Bio
6x NCAA All-American
2016 US Olympian – Discus
After stepping away from Track and Field in 2017, I was left was a void in my life. I had a great facilities, great training partners, and most importantly a supportive and positive environment that allowed me to reach the pinnacle of my sport. After a couple months of short-term depression, I finally pulled myself together and decided to try CrossFit.
The Box environment of a CrossFit gym resembled the comfortable garage grunge of my former track life. The sweat in my shirt and the chalk on my hands was therapy for me as a former elite athlete. The accountability of the classes, and structure created by the coaches rivaled the environments that allowed me to be great. I was all in; until I got hurt.
After recovering from a back injury, I began to see the bigger picture. I was running from depression, overeating, and weight gain with competitive, high skill, high risk movements, and that was a recipe for disaster. I realized that fitness is a lifelong journey shaped by consistency and happiness. Upon this realization I began to scale moves and alter workouts. I wanted longevity, and aesthetic gains, to support my new found hobbies of mountain biking, and snowboarding.
My scaled, and personal gain approach was not appreciated. It was do the class or bust. Rx was not a goal of mine. Having the top time in the class, and pushing the heaviest weights led me to injury. My least favorite part of this experience was the lack of an option to come in on my own time.
Here comes Knoxville Open gym. As we opened the gym, our goal was to create a truly welcoming environment where we would meet our clients where they were. There is no standard of Rx, there are no high risk movements. We have small classes, led by quality coaches, featuring professionally written workouts with a goal of longevity and physical gains.