John Joseph

I do Crossfit to become a generally fit person and to lead to better health. I have always worked out but never liked places like the YMCA or a planet fitness type place.

What got me started into Crossfit was Sarah K. so just told me randomly that she had signed up for an onramp and was going to it the next day. Then asked if I wanted to go as well. I have known about Crossfit for a while through my sister and how long she had been doing it. But it was Sarah that got me into the door.

The variety of the workouts at first was fun. And naturally deep down I am a competitive person so it was fun to be able to compare to people in our gym and around the world. I also really like the Olympic lifts.

I like the variety of workouts and programming. It is nice to see how so many different workouts can tax the same or separate parts of the body. Also how some workouts can sneak up on you.

Better overall cardio and endurance in gymnastic movements and stronger Olympic lifts. 225# squat snatch, 300# clean and jerk, 400# deadlift, 400# back squat, and 350# front squat.

Since 2015

I have a bad habit of planning out how I think it is going to feel. Then attacking the workout way to fast, even if I am trying to pace. Once into it I try to hang on to said pace without dying. Breaking strategically in order to keep pace and not have muscles fail….. unless that is what the workout calls for.

Gymnastics movements… besides toes to bar. And Olympic 1 RM’s.

I am pretty proficient on a pull-up bar or rings, so any of those movements are fun for me. Except for toes to bar. I still don’t like those. I also have started to like thrusters more and more, but they do wind you pretty good. As far as CrossFit movements that I dread, I would say regular burpees aren’t my favorite. If the movement is over an obstacle, I tend to like it.

I never dieted until I tried a challenge here at CFA. I went with Zone. It wasn’t too bad. It helped me to be on a massing plan with 30 blocks a day. It was surprisingly hard to eat that much food. As far as my go-to snack, I would say a protein shake and bananas with peanut butter (jiffy or skippy cause I don’t want to go completely healthy). For meals, I tend to stick to rice and a protein. Either ground beef or chicken with broccoli or asparagus.

I guess I have to count pizza as a cheat. So I will. But my absolute favorites are cake and ice cream. I am all about the desserts.

I had taken to the movements fairly quickly and I was curious to learn more about them. I also wanted to know how CrossFit understands them and how they teach them. I had played around with getting my L1 for a few months and then Sarah K. decided to sign me up as a birthday present.

Currently, I only have my Level 1 certificate. I was a college level sailing coach and I played a bunch of sports. I mainly played soccer and basketball, I sailed, skied, and went snowmobiling (if you want to call that a sport).

As my knowledge grows with Olympic lifting and gymnastics, I hope to be able to help people become more efficient with these movements. Also, as I get more competitions under my belt I would like to be able to give people tips and pointers on being more efficient during workouts such as how to save energy where possible.

I wanted the opportunity and the challenge to see how some people view the movements and to find ways to help them better understand these movements. Everyone is a little different and they react to cues differently. I also like to see people get things for the first time, especially movements that they once said they were never going to be able to execute. Nothing is truly impossible, it just takes time and effort to make the body understand and move the way it needs to. I like to see people get firsts in gymnastic movements.

Sports with snowmobiling and skiing in the winter and sailing and some scuba diving in the summer. I am pretty mechanical and like to work on vehicles and anything motorized.

I would have to say Blue

When time permits, I like to get some time on the snow either snowmobiling or skiing. In the summer, I try to get out on the water as much as possible. Other than that, I tend to be at work or working on projects around the house. There are always projects.