Testimonials
I was committed. I was at my gym every morning at 5AM. I was eating healthy. Nothing was changing. Honestly, I was bored. I was working hard (I thought) but getting no results.
I saw Matt and Pam working out in their garage almost everyday (we live in the same neighborhood). I was intrigued, but not brave enough to approach. Soon they had a website posted on their truck. Bingo! I read about Crossfit and watched a few videos and thought, “This is it”!! I don’t know why I thought that, but I did. See, I grew up a super girly girl. I didn’t care much for sweat and saw absolutely no reason to exercise and I thought sports were for boys only. At some point, mid-way through college, I started exercising. I found I really enjoyed it. I loved sweating! I had always been thin, (Pam calls this “skinny fat”) but I wanted my body to look different. I had work out partners, trainers and like I said I was very committed, but not much changed. Then, I had two kids in two years and I was moving from “skinny fat” to “fat fat”. This was new. Now it was obvious I had a problem. I needed to do something. I became even more committed, but when you don’t see results it’s hard to keep going. So, when I felt tired at the gym at 5AM I would just jog on the treadmill for 30 minutes, that’s a good workout, right? Well, treadmills lead to nowhere and that is where my fitness was going. So when I saw Crossfit, I guess that is why I thought “this is it”!
Crossfit is a challenge. No matter what fitness level you are, it is a challenge. It is almost magical the way it happens. Everyone is doing some version of the same workout and everyone is challenged…from Marine to homeschool mom (me). Matt and Pam are always there. They watch, they coach, and they support you. They know who needs what and they deliver. I also love the “group” (I’m in the 5:30AM group). You push each other, you encourage each other. The workout is different everyday. I don’t get to “jog 30 min. on the treadmill” when I am tired. There is a workout posted and I do it. Some days I am strong, some days I am slow, but I always finish and I am always amazed at what I am able to accomplish. I have learned that I am far tougher mentally than I ever believed. I love walking to my car knowing, I couldn’t have gone any faster, jumped any higher, or pushed any harder. I love knowing I gave it my all; that is satisfaction. Crossfit is like no other workout experience. Crossfit is Matt and Pam, it’s their heart and passion and I love being a part of it.
Since February I have lost close to 20lbs. and dropped two sizes. The neat thing is those are just the beginning of the benefits I have received from Crossfit. I am so much stronger. I have so much more endurance. I have much more mental clarity. All these things have helped me be a better wife and mom, which are my top priorities! Thanks Matt and Pam!
Casey
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I am beginning my 4th month at Crossfit and I look back over the last few months with great gratitude toward you both. It was a little over 90 days ago I stood in the front area and told both of you I had to do something because I was literally dying inside. I was 339 #’s and miserable with many aspects of my physical life. Your continued coaching and encouragement along with the total support and pats on the back from other Crossfit Athletes, who were in much better shape than I gave me a sense that I could do this and I could make it work. In those 90 plus day I have lost almost 40 #’s and have gained back more in my life than I could ever explain. After the Nutrition Class that Matt gave my wife and I looked at each other and figured that everything else we had been told worked so well that we should adhere to the diet as well. Not only have we seen a complete transformation in our lives but also that of our children as well. My children have been so excited about my workouts that when I miss one, they are harder on me than I am on myself. Wait until they meet “Murph” one day, they will surely understand!!!
Lastly, I want Pam and the ladies of CFC to know how much they meant yesterday in the life of an 8 yr old. My daughter has wanted to come up there just to watch since day one. When she was told Crossfit Kids had been reborn, she was completely beside herself with excitement. She only has a few positive female role models in her life and her seeing what she could do and one day become, made her eye’s sparkle all night. It was then I realized, through her excitement of accomplishment, how much Crossfit and the people of Crossfit mean to me.
James
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People say that if you don’t buy a lottery ticket you can’t win. It’s the same with CrossFit. If you don’t take a break from the things that push and pull you in your daily life and make some time for yourself to achieve a healthier lifestyle then you won’t get in shape. CrossFit is the best lottery ticket I’ve ever purchased.
