Athlete of the Month: Alyssa Anderson “It’s been life-changing.”

In just over one year, this Athlete of the Month has made some serious strides. Although she claims not to be a morning person, she has been consistently crushing the early morning classes. She is stronger, more confident and now even motivating her boys to join in on the fun with CrossFit Teens and CrossFit Kids classes!

I started in August of 2019. My buddy Alicia Zink, who I worked with, would always tell me that I should come to Salus. After thinking about it for a year, I decided to take the leap. I’ve been a life-long runner, but had really lost the desire to physically push myself in my workouts, and I was starting to put on some pounds. It felt like my body just wanted me to slow down.

The biggest change for me has been improved flexibility and strength.

I’ve been running in a straight line (sometimes an oval) since 1989. Not so great for the hips. Right before joining Salus, I had so much chronic pain in my hip and low back that I thought I’d have to give up running forever. But Coach Gino took one look at my squat and said, “You need to push that right knee out more and activate the muscle. The more you work on that, the stronger it will get.”

Overhead squats! They were so scary to me because I thought that I could never get into that deep squat. But now that I have greater flexibility and strength, I have the confidence to go a little heavier each time.

I’ve lost weight (thank you, metcons), which is great. But just as important, as a physically-active woman in her mid-40’s, I can trust my body more. I can lift things, jump, twist, and balance without the fear that I’m going to hurt myself.

It’s an overall functional change in my body.

I’ve never been a morning person, but I know now that if I’m in bed early enough, I can actually wake up for the 6:30 class.

It’s also a great group of people, so the laughter therapy is an added benefit.

I also focus more on recovery than I ever did in all my years of running. I stretch, I ice, I roll out. I invest the time in these things to be ready for the next workout.

I have 3 boys and we’re a very active family. I want to be in the best shape possible to keep up with them–whether it’s surfing, skiing, or hitting some tennis balls. I don’t ever want to get to a point when I say “I can’t” to them.

I love clean and jerks. That lift is not too technical, but you just feel like such a beast doing them.

Just keep showing up. The more time you devote to it, the more you will improve. When you first show up, you look around and think “Oh I’ll never be able to do that.” But if you just keep chipping away at it, all of a sudden you’ll surprise yourself.

I’m working on kipping pull ups. Honestly, I’m a little uncoordinated–so it would be a huge accomplishment!

Metcon:

Buy in: 20 box jumps
600m run-60 sit ups-6 clean & jerks
400m run-40 sit ups-4 clean & jerks
200m run-20 sit ups–2 clean & jerks
100m run-10 sit ups-1 clean & jerk
Cash out: 20 box jumps

Skiing. It’s beautiful. It’s dangerous. It’s cold. I love it.

Favorite healthy dish is grilled fish over quinoa.

Favorite splurge is definitely a Barnacle Bill’s cheeseburger, french fries, and a pint of Carton beer. So bad…but so good.

I’d be Lady Gaga. She’s totally outrageous & so opposite of the nerd that I am.

This is a quote from a Robert Frost poem, but it speaks to WODs and every other challenge in life.

I honeymooned in Cambodia.

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