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Athlete of the Month: December 2015

Evan Hughes

Member Since: October 2012

Nickname: I don’t have a nickname.  It probably should be “Poky” as in The Poky Little Puppy based on my performance on Metcons.

Windy City: Quiet, unassuming, consistent -- we love Evan because he is a great example of just staying the course. Some days are great, most days are just so so; however, Evan just continues to improve over the long haul -- just PR'd today!

"Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." -John Wooden

Evan:  I signed up for Foundations three years ago because I badly needed to find a fitness regimen that was challenging but fun.  I needed something that I could stick with because consistency was always a problem for me.  I have the attention span of a golden doodle. I know that because I have one of those too.  I had read about Crossfit, and I had seen bits and pieces of the games on TV, and it seemed like the right kind of program for someone who likes variety and learning new things.  From the moment I set foot in the gym, I suspected that WCSC was going to be a good fit for me, and three years later my suspicions are confirmed.

I really enjoy everything about WCSC and Crossfit.  The coaches know my limitations and while they correct my bad form as best they can, they still allow me to fully challenge myself every day.  I am inspired every day by my fellow members, who amaze me with not only impressive feats of strength and fitness, but also just flat out effort.  I am not very competitive by nature, but the group dynamic of the WOD is one of my favorite things about Crossfit.  I use my WCSC friends to help gauge correct weights to use and to set performance goals for each workout.  When my workout partners finish a WOD in ½ the time it takes me to finish, I simply find it inspiring and I push harder to get it done.  Finishing last does have its benefits.  The athlete who finishes first gets no cheers (sorry), but I personally have been on the receiving end of many group cheers and high fives when I finished WODs five minutes after everyone else was done. That’s not why I do it though, I’m just really slow. 

Before starting at WCSC, I knew very little about how the body was supposed to move.  I knew that I lacked flexibility when I started, but I thought that just meant that I couldn’t touch my toes.  I had no idea how much movement I lacked in my ankles, hips, wrists, shoulders, thoracic spine and lats.  More importantly, I had no idea that these limitations have a significant affect on the way that I move.  All of the coaches have given me indispensible advice and guidance on ways to improve my mobility, and ways to adapt my movements so as to safely do the Olympic lifts.  I work daily to improve my mobility, but it is a slow road.  That’s OK because I have plenty of time. I plan on being around WCSC for a long while.  

I turned 51 on November 30th.  I have never been stronger in my life.  I power cleaned 195 lbs during the last testing week.  I’ll see how I do this upcoming testing week, but I never would have believed that I could lift more than my body weight from the ground to my shoulders.  I survived “Morrison” inside the time cap.  I’ve cut 8 minutes off my Fran time.  I’ve done Murph twice and will continue to do it because it is a lot of fun. The coaches have taught me so much about the importance of core stabilization, which helps me in everything that I do inside and outside of the gym.

Because of WCSC, I have a lot of confidence in my physical ability (which includes knowledge of my limitations) to tackle all sorts of adventures such as skiing steeps, rock climbing, surfing, scuba diving and just running charity 5 and 10Ks, not to mention playing tennis and golf and catching hefty king salmon and steelies out on the big pond.  My two sons are teenagers now and I do Crossfit to be able to keep up with them on the adventures that I have planned or dream about

Being a member at WCSC has improved my confidence overall and it has also made me recognize a very important principle that I wish I had recognized many years ago.  It is quite easy to work very hard at something that you really enjoy doing.

Recent Adventures

In the past few years we have been backpacking in the Cascades near the Canada border.  It was during the annual Perseid Meteor shower and the night sky was indescribable. We went mountain biking at Whistler, BC.  We went sailing, snorkeling and paddle boarding for a few days off Harbour Island in the Bahamas.  We went car camping and rock climbing in South Dakota.  We rented an RV and went camping and whitewater rafting in West Virginia. We went to Maui last winter and we took two days of surfing lessons. We saw the sunrise atop Haleakala and biked down the volcano, and we and hiked the mountains on the northern coast.  We try to go skiing somewhere in the Rockies every year.  In January we went to Telluride.  It was our first time there and I really liked it, both the town and the mountain. 

Future Adventures

I’ve got way too much that I want to do.

We’ve got a lot of college visits to do in the next year or so, but short-term realistic adventures are: Ski Jackson Hole hopefully this winter. I also want to check out Mt. Bohemia in the Northern UP this winter, where you can ski lots of glades and stay in a yurt (that is a tough sell with the family). I want to backpack the length of Isle Royale in Lake Superior this summer (they don’t like that one either). We may also visit my sister-in-law in Chiang Mai Thailand this coming summer

Mid-range plans include: guided skiing at Silverton in Colorado next winter.  I want to do a trip to Glacier National Park that involves both backpacking and staying at a couple of lodges in the summer of 2017.  I would also like to check out Justin’s recommended kayaking course at the Nantahala Outdoor Center.  I’ve been whitewater rafting a couple of times, and while it is fun, it is kind of tame and the folks in the kayaks seem to be having the real fun.  Learning to kite board also seems like fun and a real challenge.

If money and time were no object and in no particular order I dream about doing all of the following:  Hiking to Machu Picchu, skiing in the Alps, doing a bike tour of Cambodia and Vietnam, visiting Patagonia, and doing a 3 or 4 day sno cat skiing trip at a place called Baldface near Nelson, BC. A relaxing beach/surfing vacation in Tahiti or Bora Bora sounds really great too. A guy has got to dream.

Personal Goals

At the gym: I’m somewhat close to getting a kipping handstand push up.  I’m not close to getting a muscle up, but for some reason I feel that I should be able to do it.  I would like to be able to do 30-40 unbroken double-unders on a consistent basis.  I would like to be able to do a real snatch, but that involves being able to do a real overhead squat, which I struggle with.  This means I need to put some time in on. 

Other goals are to be able to do Fran Rx in under 8 minutes, Grace Rx in under 6 minutes and Murph in under 52 minutes.

Professionally: Continue to provide quality legal representation to my clients, while implementing new systems to improve the efficient handling of client matters.  I also plan to start a second business in residential real estate investing this year.  I plan to renovate and flip at least one home in 2016 and two in 2017.  We’ll see where it goes from there. Building and rehabbing have always been things that I really enjoy.

Personal: Improve my diet primarily by cutting out processed sugar.  Learnto listen more and judge less.

“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” – Abraham Lincoln

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