Member Spotlight: Forte Fogg St Originals

This week is an homage to the Forte of ole, the Fogg St. members who’ve given nearly four years of their lives, gallons of sweat, some blood and tears and immeasurable value to the box we are today. We love and appreciate you and the community you have built!

Scary Strong Games

Forte’s Original Gangster Role Call

In what ways have you seen the most growth? 

I have seen the most growth in not only the size of the gym but also in how our coaches have really come into their own and developed their coaching style. Also, the gym has grown into a family and that is really wonderful to see. –Seaneen Murphy

While I’ve continued year after year to see growth in my strength, performance, and mental capacity, I’ve been more impressed to watch others grow.  More specifically, it’s been absolutely inspiring and invigorating to watch my business partner, Chris Jarratt transform over the last 4 years.  –Joe Brannon

I’ve grown mentally. It’s been a transformative experience. –Nick Selleh

I have become a hell of a lot stronger than when I started. I can honestly say I’m in the best shape of my life, and it’s all because of CrossFit Forte!! –Steve Kavanaugh

The number of members. At the Fogg gym, fairly often you would be the only person in your class. That definitely does not happen now! –Kenzie Hruby

Strength, undoubtedly…physical, mental, emotional. I love being over 40 and feeling stronger than I ever did in my 20’s. The ‘masters’ in the gym inspire me most…regardless of where they are on their path. –Rae Hummell

Learning the movements. I would never have imagined I could do things like kipping pull-ups, handstand push-ups and box jumps. It’s been great working on all those skills, even the ones I may never master, like handstand walks. –Rex Baldazo

I’ve had asthma all my life. I take a few daily meds for that, but over the past 4 years, I have cut one of my daily med dosings in half, which is awesome, because my lung function tests score like a normal (healthy) person. I hardly ever use my rescue inhaler- when I started CFF I took it before every workout-, and I haven’t taken it before a workout in probably 2 years. I still have to take the daily meds, but my doctors all agree that CF has made my lungs perform better than most non-asthmatics and asthmatics alike. –Whitney Selleh

How has the gym most changed you?

Being a part of Forte has taught me to be fearless and unafraid to take challenges head on. It’s the things that scare us and give us butterflies in the stomach that make us grow the most. It has changed my outlook on how I tackle the challenges of everyday life and made me a stronger person, inside and out. –Sarah Brown

When I started CrossFit, I was at a different gym and didn’t always get good scaling options or suggestions for improvement. Forte helped overcome my fear of heavy weights and do my first pull up (still one of my greatest accomplishments). It also gave me a great group of friends and a social life when I didn’t know many people in town. –Alicia Krawczak

It hasn’t changed me as much as it continues to remind me that there is always room to grow in every single aspect of our lives. You can’t expect results without putting in the hard, shitty grunt work that no one else wants to do.  You do more of that then, over time you’re likely to be at the top of any of your pursuits.  –Joe Brannon

I look forward to working out and spending time with my friends. Most days are planned around when I can get to class! –Steve Kavanaugh

I don’t have family in Nashville, so I absolutely love having this super connected, freaky fit family. Forte keeps me accountable and sane. It’s fun being in this little fitness eco-system with cardio beasts, to hoss lifters and young babies working out with old people, the early birds before the sun rises and the mass of muscle in the evening classes…it takes a village. I love this f*cking village! HaHa.  –Rae Hummell

I actually look forward to working out. I was never athletic at all growing up, a definite couch potato, but CrossFit makes it so much fun to work out. –Rex Baldazo

The gym introduced me to my current boss. Without the social aspect of our gym, my life would be a lot worse. I really dig the relationships I’ve been able to forge at Forte. –Nick Selleh

For me, the people have changed the most. From Fogg gym to now, lots of members have graduated school, got new jobs, formed relationships or gotten married, had kids, and gone through all kinds of exciting life events. It’s amazing to see everyone going through all these awesome changes, yet still to keep the gym, CrossFit, and working out together several times a week in common! –Kenzie Hruby

The obvious answer is that it definitely made me stronger and fitter. However, the intangibles far outweigh my strength and fitness goals. The 11:30 group started out as a bunch of strangers that met at lunch to work out and have a break in our workday. It is so much more than that now. These people have become my friends, family even, and I look forward to connecting with them and hearing about their day. In a world that is moving at such a fast pace, I just enjoy this hour that I get to laugh and sweat with my friends. For all the responsibilities that I have each day to other people, this hour makes me feel like me, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. –Seaneen Murphy

It’s really challenged me both physically and mentally. While I’m not as good as I once was, seeing members both younger and older than me giving it their best is motivating. The community of the gym, or really a specific class, is great. I’m not sure I could ever really go back to a “normal gym” again.    – Steve Ross

