Genevieve

CFA is excited to announce that we will be hosting another guest coach for the month of July! Rebecca has been a client of or Coach Wes Kimball’s for almost 5 years now. More importantly she’s been coaching and training people to achieve their fitness goals for over 14 years! “RB” is currently a full time CrossFit coach at CrossFit Optimistic, and has been involved with CFO for the past 7 years. Rebecca will cover Monday evenings for us in the month of July!

Rebecca’s coaching background:

In her “first life” Coach Rebecca worked in the networking field for companies such as Lockheed Martin, Qwest and MCI. Unhappy with the instability of the field, she made the leap from geek to jock, and left the tech world to pursue a passion for fitness and nutrition full time. She has over a decade of fitness experience and has been a certified trainer since 2003. Rebecca loves, and is quite good at helping people incorporate fun, daily activity and healthful nutrition into their lives. She started CrossFitting in April 2010 and has found her calling, and her true home in the CrossFit community.

Rebecca holds the following certifications: CrossFit Level I and II, CrossFit Olympic Lifting, CrossFit Rowing, CrossFit Kettlebell, ISSA Certified Physical Trainer, ISSA Performance Nutrition Specialist.

Each month we spotlight a different CFA athlete who stands out and shows just how awesome they are. What is it that makes up an Athlete of the Month? It may not be the person that finishes the fastest, Rx’s every WOD, or gets a PR every time they walk in the gym. Although we love and celebrate when those things happen, the Athlete of the Month is made up of much more than physical ability. This person shows up, gives their best every time, and then gives a little more. They are hungry to learn and always ready to do the work. They support their fellow classmates and encourage them to reach their goals. This athlete embodies what we believe the CrossFit Austin Community should be about.

Our July Athlete of the Month is Daniel George! Dan joined our family in September last year. He’s an evening guy hitting up the 6:30/7:30 pm classes. Not only is Dan a great example of how drive and determination can guide you, he’s also an amazing member of this community. He’s a hard worker and a friendly face for new folks coming into the gym. Dan’s always on board for a good time with social events and has been holding it down at Tailgate Thursday 😉  We’ve enjoyed Dan’s positive attitude and watching his continuous growth and we’re excited to see him continue to progress for many more years! Dan, we are proud to have you as our July Athlete of the Month and as an awesome part of this community. Thanks for your all your hard work! Congratulations!  

State your Name and/or Nickname please:
Dan

Words to live by?
Never ever ever give up

What is your fitness background?
I swam some in high school, but It wasn’t until college that I started to care about physical fitness. I had to get into shape for the Marine Corps, so I started running, doing push ups, pull ups and crunches. From there I wanted to learn more about fitness and that’s where I came across the crossfit website.

How long have you been CrossFitting?
I’ve been crossfitting since 2009-ish. I actually started at a military affiliate, Crossfit Cherry Point, where it was all donated equipment and volunteer coaches. We had a really tight community and we were constantly learning from each other. I even got my level one certification while there!

Take us back to your first day of CrossFit… How did you feel? How do you compare it to workouts today?
My first experience with crossfit was at the military affiliate at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. I’ve attempted CF workouts on my own before that, but I had no idea what I was doing. So I would show up and get smoked checked daily. Eventually I was able to do a proper deadlift or over head squat or whatever. I think my brain has pushed out some of the more painful memories of trying to learn everything.

I will always compare my home box with the community and passion I experienced at Crossfit Cherry Point. I’m lucky to report that CFA has that same community and spirit.

What’s your favorite part of CrossFit Austin?
The community. That is the not so secret ingredient to the wild success of “Crossfit”. It encourages you, pushes you, keeps you in-check and keeps you going. I honestly wouldn’t push myself nearly as hard as when a fellow athlete is sweating and suffering alongside me or a coach not letting you give up

Current Training Goals/PRs?
I’m actually beginning to reach a few plateaus that I’ve hit already in my crossfit career. Generally, I want to break through all of that, i.e get a body weight snatch, DL 400+…really just all around strength and endurance improvements across the board.

What advice do you have for folks just starting out in CrossFit?
Refer back to my words to live by. NEVER EVER EVER GIVE UP. Also enjoy good beer on your off days.

What is your cheat meal go to?
Pizza and lots of beer.

How do you use your fitness outside of the gym?
I like to run and hike.

Tell us about a moment you felt most proud of yourself during a workout.
Doing murph this past weekend….it was hot…my the callous on my hand tore…I was reaching muscle failure but I didn’t give up and I completed Murph ‘straight through’. A fellow crossfitter even ran the last mile with me and kept me moving.

If you could create a WOD and name it for yourself, what would it be?
Dirty Dan
100 D/L at 225
100 C&J at 155
100 Push press at 135
100 D/Us

What are your hobbies, interests and/or talents outside of CrossFit?I love to travel (its a life long pursuit), being on a beach, and scuba diving.

Tell us something we don’t know about you…
I love heavy metal music! If it was up to me, I’d blast Metallica, Lamb of God, and other heavy shit out the speakers during WODs.

Longhorns or Aggies?
Longhorns I guess!

Leave the fine folks of CrossFit Austin with some parting words…
Choose yourself. Its easy to accept meritocracy or bad things that life might through at you. But you can choose to invest in yourself and become a better all around person.

Here at CFA our goal is to push people outside their comfort zone to pursue a great life. While there are many factors to achieving a great life we believe we can have a meaningful impact in three primart areas. Providing a supportive community of fun likeminded people, a lifelong pursuit of fitness that improves ones physical, mental, and spiritual being, and an attitude of adventure to explore this world.  Today we start our “Adventure Series” to highlight members that embody that spirit of adventure, and use the tools they hone daily in the gym to explore the beauty and tranquility of this world! 

Max McGregor || Iceland

What’s up CFA – here I sit contemplating where to start on this piece Wes asked me to write about my experiences earlier this month. Our fearless leader has a long term goal of encouraging all of us to utilize our fitness outside of the gym, and it looks like I might’ve unintentionally, although very happily, modeled the behavior he’s looking for from our community.

Earlier in June I spent a week touring the south coast of Iceland with a few of my best friends. We started the week in the capital city of Reykjavik, spent a couple days there, and then spent our last five days in our home base of Hella. From Hella we traveled throughout the south coast over the course of the week. It’s easy to list the things we saw – from breathtaking waterfalls, to beautiful glaciers, mountains, geysers, black sand beaches, and probably most importantly – Game of Thrones filming locations. Although cliché, the photos don’t even come close to giving the experiences justice.

To speak to the theme of Wes’s big picture fitness goals for us – being fit was certainly needed. Climbing 500 steps to the top of a waterfall or hiking 60+ vertical stories to look over the Atlantic washing onto a miles wide black sand beach is no joke. Even being in good shape those were both strenuous chores. That being said, what was even more important to me was getting out of my comfort zone and putting the grind of daily life aside. Booking a trip to a foreign place isn’t always easy, especially if you’re new to traveling, and neither is forgetting about the things that seem so important to you – your job, your pets, the people you encounter on a daily basis.

The unknown feeling forcing you to push beyond normal physical & mental comfort levels is the area that allows you to grow. I know the first time I stepped into a CrossFit gym was a terrifying experience, but now I prioritize my schedule around making it to class. I think the same sentiment can be applied to travel for those who haven’t experienced new places as well as plenty of other outlets of life. It feels good to do something different and uncomfortable, to break out of routine, and to utilize the bodies that we spend so much time building inside CFA.