April Athlete of the Month || Michael Habib!!
State your Name and/or Nickname please:
Michael Habib
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Words to live by?
Live according to nature, follow her laws, respect her will, appreciate her balance.
What is your fitness background?
I usually say soccer and gym, but I’ll get a little more detailed. So, for the most part, until I was about 14, it was only soccer. I sometimes joined my sister at her gymnastics / tumbling classes, but that was just a couple of times. At 14, I decided to get a gym membership and started doing more strength training there. Halfway through high school, my best friend, who was the wrestling team captain, asked me to join them for summer training and tournaments. So I did that, along with some MMA and Jiu-Jitsu training with him. Toward the end of high school, I was dating someone on the cheer team, so I spent a good chunk of time in those gyms doing more tumbling-type things. Fast forward a little, things got really interesting when some random guy at the gym asked me to work out with his calisthenics group at Santa Monica Pier. It turns out that this group was led by Chuck Gaylord, who was a pretty up there gymnast. He is also the brother and former coach of Mitch Gaylord, who was on the 84 Olympics gymnastics team and would sometimes stop by. Even more random, Tony Horton (P90X guy), who was friends with Chuck, would sometimes come by and lead the core exercises. That lasted about a year and a half until I started college. In college, I met and became friends with a lot of bodybuilders. So bodybuilding became my main focus for the one too many years I was there. If you are ever in SoCal, check out the Gold’s Gym in Venice; it’s a cool experience being there. I also did do Jui-Jitsu again, but that didn’t last too long, maybe a year or so. After college, things got pretty boring. I didn’t really workout anymore and was mostly off until about two years ago. And finally, last January, I joined CFA!
How long have you been CrossFitting?
It’ll be a year and just about 4 months now.
Take us back to your first day of CrossFit… How did you feel? How do you compare it to workouts today?
I remember feeling really excited to be there. I love learning/trying new things, so it was fun to scratch that itch with CrossFit/Weightlifting. I also remember feeling humbled cuz I barely did “fitness” level and still got my ass kicked. Compared to today, I’m definitely a lot more comfortable and stronger than I was, so that’s nice.
What’s your favorite part of CrossFit Austin?
The people. Coaching staff and members. The coaches always impress me with their care and desire to see you succeed. And everyone is generally so friendly and nice. Which is something my wife and I are still getting used to coming from LA/Boston.
Current Training Goals/PRs?
So kinda looks like this in my head:
Year 1: Technique
Year 2: Endurance
Year 3: Putting it together
Year 4: Start wiping the floor with some of the ppl I look up to at the gym 🙂
Year 5+: repeat the above at much smaller cycles
What advice do you have for folks just starting out in CrossFit?
Couple things:
1. Be a good student, leave your ego at home, listen to your coaches, and focus.
- You can’t cheat time, going 2-3 times a day will not get you to your goals 2-3 times faster.
- Be patient, go to work, and don’t lift your head up too often. Things take time.
- Have fun but don’t waste your time.
How do you balance staying focused in your training when life gets busy?
Fitness/Health is non-negotiable for me. I’ll find the time to go, even if that means doing an open gym or even going to another gym if the timing doesn’t work out.
What is your cheat meal go-to?
I don’t really have a cheat meal, but when I “cheat”, it usually means I eat a crazy amount of food—like having pounds of BBQ to myself, for example.
How do you use your fitness outside of the gym?
Mostly, it’s to carry my son in one arm and all the groceries in the other. We used to live on the third floor of an apartment, so that was fun, but I’m glad that’s over.
What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your fitness journey?
I’d say my injuries, particularly when I tore my tricep in the middle of 2022. But after that, I changed so many things about my fitness to focus on mobility, sustainability, etc., so it ended up being something good in the long run.
Tell us about a moment you felt most proud of yourself during a workout.
I always feel proud when I can get a PR on my weightlifting lifts. Recently, I’ve also felt proud to be able to go through a Hyrox workout without feeling too dead.
If you could create a WOD and name it for yourself, what would it be?
Everybody Wanna Be a BodyBuilder:
3 RFT
15 Back squats 315/225
15 Bent over row 225/155
15 Military Press 135/95
15 Deadlifts 315/225
50M Farmer Carry 110/55
What keeps you going on the days you don’t feel like it?
That’s an interesting question for me because I feel my emotions are completely irrelevant when it comes to matters I label as duty, such as fitness, health, family, and so on. So, I guess to answer the question, my sense of duty.
What are your hobbies, interests and/or talents outside of CrossFit?
I don’t really have hobbies, But I love going out to eat with the fam, watch music/comedy/shows, party/dance a little with my wife. I’m also pretty much always on my computer. I love learning and messing around with most things related to software. Back when we had the Triib app, there were only two weightlifting sessions for the week, so whenever the window to RSVP opened, you’d have all these people with alarms on their phones taking up the spots. That annoyed me, so I built a bot that RSVPed to those classes for me within milliseconds. So, by the time people even got to their phones, I already had a spot in the class. I enjoy doing little projects like that etc.
Tell us something we don’t know about you…
I was born in Mexico and just got my citizenship last year. Thanks babe!
Leave the fine folks of CrossFit Austin with some parting words…
The beautiful thing about this game of life is that you tend to get what you give. So, no matter your circumstances, never stop giving.