CrossFitter of the Month – May 2016


Hey Friends!

It’s that time!  We get to recognize another awesome member.  Yesssss.  This month we’re appreciating the hard work, dedication and attention to detail that has made progress fairly consistent and reliable as their time with us continues.  Always an upbeat person to be around with the desire to have fun while making an effort to always improve the way they move.  We’re lucky to have May’s CrossFitter of the Month…

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Name: Melissa McLaren

Age: 32

Occupation: Accounting Supervisor, Vale Clean AER Project

What was your exercise experience prior to crossfit?

I’ve always been very active from the time I was young. I played lots of sports like baseball, tennis, swimming. When I was in highschool I played volleyball, basketball and a little flag football. In terms of exercise I’ve been to NUMEROUS gyms wherever I’ve lived. I’ve done pump, spinning, core, all kinds of classes, been on custom programs and used a lot of the weight machines. I’ve taken boxing classes and used to love Bikram Yoga. For a while I got myself into running and did a 10k run.

How long have you been doing crossfit and why do you choose to crossfit?

I’ve been doing Crossfit for just over a year now. I was struggling to stick to an exercise program and felt like I was really getting out of shape. I was going to a gym and trying to get my running back but couldn’t push myself past a pretty low threshold. It was very frustrating. I had some friends who were Crossfitters and they looked like they were in such good shape, I was very intrigued. Crossfit seemed very elite to me and I wanted to step up to a challenge.  From day one I was hooked. I saw great improvements really fast and my body felt exhausted even though it may have only been like 8 minutes of a workout. Of all my experience exercising this is by far the best. Everything about it feels great.

What is your favourite part about crossfit?

The people. Crossfit Sudbury’s full of great people. They support you, they push you, they encourage you and they help you along the way. I’ve never experienced that in any gym and it really puts a smile on your face when you walk through the door.

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What are the accomplishments you are proud of? (Crossfit or non crossfit related)

I guess I’m proud of all the improvements I’ve seen in my level of fitness. The first time my chin went above the bar to do a strict pull up, the first time I dropped down to do a push up and didn’t need to put my knees on the ground to push myself up, that first set of double unders, doing more WODs at RX, getting a PR on a lift, there’s a lot of satisfaction you feel when these things happen because you know you’ve worked hard and now you’ve gotten the result. You feel proud of yourself and it’s really encouraging to keep going and push harder.

Favourite workout or lift?

Cleans.   These were a hard lift to get my head around and I always used to slam the bar into my collar bone and leave bruises and bumps.   Over time and lots of practice I feel like I’ve got them down. I feel really comfortable doing them now whenever they’re part of the Strength for the WOD. My next focus will be Snatches.

Anything else you would like to share please feel free   

Joining Crossfit is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and I’m very thankful that we have one in our city. Adam and Kristin, thank you so much for pioneering Crossfit in Sudbury and for being such kind and generous people. You really do create a caring culture that’s trying to help everyone improve on themselves.   To all the coaches, you guys are AWESOME!   I always ask lots of questions, thanks for spending time with me to work on my form and giving me all the answers. You guys have really helped me reach my goals. To all the Crossfitters, thanks for being so encouraging and welcoming, it was certainly a little intimidating when I started but everyone made it so easy to be a part of the community. Big shout out to the lunchtime crew! it’s so great to have a little break from work to come and workout with you. It’s nice to have a laugh with everyone and come back to work very refreshed.   I’d also like to give a shout out to Kristen and Eric. Thanks for giving me all the info for Crossfit when I was ready to join. You guys really helped me take that next step.   And finally, big thanks to Mikie for sharing all the videos and pics of competitions when you were trying to recruit me…it worked!