"Thought I would post something that is very exciting for me an my family. Approximately 18 months ago was diagnosed with a Pre hypertension then hypertension which was a 149 over 89 blood pressure reading. I was on monthly doctor visits and we were having some struggles maintaining a consistent level that was acceptable. I am not a big fan of prescription medicines but chose to get on Benicar but then decided to try and level it out myself. It seemed no matter what I did at the gym or whatever diet I tried it was not working. The month I started with CFEvo I was 134 over 86. Over the past 4 months the only changes I have made in my life have been my training (CFEvo) and diet (clean eating/ Paleo). Checkups for the past 3 months have been 120 over 80. As of Today I have lost 7 pounds and kept the weight off, blood pressure is perfect, and I feel great. I owe this to everyone at Crossfit Evolution. Looking forward to a great 2011 and improving on all levels."
I've been practicing CrossFit on and off for about 5 years, visited many affiliates, trained with and learned from the original CFHQ staff, and in my experience CF Evolution is the best mix of CrossFit, strength, endurance, and camaraderie in the region. There are no obstacles (fancy equipment, egocentricities of the staff/members, hard-to-understand programming) between you and top notch coaching, mentoring, nutritional evaluation, motivation, and results (assuming you are willing to dedicate your time and energy). It's obvious Leo and Monique "get off" on the results of their clients, which is exactly what you want out of your coaching staff.
Jay & Rob-O after the last workout of the Iron Curtain CF Challenge
"BW - 199.5 BW 199.5. I had to type that twice. It's the first time in YEARS that I've been below 200. I cam to CrossFit around 6 months ago and my initial goal was to "lose weight" I was 222. THANK YOU Leo and Monique!!!!"
Congrats, Jay! It's most impressive considering he gets to train at CF Evolution only once or twice a week with his hectic travel schedule & family commitments!
"For most people their workout programing is something for them to maintain a certain level of general health and fitness. For all of those of us in the public safety profession our life or your life may just depend on our chosen workout programming. At any time in our chosen professions you may find your self completely sedentary one second and fighting for you life or worse fighting for someone who's life it is your job to protect the next second. Fitness for us may very well be a life or death matter. Though every day I leave the house I plan on returning alive and in one piece a unique aspect of my job is you never know. There always is a distinct possibility that at any given time one that more than likely won't be of my choosing, some one may choose to attempt to take my life from me. The reason behind me saying all this is I wanted to thank you Leo for the programming you provide. My survival may well be in your hands. I know you bear this responsibility carefully and professionally. I just wanted to say thank you for the dedication you have to your athletes/warriors and for quality of product you provide. Crossfit Evolution has helped me become faster, stronger, and more explosive. I feel like I could go on for days about what I've gained. Most importantly though it has made me mentally tougher.
Your programming today helped me achieve more PR's than I ever thought possible. It is safe to say for me I am in the best shape of my entire life
Thank you to my entire crossfit family for the well wishing phone calls, texts, and words. I'm usually the opposite of what you would call emotional but looking at the blog today for the first time and seeing all the well wishes got to me a little bit and I know more than ever I'm in the right place."
It’s May 2007 and I am a spry, 298 pound young man enjoying my largeness, which is until I suffered a minor ACL tear in my right knee. During my consultation with the famed Jim Winters, local orthopedic specialist to the stars, I am informed that I am a bit overweight. Now this wasn’t exactly breaking news to me; however, the kind doctor expressed much concern with my weight and basically gave me a healthy dose of reality. Dr. Winters informs me that if I do not lose at least eighty of my glorious pounds while I am still young, there is a strong possibility that my joints are going to break down on me; my knees may never heal correctly, possibly debilitating me for life. I had heard all of the negatives associated with being overweight before and those were scary enough but, my knees? Not my knees, Doc! I need those to maneuver me closer to the food troughs! Whatever will I do?
