My fitness journey started ten years ago.  I started running weekly 5k races. At the time I was 30-40 pounds heavier than I am now.  After training and participating in races I noticed the weight to slowly come off.  Slowly 5k races became 10k races, 10 milers and half marathons.  I always wanted to incorporate regimented strength training but didn’t know what direction to go in.

I was always encouraged by friends and family to look into CrossFit.  When I first started researching CrossFit workouts I was always intimidated by the complex movements and feared getting injured attempting such movements.  But, after hearing success stories from friends and family doing CrossFit I decided to find a gym in my area.  That’s how I stumbled upon CrossFit Route 7.  In January 2020 I made the decision to take Foundations. It has easily been the best decision I have made.

One thing I have learned is that CrossFit is an ongoing learning process.  You are always learning new movements or improving your technique.  Therefore, I know I am always far from being a finished product.

I know at CFR7 I am surrounded by supportive, knowledgeable and most importantly patient coaches.  The coaches always take the time to answer questions and come up with scaled or modified versions of the workout if it is outside my skill range.  My goals have been to show up as often as I can and to be as proficient as possible with the movements.

My advice to anyone thinking about starting up CrossFit is to come into CrossFit Route 7 and take a free class and get to know the coaches.  Get regimented about the days you come in and stick with it.  I am happy with the current results of CrossFit.  In the last couple years that I have been coming in I have gone down a pant size and shaved time off of my mile.  I plan on sticking with the process and set realistic goals to see what results it may bring.

Q: How did you find out about CrossFit Route 7 and what about it drew you to join?

I started Crossfit at CFR7 5 years ago. I wasn’t physically active and had just turned 40 and didn’t really have much motivation to work on myself. One evening, while scrolling through Facebook, saw an ad for a New You challenge. A new year had just started and it was only a 6 week (I think) commitment and figured why not. I met with the manager at CFR7, while there was a WOD going on. It was really intimidating but I signed up for the New You Challenge. I remember my first class. I could barely lift a 35lb barbell. 

Q: When did your journey with CrossFit Route 7 begin and what were your goals going into it?
Once I got done with the New You Challenge, I was already hooked and signed up to be a member. Initially, my goal was to just not be the last person that the whole class was waiting on to finish the WOD. Other than that my goal was just to show up and learn all these movements that were so foreign to me. It took me a while to stop feeling intimidated by other faster, stronger athletes. I still remember asking a member who was doing Toes to Bar about how long it took him to be able to do that as I could barely hang on to do a pull-up. Once I started feeling comfortable and having the coaches help me scale my workouts, I started to feel at home. I wanted to learn how to do Toes to Bar, and string multiple pull-ups. I wanted to get stronger, leaner, and cut. 

Q: What has helped you achieve success at CrossFit Route 7?
I have had a lot of small incremental successes which keeps me coming back for more. Consistency has been a key (and sometimes an issue). I changed my way of thinking from “How in the world am I going to do this WOD” to “I need to scale this to the next toughest option which is…” which has helped me a lot. I am still working on myself and have personal goals that I have yet to achieve, which I know I will. Over the years, I’ve demonstrably become stronger and faster (most days) and I’m excited to continue to grow in my fitness journey. The coaching has been critical for my success. I remember there have been times when the coach would come by and tell me to drop the weight and work on form. I still have skills to acquire and get stronger before I can say I am successful at all CF movements. But I’m motivated to actively work on it.

Q:What advice can you give to others coming into the gym with similar goals?
The most important advice I can offer is to NOT be intimidated at all by the people who are already there and have been doing CF for longer than you. We all started somewhere and we’re all still working on ourselves to get better in one form or another. Talk to the folks, listen to the coach, don’t let ego take over (that’s how you get hurt), and just have fun. One of the biggest things I’ve learned so far is to listen to my body. And be consistent. 

Q: Besides working out, what other lifestyle changes did you make outside of the gym to achieve your goals?
I started drinking more water as I realized that I was constantly dehydrated. I also started paying attention to my eating habits (still have snack attacks but I’m more mindful of it). I recently did the Nutrition Challenge and it really helped me understand what my body needs to fuel up to maintain, and sustain my ability to workout, recover, feel and look better. I know I need to sleep more and it’s a work in progress. 

Q: What has been your favorite thing about CrossFit Route 7?
By far the best decision in my 40’s was to join CFR7. I love the community, the friendships, and the supportive, skilled coaches who actually are invested in helping you. No matter how I am feeling when I walk in, I always walk out with a smile, a little more energy, more confidence, and feeling good about myself. I’ve been doing CF now for 5 years and still have coaches correct me when my form is off. I love how I’m pushed to get better, faster, and learn new movements (bar muscles up, consistency with double under). I’ve had the opportunity to visit other CF boxes while I’ve traveled and coaching has never compared to what I have here. I love the fact that for one hour a day I’m greeted with a smile and a Hello from the coach and my friends, turn off my brain, and just go as hard as I can. Programming is always fun and challenging. The dedication of the owners and coaches, classes on specific skills either at night or during the weekends, hosting nutrition seminars, challenges etc. all feed into why CFR7 is hands down, my home away from home. 

Before CrossFit (CF), I spent most of my free time running. I had finished several 50-100+ mile trail races, and I figured I was in fairly good shape. After meeting Daniela, we would occasionally work out together, and she would always smoke me. I did not realize it at the time, but that was my first real experience with a CF style Metcon. It was hard on my ego, but it was a humbling realization that I was not as fit as I thought I was. I did a free CF workout with her once, and I remember feeling like I was going to pass out just from doing burpees over a dumbbell in a workout that was less than 20 minutes long. I was sore for at least a week. At that point, I was easily running 30 miles on a Saturday morning, with no soreness by Sunday morning. It was mind boggling to me how I was able to survive running 100+ miles through mountains with over 40k feet of elevation change, but I could not hang on to a 20-minute basic workout in a gym with a fan blowing directly at me.