As a kid I was always playing some type of sports. In elementary school it was pickup games of football, baseball and tetherball with the neighborhood kids. In middle and high school I competed in volleyball, basketball and track. I got lazy once I went to college and pretty much stayed that way until I turned 36. During those 18 years I gained 80lbs. I had maintained my weight for the past 8 years and had convinced myself that as long as I didn’t gain more, that was an accomplishment. In a nutshell I had planned to fail, but chose to spin it into success because it made me feel better. I’ve belonged to several gyms, you know the ones where you pay an enrollment fee and then have monthly dues. You go at least 3 times a week for the first month, don’t see results, go less and less and then not at all and end up paying them for months until you cancel the membership. I’ve even worked out with personal trainers on occasion and at one point joined weight watchers for a 3 month stint only to see that the weight I lost came back in the following 3 months. I used to tell myself that parking further out at the mall or taking the steps at work; basically all of those “tips” for getting in shape and losing 15lbs. that they give you in the magazines at the checkout stand, were my workout for the day.
A little over a year ago my husband, Chris, told me he was going to try this new workout called CrossFit. He showed me what it consisted of and I thought he was crazy. I mean the workouts were timed, looked brutal, and they did all of this in a garage, which meant no air-conditioning. I was curious though. I would check the website from time to time; claiming to be checking up on Chris’ progress but what I was really doing was trying to find pictures of someone like me who was doing this. Everyone I saw already looked fit, so one of my excuses not to do this was I wasn’t in good enough shape to even try CrossFit. I had lots of excuses.
• I could only go in the morning and they didn’t open early enough (of course I never bothered to find out if they would mind opening at 5:30 AM).
• It looked too competitive. Don’t get me wrong, I have a competitive streak, I just convinced myself that I would be so far behind everyone else and I didn’t want to hinder their progress.
• I was just too tired to go when I got home from work. I needed to cook dinner, do chores, walk the dog, catch up on things Tivo had recorded and spend time with Chris. How could I possibly do all of that, workout and get to bed at a decent time???
• The workouts looked too intimidating; I hadn’t done push-ups or pull-ups since the presidential fitness test in 6th grade so there was no way I could do them now.
• The whole thing was out of my comfort zone and I LIKE my comfort zone.
• My hip bothered me to much.
• I needed air-conditioning.
• I don’t like to run.
At the beginning of the year Matt & Pam started opening up early on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s. I no longer had the excuse of they didn’t open early enough. What I learned is that it’s not always about competing against other people; it’s more of a competition with you. It’s about pushing yourself to do more than you thought you could ever do and when you think you’ve achieved that it’s trusting and allowing the trainers to push even more. They know your limitations, they know what your abilities are, they know how to scale the workouts for each individual and they will never allow you to put yourself at harm. After 7 months of going to CrossFit I still see the workouts posted and many times think “there is no way I can do that”. Self-talk…that’s my worst enemy. I still get up 4 days a week at 5:15 AM though and tell myself that I’m going to make a valiant attempt and every time I walk away I’m amazed at what I was able to achieve. In July, for the first time in my life, I started eating right. I saw a difference in my workouts right away. I could lift more weight, row faster, do more sit-ups and my times decreased. I’ve now become a little obsessed with CrossFit and eating right. I’ve never stuck with any gym or workout longer than I have CFC and it’s finally paying off. . I’ve lost over 20lbs., I’ve gone down a size and my skin looks better.
Don’t allow outside influence be your excuses. Life is to short as it is, why risk shortening it even more by choosing to stay stuck in a lifestyle that keeps you overweight, reduces your self-confidence, stresses you out and causes you to choose bad habits over good?
Lana
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A few years ago I started to deal with the “busy mom syndrome”. It can be more fully described as “I’m over 40, working mother of 2 active children, exercising way more than the average American, eating healthy and have not changed that one bit and I’m still gaining 2-3 pounds a year.”
And this is suppose to only get worse!!!
I started consulting my girlfriends. I found that most of them in this situation were using personal trainers. There is also lots of articles in popular women’s magazines stressing that strength training helps to reduce the effects of slowed metabolisms and other wonderful things. However, personal trainers are not cheap. Why in the world would you need them? One would think you could just go to the weight room. One reason is that no normal person pushes themselves past the comfort zone. Muscles also have to constantly be “tricked” with new routines, increased weights. I did not want my part time job to be figuring all of this out. So, I compromised and hired a trainer one day a week. I tried to copycat her workout on a repeat day. I did get some results, but her price went up at the end of the year and it just was not worth it.
