member spotlight: jeff bechtel
All I remember growing up was playing sports. My parents threw me into sports as soon as they could to burn off all of my excess energy. In high school, I was a three sport athlete, rotating from football, wrestling to track. Out of these three sports, I would have to say my favorite sport was wrestling [2nd favorite being football after crushing our rival high school, Bexley every year -Brian’s Alma Mater]. Why you ask? Wrestling, like CrossFit, was always a sport that challenged me mentally and physically. The physical training for wrestling was tough. Disclaimer: What you’re about to read, I would never suggest to anyone, and I now realize how crazy my workouts were. I remember training 3 times a day, 6 days a week, cutting down from 165 lb to 125 lb in a month and dedicating every moment I could by training for the sport. I know, I was crazy.
Fast forward to after college when my wrestling career ended, I tried to find something new and started training for triathlons. I enjoyed the long hours of running, biking and swimming that this sport entailed and the adrenaline rush of competing in races. However, soon after getting my first big boy job and moving back to Columbus, I soon realized how difficult it was going to be to continue my triathlon training. So then I tried bodybuilding. Seeing all the power houses on bodybuilding.com, I thought if they can look good, I can too. After that epiphany moment, I went back to the gym working out daily for weeks with little progress to show for my efforts. Eventually, I would give up and go back to not working out. This roller coaster cycle happened a few times.
I tried P90x with my friend and it worked for a year. I saw great results but then lost motivation after my accountability buddy moved away. My 30th birthday gave me incentive to be in the best shape of my life by changing my diet, and trying a new exercise program (not bodybuilding.com this time lol). However that streak ended when my job became more strenuous and demanding with traveling each month, which made it hard to keep a consistent workout schedule. During that time I was always hanging out with Gerry Wallace, a long time member of CrossFit Clintonville (yes, that tall, loud guy who shakes everyone lol). He would always tell me I should look into doing CrossFit and that I would probably really enjoy it.
I thought CrossFit would be a great solution to continue my workouts on the road, by partaking in a class in whatever city I was traveling. I decided in October of 2017, to do the 101 class at CFC to see what CrossFit was all about. When I went into my first “real” CrossFit class, I foolishly thought I would crush the workout and have the fastest time in the class. I could not have been more wrong. I was one of the last to finish and had to scale the workout. For a competitive athlete like myself, it was a very humbling experience. To this day, I don’t remember the WOD... I just remember how supportive and encouraging all of my peers including the coaches were during that first work out. I have now been a member at CFC for almost 3 years, and I am stronger and faster today than I ever have been. It brings me so much joy knowing that the uplifting support from the community has pushed me to be the best I can be.
The past few months have really brought out the best in CFC. Myself, like many others in the community, had our lives drastically changed by the pandemic and the CFC community has been a huge part of helping me to deal with all the changes. I truly appreciated and admired how Pat and Brian gave out all their equipment and continued to share daily program workouts. I honestly don’t know if I would have been able to keep my sanity through all of this, if it wasn’t for the amazing support of this gym. When people ask why I do CrossFit at CFC -I say I come for the workouts but return for the community. Now, I just need to get my wife to join :)