Congratulations to 7-Fit Program member, Bill Baker, on losing 20 pounds since he began with us in October 2018! Through hard work and consistency, he has not only improved his endurance and strength dramatically, he has also reversed disease. His blood sugar levels used to be pre-diabetic and his cholesterol was high, but now both are in the normal range. In less than three months, Bill has changed his life and he plans on continuing to attack his future goals with the same tenacity in our 7-Fit Program. Want to be like Bill? Sign up for our 6-Week Fitness Challenge! Read his interview below!

Q: How did you find out about the 7-Fit program and what about it drew you do join?

“My wife, Rhea, has tried various fitness and physical rehab programs because of residual issues from auto accidents. She loved the variety of CrossFit and was asking me to join her (for a long time). I said yes just so she’d stop asking. So, yeah, I wasn’t so much drawn as dragged.”

Q:When did your journey with 7-Fit begin and what were your goals going into it?

“I had my own accident issues (centering in my lower back) that had been getting progressively worse over the course of a year or so. I went to see a chiro/rehab specialist for a couple of months to get in shape so I could start to get in shape at CrossFit Route 7. When I felt it was time to move up to a more intensive workout I started with 7-Fit; that was in the last week of September.”

Q: What has helped you achieve success in the program?

“Without sounding too much like a Nike commercial – just do it. Be consistent. There’s a saying that if someone tells you, “You have to eat a frog today” you should eat the frog first. Carve out the time – I do it first thing in the morning (7-Fit!) and go through the rest of the day knowing I’ve accomplished something that was completely out of reach a just few months ago. I am 62, and 5’10” and was 220 lbs. when I started. Just a couple of months later I’m down to 201 lbs. I’m trading fat for muscle. I’m moving more. (Sweating way more.) And my most recent physical showed my blood sugar normal vs edging into diabetic – that’s a change that is primarily due to the weight loss and exercise. My cholesterol & BP are so far into the normal range that my doctor is considering lowering my meds dosage.”

Q: What advice can you give to others coming into the program with similar goals?

“The gym is deceptively simple – weights, bands, balls – no complex machines. These are exercises you can lean at the gym, follow up at home, and reinforce by coming back to class to learn more. The classes are different every time. You can scale the exercises to fit what you can do – but push to do the best you can, and keep going. More than once I’ve been on the floor trying to catch my breath and have made myself get up and crank out 2 or 3 more reps. And don’t worry about whether you can do this because you think you’re too old, or because you’re too big now, or not strong enough now. The people in 7-Fit are all ages, demographics and body types… and if you see someone in great shape you need to remember that a lot of them got there by starting where you are now.”

Q: Besides working out, what other lifestyle changes did you make outside of the gym to achieve your goals?

“I’m working on getting the diet under control, eating more veggies and cutting out unnecessary sugars and starches. No soda. But I’m eating normal food – not a diet of paleo-Atkins-South Beach-shake-protein bars, fads or fasting. The main thing that has made a difference is the exercise – M-W-F at 7-Fit.”

Q: What has been your favorite thing about 7-Fit?

“7-Fit is not a lonely grind or a solitary quest. You have a coach, you have classmates or a partner or a team and you have a daily plan that varies what you do, how much you get done, and the way you do it – in nearly 3 months I don’t think we’ve done the same routine twice.”

I’ve always been relatively active from an early age, but like many people I struggled after college to incorporate a healthy amount of exercise into my increasingly busy routine.  This past year, though, I decided to make a promise to myself to prioritize and invest in what matters most – my health. A coworker of mine heard me vent one day about my frustration with my lack of progress in my fitness routine, and suggested I try CrossFit.  To be honest, I had always been a little intimidated by the idea of CrossFit; in my mind, there was no way someone like me would ever be fit enough to handle it, let alone keep up with the other athletes. I protested his suggestion, citing all of my preconceived reservations,  but he corrected me, pointing out that everyone starts somewhere, that it’s about competing with yourself and pushing yourself to do better rather than comparing yourself to other people,  and that he’s never met a more supportive community of people. 

So I did it. I took the plunge, came in for a free class, completed foundations, and signed a membership contract. It was hard – I’m not going to lie about that. My body was more sore than it had been in a long time during those first few weeks, and it was tough for me to accept that I was the last one – by a long shot – to finish most workouts. But my coworker was right about the support, and the warm, friendly, welcoming people I worked out with each class quickly reminded me that it wasn’t being last that mattered – what mattered was I still finished the workout. Overall, what keeps me  excited to come to classes each day is supportive and encouraging people, the awesome coaches that help me find the balance between pushing myself to my limits and ensuring personal safety and good form, the variety of movements that keep me from getting bored, and the fact that I can consistently measure my progress, even with just the smallest of milestones. 

The most noticeable accomplishment by far is that I’ve lost 20lbs. For me, though, as awesome as that physical change is, it isn’t my only accomplishment. I’m happier and more comfortable in my skin, I feel healthier and have so much more energy than I did before, and I’m learning to listen to and understand what my body is telling me – both from a exercise and a diet perspective. Perhaps the biggest shift of all, though, has been in my mindset – the amazing coaches at CrossFit Route 7 have been instrumental in helping me with that. I previously felt guilty about eating ‘badly’ or not working out, and I was constantly beating myself up mentally for not being fit enough or healthy enough or ‘good enough’. Since starting CrossFit, I’ve learned to celebrate my accomplishments for what they are, instead of what they’re not. I’ve learned that it’s not about feeling guilty, it’s about wanting to feel the good, clean energy from eating healthy, and that rush after an awesome workout. Am I finishing the workout to the best of my ability? Am I challenging myself to increase intensity? Am I making progress? If my answer to any of these questions is yes, I walk out of the gym proud after each workout, happy with who and where I am in my journey towards a healthier me. 

The idea of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro came out of a gathering with my college buddies last year in Tahoe. At that point I looked at the whole process of getting ready physically and mentally as part of the journey. None of us had any previous mountaineering experience beyond day hikes and a few camping trips years ago. But Kili is a manageable climb that doesn’t require ropes, ladders or technical skills. It just requires that you keep going up – to the thin air of 19,341 feet which is the highest point in Africa.

Altitude is probably the biggest challenge and there isn’t much that can be done to prepare for that. Altitude sickness can affect anyone regardless of fitness level, including one person from our party who had to go back down early. But I also knew that it would be a lot of time on my feet 0n uneven terrain with a pack in unpredictable weather. So to prepare as much as I could, I joined CrossFit to add strength, range of motion and stamina that I wasn’t getting from the road cycling that I’d been doing for years.

One memory from the climb stands out.  After five days of climbing, on the morning of the push to the summit, we started at midnight to get there at the optimal time shortly after sunrise. We were on an extremely steep section, in the pitch dark, grinding up a seemingly endless number of switchbacks for about 3,000 feet of elevation gain. It seemed like it would never end. I remember at that time channeling my WOD survival mentality to just keep moving, and giving myself a little cheer at every switchback with a push to the next one. Mental toughness!! Eventually we were at the top.

So thank you to BJ and all of the coaches for pushing me along, especially when I was recovering from a fractured ankle in the spring and having to modify everything. I just needed to keep moving to get to the top.  And I plan to keep involved in CrossFit because the muscle development and resiliency it gave me could come in handy for the next life challenge!