Teresa Hughey
Wow! That’s me just about a year ago! When I think of Crossfit Tulsa and the last year, I actually get just a little emotional….
I have a very good friend that started CrossFit in Oklahoma City and swore by it. I remember getting so tired of listening to him go on and on about how great this new workout was that he was doing and how great he felt even though he was so sore that he couldn’t walk…I can not tell you how annoying it was! All I heard was CrossFit this, Paleo that. I made fun of him being a caveman and swinging from ropes. I told him that it was simply a silly fad that would soon move on. He was always telling me I needed to try it, and I just scoffed at the idea, even though I was slowly becoming more interested in it.
2009 and 2010 had been horrible years for me health wise ranging from heart problems to cancer and I had decided 2011 would be different. My friend finally convinced me to try this crazy Paleo Lifestyle and I saw this CrossFit thing on almost every site I researched. Ok, So now I’m a little more interested and I started looking for boxes in the Tulsa area. I convinced one of my best friends, Laura Wainright aka LDub, to come out and watch a class with me. She of course thought I was crazy but because I constantly lead her astray, she went along with it and agreed to do JUST On-Ramp with me. (I’ll let her tell her own story)
February 2011 we started our On-Ramp I couldn’t even finish my first WOD. The next week we missed because of a snow storm and I missed going! I’ve never missed going to work out in my life and I am a lifelong athlete. I missed my On-Ramp team that I now fondly refer to as my CF Family. Three weeks later BOTH Laura and I were full timers. I have never had more fun working out before. I talked about CF all of the time. I felt AMAZING! I was just as annoying as my friend that had once annoyed me and I LOVED it! I lost weight, then I gained weight but I lost INCHES. My clothes fell off and I started seeing definition in my arms. My kids cheered me on as I finished WODs and my then 13 year old told his friends that his mom lifted more than they did! He told me he was proud of me, that I’ve been cheering him on his whole life and now it is his turn. *tear*
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Brett Woodward
No More Excuses
When I was 16, I fractured L5 in my back and tore the Erector Spinae muscle group. This injury ended my soccer dreams and it took about 8 years before I was pain free and regained all feeling in my left leg. I’ve had 3 arthroscopic surgeries and have no meniscus left in the right knee. Doc says he has replaced better looking knees than mine. I have also had the AC joint in my right shoulder removed due to arthritis from soccer injuries. I sat on the couch and did remote control curls and ate cheese curls. I had a body full of excuses to avoid exercise.
At the end of 2009, I started having a feeling of impending doom. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get diabetes, have a heart attack, or have a stroke, but I knew something was coming. In March of 2010, I developed an irregular heartbeat. I was having PVCs and SVTs and it was a scary feeling. In addition to the ‘diet and exercise’ speech, I was given a beta-blocker as a band-aid for the symptoms.
My son’s soccer team started a 10 week program at CrossFit Tulsa in the summer of 2010. I watched a few sessions and decided that I wanted to give it a try. I was skeptical about my prospects and worried about my injuries, but I also knew that I needed to do something to improve
my health.
On my first outing, I did the baseline test in about 20 minutes and my quads were wobbly for the rest of the night. I was unable to do more than 1 pull-up with the thickest band’s assistance. I went home with the sad realization that I was in horrible shape.
I started on a 2 or 3 days per week regimen at a scaled pace; 2 rounds instead of 5, PVC instead of empty bar, 25 pound kettlebell instead of 50. With my knee condition, I am unable to run so I have to substitute rowing for running in the WODs. The goal was to do as much as I could, but focus on technique and mobility, the strength will come.
After a few weeks, I started noticing changes in body composition even though the scale showed little change. Within a few months, I was able to stop the beta-blocker that I was taking for my irregular heartbeat. The scale finally started moving and the pants needed a belt. More surprisingly, my knee was able to take the workload and even seems to have improved.
discovery of the benefits of high quality fish oil. At the end of 9 months, I was down 25 pounds and my doctor said he didn’t recognize me in the waiting room.
