We have many inspiring people who are a part of our CrossFit family at Premier….and Kirk Hudson is just one of those. His story, of how he started in CrossFit and the incredible results he has been able to achieve as a result, has been a motivation and inspiration to many at our gym.
When I asked Kirk about his CrossFit journey and what made him give it a try, this is what he said, “I started CrossFit two years ago. My kids are all pretty athletic but I had not done anything in that area for a long time. After a lot of coaxing, my daughter Calloway and my wife talked me into just trying something. I thought about it for a while and honestly I was intimidated. It was frightening to get started. But I decided to give CrossFit a real try. I began in August – Seth was my elements teacher and he was very kind and gracious with my lack of ability to do any of the movements.”
Kirk said that CrossFit wasn’t exactly what he had expected. In his words, “I was expecting intense workouts that would rush me into being really competitive right away. But I struggled with many of the movements and I realized that I had to just start where I was and work from there. I had trouble with simple things like wall balls and pull-ups. I remember when I met Coach CT for the first time and I couldn’t do knee-to-chest well so he had me just do air squats.
What I expected was intense competitive workouts, but what I got was a community of people wanting to be together and workout. Usually when people ask about CrossFit, they say something like, “Isn’t CrossFit that crazy thing where you get hurt?” And nothing could be further from the truth. You don’t separate your head from your body when you workout. You get the opportunity to be a part of an incredible community of people and see results together. And of course training with skilled, experienced coaches is absolutely irreplaceable.”
Kirk says that he’s seen some amazing results from doing CrossFit through the help of trainers, being a part of the competitor’s class in the past, as well as receiving nutrition education and advice from Cune Peña made a huge difference.
He says, “At my peak of CrossFit I’d lost about 20 lbs, both from working out and from eating better. That was a double gain, being able to eat right and do the workouts at the same time. That’s where you see real results. I’ve been a part of two of Cune’s nutrition classes and he’s given a lot of direction and encouragement both in nutrition as well as in spiritual aspects of my life… And that makes a huge difference.
At 47 years old, I can say that I’ve never been more in shape in my entire life, even when I was younger.
Somebody asked me what my goals were when I first started and I said I had just two goals: 1. To not have a heart attack. 2. To learn to not do knee push-ups. Those were my two goals and I just starred with what I could do and worked from there.”
And Kirk has most definitely worked from there and achieved a lot. He has competed in several CrossFit competitions and put up many impressive results. But more than anything, he embodies what CrossFit is all about. If you’ve ever seen Kirk workout, his dedication and hard work are evident in everything he does. And his encouragement has been instrumental in inspiring new members who are ready to count themselves out because they think they don’t have what it takes.
What’s next for Kirk? He says, “I am going to do the open again and I would like to try a few more competitions in the masters division because that’s a way to have fun and compete. I see some of the other CrossFitters that are in their 60s and so I don’t see why that’s something I can’t do. This isn’t an exercise program I plan to give up any time soon.”
I asked Kirk what he would say to new members if he had the chance and he said, “I would say to enjoy the aspects of community instead of trying to compete right off the bat. When you’ve been in CrossFit for a while, you see that it’s less about these intense workouts and competitions, and more about community and people who just want to work out together.
Don’t focus so much on what you can’t do, focus instead on the people and the community. The WODs are designed in such a way that you can challenge yourself each time you do one. You get to have a new goal every day and you have a way to see progress every time you workout. CrossFit is catching on and it’s something that people are trying more often now… I think the reason more people get into it is because they recognize a personal goal they have inside of themselves and then they see and connect with that same goal in someone else and are able to pursue that together. And you can’t beat that.
I travel a lot and I’ve been all over and so I’ve had the opportunity to visit at least a dozen CrossFit gyms. And though I always enjoy working out with other CrossFitters, honestly I haven’t found any other gym that has what we do. Every time I compare my experience there with Premier, nothing compares to what we have here. The community, the trainers, the environment. I love it.”