I started weight-lifting when I was 19. That was over 30 years ago, so I was already pretty fit by the time I found myself here. I had started Crossfit five years prior, in 2010, and that experience took me to another level of fitness. But I’d been moving around from gym to gym. There was always something not quite right — either the location was too far or out of the way, or the programming wasn’t good, or the people weren’t friendly, or the gym owners weren’t friendly, or worse they were unsupportive. I bopped around for a number of years, trying to find my happy place, until I found NELA about eight or nine years ago.
I did not start with any beginner series. I had my CF1 cert and I’d already competed a bit. Plus, there were no beginner’s classes or Ignite back then anyway.
At NELA, I continued with the WODs, I participated in a couple of nutrition challenges, and the CF Open until 2020. I was in the gym 5 days a week with more plans to compete. However, in late 2019 I was diagnosed with cervical spinal stenosis, and then on March 1, 2020, right before COVID hit, my entire brachial plexus was pinched. It was a pain I’d never experienced - like I wanted to die kind of pain - an unrelenting challenge for about four months. It was at this time I had to completely stop working out, and then later pull way back on what I could and couldn’t do at the gym. Eventually, after a couple of years, I wound up going back to body-building workouts on my own, and here I am in Open Gym. It’s the safest most controllable way for me to ensure I don’t further compound my neck condition. The condition still persists, but I thankfully have found ways of dealing with it. I miss the class community and a healthy dose of competition, but I don't miss the constant discomfort and continual set-backs.
Weight-lifting/CrossFit has been my personal medicine for a long time. It’s the thing that gets me back into my body and shuts down the noise. I’ve lost and gained both muscle and fat many times over — like so many times! I’ve had that experience of killing it in the gym, as well as being in last place, struggling through a WOD. For me, the main thing is to simply keep showing up, no matter how well or poorly I may be doing (so long as I'm not injured, or in pain). I've finally landed on the idea that success is having a set of self-supporting habits that are repeatable and scalable, and I now celebrate seemingly smaller victories, recognizing they do add up over time. Consistency is key. And success has looked different over all these years. Honestly, it's no longer about how much weight I can lift, or how fast I'm doing something. It's more like can I move freely today, am I in any pain, am I getting in my workouts, am I moving, am I eating and sleeping well? And do my clothes still fit?! Feeling good on a daily basis is my goal, and I can honestly say that the support I’ve received at NELA has helped me greatly in developing these beliefs and habits.
My favorite thing about NELA is the community — the people. NELA is not pretentious, and I LOVE that! It’s healthy about competition, and it’s very supportive. It feels like an extended family. It’s not the fanciest place, or the gym with all the top elite CF people, and that’s the way I like it. It’s a lot of different, cool, friendly folk showing up to do a little exercise and have some fun. And what I really love about Open Gym is showing up at some random hour on the weekend and finding someone else there working out. Hell yeah!
I would definitely tell anyone thinking about joining NELA to come on over and give it a try! Love this place! Love the team! And Paul (Owner/Coach) - wow, THE BEST!!!
Thank you for recognizing me, NELA Athletics! Here's to eight/nine great years together!
And as I like to say, if the zombie apocalypse ever goes down, I’m making my way to the gym, because that’s where the survivors are gonna be! 3-2-1, go!
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