Athlete Of The Month
The Lutzkanins
Keith and I were each involved in various sports growing up. Keith excelled in running and baseball and I enjoyed gymnastics, soccer and softball. We each remember a childhood full of outdoor, active play with lots of barefoot tag and tree climbing.
After joining the Marine Corps in 1994, Keith was able to practice his love for running, a lot! He thought running marathons and humping a 55lb pack all day meant that you were in great shape. The workout regimen was run, run and run some more, with pushups and pull ups. When you try to push yourself beyond these limits, you find your weaknesses. After trying to get back in the Special Forces world, he found out how out of shape he was.
After kids joined the mix, focusing my motivation on fitness became a challenge. Still, my children have spent many hours zipping around in jogging strollers and strapped in to baby bike seats. I actually did manage to whip myself into decent shape with some mind numbing weight and aerobic DVDS and an unhealthy lifestyle of “dieting”. Of course the results were not lasting as I became bored with the routines and wanted to eat real food again.
3 years ago, I seriously injured my ankle playing soccer, and 6 months later seriously injured the other one as well. In between my injuries, Keith had a mountain biking accident resulting in a severe break to his wrist and the possibility for permanent damage. His incident involving a broken foot came several months later.
All of the following surgeries and recovery periods left us weak and out of shape. I was desperate for a fitness solution and Keith wanted something to supplement his military physical training. Fellow Marine and gym patron Paul Herrle pointed us to Crossfit Spotsy. I came to Keith’s fundamentals to make sure he wasn’t going hurt himself again! Somehow Coach Lisa Jedi mind tricked me into starting that very day in my jeans and our Crossfit journey began!
The first few months were tough, but I pushed forward with Keith’s positive example and loving support and some excellent coaching from the CFSpotsy staff. You will not get the same personal attention and level of coaching at a ‘regular’ gym. My days of waiting for someone to finish on a gym machine, or being intimidated by weights were over. Now each day I look forward to a new challenge, an interesting and ever changing workout, and am setting some amazing personal records. At 37 years old I am accomplishing physical feats I would not have considered attempting at 27 or even 17. Keith’s has had some wrist strength and flexibility issues that have improved as well, not to mention increased core strength a gain in muscle mass.
A few months back our 3 boys, ages 10, 13 and 17, caught the Crossift fever and wanted to join us. Crossfit has built a new sense of togetherness into our family and supplied great conversation at the dinner table. It also provides the opportunity to learn good body mechanics that will last a lifetime, as well as challenges to push themselves everyday and grow their character. The practices of discipline, persistence and overcoming physical challenges bring confidence and a sense of self accomplishment.
With our whole family benefiting from CF, we decided to go for our Level I certifications last month and now this month, it’s our gymnastics certifications!
The Marine Corps will be moving us to Okinawa this summer, and we are looking forward to continuing our CF lifestyles there!
Previous Athletes of the Month
May 2010
February 2010
January 2010
October 2009
September 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
