CrossFit Odyssey

Trainer Profiles

Sara

CrossFit [Level Two] Trainer

CrossFit Olympic Lifting Certification

CrossFit Kids Certification

CrossFit Nutrition Certification

I was born in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and I am now 32 years old. My father was a Marine Corps Officer so my sister and I moved around quite a bit, as most of us military brats do. Although I played many sports while growing up, I was mainly a swimmer and cheerleader through my high school years. I graduated from the University of Florida in 2000 with a recreation degree from the school of Health and Human Performance. I worked out to stay in shape during college but mainly stuck to running, swimming, and body weight calisthenics. It wasn’t until I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina where I did my first CrossFit workout. In 2006, my husband was a member at CrossFit North Carolina and had me try a workout in our own garage gym. It was definitely a challenge for me, but it was fun. I really got serious with my workouts when we moved to San Diego and I joined my first affiliate, CrossFit Coronado. I worked out there for several months until…you guessed it, I moved again. I was bummed because I had made such good workout partners and friends there in San Diego (Sarah, Sage, and Jaime). Anyway, we moved into an apartment here in Virginia Beach and bought a bunch of equipment to make a pretty good garage gym. We started working out in our one car garage and eventually invited two friends (Marylynn and Carli who are both still members!). Well they invited friends who invited friends and within a month or two of this, we were working out with about 12-15 people in this one car garage. After a few months of the crowded little garage gym, I decided to put in an application for an affiliate. It has now been one year of being open as an affiliate and we have surpassed the 75 member mark and are expanding the gym to 3600 square feet! We have members with all different fitness levels at our gym and we still maintain a friendly atmosphere where new people can come in and feel welcome. I truly believe in CrossFit and the general physical preparedness it produces. I love seeing people crush their fitness goals and then leave the gym better prepared to face any physical challenge that comes their way, whether its at their job, their sports, or something they may have to face in everyday life. My top three personal CrossFit goals that I am working toward are to do 15 reps of body weight overhead squats, 30 consecutive pull ups, and one rep of a double body weight dead lift  (just reached this dead lift goal!!!). My favorite workout is “Grace” and my least favorite workout is “Barbara”. My gym pet peeves are whiner’s and glove people (exception…massage and physical therapists!).

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Danielle

CrossFit Level One Trainer

CrossFit Kettlebell Certification

CrossFit Nutrition Certification

CrossFit Kids Certification

My fitness background began when I was really young, competing as a swimmer and a runner, following the path my father once took when he was my age.  Years later, I became very interested in weight training and began adding that to my conditioning program. Over the years, I have always found that I have had a constant thirst to change things up and to keep things interesting. I guess that’s why my entire life has consisted of constantly taking on new challenges and becoming good at many things, but never really trying to become great in any one thing.  I guess you could say that I’m a generalist, not a specialist. While on my second deployment to Iraq (2006) with my Air National Guard unit,  there was a serious lack of equipment and facilities which forced us to resort to using our body weight for most of our training. During this time, I had to rely solely on my creativity and discipline to keep things interesting for everyone. After this experience,  I knew that I had a niche for fitness and training others and became one of my unit’s leading fitness instructors.  Shortly after returning from deployment, I was introduced to CrossFit by my boyfriend who is an avid fitness enthusiast.  I started training at Jeanni’s Beach CrossFit and soon discovered that it was exactly the type of fitness program that satisfied my desire to frequently change what I was doing from day to day.  In November 2008, I began training at CrossFit Odyssey and continued to find that by performing their CrossFit “Workout of the Day”, I was reaching new milestones and had even improved my times in road races without long distance training. I am continuously challenged, both mentally and physically and leave the gym with a sense of accomplishment everyday. I thrive on the fact that we are always pushing our bodies to that next level, where you must dig down and push yourself the rest of the way using your mental toughness and by bringing out that competitor within you.  I love spreading the word about CrossFit and believe that it is an incredible community of people from many different backgrounds who are all determined to improve their personal levels of fitness. These past 18 months have changed my life forever.  I look forward to learning as much as I can from others, especially at the upcoming Olympic Weightlifting Certification in September! See you in the gym.

