CrossFit Shoals

62-year-old Barbara rocks the bodyrows!

I first heard of CrossFit from my 31-year-old son, Clark. He works in Huntsville and had joined CrossFit there. Clark is my less talkative son, but not when it comes to CrossFit. He explained to me how the program was changing his body, increasing his stamina and flexibility. He also said he was sleeping better.

I am retired after working many years in the health-care profession. During my working years, I exercised at the gym and walked pretty regularly. Last year, I fell and had compression fractures in my thoracic and lumbar areas, I was no longer able to walk as far or for as long as I could prior to my fall.

My son informed me that CrossFit Shoals had opened in our area. On Clark’s insistence, I called. I spoke with Brad Thompson. I explained my compromised physical condition and told him my age (62 years).

Brad said, “Come on down!” He explained that CrossFit is scalable for any age-group or any type of physical limitation.

I have been doing the workouts at CrossFit Shoals for 4 months now and my physical improvement, improved core strength, increase in flexibility and stamina far supersede all of the years going to the gym and walking.

My younger brother is a local surgeon. He told me exercising with free weights will also increase my bone density. This is very important to me as I have osteoporosis. He also told me that building muscle around the joints will help prevent bone-on-bone grinding as we age. My brother also said he could actually see that I was getting up more quickly from a sitting position. My niece, Katie, tells me “there is a pep in your step!” My posture has improved. I have readjusted my rear view mirror because I am sitting up more!

The workouts are often very short and very intense! Call Brad and let him tell you to “come on down!”

December 2007

September 2008

Brad Thompson

In 2007 at age 42 I took a look in the mirror – a real look. The one most men don’t do in a very honest way. I relaxed my belly. It had happened. I was fat. I also realised that a walk around the block with my kids was not pleasurable. I had to do something!

I decided to try several of the prepackaged workout designs. Some muscle magazine, some television show, some book…you know. I had seen the CrossFit site before and was as excited about the design as I was intimidated by the workouts I saw as well as the people I saw doing them. I found a plan I thought would help. So I set to work learning to do pullups (I’d never done one!!) and getting my pushups in order. After digging around I found an old CrossFit “ramp up” plan and decided to try it. All of these were leaving me very bored. I wanted the randomness of the CrossFit design. Finally I decided to just jump in. For more of my personal progress check out my blog.

I found the BrandX site and set to work. I did weightlifting with a PVC pipe! I mean I scaled down everything. This was in January of 2008. By then I was committed to this program. I decided to get certified as a trainer.

In March of 2008 I went to Virginia Beach, Virginia and SUFFERED through a weekend of instruction. We learned by doing. It was rough. I was surrounded by those intimidating-looking people I had seen a few years earlier. The people had such energy and positive attitudes that the fact that I was one of the lowest scorers on the workout mean nothing to the glory I felt for having been through it! I came home with a new sense of purpose.

I posted my experience about the certification on the CrossFit message board and caught the attention of Tim Reding. He contacted me and we began to workout together. He was a willing Guinea pig. I knew I was on to something. I felt his successes as much as I felt my own. We both have seen major improvements. He went from no pullups to 50+ in a workout. I’ve lost 50 pounds. His last deadlift was 400lbs (up from 250 or so.) I went from clean and jerk with PVC to 185 lbs. I have gone from an inability to run 400m to a 22 minute 5k and a 1:09 400m. Soon these records will be broken. A few others have joined in over the last few months many improvements are already evident. It was time to consider taking this to the next level. In late September of 2008 I applied for and was granted affiliation with CrossFit.

I now have several committed CrossFitters and new people who are anxious to see the benefits I know they will!

Welcome to CrossFit Shoals!