I’ve already done the losing tons of weight thing; it was cool, but it didn't last and it really doesn’t fit my lifestyle. “Wait a second! What the hell am I talking about? It doesn’t fit my ‘lifestyle?’ Are you retarded Ron; THIS IS YOUR LIFE!” I decided at that very point that I would once and for all put the fat ages behind me! Once rehab on my knee was complete, I was going to begin a long journey and carry out operation “STOP BEING A LARD ASS.” In fact, that night I set out to commit to this mission by signing up at the closest (cheapest) gym I could find: GloboGym. Even though I was rehabbing, I would pay for 3 months of unused Gym dues out of pure dedication to this goal!
August 6, 2007: I begin my fitness endeavor, working out for 45 minutes daily (yes, 7 days a week: daily) doing various cardio and light weight-activities. Within months I drop pants sizes, begin receiving compliments, and am even able to brush my teeth without breaking a sweat! At this point I am feeling very good not only physically, but mentally as well.
July 12, 2008: I’m down to a respectable 250 pounds. This day is very special for me and I remember it so well. I rolled out of bed early to play basketball with some friends; I climbed on to the scale for the daily reading. That’s when I saw the 48 pound loss. I am feeling such a strong sense of success that I am just sitting in the bathroom – for about 15 minutes – reflecting on how awesome this is. My girlfriend is downstairs cooking us both some breakfast; as my eggs and bacon cooled she screams out to me. Had she not have broken me out of my bathroom trance, I probably would have endured another 15 minutes or more of self adoration.
November 3, 2008: I am getting fitted for a tuxedo, which I will wear to my best friends wedding where I will play the role of best man. This day was regular in every way until the actual fitting, 39” waist, and 17” neck. Knowing that the last time I was measured for anything I was a 50” waist and 19.5” neck, these numbers might as well have been winning lottery numbers because that’s how good I feel after hearing them. I am standing in the fitting room with the full tuxedo on, trying to do my best sexy Bond impression and feeling like a million bucks. I took this time to vow to myself that this was only the beginning; there was no way in hell I was going back to fatdom. This will be the very last time I would ever fit into a size 40 pant. I think I may have threatened to kill myself should I fail to heed this vow, but I can’t be totally sure.
I had to give a speech for a class on December 3, 2008; everything was going as planned until I realized that none of my dress clothes fit me. Luckily, my dad has a walk-in closet stocked with a pair of slacks for every occasion and he happens to be a 36/38” waist. So thanks to my father for not being overweight, I was able to give my final speech in style, and oh yeah, I’M WEARING SIZE 38 SLACKS! I ran out to Kohl’s department store the next week and starting stocking up on size 38 pants and XL shirts; I spent hundreds but, it didn’t matter, it felt great.
February 17, 2009: It’s my birthday and I’m feeling good, so good that I decided to go in for a physical. I had put it off for so long because I was sort of afraid that I might hear bad news since I was wickedly overweight and have a long family history of health problems. During the prescreening with the nurse I was asked what my weight was, I said 220 pounds. The nurse then asked me to get up on the scale (with full wardrobe on), “227,” she says. To which I say, “No Ma’am, that is inaccurate, I weigh 220 pounds as of this morning.” The nurse looks up and says, “It’s not really that big of a deal.” I reply, “Yes it is! I worked hard to get down to this number!” After pleading with her to allow me to reweigh without my clothes on, she finally agreed and wouldn’t you know it, 220 pounds on the dot. Alas! Another victory!
I had an appointment with Dr. Winters for a final evaluation on my knee on February 27, 2009. Dr. Winters didn’t even recognize me at this point. During the visit, he asked me how much weight I had lost and with a giant grin I said, “80 pounds, of course.” We both shared a laugh and oh yeah, my knee was fine too.
All of this losing weight, seeing results and feeling better is great, but something just isn’t feeling right. I’m starting to get to that point, that point where most people will break. I had been working out at GloboGym for over a year and a half. The workouts were far beyond boring and I was trying to figure out what I was going to do to continue battling, but somehow enjoy the fight – I processed a few ideas, but nothing really seemed to stick. Coincidentally, I had to buy a new vehicle the first week of April. After the purchase, I, like many Floridians, had to rush out and get some window tinting done. This is when I found fellow CrossFit Evolution (CFE) member Sharon Bronson on Craigslist. She came out to tint my windows and during the process she explained how she had been working out at CFE. I had to immediately stop her, “There’s a CrossFit gym in Orlando?!?” She filled me in on all of the details and I contacted Monique the next day. Monique and I agreed that I would come in a month after this time to begin my free week (as I had to wait for classes to end).
