Jim Hurd – A CrossFit Testimonial

Jim is a relatively new face here at CFDV.  He joined us about six weeks ago and has been diligently plugging away ever since!  Here are a few words about his experience and his thoughts on CrossFit in general.

Since joining Delaware Valley CrossFit I have been feeling great. A little sore today from overhead squats, sumo deadlifts and kipping dips..  But at age 48, I have never been fitter and never been healthier!  Not that I was ever much of an athlete.  I lettered in football for a tiny high school, but for 30 years I’ve been mostly sitting on my glutes rather than lifting anything with them.  The years of poor posture and no exercise left me obese, out of shape, and slumped over.  My attitude towards life was sketchy at best.  The years of poor nutrition and too much weight had my doctor threatening medication for my high blood pressure and insomnia.  Now I can bang out three sets of pullups, push ups and squats — and that’s just our warmup!  My blood pressure and resting pulse are normal again and when my head hits the pillow no sleeping pills are needed.  My adult son (who’s never been overweight) and I have a friendly bet to see who gets a six pack first; I think the old guy might have gained an upper hand at last.

Delaware Valley CrossFit has assembled an incredible team of trainers.  We all love them dearly.  Colleen has advanced degrees in physical therapy and has helped me tremendously with my posture.  Zach straightened out my nutrition, and what a difference it made!  Meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and a little fruit.  It’s so simple, but the change was dramatic.  I felt tired , sick, and hungry when losing weight with the low fat, calorie restricted food pyramid based diets.  Zach got me started on a nutritional style that has been transformational.  I’m not hungry, my energy has never been higher, and I’ve never been healthier.  Rob runs the show and keeps everything fun, even when I stink at basically everything.  He patiently instructs us in the arts of Olympic lifting, gymnastics, Russian kettle bells, and even jump roping.  I love that we are always learning something new, but Rob keeps it at our level.

The people in the gym are great. I have received countless pieces of encouragement and help from the other members there.  We have every level of athlete from rookies like myself to world class competitors training for the CrossFit Games, but we all have the common bond of wanting to make ourselves better, stronger, and faster.  As Rob told me when I met him: It can suck to work out, but it sucks a lot less when we work out together.

Finally, just a huge shout out and thank you to Rob, Zach, Colleen, Meg, Dan, and all the rest of the people at CrossFit Delaware Valley. I’m not even sure how you can make workouts like “Filthy Fifties” a highlight of my day, but somehow you always manage to do it.  If anyone reading this is like I was: fat, unhealthy, and unhappy about it, you owe it to yourself to give CrossFit a try.  If you are already in good shape, I’m confident you will get in amazing shape at CrossFit.