About this time my husband finds out about CrossFit Champions on his Aggieboards. He tells me he thinks “this is what you’ve been looking for”. So, I did the norm. I googled “Crossfit” and saw what I considered to be some scary Utube videos. My comment back to my husband was “who do you think I am?” He had been working out with Matt in another class and was convinced that Matt and Pam would scale the workout to my level.
Well, I have never done anything my husband said. However, along about that time my last girlfriend hired a personal trainer 2-3 days a week. I knew I could not afford that. I felt like I had nothing else to lose. I tried CrossFit.
The beauty of the Crossfit program is that Matt and Pam do all of the change ups for you to keep your body challenged. The changes also keep it from being boring. I have never done a workout that was impossible. I have completed many that I was amazed with my accomplishments.
I also like the fact that I can do my workouts early in the morning before I get the kids off to school and me off to work. It is the only time that is truly my own. There is a good group of ladies in the morning. It is actually fun! One month’s cost at Crossfit is easily one week’s personal training costs. The results? My husband says I look the best I’ve ever looked. (He’s known me 17 years!) And not to brag, but my arms look way better than my girlfriends who use personal trainers.
Cost effective, time efficient, great results. Thanks Matt and Pam!!
Catherine
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What can I say? There is so much, I don’t exactly know where to start. A little over a year ago, I heard about Crossfit from a very good friend of mine. He showed me a video that completely intrigued me. It was from the main crossfit website and I believe it was “Nasty Girls”. I watched the entire workout and pretty much decided right then, I wanted to try this out.
My friend told me there was an affilitation pretty close to me in the Champions area, so I looked it up and found…CrossfitChampions. Ironically, within the same week I saw a Maroon Dodge with white lettering on the back window that said, can you guess, CrossfitChampions. I think it was meant to be for me. I called the number listed and talked to Matt and he told me a little about himself and Crossfit. I told him I would be by sometime during the week and talk with him about it. I stopped by the next day, and I was sold. I started about a week later and now here it is a year later. You were even understanding about when I became a member, that so did my kids. Being a single mother of 3, it would have been difficult if not impossible, if you hadn’t allowed me to bring my children to work out with me.
All I can say now is, Wow! What a difference a year makes! I have never had this much definition and my eating habits are like they’ve never been before. I have lost close to 20 lbs of fat and gained more lean muscle. I am pretty hard on myself and it was hard for me to believe my body was changing. But, I began getting more and more compliments from the people I work with and other crossfit members (you two as well), that I realized something good was happening. Now, I hate it when I miss even one workout. The way you guys train us , it is always exciting and challenging.
You two have changed my life and the way I feel about myself and I cannot thank you enough. You have been willing to listen and become, what I would consider, very good friends and I owe you a debt of gratitude. Crossfit will continue to be my workout of choice and I hope I can train with you guys for many years to come.
Your friend and loyal trainee,
Darlene
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All kidding aside if you are visiting the web-site and even have the slightest urge to check this out please come to the Saturday workout, it is the most productive workout in the friendliest environment you will ever experience and its free. I was doing this a year before I met Matt and Pam and I learn something new every week.
Matt P.
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Hey Matt/Pam,
Where do I begin? How do I describe an awakening? After experiencing my first Pain in the Park…I knew I had found what I was looking for. I had been going to (gyms) for decades and never seemed to be able to reach the fitness level I was looking for. I found that I was going to martial arts classes, yoga, aerobics, spinning and every other thing that was going around. Other than the martial arts, things became BORING!!!!
As an avid outdoorsman, ranging in anything from high altitude wilderness trekking to canoeing down rivers and everything possible in between, I have come to expect alot from myself and my body. Getting up in years has its concerns… using CrossFit as my fitness platform, only enhances and extends my ability to continue to enjoy the wonderful world that awaits for those who are ready to seek it out. I know that I could not have this gift without the expert people at Crossfit Champions. Matt and Pam are the most intuitive trainers I have ever had the pleasure to be around. They not only are great at what they do, they are people that are great. Matt and Pam are the type of people that make the world a better place to be.
Since starting CrossFit I no longer measure my progress standing at the scale. Everyone always wants to know what I have been doing to get in shape. That’s measurement enough for me. Thanks Matt and Pam, and especially thanks for all your patience with me.
