CrossFit KOP

Congratulations to our Athlete of the month
-Mike P!

Hometown: Brooklyn

Current Location: Villanova

Age: 42, going on 21

Occupation: Lawyer/frustrated mechanic

College: SUNY Buffalo, B.S.; Villanova, J.D.; N.Y.U., LL.M. and M.B.A.

Did you ever play sports? Yes. I played football and wrestled in high school.

When did you start CrossFit? My first workout was June 20, 2011 . . . . a breakfast date with “Karen”, who chewed me up and spit me out.

What is your biggest achievement at CrossFit? Finally getting a double under . . . . next will be stringing them (fingers crossed).

What do you feel that you still need to work on? All of my olympic lifts, my form is ing awful. I also need to work on my shoulder strength, BIG TIME . . . . to say I have the shoulder strength of a twelve-year-old girl would be a compliment.

Goals for the rest of this year? Finally nail a muscle up and a legit HSPU, learning how to kip, improving olympic lifts, sub 45 "Murph", bench: 250, squat: 375,deadlift: 425, CF Total: 950+.

What's your favorite WOD? Ohhhhhhh, that’s a tough one . . . . I like them all, especially the ones that leave me on the floor, in the fetal position, crying like a little baby. Seriously, I really, really like the longer endurance WODs . . . . ones where there’s plenty of “stuff” hitting the fan and that push me to the limit physically and mentally . . . . some of my favorites are: this past 12 Days of Christmas at CF KoP, WOLVERINE, Murph, Filthy Fifty, The Mogadishu Mile, Linda, Air Force, Angie, and Fight Gone Bad.

What is the craziest insane workout outside of CF you have ever done? Actually two come to mind.

First, 4,000 Ways to F**k Up a Ten Mile Run, which I did with Chris Tidmore a few months ago . . . . it goes something like this: 40 rounds: run 1/4 mile, then do 25 pushups, 25 situps, 25 burpees and 25 air squats. I think it took us 7 hours and 1 minute to get through this bit of goodness.

Second, KIT UP, from a few weeks ago, was also mucho fun. This took 1:49:05 to finish (time started when I began the run and stopped when I smiled after shotgunning the beer):

All exercises are to be completed while wearing KIT (I used a 40# weight vest) except for Military Press.

Warm-up

▪ 3 rounds 10 Pull-ups,10 Air Squats,10 Push-ups ▪ Drink Monster Rehab ▪ Smoke cigarette

Part 1

▪ Run 1 mile ▪ 20 pull-ups ▪ Run 1.25 mile ▪ 20 Push-ups ▪ Run 1.5 mile ▪ 20 Dips ▪ Run 1.5 mile Part 2

▪ Take off KIT and then complete 40 Military Press with the body KIT over your head. Once complete put KIT back on. Part 3

▪ 200 meter Bear Crawl ▪ 200 meter Lunges ▪ 200 meter Crab walk

Cool-down

▪ Shotgun Beer ▪ Smile

What’s your least favorite WOD? None, I’m game for everything.

What’s your favorite lift? Deadlift, for sure.

What’s your least favorite lift? Pick an oly, any oly.

What actually made you drink the CF "kool-aid"? I was getting stale doing the typical Globo gym workouts. I hated going to the gym, and wasn’t seeing any progress. I started doing mud runs, GoRuck challenges, ARs and similar events to try to break things up. The thing I noticed almost immediately was that the men and women (especially the military men and women) who were absolutely CRUSHING these events and having FUN doing it had one thing in common – they were all CrossFitters. That was good enough for me.

What's your favorite foods, and snacks? Bacon burgers, peanut M&M’s, onion rings and beer.

What’s your favorite piece of workout gear? Compression socks.

What you say is your biggest improvement since starting CF? Definitely my strength and endurance. For example, before CrossFit, my Murph time, with no weight vest, was in the 58 minute range. A few weeks ago I did it Rx (20# vest) in 49:16. Another example is buddy carries. Before CrossFit, I had trouble buddy carrying someone my own body weight, now I can buddy carry guys that weigh 100# more than me for a pretty significant distance/time.

Who is your favorite coach? They’re all great, and each of them bring something unique to the Box that makes WODing fun! Plus, all of them are very, very friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and most importantly, PATIENT.

PR's to mention? My improvement on Murph stands out the most.