December Athlete of the Month

Congratulations Justin R!

Hometown: Warminster

Current Location: Huntingdon Valley

Age: 31

Occupation: Microbiologist

College: A couple but graduated from Penn State Abington


How long have you been a CrossFitter?
March of 2012


Did you ever play sports?
HS soccer, football and basketball.  And I played college football for two years culminating in the PAT team for an NAIA school.

Got some cool (or uncool) hobbies you'd like to share?
Played National tournament level paintball and sorry no it is not in the woods or 'I did that at Skirmish once'.  Help with the Sr high group at my church and enjoy shooting although I am not a hunter.  Season ticket holder for the Flyers and I enjoying snowboarding

What is your biggest achievement at CrossFit?
Coming back.  The first couple of months it was all I could do to survive twice a week since I was so sore.  But I am up to a 225ish C&J (power--see next question) and am RX'ing more WODs including those with pull-ups which I would not have believed a year and a half ago.

What do you feel that you still need to work on?
Anything that involves a squat--I hate all of them; back, front, overhead, air--you name it I do not like it.  And I need to work on all the body weight movements.

 Goals for the rest of this year?
Being that it is late November do not take too much time off around Thanksgiving and Christmas.  2014--Continue showing up and putting in the work and just getting better at everything.  Get rope climbs and a couple of hand stand pushups--increase my ring dip PR of 2 to at least 3. Ambitious I know.  But I should really try for the 100 DU board.  Half way there.

What's your favorite WOD?
Something involving a hang power clean or DU.  And I am a fan of the WODs that include running.  Shocking I know for a guy who goes 230 on a good day.

 How about your favorite food/snacks?
Yes.  Sorry...more or less anything.  Totally do not follow any sort of diet--hence the 230 on a good day.  Ice cream is a staple of my diet though.

 What is the craziest workout outside of CF you have ever done?
Ran the Philadelphia Marathon a couple of years ago.  That is a long way to run. Once was enough for that. Also Indian runs for soccer around half of the field where you went from the front of the line around the field to the back of the line was ridiculous.

What’s your least favorite WOD?
Karen ate my lunch the one time I did it.  Could hardly walk for a few days and then may or may not have yakked in the locker room after it.

Favorite lift/movement?
I am a fan of the C&J and the shoulder to overhead.

What’s your least favorite lift/movement?
Squats and I do not have the lungs for burpees.

What skill have you been workingon in 2013 the most ?
Keeping up the intensity in a workout.  I am really good at just looking at the weights/bar/kb/box etc when I get tired and my five or ten second break is a lot slower then most others counting to five or ten.  Working on it.  And trying to RX more WODs that I would have scaled in the past.

Whats your favorite piece of workout "gear"?
I own a Rogue jump rope and just picked up a new pair of Nano shoes.  Being that I only own two pieces of gear I will call it a tie.  Unless the rope gets me on the 100 DU board next year in which case I will go with the rope.

What you say is your biggest improvement since starting CF?
Too many to count.  My form has improved on everything.  My strength has gone up in every category and my paper pushing hands are finally not ripping on any pull up bar related movement.

Who is your favorite coach?
PC answer all of them. But I came up under Jason at the 4:30 when I was new so prolly Jason.

PR's to mention? Goals Reached? Nutrition highlights?
My PRs have increased on every strength movement and my times have decreased on all the timed ones.  Goals?  Being not all that competitive I do not really set goals for myself.  I just try to show up and work each day.  I am filling out this questionnaire after finishing last in my class by a couple of minutes today but it was a solid workout.  I enjoy coming back which when I had multiple globo gym memberships they would just collect dust.  And my 430 crew makes it a good time to come back to.