Smashby's Training Blog

It has been a pretty monumental few weeks at CrossFit Lakewood.

I am going to take this post to talk about just two of our many accomplishments in what I hope to be a new recurring series of posts of the blog: Success Stories.

Today, Jamie Slater was the first person (to my knowledge) to already reach one of the goals he wrote on the white board a few weeks ago. His goal was to complete a workout with a weighted barbell using the Rx’d (or as prescribed) weight. Not only did he do this tonight, but he did it using the second workout of the 2011 CrossFit Games Open! (As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of 155lb Deadlifts, 12 Push-Ups and 15 Box Jumps 24″) Not a bad one to break in the “Rx” next to your name, Jamie!!!

My favorite part, was after he erased the goal, which is now an ACCOMPLISHMENT, he said, “every time I erase one, I had better write another one up there, huh?” That’s such an awesome attitude, Jamie! Keep it up!

The next “story” is actually about two people. A father and daughter, no less. Casey and Wes Polk are two of the raddest people out there. Casey is a high school senior who plays sports year-round, yet STILL has made the time to CrossFit. (I never would have had that much energy in high school!) Wes is a fire fighter in the area, who despite working a crazy schedule, STILL makes into the gym often. I can’t even think of a way to “intro” their awesomeness, so I’ll just get right to it.

The Polk's; Casey and Wes

Casey, at 17 years old, has been CrossFitting with us since mid-December of last year. That’s 3.5 months of her following the CrossFit methodology, along with her sports teams commitments. In that time (yes… 3.5 months) Casey has LOST 30 POUNDS!!! Thirty. Pounds. In 3.5 months. Now don’t worry, I made sure she is still being healthy, and her response was, “Uhhh, Tom. I love my food too much to not be eating enough.” Whew, ok I believe her! Way to go, Casey!

Wes came in and specifically remembers using 4 assistance bands to help him through pull-ups. That’s pretty standard for most people who walk through the door, so that wasn’t too shocking. You see, Wes is approximately 9 foot 3 inches tall (at least that’s what it looks like to me), so I was just glad we had enough clearance under the Pull-Ups bars to allow him to do them at all. 🙂 Now Wes’ story really gets good. In 3.5 months, he went from 4 assistance bands, to what he did yesterday. Wes called me over and said, “Hey Tom, watch this.” He then proceeded to do SIX (and three quarters) PULL-UPS with NO assistance!! Oh, and before calling me over, he did 5 unassisted. What?! In 3.5 months, that is a HUGE improvement! The video below is from today where I just asked him to do 2 for me to show you all what I got to see. That’s so awesome, Wes.

All in all, I just want everyone reading this to know that these are only three incredible stories of our CFLW athletes. There are many more (which I hope to keep sharing with you) everywhere you look. I’m so proud to be a part of this family! Keep up the great work, everyone!!