Jon Blessington aka Jonny Bless aka Rudy aka Charlie Hustle
Name: Jonny Blessington
Age: 34
Height: 5’8
Weight: 160lbs
Crossfitting Since: June 2015
Attends Class: (times per week?)
I go to Crossfit classes about five to six classes a week.
Favorite Quote: “Do or do not. There is no try.”
HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT CROSSFIT?
While I was doing research at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 2006, my friends told me about a program called Crossfit. I enjoyed the training, the people, and overall experience.
WHAT WERE YOUR GOALS WHEN YOU STARTED CROSSFIT?
My main goal when joining Crossfit was to learn how to work out properly and safely. I used to workout hard and hurt myself doing traditional workouts. When I started doing Crossfit, I learned the proper balance.
HOW HAS CROSSFIT DIFFERED FROM YOUR FORMER TRAINING?
All through high school and college, I did the traditional weight training with benching and other workouts. I saw little to no improvement. I began doing Crossfit and all of my lifts improved significantly as well as my cardio. Also, I feel improvement in my all around fitness with less injury. I can lift more and move faster.
WHAT TYPE OF RESULTS HAVE YOU SEEN WITH CROSSFIT?
I was able to do a front squat over 200lbs. I can almost do unbroken handstand walks. A lot of times I find myself doing things I did not think I was able to do such as the SNATCH or the one arm kettle-bell stand up using 60lbs.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCE AT CROSSFIT HOBOKEN?
My time at Crossfit has been a very excellent and rewarding experience. The coaches and people at Hoboken Crossfit are very friendly and supportive to everyone. It is a great environment for training and pushing yourself.
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH IN THE NEXT YEAR IN YOUR OWN FITNESS?
My current goal within Crossfit is to do an actual MUSCLE UP. Those are hard! When I reach this goal, I will look to performing daily WODs using the prescribed weight and levels.
NUTRITION QUESTION
WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY OF FOOD LOOK LIKE YOUR YOU?
I eat plenty of turkey, some fish, and a lot of broccoli, spinach, and other vegetables. Oatmeal, yogurt, and Wheaties get me started most days.
Bhakti Patel
Name: Bhakti Patel
Age: 26
Height: 5’5’’
Weight: 145 lbs
Crossfitting Since: June 2012
Attends Class: (times per week?) About 5
Favorite Quote:
“If you can you must.” I don’t know who said it but my yoga teachers always said it in class.
HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT CROSSFIT?
I had a friend in college who was into Crossfit long before “boxes” started popping up like Starbucks. She convinced me to try a free class with her at CF Daytona and afterwards I was sore for the rest of the week! At the time I was all about the yoga so I didn’t actually get involved till roughly 2 years later when it was impossible to NOT have heard of Crossfit.
WHAT WERE YOUR GOALS WHEN YOU STARTED CROSSFIT?
Like most, my goals were superficial: I had an ideal body image I wanted to achieve and I thought I could attain it by doing Crossfit.
HOW HAS CROSSFIT DIFFERED FROM YOUR FORMER TRAINING?
It actually works!
With other training methods the focus tends to be on loosing weight to look a certain way. In contrast, Crossfit is one of the few fitness platforms that focus on performance over looks and that feels almost revolutionary in comparison. Many people (especially women) struggle with body image so for something as mainstream as Crossfit to make how you look secondary to what you can do, people are going to notice and hopefully have a much healthier and positive outlook on the matter.
One of the defining characteristics of Crossfit is that it’s “constantly varied” so it’s difficult to get “bored to distraction.” Because you’re always doing something different, training becomes fun. For me, “working out” turned into “training” and I went from working out because “I don’t want to get fat” to training because I love what I’m doing and I want to get good at it — and I don’t want to get fat. That –in my opinion — is the biggest difference between Crossfit and everything else I did.
WHAT TYPE OF RESULTS HAVE YOU SEEN WITH CROSSFIT?
Obviously I’ve changed physically- I’m stronger, my body composition has changed, and I eat healtier than before — but what I love about training is that to advance as an athlete, you must also become more knowledgeable. Who doesn’t want to get better?! I’ve been exposed to more learning opportunities and know more about fitness as a whole through Crossfit than I have “working out” otherwise.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCE AT CROSSFIT HOBOKEN?
When I initially moved here, it was tough — it’s always tough being “the new kid” — and I’m also quite shy so that makes it harder for me to connect with new people. One of the nicest people at this gym is miss Amanda “Panda” and she makes it a point to introduce me to everyone she knows. That really helped me get over the initial awkwardness of being new and as I get to know people, I’m able to be myself more.
I also left a good group of friends and a community that took me over 2 years to build and I was subconsciously trying to replace that. I realize now that it’s not about finding community, it’s about building it; and so I’m letting that guide me hereafter.
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH IN THE NEXT YEAR IN YOUR OWN FITNESS?
I’d like to get multiple, strict, ring muscle-ups, at least 1 legless rope-climb, hit a body weight snatch, and optimize my nutrition to support my performance goals.
NUTRITION QUESTON
WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY OF FOOD LOOK LIKE YOUR YOU?
I eat when I’m hungry. I try to eat as clean as possible but I’m a foodie and have a huge sweet tooth so even though I try to be selective about the junk food I eat, it’s never perfect. As long as I have balance, I’m happy. #thisiswhyidonthaveabs