Leading Girls to Strength : Empowering the Next Generation
Sep 30, 2014
Written by Sarah Wilson
Filed under Coaching, CrossFit, Kid's Fitness

Leading Girls to Strength : Empowering the Next Generation

Name: Mindy Coby

Occupation: CrossFit Kids Coach at Practice CrossFit, 2nd Grade Teacher

Mission: To teach young girls that they are strong, capable, beautiful individuals who can achieve literally anything they want to.

"Getting teen girls involved in our program is like pulling teeth... these girls don't have any women in their lives that promote fitness, strength, and health, so they have little or no desire to try it themselves. To them, exercise is for people who are fat, which is such a shame. I'm starting to finally connect on a personal level with a couple of them, so I'm looking for little things to slowly bring them into the program.” -Mindy

What does it take to change mindset of these young girls? How can we as a community – whether you are a parent, teacher, coach, friend, etc. – reach young girls who do not value fitness as part of a healthy lifestyle? And most importantly, why is it so important that we do? Mindy has some great answers...

I Control The Outcome
Nov 06, 2012
Written by Sarah Wilson
Filed under CrossFit, Kid's Fitness
Discussion 2 comments

I Control The Outcome

November 2012

Name: Allie Chrismer
Age: 16
Occupation: High School Student

Hi, my name is Allie Chrismer and I'm 16 years old. I was diagnosed with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), a heart disease, about a year ago. If I do things that get my heart rate up or drastically change my position, I could pass out. My heart doesn't pump blood like it should. A normal heart will fill up with blood and then pump that blood out and send it all over your body. When my heart beats it doesn't always fill up the whole way. So sometimes my heart beats faster to try to make up for the blood that my heart isn't filling up with.

Normally a person with POTS will pass out after about 20 minutes of being up right. I passed out in 4 minutes. So you could say my case is pretty severe. After I was diagnosed I tried a bunch of different medicines. Medicines that made my blood pressure increase, and ones that made it decrease. There was at least 12 different ones I tried. Most with unpleasant side effects. So once they had no more meds to try the doctors pretty much said, there's nothing else we can do you'll have to live with it.

I Am Enough
May 18, 2012
Written by Sarah Wilson
Filed under CrossFit, Kid's Fitness, Women's Fitness
Discussion 10 comments

I Am Enough

May 2012

Name: Melissa Guitron
Age: 25
Occupation: Coach at CrossFit San Mateo - Certified in: Level 1 CrossFit, CF Gymnastics, CF Football, CF Kids and Mobility

You know what you know and you don’t know what do you don’t know. Four years ago if you asked me to define beauty, I probably would have told you it involved weighing 120 pounds, wearing a size four and looking “lean and toned.” Today, though I wear a size 4, I am proud to weigh a strong 150 pounds. Before Crossfit I simply did not know. In a world that tells us who we are is not enough, not thin enough, not pretty enough, not tan enough, not strong enough, it is hard to believe that you are enough.

When did strong become the new skinny?

I discovered CrossFit three years ago through my ex-husband. When he returned from his deployment to Afghanistan he introduced me to CrossFit and a completely new world of, you are not enough. While CrossFit motivates most people to want to better for themselves, I embraced CrossFit to make my husband happy. For 12 months I had spent hours on the elliptical, counting calories and skipping meals, starving myself in an attempt turn my body into what I thought was desirable. I thought exposed hip and collar bones was beauty, yet now I find myself envious of girls with muscles and strength because that is what my husband suddenly found attractive. All my hard work was now, once again, not enough. It was no longer, you are not skinny enough but instead you are not strong enough. I was now expected to learn to row fast, jump high and clean massive amounts of weight all while wearing booty shorts if I wanted to be enough for him.

Built by Desire
Feb 28, 2012
Written by Sarah Wilson
Filed under CrossFit, Fit Moms, Kid's Fitness, Women's Fitness
Discussion 1 comment

Built by Desire

February 2012

Name: Shellie Edington
Age: 47
Occupation: Owner of Tumblin4Kids Mobile Gym, Mother of 3, CrossFit Games Competitor

Building Her Passion

"Tumbling, swinging, jumping, has always been a joy to me. I am still amazed at what feats the human body can do and I believe anyone can do it. I understood at an early age that in order to do all those cool tricks I had to eat, sleep and train smart."

Q. What is your Earliest athletic memory?

A. Impossible to say, my parents hung me from the clothesline while they hung laundry and I have pictures of myself at age 18 months standing on my tricycle seat. I always had a ton of energy and my parents were constantly challenging me, believing in me when other parents would have fainted. My parents enrolled me in dance and acrobats at the age of 3. I wanted to go every night!

I was consumed by a drive and passion to be Olga Korbut! To do the cool things they did on TV. No matter what it took. I was unable to get into a gymnastic center until age 13 but began competing 6 months later. I went from school to dinner to the gym everyday M-F and Sunday for 4 hours each day. I loved it, it was what I desired. When you love something, discipline comes easy.

Building Her Family

"As I grew into adulthood, I married a wonderful man, and we had 3 beautiful daughters in less than 4 years."

Mama Pitbull
Jan 05, 2012
Written by Sarah Wilson
Filed under CrossFit, Fit Moms, Kid's Fitness, Women's Fitness
Discussion 1 comment

Mama Pitbull

January 2012

Name: Amy Albert
Age: 31
Occupation: Firefighter, Palm Beach Fire Rescue

As a mother of two, an accomplished athlete, and a Firefighter, it is easy to see why Amy is the perfect choice for Fashlete of the month. But what makes Amy's selection extra special is that she was nominated by her twin sister Amber. As tough as this duo is, Amber's pride and love for her sister is touching and even brought a tear to my eye (okay fine, more than one tear). After all, success means so much more when you have someone you love to share it with... Amy and Amber have the LIVE LOVE LIFT thing down! Here is Amber's tribute to her sis...

“You don’t always have to give 110%” our mother would say to Amy all the time while growing up. My identical twin sister Amy is by far one of the most remarkable athletes and human beings I know. As long as I can remember Amy has been the most determined, compassionate, and hard working individual. There are many stories of Amy’s athleticism that I could share, so I will give you a few examples of some of the good ones. Amy is like a pit bull, she has no cut off, a high threshold for pain and will go to complete exhaustion. Our mother would always tell her that “you don’t have to be the best” Amy would just smile and do her best, which was always above and beyond what most could accomplish.

Amy and I played water polo in high school, when we arrived at Florida State University our freshmen year we both realized that there was no women’s water polo team. So you ask yourself, what did Amy do? Amy played with the men’s water polo team, not an easy feat. Amy took it upon herself her sophomore year to help establish the FSU women’s water polo team and become the first President. After many water polo games Amy would complain that her arm would become numb, most would probably stop whatever physical activity they were doing if something like that occurred, not Amy! In fact Amy was swimming half the game with her shoulder dislocated! She would just push past the pain.

Fashlete™ of the Month

November 2012

May 2012

February 2012

January 2012