CrossFit Austin is excited to welcome our newest intern, Alex “Toonie” Tanton! Toonie will be shadowing and assisting our staff as he learns the “ins and outs” of CFA in December and January.
Haven’t had a chance to meet him yet or want to know more about? Read more below…
Alex “Toonie” Tanton
About Toonie:
At the age of 22, I thought my athletic career was over. I had been a competitive swimmer for 14 years – dedicating much of my life to early morning practices, swim meets far away from home, and trying to get the smell of chlorine out of my hair. After my career as a collegiate athlete, I moved to Austin, Texas and fell in love with football. It was always disconcerting to me when I thought about how I would never again be as fit or athletic as the people I saw on TV. In September of 2010, upon returning from a trip to Southeast Asia (quite soft and out of shape), I met up with an old swimmer friend of who told me about CrossFit. He told me that CrossFit was all about short, high-intensity workouts. As I was out of shape at the time, the word “short” definitely appealed to me. I had no idea that the next few months would change my life so drastically. My first workout was Cindy (A 20-Minute AMRAP of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air squats). I thought the name was wimpy and I thought, “this sounds like a piece of cake!”. After only 6 rounds (jumping pull ups-with a band, and knee pushups), I nearly died! I laid on the ground for about 20 minutes trying to hold back pukie. I was hooked. I joined New Braunfels CrossFit in November of 2010 and fully committed to the sport.
I love coaching and learning with people who are curious about CrossFit and fitness. My own journey to being fit has taught me a lot about commitment, drive, focus, success, and failure. I think that even if going to the CrossFit games is not on your bucket list, being healthy and maintaining functionality is incredibly important to enjoying life fully outside of the gym – no matter how old you are!
“If you wait to do everything until you’re sure it’s right, you’ll probably never do much of anything.” – Win Borden