August’s Athlete of the Month: Greg Pepin!

State your Name and/or Nickname please:

Greg Pepin. A few people call me GP or GPep. Miguel has tried to get Pepino to stick, but luckily that hasn’t caught on.

Words to live by?

Lately I’ve kind of latched onto the saying “if you want to go quickly, go by yourself — if you want to go farther, go in a group.” It’s something I’ve said a few times to my teammates here at CFA and it’s something I really believe in. If people work together toward a collective goal, pretty much anything can be achieved. Other than that, I really just try to do right by people and enjoy myself whenever possible.

What is your fitness background?

I’ve played sports for as long as I can remember. Baseball, golf and basketball were the one’s I really excelled at as a kid. Baseball was my first love and I played all the way through high school (same with golf). It wasn’t until college that I found the weight room, sports had kept me in shape up until then. Like most college kids I knew very little about weightlifting, so the workouts tended to focus on the glamour muscles (lots of curls in those days). Before CrossFit I was lifting weights 3 to 4 times a week and running. This kept me in shape but didn’t really give me an outlet for my competitive drive.

How long have you been CrossFitting?

I started CrossFit almost three years ago when I was still living in Miami. My sister had been doing it for a little while and kept telling me to check it out. I saw the positive impact it was having on her and the kind of shape it was getting her into. I couldn’t let my little sister get stronger than me (side note: pound for pound she probably is stronger than me. She’s kind of a badass when it comes to CrossFit), so I finally checked out a class. I was hooked after the first week. I found CFA shortly after moving to Austin and I’ve been here pretty much every day since.

 What’s your favorite part of CrossFit Austin? 

The people. When you sign up you think you’re joining a gym. Maybe you’ll lose some weight, who knows you might even uncover that six pack beneath that layer of “insulation” you’ve been hiding it under. What you’re actually doing is joining a community. I’ve been lucky enough to meet some really great people through CFA. People who motivate and inspire me. People who have become family. I’m really grateful that I get to train with people who make such hard work enjoyable.

What are your training goals?

Ultimately the goal is to keep getting better everyday, but I do have three pretty specific training goals at the moment. I’m putting these out there so everyone at CFA can keep me honest.

1.) To increase my snatch to 200+ pounds by my birthday (Oct. 31). I’m currently at 185 and just missed 195 last week. I’m feeling pretty confident about this one.

2.) To go to Regionals in 2014 on a team. This one’s going to be tough. There are a lot of really talented athletes at CFA and if we all keep putting in the kind of work we have been recently, the competition for the team is going to be pretty fierce.

3.) To qualify for Regionals as an individual in 2015. This one might be a pipe dream. Regionals 2015 are a long way out, and I still don’t know if it’s enough time to get my fitness to where it would need to be. That being said, this would be a huge achievement for me in this sport and it’s something I keep in the back of my mind when I train.

Favorite sport or activity?

Surfing, though I haven’t had the opportunity to paddle out in quite some time. Texas is not known for its waves.

Recent adventure you’re planning?

Hopefully there will be a vacation in my future. Recently I’ve been looking into renting a place on a beach somewhere with some good surf. Maybe I’ll pull the trigger on that soon. Nothing imminent though.

Tell us something we don’t know about you…

I’ve wanted to be a writer since college. I’m a huge TV and film guy and the hope is to one day write a pilot or screenplay that I like enough to actually try and get it made.

Longhorns or Aggies?

Neither… I love football, but growing up in NH there really wasn’t a decent program near me to follow and I went to a school, Rollins College, that didn’t have a football team. I watch just enough college football to be prepared for the NFL draft.

Greg, it is well known that you are extremely efficient in all facets or your life. Whats the key to an efficient and timely workout at the gym?

Someone has to keep these guys on track, otherwise we would be there all night. One thing I’ve found that helps speed up a workout is to make sure Alex Gold and Alex Janss are not working out near each other (I couldn’t resist… you both know this is true).

Leave the fine folks of CrossFit Austin with some parting words…

You get out of this what you put in. It’s as simple as that. Coming in here day after day and pushing yourself both physically and mentally is not easy. There are days where I just don’t want to do the work. The key is to just stay focused on your goals and why you’re training in the first place. When you start seeing results and hitting those PR’s it’s all worth it. I love what I’m doing here at CFA and I couldn’t do it without everyone’s help. Can’t wait to see all we accomplish together.