Grant’s CrossFit story….
I grew up in Bedford, New Hampshire and am as loyal a Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins, and Celtics fan as they come. I started swimming competitively around age 8, and swim at Union College in upstate NY, captaining the team my senior year. After college I took a sales job with The Hartford Insurance company in their Chicago regional office. There, I spent many years learning exactly how not to be physically fit (read: deep dish pizza and drive thru’s). After gaining 50 pounds, a friend took pity on me and had me join Crossfit. From there, I’ve been hooked for the last 6 years (and managed to get my wife, Molly, hooked too).
My first year I was stuck at a 125# clean, couldn’t get it to save my life. We had a WOD with 135# cleans, so I was setting my bar to scale to 125#. The coach came over and told me that he thought I was strong enough to get it and had me set my bar to 135#. The coach’s confidence, coupled with the fact that I couldn’t overthink the lift (because of the metcon) allowed me to get through my first Rx wod. Not only did I clean the 135# but I cleaned it 10x in the WOD. I don’t think anyone forgets their first muscle up. I had worked for 3 weeks to jump and hang to get the movement down. Sure enough, I got my first MU after tons of practice…I kept saying “Bring on Rich Froning” all afternoon. Getting a rope climb (when I couldn’t do one in grade school) was also a great accomplishment.
We’re very lucky to have the VDB’s here at Thermal. I remember first getting to know Grant, it started during the darkest, coldest days of last years winter. There were a few days that we either closed early or cancelled certain classes due to snow, and Grant was emailing me about working out. I thought about how much I wanted him and Molly to join and I just kept lying and saying that we were open. Grant would show up to workout, and me and him would go head to head in some old open WODs. A small part of me thought, “man this dude is better than me at a bunch of stuff, I wonder if I can handle the competition?” In the end I was happy that he joined and our friendship blossomed into the country club blastin, bar slammin, baby makin friendship that it has! VDB is in the house!!!
Hysterical! Happy be a part of the Thermal Community!
I guess I should go to class tomorrow… I had a rest day planned.
Molls and I couldn’t be happier to meet you guys and the rest of the Thermal family.
Grant takes rest days??