In March, I felt confident enough in my technical knowledge of the CrossFit skills and exercises that I changed from the CrossFit Tulsa programming to the CrossFit Endurance programming. I did this to try to increase my performance in the regular WODs. I also wanted to burn more calories and did not have the knowledge of high-intensity interval training to do this on my own. Since I started the Endurance workouts, I have seen the biggest changes in body composition. I row 2000-6000 meters 5 days per week in addition to the normal WODs.
As of November 2011 I have lost 50 pounds. My last cholesterol test showed a total count of 146 and my triglycerides were off the bottom end of the chart. I have also had to face reality that I will
Before CrossFit
July, 2010:
· Weight: 260#
· Pants: 40” (getting snug)
· Resting heart rate: 75-80
· Target knee replacement age: 45
· Health: Poor
o PVCs and SVTs - beta blocker
o High blood pressure
o Cholesterol 215 - triglycerides 175
Current:
Nov, 2011:
· Weight: 210#
· Pants: 35-36” and need a belt
· Resting heart rate: 46-50
· Target knee replacement age: 50
· Health: Pretty darn good
o No irregular heartbeat
o High blood pressure (not as high)
o Cholesterol 146 - triglycerides <45 (did not register)
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Pam Smith
Hi! My name is Pam Smith and I am 48 years young, yes I am old enough now that I am not saying “old” after my age! I used to laugh at people when they would say that and now I am saying it too!
First, let me tell you I am not a professional journalist, nor a professional photographer or a chef. I am just a real person that has enjoyed success with the Paleo lifestyle, and in turn would like to share it with other real people like you. So I apologize now for grammatical errors and photos that are less than perfect!
Let me give you my background so you can get to know me! I was once a relatively fit person, and then I lost my job, got sedentary and apathetic about my weight and my health. My family tried to encourage me to exercise more and eat better, but I just convinced myself it was inevitable that I get heavy as that is the way most of my family is. I chalked that up to my age and my genes. Then about 3 years ago I saw this photo of myself and was in tears!
I couldn’t believe how heavy I had gotten! Not only was I heavy but I had hip pain and I was having breathing issues. I ended up going to an Asthma specialist and found out that I was operating on about 63% lung capacity. I was put on Prednisone, high doses of Advair and other asthma and allergy drugs, as well as acid reflux meds. I am 5’9″ and weighed in at the Doctors office at 222lbs, I think I cried all the way home.
I decided right than and there that I was going to lose weight! I came home and cried some more and than joined Weight Watchers and started working out about 3 times a week. This worked, I lost about 30 pounds in about 6 months. But once I quit counting points and every single bite, I put back on 10 pounds. I kept steady at 195lbs to 199lbs for a year. Once again, I chalked that up to my age and my heritage. Figured I was healthy enough after all and my asthma had improved to about 75% capacity. I still worked out on average 3 times a week. Did my 20 minutes on the elliptical and about 15 minutes of weight machines and called that a “work out”. Then in the summer of 2010 my husband and son joined Crossfit Tulsa. They would come home covered in sweat and yet they were excited about their workouts. I just couldn’t understand it.
Next thing I know my daughter starts Crossfit while she is away at College and then when she was home for visits she would join the workouts with my husband and son. All three of them would come home absolutely exhausted, drenched in sweat and yet excited about what they had done. They tried and tried to get me to join them, but I said I was doing fine at the gym and had no desire to exhaust myself like they did.
Well, months go by and my husband out of the blue tells me that Crossfit Tulsa was having a beginners class for one month, and he had signed me up for it. I was not happy to say the least that I was being forced to participate. So, I figured I would go and give it a try just to appease him, then after a month I could quit and go back to my gym. Turns out that was the start of my new obsession! God blessed me with a great class and trainers for my first class in February 2011. They were fun and encouraging and it made me want to come back for each class. We only met 3 times a week and I knew then that I couldn’t get enough! Oh and I must say that I had to have a check-up at the asthma Doctor that first month of working out and my lung capacity was still about 73 to 75%. Take note of that because it is important! Anyway, we were so excited about graduating at the end February that we signed up for the St Patrick’s Day 5k. Mind you one month before I couldn’t run to my mail box, let alone even THINK about a 5K. But we did it. I didn’t do to well, ended up hurting my knee and walked a lot of the way, but my daughter and my Crossfit trainer came back looking for me and encouraged me to keep going. I found the strength to trot the last little bit and cross the finish line. I was so thrilled! I couldn’t believe I had run in a race!
