CROSSFIT KATY
ATHLETE PROFILE/SUCCESS STORY
BEN MILLS
Name: Ben Mills
Hometown: Rockland, ME
Age: 34
Occupation: Training Manager
When did you first start CrossFitting?: June, 2013
When did you first start training at CrossFit Katy?: June, 2013
What class do you generally attend (morning/afternoon)? Either, depending on schedule
Favorite WOD: Push press
Least Favorite WOD: Wallball, and partner workouts with “can’t touch the ground” rules.
Tell us about you sports & fitness background: 33 years of… nothing. Wrestling with my boys was the only physical activity I engaged in.
How did you first get exposed to CrossFit? Take us back to your first WOD… what was it, and how did it feel? My wife got me in to it. My first WOD was not good. I did the trial workout after recovering from a lung infection. I had to stop halfway through the warm-up run and left. I ran at home for a week until I could do the warm-up run and then came back.
What sort of changes have you seen in your body, health and fitness since starting CF (before/after)? The biggest change is energy. I wake up ready to do things. I don’t get home at the end of the day and collapse… well, not most days. I have lost almost 40 pounds from Crossfit and eating mostly Paleo.
What sort of changes in your life have you experienced out of taking on something like CrossFit that were totally unexpected? I didn’t expect the energy. I went in to lose weight and hopefully get healthier. I never thought spending so much energy working out would give me so much more. It also taught me mental toughness. I always thought “well I feel bad/tired/etc. and it is only going to get worse through the day”, but CF taught me that action and activity make me feel energized. Things get better, not worse. You just have to push through.
Name one goal you have reached since joining CFK and one goal you want to achieve (example: deadlift/squat/press ___ pounds; do a pullup; do a WOD RX’d, etc.): I wanted to run the warm-up without stopping to walk at all. It took about two months. Next, I wanted to do a pull-up with just the black band. I did a full WOD last week with just the black band. My next goal is to get under 200 pounds.
Please share with us any favorite CrossFit / CFK moments: My favorite part these days is just the positive comments I get from the other CF’ers. My schedule is all over these days, so I see a lot of the group but not always frequently. If one of the gang hasn’t seen me in a while, they usually ask how much weight I have lost, and comment on how much better I look. But the thing I love about CF people is that they always follow it by saying: “what’s your goal? How much more do you have to go?”. Its like, “you look good, now let’s finish it strong.” That is why I love CF…the motivation!
Any advice for people just getting started? Stick with it, don’t be afraid to be last. Listen to the trainers, because they know their stuff. Sometimes I have to drag myself in… but I always love the way I feel when I leave.
What are your hobbies, interests and/or talents outside of CrossFit? My hobbies are 9 and 7, Jacob and Jordan. Wrestling, biking, sword fighting or xbox, whatever the boys like to do. Other than that, I love gaming and watching sports. My way to relax at night is listening to whatever show my wife is watching on netflix while I play Xbox, and usually talking about the day’s WOD.
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