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Fashlete™ of the Month

The Pursuit of Strength : Olympic Athlete Cara Heads Slaughter

January 2014

Name: Cara Heads Slaughter
Age: 36
Occupation: Owner of CH Fitness and Performance

I met Cara last July at the Reebok CrossFit Games. She is bright, friendly, energetic, strong and beautiful... and this is the impression you will get within the first 5 seconds of meeting her. There is nothing I love more than speaking with women who are as passionate about lifting and strength as Cara. To some this may seem like a dull topic, meathead kind of stuff. But it is so much more. We're not just gabbing about our workouts, how much weight, how many reps, bla bla bla.  We are talking about the pursuit of strength on a broad and massive scale. It is technical, it is physical, it is mental, it can even be spiritual. You know what I mean.

Come to find out, Cara isn't just any ol' weightlifting enthusiast. Cara Heads Slaughter is a US Olympic Weightlifter with an 18 year Olympic weightlifting career under her belt. She has earned 8 national championship titles, set 2 American records, and represented  the U.S. at 5 world championships. Cara was also part of the 2000 Olympic Team in Sydney. In short, this woman is the real deal.

"...I am a cheerleader at heart; someone that genuinely wants to see people succeed in life. I consider it a privilege to get to help people train and reach their personal weightlifting or fitness goals, because it almost always means they had to overcome significant challenges to do it. Challenges are full of lessons and I value the lessons that can be learned from the discipline of Olympic weightlifting, or any true discipline for that matter. It takes courage to try a new technique, enter your first competition, or endure when your training doesn’t seem to be producing the expected results. I love coaching people through these kinds of circumstances.  I’m a very passionate person in general, but I am especially passionate about helping people pursue their goals and helping them be as successful as they want to be." -Cara

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It's a Marathon... and There Are No Shortcuts

November 2013

Name: Kristy Thacker
Age: 33
Occupation: Social Media Manager for Sportsman's Adventures Productions

"If you fall down, you have to get up. Just because you ate 2 oreos, doesn’t mean you have to eat the whole bag." -Kristy

It took Kristy a long time to become mentally ready for the dramatic physical change you see above, to be the kind of person with the wisdom quoted above, and truly master the patience and perseverance needed to lose over 100lbs.  Her story is compelling for many reasons, one reason being that she did fall down.  She fell so hard that at one point she gained back 60 of the 80lbs she had worked so hard to lose.  Ouch.

"It's a marathon" she told me.  And she meant this literally and figuratively. 

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Barbells for Boobs : The Woman Leading the Way

October 2013

Name: Zionna Munoz
Age: 34
Occupation: Founder and CEO of Barbells for Boobs - Mammograms in Action

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we are very proud to feature Zionna Munoz as our Fashlete of the Month.  After a close friend was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, Zionna knew she had to do something. This "something" has grown from 60 athletes in a parking lot to more than 45,000 participants across 1300 affiliates in 23 countries raising funds for Zionna's organization, Mammograms in Action.

Though Zionna says she has always been in the "industry of helping others", running a non-profit was something completely new.  Prior to starting Barbells for Boobs, Zionna had been a CrossFit Affiliate owner, massage therapist, and pharmacy tech.

"I became a health insurance specialist in the pharmacy industry and lead the team that troubleshooter for over 600 pharmacies on the west coast. I hoped to one day become a pharmacist until I saw the pharmaceutical industry take a huge change in a direction I did not believe in."

It is clear now that Zionna has found her true calling.  She is currently on the road, visiting CrossFit Affiliates across the country on the annual Pink Bra Tour. She took some time out of her schedule to answer the following questions and give us some insight into how she got started, why she continues, and who has helped her along the way.

To date, this incredible woman is responsible for starting an organization that has provided 1,123 procedures, detected 30 cases of breast cancer, and served 749 individuals in need of care.

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Forever Young : CrossFit at 70

September 2013

Name: Kathy Hawkins
Age: 70
Occupation: Retired Nurse, Future CrossFit Coach

Considering all the talk lately of the dangers associated with CrossFit - the talk of Rhabdo, injury, and excessive intensity - I was fascinated by what I was hearing from Kathy - a 70 year old retired nurse whose hobbies range from quilting to CrossFit.

"I have never once in my life considered myself an athlete in any sport.  I think it's funny how well I like CrossFit."

So how does a self-described "couch potato" end up being such a huge proponent of CrossFit? Kathy's story starts with her husband (age 75) and his very bad knees.  About five years ago it was getting harder and harder for him to walk.  Coincidentally, Kathy's daughter Amelia had just started CrossFitting.  She encouraged Kathy to give it a try.  Kathy made a deal with her husband:

“I am a very sweet and devoted wife. I told him, if you do everything you can do to get your knees better and you end up in a wheelchair, I will take care of you. If you are not willing to do do anything, I won’t take care of you. We’re going to go with Amelia for 6 weeks to try it out.”

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What Does 'Fit' Look Like? : From CrossFit to Figure Competition

AUGUST

Name: Chrissy Wallis Henry
Age: 34
Occupation: Co-Owner of JAX Strength and Conditioning, Realtor at Watson Realty Group

Chrissy Wallis is co-owner of JAX Strength and Conditioning in Jacksonville, FL.  I first met Chrissy a few years ago at a CrossFit Endurance "War Camp"... because where else does one go to meet amazing women who share a passion for lifting heaving and running fast?

My new War Camp buddy and I have kept in touch over the years, through Facebook and CrossFit events.  I knew Chrissy as a hardcore CrossFitter, which is why I was surprised one day while scrolling through my FB feed to see photos of her tanned and toned body on stage in a bikini, posing at a Figure Competition.

CrossFit and Figure are as popular as they are polarizing, probably due in part to their extreme programing.  I was surprised to see Chrissy competing in Figure only because the training and ideology is completely different from that of CrossFit. In my experience, CrossFit is about training to perform your best. I admit I don't know much about figure, but I always thought it was about training to look a particular way. 

When I first asked Chrissy why she wanted to compete in Figure, she simply said, "I wanted to look as fit as I feel."

Hold up.  Why, you might ask, wouldn't training to perform your best automatically make you look your best?  In my opinion, prior to her figure training, Chrissy was already extremely fit and looked amazing.  But that was my opinion of Chrissy, not Chrissy's opinion of Chrissy.  Throughout our conversation I was reminded of how subjective beauty is and how hard we are on ourselves.  What does "looking fit" even mean?

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