A Decade of CrossFit: My Journey at CFC

With our 10 year anniversary on the horizon we wanted to do a quick interview of one of our members who has been here since the beginning. Deborah joined CrossFit Clintonville in the summer of 2014 and is still with us to this day! She has graciously shared her reflections on the past decade, the reasons why she started, and what's kept her hooked all these years.

1. When did you start CrossFit? I started when CFC opened, back in the summer of 2014!

2. Why did you start? I was looking for something new and challenging. I’d done other workouts, home workouts, a few gym memberships, a love/hate relationship with running. A handful of people told me about CrossFit, and said they thought I’d love it. They were right.

3. What has kept you coming back? I love that CrossFit can be your own - you can challenge yourself, you can compete, you can scale, you can PR. It’s flexible enough to adapt to what you need at that time. At various points in the last 10 years I’ve had different focuses, different strengths, different injuries, but I’ve been able to maintain a CrossFit regimen through it all. Plus, the coaches at CFC have been great at adapting workouts when needed. That has kept me coming back. CFC has been a constant for me.

4. What's something you would tell yourself when you first tried CrossFit if you could go back in time now? I’d say just embrace the environment, ask lots of questions, and be a part of the community. It’s a unique thing about CrossFit, and CFC in particular. Our family and work schedule has generally kept me as a 6 am-er (or earlier with Hybrid) , so I don’t get to a lot of other classes or events, but the CFC fam and events are something special, and I do like making them when I can.

5. Any words of wisdom for our newest members? Be open to feedback from the coaches - seek it out and use it. Try to come in with no ego. Getting feedback on form and technique is to help you perfect it and to stay safe. To this day, I love hearing tweaks to technique and form on lifts or gymnastics moves. One coach said once that the best cue is the one that works. You might hear a dozen cues that don’t seem to click for you, but then you’ll hear that one that just makes sense, and then - bam - you’re banging out overhead squats like a pro. Keep an open mind (and open shoulders), keep at it, and it will work out.