And so began my CrossFit life. The CrossFit Evolution experience has been so much more than I ever thought it could be. I have been attending CFE classes regularly for over 3 months at this point. After my first class, I was slightly skeptical about the results I would receive here and whether or not the workouts were right for me. Those thoughts didn’t last very long as after the second class I knew right away; I told Monique to sign me up, immediately. The decision to commit to CrossFit was made really easy by three things:
The insane, intense and varied workouts being done
The members I had met who made me feel welcomed and challenged
The crazy Russian dude that orchestrated these death treatments
Honestly, number three is probably the key deciding factor. Had it not of been for Leo, there is a possibility that I might have stopped coming at some point. Let’s face it, an hour of driving back and forth every night and the price of admission is a little hard to commit to at first. But Leo’s methods and style were exactly what I needed. I am so very happy that I decided to stick around; the results I have seen have been tremendous, the people I work out with are amazing and Leo and Monique are great people that provide a great service. The combination of the CrossFit model, the CrossFit mindset, the CFE community and our trainers makes CrossFit and CFE the perfect program for me. Having lost an additional seventeen pounds since signing up is great in itself; but, the strength, flexibility, knowledge and intensity gains that I have made far overshadow the weight loss success. Without CrossFit Evolution I would possibly still be a Globo zombie, maybe getting results, results that would be nowhere near the same, I would definitely not be enjoying my workouts and I damn sure wouldn’t be making friends in the process.
102-pounds lost
38” waist from 50”
10:32 Fran
I have to say thanks to: Leo Soubbotine, Monique Ames, Sharon Bronson, Andrew Soubbotine, Sean (ABM) Armstrong, Sean Bell, Ramzi, Erik Swedberg, Sam, Tom Vitale, K-9 Chris, Danny Martinez, Scott, Kristin, Taylor, Spence, Will, Britt, Renee, Lori, Mike, Paul, Brian, Molly, Lisa, Greg and anyone else at CFE that has endured the WOD's with me and has helped to push me forward. Special thanks goes to my family and friends for their support and my girlfriend for putting up with me constantly talking about CFE, understanding why I bring up this guy Leo so much, fixing me wonderful Paleo-friendly dishes on the regular and just plain putting up with the complicated splendor that is me.
"I worried about the lack of vitamins and essential nutrients on the paleo diet. I switched to paleo three months ago now.
Two week's ago I went for the required annual department physical. I was curious to see if there was any difference in the vitamin count on the blood work. I felt I always ate pretty healthy prior to paleo. With the exception of potassium all of my vitamin counts improved, and my liver efficiency improved overall. The Dr. suggested I attempt to eat more potassium. Now I eat little to no vegetables so I was surprised by this, but for me it offered proof that paleo is healthy.
I'm curious to see next year if the numbers stay the same.
I was happy to see also that my Vo2 max had improved. In fact the Dr. said it's one of the largest jumps he's ever seen in a grown adult in one year. My resting heart rate dropped from 39 bpm last year to 31 bpm this year prompting the nurse during the ekg to ask me if I felt light headed or if I wasn't feeling good.
So for me the proof is in the pudding I think with crossfit and paleo I'm much healthier than when I did conventional weight training, was running 35-40 miles per week, and was following the low fat high carbohydrate approach. Everyone's body is different but for me it seems to work great."
Chris has a 5 minute mile, 400+ deadlift, 40+ pull-ups & he's a SWAT team member & a top level SWAT competitor!
CrossFit Evolution is the first CrossFit facility in Central Florida, specializing in high level coaching. Gymnastics, Olympic Lifting, POSE running, Mobility, Rowing, Nutrition Guidance and all of the aspects of fitness are practiced daily producing excellent results: weight & fat loss, performance gain & better quality of life in general, .
Monday, January 3, 2011 at 1:31PM ;)
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