Thursday 120105

Skill

Today for the skill session we'll spend 15 minutes working on the following gymnastics skills:

Inverted – headstands, handstands, handstand walks

Rings – holds, levers, L-sits, Skin the cats

Bars – bar muscle-ups, L pull-ups

WOD

Complete as many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of:

5 burpees

10 box jumps, 24"/18"

15 Kettlebell swings, 55#/35#

Jenna P rocking some GHD sit-ups!

Note from Gino:I remember that first WOD that Todd will talk about. I watched Him go from being curled up on the floor looking like death to just recently throwing down Grace rx'd like it was nothing. With Crossfit, we talk about courage. Courage to come in everyday, courage to fight through the pain. I applauded Todd for having the courage to make these tough changes in his life and for having the courage to share his story with everyone so that we can all learn from him. Thank you Todd.

My Life With Evolve

(Proof that my life evolved)

Gene asked me to share my story of Crossfit and my inspirations. I will try to make this entertaining as not bore you all. Sorry for the length but hopefully you will enjoy.

My first experience with Crossfit Evolve was horrendous. In April 2009, Gene invited Trish and I to participate in a “fun” WOD. I had heard the stories of these Crossfit workouts and like any normal person that did not workout, it was frightening to hear. It was a beautiful sunny Saturday morning that suddenly turned very dark. The workout was a pacer workout. As I recall, there were 8 stations and I can remember rowing, wall balls, pull ups, tire flips, and near death. I made it through 3 stations when I was to be on tire flips. That is when I heard, “I’m supposed to have someone on tire flips.” I was sitting on the curb saying good bye to my loved ones in my head. I thought I was going to die!

After, what seemed like a year of recovering from that, I joined the second Evolve Foundations class beginning in May 2009. This was going to become the most important, life changing, and rewarding decision that I could have made for myself and my family.

Foundations seemed as intense as that first workout at Evolve. At that time, there was a Foundations WOD and a WOD for athletes that had already completed Foundations, written on the whiteboard. I remember looking at our WOD and the “real WOD” and being frightened for the day that Foundations was over and I had to attempt that craziness.

I am going to tell you that I was probably in the worst health that I could have been in. I had been to the Dr. for a checkup. He checked my blood pressure and cholesterol. Uh Oh! My blood pressure was consistently between 160-170 and 95-100 (at the grocery store stand of course) and my cholesterol at that point was over 250. The Dr.(a Dr. that Trish worked with) had called and left a message that he would like a follow up visit. I never made that call but he did talk to Trish about getting me in to get on cholesterol medicine. I knew that I had to do something and medication was not the answer.

Evolve was going to be my answer. Gene had talked to me about his blood work and the changes that it had made for him. I worked my tail off to try and get in better shape and avoid the Dr. There were a couple of other factors that contributed to my poor health. I was a smoker and I wondered why I couldn’t come close to running the way I did in my younger days. I remember finishing a workout and sitting in my car calling Trish and waiting for people to leave so that I could have a cigarette. I needed it! Gene and Jon both mentioned that this would make me quit. Right, On April 1^st of this year I had my last cigarette.

Even worse than smoking I was a professional drinker. That’s right, I would drink a lot because I was good at it. I was smart enough not to drink before going to the gym but would wait until afterwards. I would then catch up on the hour that I missed. It was affecting my performance, my health and most important my family. It took a long time to realize this until it affected the family to the point of rehab. I checked myself into an outpatient rehab on Thanksgiving of 2010. I was scared and thought that I was on an island by myself. I was wrong. I had just begun feeling like I was getting stronger and better at Evolve. I remember telling Jon that I would not be there, except to drop off the kids to Trish and a WOD here and there. It was going to be 14 weeks of rehab and missing the place that had begun to change my outlook on life. Jon mentioned that it was going to go by in no time and that I would be back soon enough. As of today, I have not had a drink in 400 days.

I had the opportunity to have a health risk assessment at work and I was excited to get my results. That was in July of this year and my results were awesome. I had a blood pressure of 136 over 88, my overall cholesterol was 161. My LDL’s were at 86 and my HDL’s were at 67. These results were shocking to me and I wish I could have showed that Dr.

I can tell you that my New Year’s resolution is to get back on track with nutrition. It is not horrible but I enjoy too many cheat meals and ice cream.

I wish I could put into words what Evolve has done for me in my life. I guess a statement for me that would put it into perspective, although powerful, it is true. Evolve has saved my life. It has saved my health and pushed me to a level that I could not have imagined for myself.

I recently got a tattoo to celebrate my one year of recovery and put the initials of Liz and Garrett with their birthdays and a red star. The red star represents Evolve and each point of the star is dedicated to those that have supported me through this journey of recovery. I have had the opportunity to meet some amazing and caring people through the gym that help me through each WOD and each day.

I want to thank Gene and Jon for the opportunity that they have given me and a life worth living. 

Love You Evolve!