WOD & Blog

“… I started my Crossfit journey in 2006 while I was in serving in the Marine Corps. What originally drew me towards this style of training was the intensity and diversity the program encompassed.

The CrossFit style of rigorous conditioning and emphasis on general physical preparedness not only prepared me physically and mentally for my upcoming deployment to Afghanistan, but also enabled me to complete marathons.

Athletic competition has always been a major part of my life, even before I began seriously pursuing new challenges in fitness through CrossFit.

In recent years I have competed in numerous mountain running/technical trail races, snowshoe races, and Crossfit competitions; this past year making it as far as qualifying for a seat at the Crossfit Northeast Regionals.”

“…I had always been a gym rat.  Running, swimming, and lifting along with skiing and playing golf.  Then a series of injuries (Achilles and shoulder surgery) took the wind out of my sails.  I was told never to do overhead presses again and I was relegated to doing stair climbs and light weights.  Boredom set in.

My son Brendan had told me about CrossFit of NH and how he enjoyed it.  It sounded nuts.  He told me about the 2 old guys(Samy and Dan) who were really awesome and the workouts were insane.  I eventually decided to scope it out.

My first visit was an eye opener.  A crowded gym with loud music and tattooed athletes and huge weights crashing on the floor and people rushing around was so intimidating. But Dan came over and I signed up for the ramp course.  I left thinking,

“What the hell have I gotten myself into?”

The On-ramp course was good, it brought us ‘Noobs’ up to speed to really start training the way the program was designed.  At the end of our basics course I took a good look at the mix of people training together with the main CFNH daily WOD’s… I found brain turning critical of my age, shoulder, I asked myself,

“Will I be able to do that?” 

…And before I could answer I rolled out of bed and into the first AM training session among the athletes at CrossFit New Hampshire. In no time I was coming in daily to Samy greeting me with his,

“Billiam, YESSSSSSSSSS!”

I bought into it. I loved it. It brought me new life.

And yes, I learned to become strong and capable in the overhead lifts.  With significantly heavy weights… That continue to climb as my fitness continues to improve.

The excellent and patient instruction from Samy, Dan and Tiffanie spurred me on.  They were truly invested in me. I felt a member of a community. Everybody pulling for each other. No discrimination based on age, sex, race. Just real people trying to reach their potential one day at a time.

I was truly hooked from day one… and still am.

Thank you Samy, Tiffanie, and Dan.”

“…I really can’t say enough good things about CrossFit. I have been an athlete and into fitness for pretty much my entire life. I rowed crew competitively and after crew, I essentially became a gym rat and treadmill junkie. I followed a lifting routine 4-5 days a week, ran many miles, and logged many hours in spin classes. I first learned about CrossFit through some of the trainers at the gym I went to in Boston. I would see them doing these crazy, fun looking workouts that were so different from anything anyone else was doing in the gym. When they told me they were CrossFit workouts I started researching it online. The boxes in Boston were $150+, which was an immediate turn off for me, and I never joined.

I kept up my gym routine when I moved to New York City and joined the posh New York Health and Racquet Club. A few months after living there, I continued to be curious about CrossFit and started researching boxes in New York. I realized there was a box a few blocks from my apartment, CrossFit Gotham. I decided to try it out, I figured I would just go for one day and if I didn’t like it, then no harm no foul – I left the high-end gym with its spin classes, pool, steam room, sauna and scented towels and headed into a below ground basketball court with a huge pull up rig assembled in the middle and shirtless, sweaty athletes doing heavy Olympic lifts I had never seen done in a regular gym before, and working harder than I had ever seen anyone in a gym work. I literally have not been to a regular gym since I walked into my first box.

I considered myself to be in very good shape when I first started (I had a sub 19 minute 5k!). However, I quickly learned there were many things I could not do (pull ups, handstands, technical Olympic lifts, rope climbs – the list goes on). I have loved learning new things through CrossFit and am still constantly being challenged to this day.

After 6 months at the box in New York, I relocated to New Hampshire for personal reasons. I transplanted to CFNH and despite being from out of town I immediately felt welcomed by the crew of Crossfitters there. I count the people in the CFNH community among the best people I have met since I moved to the area. Samy is an extremely knowledgeable coach – his knowledge of the “why” is very valuable to me. He doesn’t just tell you to move a certain way or eat something instead of something else – he tells you exactly why you should do that from a physiological and long-term training standpoint. He is obviously extremely well read on all things related to training and nutrition and it brings a lot to the table with his coaching. Not to mention the fact that he seems to have no pain threshold and has the ability to push people’s bodies past the limits their minds would normally allow.

Looking back, I wish I had gotten into CrossFit when I first learned about it. The fee, which seems high compared to “regular gyms” is completely worth it in light of what you get out of CrossFit. You get personal training with coaches and the benefit of the CrossFit community constantly pushing you and challenging you do things you never thought you could do before. It is really an invaluable part of my life now.”

“…I struggle to put into words what CrossFit New Hampshire means to me. How can I possibly convey what it means to have been pulled from the brink and saved from myself? I can barely articulate what it is that has saved me, let alone tell you about the journey.

It’s this community.

It’s people who taught me to believe in myself and realize who I could become. It’s being coached in the box in a way that translates to the rest of life.

How is it that one extra burpee, or one last rep of a lift makes me a better person every day? How does the short, skinny guy suddenly realize that he is fast, and agile, and isn’t just getting stronger, but has become someone that IS strong? Certainly I’m fitter. But it’s not just that…

It’s Me 2.0. It’s purpose. And determination. And perseverance.

Sure my body is more durable and capable, I can see and feel muscle tone where I once clearly could not. But how do I tell you what has happened with my mind? It’s the knowledge that now is the time to get busy living.

My life has changed because these people have helped me realize I had the potential to become something better than I was; and that potential had been there the entire time. How could I have no idea of the something, someone I could become should the desire be there. It is. And for me, the change has been profound, and [even though I am trying here] indescribable.

Yet, everyday there is a warrior next to me on the pull-up bar, or on a run, or putting up weights, who is going through the same profound changes. I know it. They know it. We celebrate it. Every day this community grows within itself. We’re all on this journey together and it’s impossible to imagine not being a part of something this amazing, to do it alone would pale as an experience by comparison. In some ways it might seem easier to keep for ourselves, to hide our daily strife and triumphs so that only we can see our success or failures. But we don’t. We invite others into the fold with us, because the more of us that sweat, and toil, exhaust ourselves, and slug forward through whatever WOD awaits…

… We know it will all amount to an ever greater victory. Sharing this with this community of people who have unconditionally shown me their strengths and weaknesses is what keeps my focus on that which truly matters; not pride, or shame, or any kind of image to uphold among peers. Just pure, real, unyielding effort to better oneself.

Now the focus I had placed on my life, my improvement, my fitness gains, isn’t actually about me anymore.

It’s about us, this family we train among, all of our lives, and fighting to better every aspect of them side by side.

That’s the power I see in CrossFit; it defines our community at CFNH.”