Darrien Staples

- 01/22/2011

Dear Crossfit Threshold,

Besides wanting to get in shape for the Army I was getting fed up with the conventional means of working out. I’ve always been into athletics and working out. I played baseball, football, and ran track. After I stopped playing baseball in 2006 I really started hitting the weights and bulked up to almost 210 pounds. Struggling to run one mile, along with the daily two-hour gym workouts of chest, back, biceps and triceps I started looking for something new. I looked into circuit workouts and that worked for about two months but then that got boring as well. I was back in the gym doing the same boring workouts.
The first person to turn me on to CrossFit was another future soldier Joe Cornley. We talked about CrossFit for all of five minutes before I was sold. I believe that same day Joe talked Chris and we set up my elements class. I knew coming into my first workout that CrossFit would be hard but that was a huge understatement. “Fran” was one of the most intense workouts that I’ve been through in years. Ever since that first day I’ve been addicted. The first couple of weeks were hell on earth but I kept on coming back because I was addicted. Despite it being the worst WOD’s since I’ve been at CrossFit, the 100 thrusters with five burpees at the top of every minute was the best workouts ever. The short period that I have been CrossFittng has made a tremendous impact on my life. After about eight months I have lost about twenty pounds and I can easily run six to seven miles with my weight vest. I was even running two miles to and from the gym every other day. My body fat has also went from13% to 5% while sticking to the paleo-diet Not only am I ready for the Army, I have pushed my body to its limits and beyond. I will always be grateful to Chris, Elisha, Tony, Rey, and Adriana for the motivation, intensity and hard work they bring to the gym everyday. I hope the gym continues to grow and I can’t wait to see everyone when I come home in April (hopefully). CrossFit will be apart of my life forever….

Doing work,
Darrien Staples