Wednesday 11.14.2018
Sam
“Hands Down”
Tabata
Row for calories
Shoulder to overhead (95/65)
Sumo deadlift high pull (95/65)
Push-ups
3 Minute rest between each exercise.
8 consecutive rounds at each exercise of 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds rest.
Box Brief:
Congrats to Elliott Jones for being the November Member of the Month at Apollo! Scroll down to learn more about Elliott.
Elliott
ELLIOTT!! Thanks for agreeing to be our member of the month. Exposing yourself to our thought provoking, soul searching and character revealing questions is a risky business. Lets do this!
What did you think CrossFit at Apollo would be like and what was the reality?
I was curious about CF so I would watch night classes from my car while my daughters were at the dance studio. I use my wife as a guinea pig for things so I signed her up and told her that she had foundations classes to go to. I started a few months later. Fast forward three years and now CF is a pivotal part of my life. I consider myself a BUSINESS ATHLETE. I feel Crossfit plays a vital role to set the pace for my entire life. The effort required to do CF is going to be the hardest thing I do all day so the rest of the day is a Zumba class at the Y in comparison. In a given workout, I will go through a emotional roller coasters some days of regret, pain, embarrassment, learning, coaching, and it always ends with the satisfaction of accomplishment knowing that so few people in society could do what I just did.
A lot of people have a ‘Rabbit’ or 2 they like to chase on the board. Who is/are yours and what would you like to say to them?
I chase everyone. What I mean by that is being at Apollo is to be around people constantly seeking the next level. Faster time, heavier weight, ugliest socks, jumping higher, muscle up (The Holy Grail) to be around this is energizing. Everyday people around me are hitting PRs, everyday! That has an incredible amount of energy behind it. You might not realize it but we don’t go many places in our given day that can replicate that energy.
We all chase our own competition. There are several people I consistently measure myself to. That’s important because without that you loose the long term benefits of CF. Because as those people get better you will get better. They get a bar muscle-up, yours is right around the corner.
Most of your family does CrossFit? Do people think you guys are a bunch of ‘cultists’?
Cultist!! Yea I am, and love when I’m talking about CrossFit to someone and they say how they used to do it but “blablablablabla” not anymore. I say “Yeah most people can handle that type of intensity.” I’m proud that I do CF 5-6 days a week at 44 years old. Most of my friends can’t curl a Cheeto. Apollo CF is bare bones, here it is. Do our workout and let us change you. If you don’t understand that concept they your missing the whole point of CF. They don’t make it easier for you they make it harder for you so in order to get you to the that person who RXs everything, PRs consistently, and becomes a person on the white board people wonder how well you did in a WOD.
As for my family, My kids start CF at a young age in order to set an expectation of intensity required for their health and longevity. If kids understand the effort required to workout at a CF level, they will apply that same effort to other aspects of their lives. CFs not easy but if you start young then you learn the discipline required to be in peak physical condition. I have 4 girls and I feel it’s important for them to learn to lift heavy and build muscle.
You’ve gone through some serious health issues since you started CrossFit. Once you got out of the hospital what was your plan to get your strength back?
I had an open thoracotomy to treat spontaneous pneumo thorax in October 2016 which left me in the hospital for 28 days and I couldn’t leave the room for 25 of those days. On day 25 when I could leave the room but I couldn’t even finish a 50 yard walk. I lost 40 pounds wasting away in bed. Once I got home I had to take pain meds for an additional 3 months. I didn’t think I was going to be able to even come back to Apollo but each day I had less pain. I went cold turkey off Oxy which took two weeks to get through the withdraws. Then one day I was driving down the road and decided to try showing up for the 8:30 class. It was a partner workout and I teamed up with Cindy. The WOD was several rounds of running, KB swings, sit ups, and rope climbs. Cindy was so great telling me we didn’t have to go fast. I wasn’t planning on doing the rope climbs but I did them all the way up. That WOD was a a huge turning point in my life. I now knew I wasn’t going to be held back from my surgery.
Give us the big picture. Why CrossFit? Why Apollo?
CrossFit and particularly Apollo provide so many people a reprieve from their struggles. Every time I come through the door I’m going to be greeted by the coaches and prepare with a group of peers to fight through a WOD. People come to CF on some of their worst days dealing with depression, sorrow, stress, etc. They will use that WOD as a therapy session to help get through the day. The camaraderie and commonality at Apollo has help me get through some dark times. Apollo has great coaches and function as a team so no matter what class I got to, I’m going to be critiqued properly.