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Lee

CrossFit Level One Trainer

CrossFit Olympic Lifting Certification

CrossFit Basic Barbell Certification

CrossFit Nutrition Certification

I was born and raised here in Virginia Beach and I am currently a Firefighter/Paramedic (NREMT-P) with the City of Norfolk Fire Rescue. I am also a First Lieutenant for the Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service. My athletic background was in youth football and soccer as well as some general physical training for fitness. I have a Bachelor of Science (Criminology)/ Bachelor of Art (History) from Old Dominion University.  I have attended CrossFit Level I, the Basic Barbell certification, the Olympic Lifting certification, and the nutrition certification. I guess my main hobbies are reading and CrossFit. I discovered CrossFit while working out at a local commercial gym that had put up a workout board with a few terms such as “tabata” & “burpee”.  I recognized the fact that these workouts involved a significant grouping of activities that I hated.  If it tastes bad…it must be good for you, right?  I looked up CrossFit on the Internet and the rest is history. That was August 2007. I started at Odyssey in October 2008 but have also trained at Jeannie’s Beach CrossFit. I have also worked out at CrossFit Fairfax, CrossFitVB, and CrossFit Lexington. My fitness goals are to increase my work capacity across broad time and modal domains!  More kool-aid anyone?  Seriously though, I am working to improve my strength and power. I am also very interested in the sport aspect of CrossFit and hope to be more competitive in the future. My CrossFit strengths seem to be in met cons & wall ball workouts right now.  I give myself an overall grade of B-/C+ in Crossfit.  Then again we Throckmorton’s are not known for our athletic prowess. I do enjoy training and telling people about CrossFit whenever I can.  It seems in all my occupations & hobbies (Fire/EMS, Surf Rescue, CrossFit) I gravitate toward a leadership role. Not always my initial intention, but it just happens.  I am comfortable in front of people, especially if I enjoy the subject or activity. I am very excited to be a part of Odyssey, and CrossFit has become my most rewarding hobby.

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Kristin

CrossFit Level One Trainer

I was a competitive swimmer almost my entire life, joining my first team at age 8. I added soccer to my sports in high school but kept my main focus on swimming as I went on become a member of the varsity women’s team at James Madison University. After graduating college I was burnt out from swimming & pretty lost when it came to working out. I bounced from gym to gym trying to find anything to help me get motivated. My average gym routine consisted of walking in, taking a look around, sighing, then heading for the elliptical yet again while telling myself this was better than doing nothing. I was lucky if I made it once or twice a week. When my friend (and Odyssey member) Jess started CrossFit in late 2008, it was the first I had ever heard of it and I was immediately intrigued. It seemed like every conversation we had was about CrossFit. I couldn’t ask enough questions and everything about it sounded right up my alley. I still had about 6 months left on my gym contract so I started trying to do crossfit workouts there. I quickly realized that even with people grabbing my bar in the middle of my WOD or getting yelled at for trying to do wall balls and leaving black marks, I was suddenly motivated to work out and really needed to see what Crossfit was like firsthand. I went to Odyssey for a free Saturday workout, got my ass kicked and was signed up and ready to go by Monday. Since I began crossfitting in May 2009, my life has completely changed. I am so much stronger, not just physically but mentally as well. I am amazed at the amount of confidence I’ve gained in all areas of my life. I never imagined I would be doing some of the things I’ve accomplished and each time I hit a goal it just makes me hungry for more. My competitive side had been asleep for quite awhile and I love how alive I feel now that it’s out in full force. Some of my proudest CrossFit moments include completing my first Rx’d pull up WOD, my first muscle up, body weight overhead squat, 30 muscle ups for time and, most recently, breaking 5 minutes in Fran at my Level One Cert. My current goals include double body weight dead lift, strict handstand push ups, sub 3-minute Grace and competing (and doing well) in Sectionals next year. I hope my passion for CrossFit and all it’s done for my life comes through in my training as I love helping people reach their goals and push themselves further than they thought possible. Virtuosity is my favorite word and I want to challenge everyone to leave each day proud of their performance, knowing they did the absolute best they could.

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Carli

CrossFit Level One Trainer

I grew up in Buffalo, NY where both of my parents came from big families, all of whom were athletes. Naturally sports have always been a significant part of my life.  I’ve played just about everything but the 2 sports I enjoyed the most were soccer and lacrosse, in which I competed in high school and college.  I loved the camaraderie.  After college, I worked out in big gyms for five years, running a couple miles then lifting weights.  When my daughter Scarlett was born, I could not find the time or motivation to go to the gym.  My daughter was 18 months old when two friends (MaryLynn and Sara) told me about CrossFit, and invited me to work out in Sara’s garage.  I was a little intimidated from how hard I had heard the work outs were but I needed to do something.  I had lost my pregnancy weight, but I still felt soft and weak.  CrossFit changed all that.  The first couple weeks were hard work, but I was hooked, and so began my love affair with CrossFit.  I even continued with the workouts during my second pregnancy, and saw how maintaining fitness and strength helped me stay healthy and recover faster. I am currently pregnant with my third child and plan to continue doing modified CrossFit workouts throughout.  I love the community and the gains we celebrate everyday.  I started CrossFit  unable to do a single pull up, now my personal record is 20!  My max back squat and dead lift have increased significantly.  I completed my Level 1 CrossFit Certification in June, and now as a trainer, I really look forward to helping other members reach their goals and see them advance in technique and skill.  I believe CrossFit works, and is beneficial for everyone. No matter where you are in life, you CAN do this.  Now come in and get some!