My Personal Health and Fitness CrossFit Story

My Personal Health and Fitness Story

by

Bob Colucci

December 2013

“Be the change you want to become.....” I'm not sure who said this. I certainly like the sentiment.

In January 2013 I started my CrossFit program at Latham CrossFit in Latham New York with coach Lucas Geller. When I began this program I had no idea what to expect. As a 16 year old teenager, I was a member of the Troy, New York YMCA weightlifting team. I competed then in the 145 pound weight class and enjoyed being part of a competitive weightlifting team. My most successful power lift as a teenager was my 400 pound dead lift. This lift set a new Troy YMCA record for that time. I”m not sure if it were ever broken. At the time, I was humbled to see my name on the record board that hung in the weight room.

When I started CrossFit in January 2013 Lucas encouraged me to create new “glory days” as a senior citizen CrossFit athlete. I wasn't sure new glory days were possible for a man who was 64 years young. Now almost one year later, I am pleased to report some success as a senior CrossFit athlete at Latham CrossFit. The road to my success did not come easy. It took all of the following; support from family, hard work, dedication, commitment, great coaching from Lucas Geller, patience on the part of my coach, sensible recovery from injuries and support and encouragement from my friends and athletes at Latham CrossFit.

Within days of starting with Latham CrossFit, I wrote down my first impression about my experience. First let me say, not knowing what to expect about this program, I did some due diligence reading some internet information about the CrossFit program. In hindsight, I did not expect to have so much fun participating in this program.

My very first day was totally exhausting. I always enjoyed some physical exercise in my life from mountain biking or cross country skiing. For example, when I was age 62 I rode a mountain bike 400 miles over eight days from Buffalo, New York to Albany, New York. In addition, I enjoy participating in Tai Chi at the Chinese Martial Arts Academy in Latham. However, I did not expect the intensity of training demanded by the CrossFit program. Nonetheless, I do appreciate the demand CrossFit places on me especially when doing the Work Out of the Day, (WOD).

Those early months and weeks performing the WOD's and pushing myself proved beneficial to my health. When I met with my Pulmonary Specialist in the Spring 2013, my breath test was so good he decided I no longer needed treatment. Also, during the Spring 2013 I met with my Cardiologist. My diastolic blood pressure registered fifteen points lower over my previous year. My Cardiologist and Pulmonary specialist both told me to continue my current life style and wished me well.

As I reflect on that first WOD in January 2013, I required several rest periods between each series of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 air squats. It was difficult but I persevered and continued attending CrossFit three days a week.

My success with CrossFit can be measured in many ways in both strength and fitness. Relative to fitness, I was able to complete the CrossFit Angie WOD in 36 minutes, 11 seconds on August 5, 2013. What is the Angie WOD? It consist of 100 each pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, and air squats. For comparison, I completed this same WOD on May 10, 2013 in 39 minutes. Some of my strength measurements will be discussed later in this article. For now, we've seen my success measured in better markers detected by the medical community and better fitness measured by the Angie WOD.

It is nice to look back and see the progress and rewards of my hard work and dedication. For example, after that first workout in January 2013, I felt really good. The good did come with some tightness and soreness in my muscles. I knew such soreness was due to the exercise and not from any muscle injury.  I had difficulty walking down a flight of stairs, putting a shirt on over my head and even placing my eyeglasses to my face.  None of this could stop me, however. I arrived my second day if not physically ready certainly mentally ready to go. My goal was simple, to improve myself with quality exercise, healthy diet and good living.

In a relatively short period of time, I was measuring my CrossFit success not in the lack of sore muscles but in strength of weights my body could lift. Within four weeks, I was able to overhead press my age or 65 pounds. Today, my personal record for my overhead press is 135 pounds or more than double my initial days with the program.

In addition, I became more successful with each WOD. Initially, I was capable of completing no more than two rounds for those WOD's that measured completed rounds. Today, I am able to complete nearly four rounds depending upon the mix of activities and length of the WOD.

My whole philosophy with CrossFit is to perform the strength and fitness exercises in the best manner possible as outlined by Coach Lucas. I certainly don't think about me being a senior citizen. Nor am I treated like one by the Coach or other CrossFitters in the box. We're all equals as it should be.

Regardless of age, every athlete needs to find time to rest and recover from a strenuous exercise program like CrossFit. This is where Tai Chi fits into my exercise lifestyle. By participating with Tai Chi on Tuesday and Thursday my muscles can recover with meditation, healing through developing my chi and improving balance both physically and mentally. Exercise alone, however, does not completely define my personal approach to being healthy.

In 2005, I made a significant lifestyle change. With diet and exercise I lost fifty pounds of body weight and more importantly, it never returned. I don't think of the way I eat as dieting. For me consuming a plant based diet contributes to me being healthy and active. My diet consist of vegetables, fruits, nuts, soy milk, occasional egg and cheese and never any meats. I do eat fish as suggested by my Cardiologist.