Physically, I am changed. I’m big but in all the best ways. Weightlifting doesn’t make you bulky, but it makes you feel big and confident. I don’t care about the scale anymore. I care how I am developing as an athlete. Girls have a rough life out there with FB/IG/social media/24hr news, Photoshop. Women are told to be small and quiet. CF says be big and loud, be proud. I think that is really important, I have had days in my life I hated my body, which is a horrible emotion to feel regarding yourself, but it’s awfully empowering to throw around heavy weights and do complicated lifts with ease, to chase someone in a workout and beat them.  I am physically changed and love all my big, strong muscles. Strong women are hot!  –Whitney Selleh

Personally, my growth over the last four years has been an overall increase in strength and mobility. As far as growth concerning Forte, it was the move from Fogg St. to present location. – Steve Ross

What’s a great memory you have of Forte?

One of my favorite forte memories is going to Cincinnati to see Evan at regionals. #fortefamilyvacation #nothingbeatsthebeach –Alicia Krawczak

So many great memories it’s hard to choose! I remember how much fun Saturday workouts were. Evan wouldn’t post anything online so you would just show up not knowing what was in store, and he would start writing on the whiteboard what we were in for. I remember one time we had to run 400m repeats backwards in the rain. Everyone was cracking up at how ridiculous we probably looked to the rest of the world. –Kenzie Hruby

Attending the 11:30 class and having the train go by everyday blaring its horn right at the same time Evan was trying to instruct us on the day’s metcon….and it lasted for like 30 seconds. Very amusing. Another one is that I got my first pull up at Fogg; great personal memory. –Seaneen Murphy

My favorite was when Leah and I were sitting in Hawaii about to finish our honeymoon, and we facetimed with everyone at the gym on Evan and Katelyn’s wedding reception. It was priceless, and everyone was so happy. –Benjamin Howe

Participating in the Scary Strong Competition, which was my first CrossFit competition. I had zero expectations for myself. The support of my fellow Forte members pushed me beyond anything I could imagine. –Steve Kavanaugh

In the spirit of future Mama & Papa Forte I have to share a great memory of intoxicated CrossFitting at the infamous Forte formal.  “Disclaimer: Kids do not try this at home. Adults, you neither.”  Late in the night in suits and dresses we decided to max snatch deadlift. The best part is Katelyn high heels and all did like 300lbs.  They probably will want to wait a while to share this story with the little one.  –Joe Brannon

I have many. One of the best was weighing myself within my first year and I had lost 40# (I’ve gained some back since, but I am still happy with my size). I struggled with weight loss for a long time, started at Forte weighing in at 175, and after a few paleo challenges, lifestyle changes and heavy squats, I got to 135, size 8!!! I’m still a size 8, but again, I weigh more. I also learned to love how I looked and not look at the scale. The scale never moves, but my pants do. . –Whitney Selleh

My best memories are those of seeing others succeed at something they struggled with in the past. I’m totally the “mom” in the gym. HaHa. I nearly come to tears when something super exciting happens! One of my favorite memories comes from taking my two daughters to watch one of our “open” workouts one Saturday, and as I was cheering for a fellow athlete, one of my daughters said “Mom, you’re so loud. I think you make people lift more because you scare them.” HaHaHa. So true. I’m a yeller. –Rae Hummell

PR’s. PR’s are dope! There were some memorable social events as well, like when virtually the whole gym took my wife and me out for our separate bachelor/bachelorette parties. I’m very thankful for the friendships I’ve made in my time at forte. –Nick Selleh

Being the only one there for a 6:00 a.m. class. Evan and I had a “personal” training session that day, and he did the WOD with me, even though that wasn’t his normal time to work out. Naturally, he smoked me, but it showed he was committed to me and the gym at that point. He wasn’t going to be a status quo coach, and I knew then I was going to stay with Forte. So, here I am, some four years later.  🙂    – Steve Ross

Trains. The old Fogg location was literally feet from the train tracks, and whenever a train would come by, it was so loud everything would have to stop. You couldn’t hear the coaches yelling over the sound of the train, especially in the summer with the loading dock door wide open.  Wall-balls. In the old Fogg location, the support beams in the ceiling were the men’s 10-foot target. When I stepped into the current location, one of my first thoughts was that I will never be able to hit those ceiling beams, even with the lightest possible wall-ball. –Rex Baldazo

Member Spotlight: Brooke Meadows
Written by Jake Coleman

Carly (L) and Brooke (R) at the Partner Competition

My brother Johnathan- my best friend in the world- was born with a connective tissue disorder that severely affected his eyesight and blood cells. Though he wasn’t expected to live beyond 18, he well exceeded that and was able to go to college, but by Father’s Day 2014, his condition became much worse. He went in for a blood check, but over the weekend his aorta dissected, he had an aneurism and died. He lived with a great deal of pain daily (he’d already had four heart surgeries, and his sight had gone bad), so we were happy he didn’t have to suffer- but it still really sucked. (He is the meaning of the tattoo on my hand.)

