CrossFit Epping

Meet JT. He’s  been working out with us since last February and has made tremendous progress in that short time. He’s not only active in group classes, but also within the community as well as CFE Endurance. In addition to his consistency in the gym, JT’s success can be attributed to his positive approach to training. In fact we challenge you to find time he’s not smiling or joking around. And for that reason the CFE team would like to nominate him as November’s Athlete of the Month!

Profession: Technical Services Manager for Mersen which is an electrical fuse company (I know, it sounds very exciting)

Athletic Background/ previous fitness training: Baseball and Mens Softball…retired in 2009. For fitness I was very much into free weights for a good portion of my high school and college career. Before CrossFit I took some time off from the gym, just enough to allow me to get out of shape and realize I needed to do something.

What is CrossFit to you? CrossFit has been the best way for me to shut everything else off that is going on in my life for the 1hr I am there and focus on me (I know selfish but we all need it). CrossFit is a great way for me to feel like I have accomplished something productive while having a good time doing it, which is very rewarding to me from that aspect. I really enjoy the challenges CrossFit brings. To sum it up, CrossFit is now a part of my life and there is no turning back now.

Why CFE? CFE is a great community with a lot of good people who are all there to help you get better and reach your goals. The coaches have been great and have all helped me one way or the other to reach different goals, and I thank you for that!

What inspires/motivates you to continue? To be better…once I started I have found it hard to stop and take any time off. I look forward to the constant change in workouts and mix-up of movements. Once you start to get the hang of things (it took me a little while) you start to set personnel goals and this has both inspired and motivated me to continue. I can’t forget to mention that it has helped on the physical side as well….I noticed great results from all the hard work which is a good tool for motivation.

Advice for someone hesitant to try CrossFit: Don’t think too much about it and give it a shot. We all have a learning curve and that curve is different for everyone. It is a lot to take in at once so you need to give it some time and I promise you will like it! Don’t give me that “you don’t have time” BS because we all have busy schedules.

Proudest achievement: Double Unders & overhead squats (my shoulders don’t agree with overhead movements)….

Greatest challenge/weakness: Double unders…I mean it only took me like 8 moths to figure them out! Weakness is anything which involves weights overhead.

Goals (Inside + outside the gym): My first and foremost goal (which is why I joined CFE) is to live a healthier lifestyle, which isn’t all that easy so I am always improving on this.  

Favorite movement/ if you could design one workout: Ok, don’t hate me for this but it would involve a lot of burpees and running…and add a barbell movement something like power cleans low weight higher reps.

Special interests: Boating and hanging out with my family.

Anything you’d like to add? The only thing I could add is that so far CFE has been a great experience for me. I have learned a lot about working out in general and about myself, mainly what my strengths and weakness are along with how to pace myself with workouts to gain the best results. I can’t forget the people, the one thing I have learned is that working out in a CrossFit environment is a lot better than going to the gym to lift weights and work on the guns…..