From the time I started Crossfit my trainers were often talking about eating “Paleo”. They would tell us about how it would improve my health and help me lose the weight that I so wanted to get off. They told me I would get to my goals faster if I tried eating “Paleo”. I would laugh it off as fad diet, that everything in moderation would be fine, as that is what I had believed. After all the idea of giving up my bread and pasta and snacks, etc was crazy! As my husband would say, he worked out hard so he could eat junk at night. Yet, I admit the more I heard about it the more I was curious. How could this really work? I read blogs, books, and decided I would give it 30 days. Why, not, if I didn’t like it I could go back to eating as normal. I can do anything for 30 days! (Famous last words, huh?) So in April I started my 30 days of strict Paleo. My husband ate mostly Paleo with occasional splurges, and when my kids were home from College they ate the same way too and surprisingly we all enjoyed it. After 30 days I was hooked and decided I was adopting this as my new eating lifestyle. Not a diet, it is a lifestyle change!
Now, it is January 2012 and I have been doing Crossfit for almost a year and have adopted a mostly Paleo eating style and I am down to 170lbs, and best of all 3 pants sizes! Here is photo that was taken shortly before I started Crossfit and one that was taken in November 2011.
My health has improved to the point that when I went in for my 6 month exam with my Asthma doctor she couldn’t believe how much I had changed! Best of all my lung capacity tested at 99% and 100%. My asthma was changed to “exercise” induced and in reality it is pretty much gone! I take a low dose of Advair once a day, and I can’t remember when the last time was that I had to use my emergency inhaler. I have participated in the Susan G Komen 5K, the Warrior Dash, Oktoberfest 4 mile run, a 4 mile Pub Run, Jingle Bell 5K and just recently the 2 mile Polar Bear Plunge on January 1st.
I can talk on and on about the benefits of Paleo and Crossfit, which is why I am doing this blog to share with you my new passion for the Paleo lifestyle, and to encourage you to get out there and move! I still have a way to go to hit my goal, so let’s do it together!
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Rodney Malwick
I joined Crossfit Tulsa in February of 2011.
I had a co- worker that had a massive stroke in August of 2011. He is 47 and it totally devastated him and his family and our workplace. Knowing this man for 13 years and to find out that the cause of his stroke was STRESS, well, woke me up! I went and had all the normal checkups soon after of learning about my co- workers cause of his stroke. I am fortunate that I have genetics on my side and al my base line health numbers are good. That doesn’t mean that MY basic health WAS good. It wasn’t. I was taking my health for granted and had developed some really BAD coping skills as it relates to stress.
My wife had a co- worker that started working out at another crossfit gym. That is how I heard about crossfit as a fitness concept. I looked at the crossfit website and was immediately super intimidated!! Super fit athletes doing crazy work outs so immediately wrote it off as it was something I COULD NOT DO. I was curious so I emailed my wife’s co worker and she was very encouraging. Told me that the work outs scale and that it’s a great workout and I should go for it. That is when I looked up Crossfit Tulsa and talked with Stephanie. She invited me to come and see a work out. I actually went to see a on ramp class in January and after that made the decision to go for it.
I had a GREAT on ramp class. I was intimidated, completely out of shape and I struggled because of how weak and out of shape I had become. But EVERYONE is so encouraging and that gave me continuing motivation to keep showing up and doing my best. That is one thing I love about Crossfit Tulsa, the great encouraging atmosphere. The workouts are challenging and over the months I am stronger both mentally AND physically. A great bonus is that my on ramp graduates have become very dear friends!!
I had always wanted to run in races but I had given up on that idea. Since joining Crossfit Tulsa I have run in the St Paddys day 5k, 4 mile run for sight in Kansas City, 5k for children full moon 5K and the Tulsa Run 15k. All are very satisfying to see what is still possible! I hope my story encourages whoever reads it and always remember two things. 1) if I can do this ANYONE can and 2) no matter how bad your workout is going, you are lapping everyone on the couch!
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