The guy who knew CrossFit before CrossFit was cool
I’ve been at this longer than most. My CrossFit story goes back to 2009 — before it was a thing — when I figured out my GoodLife PT was quietly pulling my workouts straight from CrossFit.com. Once I knew, I was hooked. A few good years at a real box followed, but eventually I plateaued. Life got messy. The gym stopped keeping pace with what I needed.
A bunch of my gym friends had already made the move to Outlaw and wouldn’t stop talking about it. I reached out to Jay. Then I stalled. Then the pandemic hit.
Climbing out of the pandemic hole
Let’s be honest: the pandemic wrecked me a little. My training fell off, my diet got ugly, and I leaned on alcohol more than I should have for comfort and stress relief. Not my finest chapter.
When things started opening back up, I knew I had to do something. Jay & Lacey welcomed me in — and right away it was obvious this place was different. The coaching quality, the programming, the warmups — it all had intention behind it. I got called on my bad habits. I got pushed to try things I’d shelved for years. My Olympic lifts started moving again. My capacity climbed.
Then I did the CrossFit Open at Outlaw. Year nine or ten for me doing the Open — and I’d been missing out on this the whole time. The energy in that gym is something else.
Finding purpose- when fitness became more than fitness
I retired from a long career in executive marketing and product management in 2023. My days now centre around walking our pug Pooh Bear, doing WODs, and spending time with family. It’s a good life. But getting here wasn’t simple.
In December 2022, my wife was diagnosed with late-stage organ failure. Overnight, our world changed completely. She was very sick. Work became irrelevant. Everything we thought we knew about our day-to-day just disappeared.
In that chaos, a few things held me together: my wife’s absolute determination to get well, our daughter and close friends, and Outlaw. With my wife’s encouragement, I kept showing up. I quit drinking, in solidarity with her. I doubled down on my training. It wasn’t about PRs. It was about having somewhere to put the energy, the fear, the need to feel like something was in my control.
She underwent a successful transplant. She recovered. And today — I mean this — our lives have never felt more full.
57, still going, no plans to stop
I’m working on handstand walks. I’m stringing together my muscle ups. I’m turning 57 and I don’t have a finish line in mind.
What I’ve seen at Outlaw — across people of all ages — is that the transformation is real when you just show up. It’s not complicated. It’s a habit worth leaning into hard, especially when everything else feels like it’s falling apart.
Even if you’ve been doing CrossFit for fifteen years, this isn’t about maintaining. It’s about what’s still possible.