It took me a while to pull the trigger and sign up for foundations, and I wanted to visit as many locations as possible to get an idea of what I was paying for. I settled on CF Route 7 because I felt like I was getting my money’s worth. The facility and the coaches were noticeably different from the other locations I visited. I remember thinking that after foundations, I would be able to move well enough to post a good score on the board. Instead, when I finished foundations, I could still barely mentally process things like alternating dumbbell clean and jerk without slowly saying each word out loud.

I have gained and learned so much from being a member at CFR7. My back squat has more than doubled. I’ve had lots of PRs on my other lifts, and I have been able to string together toes-to-bar, bar muscle ups, and double-unders (I didn’t even know what those were when I joined CF). Burpees no longer feel like a near death experience, usually. I save a lot of time because the workouts are efficient, and I don’t ever have to structure a training plan. What I love most about CF is that there is always more. No matter how much I improve, there is always something new to learn or work on. There are so many athletes in the gym who are much better than me, and I have grown to enjoy the push that gives me. That seems like a good way to bring it all back to where it started for me – Daniela smoking me in workouts (and now lots of other athletes too). Not much has changed on that front, but that makes it so much easier to keep showing up. Ultimately, my success is a measure between where I was when I started CF and where I am today, but when I don’t really feel like getting a workout in, it’s the community that moves me to show up. I am grateful that I get to be a part of such an inspiring community. 

I have always been an active person my whole life. I was a competitive figure skater for 11 years until
I joined the dance team in college. After I graduated, I found myself struggling with my mental and
physical health, which was made worse by the stress of the pandemic. My weight had increased, and
I was always anxious. I wanted to make a change, but I didn’t know where to start. One day, my
boyfriend invited me to try CrossFit at Route 7. I was so nervous those first few classes at the gym,
but the coaches were so welcoming that I always ended up having fun. I started to fall in love with
the challenge of pushing myself during each class.

Two months in I started to get frustrated because wasn’t progressing very fast. The weights on my
lifts were low, and I could only do scaled movements during the Metcons. It wasn’t until Coach
Brandon sat me down, that I realized the kind of strength that I was building would take time. Then
and there I decided to be patient and commit. I started coming to CrossFit at least 5 times a week
and committed to my health.

Fast forward, 8 months later, I get my first set of pull ups, pushups, and even handstand pushups. I
started being able to do toes to bar and hit heavy PRs. I really started to see progress and I became
more motivated than ever. It wasn’t till I began hearing messages of support from my friends, family,
and coaches that I even realized I looked completely different. For the first time in my life, I could
physically see how strong I am, and I could do high level movements I only ever dreamed of.

Fast forward to a year after I started, I have lost a total of 20 pounds and I am able to successfully complete
RX workouts (I can’t believe all the progress!). For the first time in my life, I feel so confident in my body and my physical strength.

With the help of the experienced coaches at CrossFit Route 7, I have been able to achieve goals that I
never thought were possible. I am truly grateful for this journey and the amazing community at
CrossFit Route 7 that has supported me every step of the way.

I’ve always seen exercise as a reward. There’s people that have some kind of handicap that does not allow for physical activity who would be more than grateful to be in my place. Even knowing this, I was never the type to push myself. I’ve played sports competitively as a kid and teen (mainly soccer, a little football, basketball with friends) and continued by playing recreationally in adult leagues but I never had the drive to be the best I could be. I would always just settle for the bare minimum of what I could be. It’s also discouraging when you see others making huge amounts of progress in a shorter amount of time, both physical gains and athletic ability. Then one night, I came across an ad on Facebook that would change my life (quite literally). 

Crossfit Route 7 (CFR7) was promoting a 90-day transformation challenge. My then form of pushing exercise was Muay-Thai (Thai boxing/kickboxing/MMA) and although I enjoyed it, it wasn’t pushing my body in the way that I wanted. I decided to try out this challenge and was in the gym two days later. The coaches welcomed a small group of us that signed up for the challenge to the gym and to the 7-fit program. We then got to work immediately. During my three months in 7-fit, I would see people on the other half of the gym throwing weights around like twigs, performing incredible gymnastics feats, and ending each workout lying on their backs from exhaustion. I was exceling quickly in 7-fit under Coach Mary-Ann’s guidance and wanted to see if I could push myself even harder like those people. After talking to my coaches, they agreed that it was time for me to take the next step in my fitness journey. Coach Rachel was my foundations instructor and explained every movement thoroughly. Within two weeks, I joined my first Crossfit class. 

I’ve progressed so much from the coaching of the CFR7 team and push from other members. With Crossfit being all-encompassing, you improve your strength, cardio, agility, and mobility. I never thought I’d be able to do half of the things that I am now able to do thanks to the program. Some people would argue that the price is quite hefty. Is it? You’re getting access to gym equipment, essentially a personal trainer, and a fun environment that all promotes growth and positivity without the mundane and judgmental aspects that come with a traditional gym. Every movement, every piece of advice, and every bond I’ve formed have all helped me become a better me. Of course, I couldn’t keep this source of happiness to myself and invited my significant other to try it out, too. Funny enough, she’s had a very similar journey to mine. 

I guess I won the challenge because I’m the only one that remained. My prize? A better, healthier, and happier life – and you can’t put a price on that.