Gerry
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Hey, Pam and Matt.
I just wanted to tell you guys how glad and thankful I am that I found out about Crossfit. Frankly, at first after hearing Gerry and Mate describe their first “Pain in the Park” experience, I thought Crossfit would be more of a He Man/Guy kind of thing. Thankfully, Gerry persuaded me to come find out for myself what Crossfit is all about.I have exercised for most of my adult life. I have done bodybuilding, running, Pilates, Yoga - all sorts of things. But what I found was that while each of those modalites have their own unique benefit, I never felt like I was “wholly” fit - meaning just because I could lift a certain weight, didn’t mean I was fit in a cardiovascular way. Crossfit is THE training program that has helped me to feel like I am gaining strength in every way.
You guys are great at discerning where an individual needs to begin. And you are also great at knowing just how much to push someone to get that last bit of strength out of them.To anybody that looks at the website and thinks they can’t do it - I want to say You Can!!! I am a recovering Breast Cancer Survivor. If you truly desire to train your body to be functional in life, ( and hey, looking better is cool too….) Matt and Pam are great at taking you at whatever level you are at and scaling the workouts just for you to help you become stronger and more fit than you have ever been!!!!
I started this routine in November of ‘06. The Warm Up was like a workout then!! Now, I am stronger and have more energy than alot of people my age. Every workout is challenging and different. Anyone that wants to train their body to be more functional in their everyday activities, have greater energy and greater variety in training definitely needs to try Crossfit!!!!
Thanks, Pam and Matt!!!!!
Laura
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When I started working out at Crossfit Champions, two months ago, I thought I was in pretty good shape. I had been working out consistently since 2003. I had gone from 220 pounds to 185 and I was stronger than I ever was before.Whoo Hoo!However, my progress had been stagnant for the past year and a half. No matter what I did my body composition and overall fitness wasn’t improving anymore. I figured I had taken my fitness as far as it was going to go. Going to the gym can get very boring when the best you can hope for is to say, “My bench went up 5 pounds from last month.”That’s when I saw Crossfit mentioned in a magazine. I looked up the website and got really interested in the WODs, but knew I would need proper instruction to get full benefit. A few days later I saw a truck with “Crossfit Champions” on the rear window. After looking up Crossfit Champions on-line, I contacted Matt and he set me up with my first introductory session. He and Pam led me through my first three 1 on 1 sessions. They knew exactly how to scale the workouts for the beginner, but still kept them challenging.
When I started the group workouts I weighed 185 lbs., had a 36 in. waist and I could only do about 5 pull-ups before I had to switch to assisted jumping pull-ups. I have now been doing the group workouts consistently for two months. I weigh 175 pounds and have a 34 inch waist. At the same time, my overall strength has gone up. I just completed a workout that included 5 rounds of 10 pull-ups each without any assist.
Thanks to Crossfit Champions, I’m in better shape at 35 than I have been in my entire adult life.
Chris McC
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Matt and Pam,I have been running fairly regularly for the last several years and about 6 weeks ago I was beginning to train for the Houston Half Marathon in January. In the middle of September, just before starting Crossfit with you and Pam I ran 4 miles and felt terrible (legs were tired, pace was slow and my breathing was difenently labored). I ran the 4 miles in about 39 minutes, which is about average for my pace on distance runs over the last several years.A friend of mine called me yesterday and he wants me to run the half marathon in Dallas on December 10. I told him that I would run today and see where my mileage was and how my legs felt and I would get back with him.This morning before the run I was very interested to see how Crossfit carried over to my distance training, including my pace and fatigue level. I planned on running at most 5 miles, as I had not run more than a mile since running the 4 miles and starting Crossfit with you.
Well it is Saturday morning after my run and I ended up running 7 miles in 64 minutes, which included 3 sets of hills in the middle of the run. I finished the last mile in 7:34, which is the quickest mile split, when running any distance over 3 miles, that I have ever run. In summary, I ran harder, faster and finished stronger than any training run I have ever had since I began distance running in 1998. All of this after an intense Crossfit workout Friday afternoon that included running bleachers, which smoked my legs.
I cannot say enough about Crossfit and the effect it has had on my fitness level and this is only after 6 weeks. Thanks again and keep up the good work. See you in a couple of weeks.
Shawn M.
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