The numbers don’t lie. This CrossFit Empower experience is brought to you by Doc Disc, a gym member since 2015.  When I asked Doc Disc to share some of his meticulously kept workout data as part of his profile, he expressed reluctance.  He said he was not feeling all that fit these days as the pandemic had impacted his workout consistency and nutrition.  Nonetheless, he agreed and forwarded some key facts which show gains he has made even with the Covid challenges.

One thing we do at CrossFit Empower is to encourage you to log your workout results as one marker of progress. The brain may work in unpredictable ways and how you feel may not accurately reflect your reality.  You may feel you are not getting any stronger but when you look back at your data you realize, “Hey, I’ve come further than I’ve thought. 6 months ago, I only lifted X and now I am hauling up Y.”  As Doc Disc’s long-haul shows, fitness gains are not linear.  Some days you go up, some days you may stay the same and sometimes it feels like a downward slide.  The key is to stay in the game and if sidelined by life events view it as a workaround, not a set-back.  Doc Disc came to CrossFit Empower after an injury impacted his ability to play competitive Ultimate Frisbee.  Life will throw you curves but at CrossFit Empower we can help you adjust, re-set and grow stronger for it!

Cool fact about Doc Disc:

He runs like the wind.  On his 50th birthday in 2017 he started doing an annual 10 KM run.  His goal was to try to beat his age in minutes.  So far so good! His times are:

2017 (age 50) 50:09

2018 (age 51) 49:20

2019 (age 52) 51:17

2020 (age 53) 50:07

2021 (age 54) TBD – good luck!

His clean and jerk 1 rep max went from 135 pounds in 2015 to 155 pounds in 2019.

He went from not being unable to do a handstand against the wall when he started in 2015 to a max handstand walk of 15 ft in 2020.  He also went from being unable to do a double under to max consecutives of 73 in 2020.

What brought you to CrossFit?

Quicksilver and BFG (long-time Empower members) indirectly recruited me. They brought in my wife Jenny (Shine) and I followed soon after.

What was your first impression?  How has it changed?

Originally, I joined CrossFit to lengthen my Ultimate Frisbee career (hence the “Disk” in “Doc Disk”).  I’ve since retired from Ultimate but am still doing CrossFit!

What was your first bright spot (win/positive experience)?

This wasn’t my first bright spot but a bright spot that I’m proud of is getting a 15 ft handstand walk. 

What are you working on now?

Trying to get back up to my level of fitness from before the pandemic and my shoulder injury. Getting back on the bars in the gym is making a difference (that was hard to replicate at home).

May 2021 Personal Best.

What’s your favourite Empower memory so far?

The move to the new gym was very exciting. It felt like I moved from the kids table to the grownup table! Although I have lots of fond memories of the old place.