Johnathan was the youngest of three brothers, and after he died, I looked for ways to connect with the other two. My oldest brother is a doctor, and as a social work major, I connected with him through what I want to do with my life. The middle brother, Jordan is a CrossFit athlete that made regionals as part of a team last year. I started talking to him about CrossFit and made it my new year’s resolution for 2016 to join a gym.

Before falling in love, I hated it for the first three months. I’ve always been athletic, playing soccer, basketball and danced growing up, and coming in to something new where I felt like I wasn’t good, people didn’t believe in me and I didn’t believe in myself was really hard. I hated being the only one with a technique bar, not being able to do a pushup or lift anything heavy. I would struggle sometimes watching someone else in the gym and thinking that I should be able to do what he or she is doing. I felt so much less than everyone else, and on top of that, I didn’t feel Jordan was very reaffirming. Still, I was determined to make it work. Growing up, my dad was a body builder and used to train Ms. Louisiana, and we were raised that way: to be disciplined and not give up.

It was a process, but after those three months, I had to figure out if I’m doing this for me, for Jordan or to impress Evan and Katelyn, which is something I struggled with at the start. If Evan looked at me wrong, I would lose it and think I couldn’t come back.

I had to change my mindset, and coach Larry was a big part of that. One night, he was helping me with a fault in my squat, and I just remember crying because, before that, I felt CrossFit was awful and not for me. He told me he believed in me and that it’s a marathon not a sprint. That was the first time I’d heard that. His affirmations stuck with me even when I went back home for the summer.

I had to realize, first, if I want this to be my CrossFit family, I shouldn’t have to try and impress anyone and to understand the gym has to accept me for who I am, and I have to accept it and its people for who they are. Second, I had to realize I’m not a Games athlete, that I care more about hearing someone’s testimony and about their life than waking up at 5am, working out, going to school and going back to workout. I want to be a great athlete, but I’m not there yet. It’s helped me to try and learn to be content where I am and to invest in other people who want to push themselves and be better.

My five- year goals are to have two competitions under my belt and to be a coach. I really want to help invest in people and be a consistent presence in someone’s gym, like Larry is here. But that’s something else he helped me see: I can’t help and invest in other people if I don’t invest in myself first.

10-5-16 Member Spotlight: Mike Newman
Written by Jake Coleman

Newman

Mike’s first exposure to CrossFit came from watching The Games on ESPN two or three years ago. As with many people whose first experience of CrossFit comes through the sport-facet of the discipline, he didn’t feel a draw to it as a fitness pursuit. The stuff the juggernaut-esque athletes on TV could do was cool, but it didn’t translate the communal aspect of what normal, everyday CrossFit looks like. He had no interest in trying it until a conversation he had with a coworker 15 months ago. She relayed her experience about the group atmosphere and excitement around the culture, and he knew that was what he wanted. Besides, he felt he needed to do something.

A little over five years ago Mike tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus playing softball. He grew up playing sports and always stayed active through tennis, golf and going to the Y, but once he experienced the injury, he never recovered the habit and his weight ballooned. He felt he’d become a couch potato and knew he needed something group-oriented with a class setting, that he’d do much better with that than being on his own.  The latent intensity of CrossFit wasn’t a perfect marriage for Mike at first. It was a struggle.

“I was so far out of shape that I had trouble getting through the class. I had all these doubts. Is this for me? Should I try something different? I never had this one moment where it really clicked. It took several months, but I saw gradual improvement in my weight loss and increased performance. That let me know what I was doing was working. That is probably what I’m most proud of, just that I kept at it.”

Growing up accustomed to athletic participation then suddenly not having it for half a decade affected Mike mentally, and he credits CrossFit for helping reignite that flame and mold his mentality to something more performance-based.

“When I first started, I would feel some frustration as to why I couldn’t do something, and now, that’s changed to maybe feeling a little frustration toward why I’m not doing a workout better or a WOD faster.”

Mike’s next goals are to string together bigger sets of both pull-ups and double-unders as well as be able to complete some handstand pushups. Like when he started, he knows that if he keeps working at it he’ll get better, and that’s the encouragement he offers others that might be just starting or struggling.

“Don’t watch what other people are doing, maybe don’t even look at them. If you need to modify, modify. Realize that, if you keep at it, you will start to see improvements. Just do what you can.”