Human beings can be complex individuals. At times we compartmentalize our lives with different friends, different interest like exercise, family, work, etc. The part of my life I define as my exercise interest has been a journey that began as a teenager. I'm not sure even now that I ever will reach the destination. The destination for me is a continuum that goes on each day regardless of age as long as I am in good health to compete against myself.

In my elementary school years, I was overweight. I am a first generation Italian in America. My mother was a fantastic cook and baker. Like many Italian mothers, food was the center of our daily lives. She always made enough to feed an Army as they say. My brothers and I ate like we were the Army too. The result of such overindulgence meant we shopped for my school cloths at the store where the “Husky” brand was sold. Need I say what the term husky means?

My exercise interest grew when I reached high school. I must admit the change was not due to an interest at the time in girls. No, I had an interest in joining the Junior Varsity Football Squad. So to get in shape for football tryouts I starting running the track at the Troy YMCA. As I saw the weight loss happen I wanted to become stronger so I started lifting free weights. My first weight set I used in my home basement. Since I could not afford a real bench to do presses, I made my own bench using construction blocks, chairs and boards. The surrounding conditions in this basement were not the best. Our basement had a dirt floor.

Below is a photo of me doing a bench press in my basement around 1963.

My exercise journey took me from that basement to the Troy YMCA where I became a member of the Troy YMCA Weight Team. We competed locally and in Boston at Power Meets and Olympic Meets.

Through these years of weight lifting my body changed as shown in the photo below taken in the backyard of the house I grew up on Hill Street in Troy. I ask today, Where did that body and hair go? Life is interesting with all of its changes.

Over time, I went from that healthy looking person at age 16 to a 40 inch waist in my mid-50's. Before going through this transformation however, I did return to weight lifting for a short period of time at the Albany YMCA. While in my mid-30's I started lifting with free weights again. My goal at the time was to bench press the same weigh as in my teens, 215 pounds. I'm pleased to say I did reach that goal. However, I did not stay with my exercise program and allowed myself to gain weight. Not making excuses but during this time my sons came along and other life activities consumed much of my time. Yes, I know this is no excuse. Just saying. I should have dedicated time to being healthy and didn't. I had two good reason to be healthy too.

It wasn't until 2005 around the age of 57 did I start to eat healthy and exercise daily. It was this time I weighed over 225 pounds and had the 40 inch waist size. I'm still not sure how much I weighed then. I refused to get on a scale. I do know from my clothing, I owned a 40 inch waist. Then came some health issues. Long story short, if I hadn't met Dr. Nelson my Cardiologist and taken his advice to change my lifestyle, I may not be here today writing this story.

I tried to find a good photo of me during those years between 2001 to 2005 when I let myself go to hell. The photo I selected below is the day my oldest son Michael graduated from college.

Getting back to January 2013, when I started CrossFit, it was not my goal to lose weight. My goal then as it is now is to be healthy and live my daily life with as much vigor and vitality as possible. The plant-based eating style has sustained me since 2005. It contributed to me loosing five inches on my waist size. It is my eating habits along with my exercise program that pretty much keeps my body weight steady.

Unquestionably, a major difference in my health now is CrossFit. How? Today I am much stronger than I was a year ago when I started the program. I was able to dead lift 300 pounds in December 2013. I was able to back squat 245 pounds in December 2013. Overall fitness improved as measured by my ability to do sit-ups without affixing my feet under a bar. In fact, I am now capable to use a 25 pound plate over my head to perform sit-ups for some of the WOD's.

Don't be fooled, my journey this past year did not come without some adversity too. For example, today for my WOD, I was not able to complete the seal walk due to my rotator cuff injury. Coach Lucas suggested planks which I could do without pressuring my right shoulder. The point being, just because one has an injury you should not stop training other parts of the body or scaling exercise that can be performed. There was a time, my shoulder injury limited me with the overhead press. So we worked on my lower body with single-leg squats. There is never a need to stop working muscles that are not fatigued or injured.

Regarding the rotator cuff injury, that occurred on September 1^st while mountain biking in Saratoga State Park. Immediately following the injury, I was not able to raise my right arm to shoulder level. Gradually with CrossFit as my rehabilitation, I was able to overhead press again. In fact in December 2013 for the CrossFit Total, I pressed 115 pounds. This weight is certainly less than my personal record (PR) of 135 pounds. However I believe being engaged in “active recovery” I was able to get healthy quicker. Incidentally, as part of my active recovery I continued with my Tai Chi on Tuesday and Thursday mornings engaging in soft movements of the arms and shoulders.

So for anyone reading this who is a senior citizen, I say come join me at Latham CrossFit. Bring yourself to new heights with a better more healthy daily lifestyle through the Latham CrossFit program. You compete against yourself; you push yourself; and you will see the benefits of your dedication and hard work.

“Be the change you want to become.....”

Bob Colucci