Our buddy, Matt, had his 1 year SRCF Anniversary a couple of months ago. Read about his experience in the last year. 

Athlete Spotlight

Matt White

One year into Crossfit after a decade of being out of shape:

        1st month – Pain, nothing but pain.  People who have been participating in Crossfit for a while (including myself at this point) cannot possibly relate to the soreness of someone starting off who has not been working out for the past decade.  My wife (Liz) and I vowed to only complain about our soreness to each other because no one else wanted to hear about it.

       2nd month – I no longer had to google all of the acronyms for the workouts

        3rd month – Results.  Results came very fast for me because I was so out of shape to start.  I had lost about 10 pounds by the end of summer, my pants were loose, I was starting to fit into medium shirts again (the large / medium shirt conundrum for a “skinny fat guy” is a nightmare).

        5th month – I had my annual physical – weight was down 10 pounds and my cholesterol was less than 50% of was it was the year before, got props from the doc.

        9th month – Crossfit games – Very happy I did not shy away from signing up (thanks Jake).  I was forced to learn how to kip for the first time (also got my first callous rip) and I had been using 75lbs for thrusters for all of the WODs leading up to The Games.  Then I showed up for work out 14.5 and the 84 thrusters @ 95lbs… Not to mention the burpees…  A life changing experience for me.

         10th month – went to the Doctor with a stomach virus, during the routine checkup he asked me if I had been working out and then said my resting heart rate was about the pace of a dead person (a compliment)

       11th month – Able to do most workouts with Rx weights, still a few movements that need improvement

         12th month – Murph – I could not do one proper push-up when I started, on Memorial Day I completed the full Murph with all 200 push-ups (maybe not all perfect form)

A list of small changes in the past year:

I no longer need naps – I used to nap all the time, now the thought doesn’t cross my mind

 I am an unquestioned medium shirt size; I had to donate all of my old shirts

People I haven’t seen in a while always ask if I have been working out

My laundry is now 80% workout clothes and 20% everything else

I went snowmobiling with some friends out west this winter, I was the only one who could “deadlift” a snowmobile and manually turn it around on the trail

Although we don’t always specifically train for distance running, I can sign up for a 5k anytime and have no trouble finishing.  I just completed one over Memorial Day weekend with my best time 27:45.

Paleo challenge has curved my snacking at work (nuts only) as well as dinner every night (mostly meats and veggies)

I sleep better – I can get less sleep than before and still feel better the next day

Last but not least – I rarely get hangovers anymore, and if I do, I just go to the gym and then I’m fine

I think I’m an example of a person who at one point in their life, fitness was a huge deal and then things got out of control.  My career had me on the road 100% of the time and I was to the point of what I thought was no return.  I was so out of shape that I thought getting back in shape would be too painful.  I kept trying to run to lose weight, but because I weighed so much, my knees were always in pain.  My knees don’t hurt anymore; you could say that I only deal with “good” pain now.  I see no end in sight to my or Liz’s Crossfit careers and thank you to the coaches and staff for constantly supporting us and our goals!