I was a competitive gymnast for 15 years and was forced into early retirement at the age of 22 after rupturing my Achilles tendon in the middle of my last competitive season at The University of Texas. For the majority of my life I was used to doing gymnastics based workouts which included a lot of core and stability work with occasional medium distance runs thrown in. After graduating from college, and even all the way through physical therapy school, all I did for fitness were these basic, body-weight workout routines at the gym. These never included any barbell work.
Fast forward to Spring of 2014 when I was finishing my last semester of physical therapy school and completing my internship with Austin Manual Therapy Associates. My company started working with CrossFit City Limits to conduct simple movement screens on their athletes on some Saturday mornings. My mentor, James, asked if I would be interested in joining him on one of those Saturdays as a learning experience. I'm not going to lie, I was really skeptical about what I was going to see because all I had ever heard about CrossFit at that point was stuff like "everybody that does CrossFit gets injured" or "CrossFit is a cult!!" I'm glad I decided, on that one fateful Saturday, to go up to CrossFit City Limits because my life was about to drastically change. I walked into the gym and was shocked to see everyone just picking up loaded barbells with good technique and ease and then immediately transitioning to a set of pull-ups. After observing for approximately 5 minutes I turned to James and said "this looks like something I might really enjoy doing!!!" After talking with the coaches and seeing a class, all of my doubts about CrossFit were thrown out the window. I really liked how the workout incorporated weighted movements along with gymnastics style movements and how knowledgeable the coaches were. "Constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity" was exactly what I was looking for as I was getting bored with my body-weight only exercise routine.
In January 2015, after I graduated from physical therapy school, I decided to do a class at CrossFit City Limits and immediately fell in love. After that first day I knew I had found my "new home". The community was welcoming and everyone was so friendly!!! The coaching staff was incredibly supportive and knowledgeable, and even took the time on day one to walk me through, step by step, everything I needed to succeed in that class.
CrossFit has worked wonders for someone like me. It has taught me to get comfortable with being pushed out of my comfort zone which has surprisingly translated into other aspects of my life. My entire lifestyle has changed for the better because of CrossFit. I am the fittest I have EVER been in my life. I am stronger, faster, and leaner now than I was when I was a collegiate gymnast. I am SO thankful and blessed that I found my "home" at CrossFit City Limits!!!