouts on video for
everyone to see.

After a few workouts, I managed to move to the black band where I continued to struggle
for many months. However, I watched Aimee practicing her kipping pull-ups and I was
determined to learn as she learned. I not only studied how Aimee was teaching herself
but I watched the videos on the main-site endlessly until I felt I was ready. On a
weekend afternoon, I went to the FAC and practiced pull-ups until my hands bled and
then I practiced some more. I was determined not to leave until I was able to do one.
After a long and difficult day, I was able to do my first kipping pull-up and at that point
in time, I did not even feel the tears in my hands. You do one and you only want to do
more. They are initially addictive.

Over the following months, I continued to CrossFit using the 3 on, 1 off technique and
the results became evident. In the chart below, I have listed some of the benchmark girls
and my improvements since I have been working with Aimee. As a scientist, I am pretty
sure that the data is irrefutable.
Fran 7/30/08 9/15/08 11/3/08 12/6/08 7/?/09 8/6/09
8:43 21:35 9:39 8:30 5:40 6:06
Black/65# Rx Rx Rx Rx Rx

Nancy 7/22/08 9/24/08 3/23/09 6/1/09

23:55 20:15 17:56 17:26
30# 65# Rx Rx

Grace 1/7/09 4/8/09 7/5/09

7:57 4:45 4:25
Rx Rx Rx

Helen 10/23/08 1/30/09 7/18/09

18:30 15:17 12:40
Rx Rx Rx

Karen 8/11/08 12/8/08 6/17/09

16:54 10:05 7:24
Rx Rx Rx

Chelsea 1st Workout Last Workout

2/3 6/12

The great thing about this and the main reason that I wanted to share with the group is
that if I can do this, anyone can. I am fortunate enough to be married to Aimee so when
she cooks, I get the benefit of eating healthy. Am I perfectly zoned, no…but am I zonish
at dinner, yes. Unfortunately, I love beer and I still eat cereal every morning (NOT
Zonish) but that is something that I hope to change. I am also very human, meaning that
I have urges to drink soda and eat Swedish Fish and at times I satisfy those urges. The
great part is that every once in awhile, if you are CrossFitting, it is okay if you fall off the
wagon, just make sure you pick yourself up and get back on.

Words cannot possibly begin to describe how happy I am that Aimee walked into my life.
Unselfishly and unknowingly, she easily added years to my life. Now I am on a path that
I get to share with each and every one of you and again, unknowingly, many of you push
me to achieve new heights. Thank you very, very much. Today, I weigh in at 197
pounds and my body fat on Saturday was 24.1%. I still have a LONG way to go but to
date, I have lost over 30 pounds and I have decreased my body fat by 14%. I am also
down 4 pants sizes and 5 belt loops. This weekend, I purchased a pair of shorts with a 34
waist for the first time in a decade. As we approach our second no sugar challenge, I am
going to attempt to zone (weigh and measure) for the entire month. I am sure in doing so,
I will see my performance skyrocket and I hope you will do the same while seeing the
same results.
A work in progress…