June Athlete of the Month: Crystie McGrail

I don’t remember exactly how I found EverProven, probably by googling nearby gyms but I was intrigued from the start. It took me a few weeks of reading through the website and learning more about crossfit before I took the leap to schedule an intro. And of course that hooked me right away (Stone did my intro!).

I started CrossFit with the goal of reducing muscle imbalances I had from a lifetime of swimming and a few years of triathlon training. I wasn’t confident in putting weight over-head due to shoulder instability and I was having regular pain issues with back/neck muscles. It’s been a long term project but I don’t fear putting weight over head now and I would say Olympic lifts are my favorites. I’m a huge fan of the constantly varied format because it means there is always something to stimulate my desire to refine and improve movements. I used to think nothing would ever exhaust me mentally and physically the way an epic swimming workout did until Crossfit.

5:30am was my normal until Covid, now 7:00am is my new home.

My short term goals are pretty basic, get myself to a workout twice a week minimum. I set a long term goal each year to build/learn a skill to give myself time to really lean into it because realistically that is the timeline I need to be able to put the work in. My 2020 goal is to solidify my hollow positioning.

Favorite movement is the Snatch, which is a testament to the training provided at EP, because if you had asked me 5 years ago to go ground to overhead with 80lbs I would have blown out a shoulder. Can’t say I have a favorite WOD, but usually anything with Box Jumps and barbell repeats.

Especially a strict press, but usually anything strict.

I swam Division 1 in college and still race with Masters swimmingtoday (but for fun).