Athlete of the Month: June 2017

Brett Bernstein

Member since: February 2015

Windy City: Finally, Brett will join the ranks as an AOM with a few other of his 5:30am classmates! A former tri-athlete and runner, Brett came to Windy City looking for some help getting jacked. Mission accomplished, Brett. Brett is extremely coachable and is always looking to improve technique. Anything he learns he's happy to share with other members as well. He finds away to make time for himself and get to Windy City so he can be the best version of himself and best dad to his son and daughter. You're dedication is truly admirable, Brett. If you haven't had a chance to meet Brett yet, watch for him this Saturday June 3rd at Murph. He'll be the one running the miles in under 6 min! 

“Nothing ever changes by standing still.”

Brett: Training and exercise are important parts of my life on many levels. At the most basic level, it's my stress-release. It’s how I try to find balance between all the different parts of my life.

When it comes to athletics, I was a late-bloomer. I was the kid in high school that couldn’t do a single pull-up during the President’s Physical Fitness test and was cut from the JV soccer team that supposedly had no cuts. After college I discovered triathlon and that became my focus for 10 years. It was through triathlons that I (shockingly) learned how much I enjoyed running. My favorite race was the Pikes Peak marathon which I ran in 2009 (because when you live at sea level nothing says “great idea!” like running a marathon that has you climb a 14,000 ft mountain and run back down).

When I walked in the door of Windy City the first time I had a mixture of feelings. I had been focused exclusively on running for the previous few years and was burnt out. I felt out of balance physically. I looked around and saw people lifting really heavy weights with ease. It was more than a little intimidating.

It was also exactly what I needed. Every day was something new with exercises I had never done before (hang squat what?) or something I had never even thought about doing (you want me to do a handstand AND THEN a vertical push-up? Are you nuts?). I felt challenged in ways that I only realized in hindsight I had been missing. Training and exercise became fun again.

I can’t say enough positive things about the Windy City community. There is an energy that I feel the moment I walk in the door. That energy level just skyrockets for events like Murph, the Open, or special workouts like the 12-days-of-Christmas.

Looking back, it is clear to me that Windy City was the perfect fit at the perfect time. I’ve learned so much from Sheena, Austin, Meg, Tony, Doc, Eloise, Ox and all the other coaches. Windy City helped me re-discover the balance in my training that was missing. I feel like I’m in better shape than I was in my 30s (or for that matter, my 20s). 

Recent Adventures

My biggest adventure the past few years has been parenthood. It is amazing watching my kids develop their own personalities. I know that the example I set is important in ways that I don’t fully understand. I’ve done 5Ks with each of them in the jog stroller and I’m looking forward to the day when they are old enough to run with me. I love that after taking my at-the-time 4-year old daughter to a Windy City kids class a few years ago, all she wanted to do for the next two weeks was to build a small obstacle course in the basement and play CrossFit.

Last December I did my first CrossFit competition at the Galt Games. Walking in the door, I felt the same nervous butterflies that I used to get before marathons. Then I saw a few familiar faces walk in (Chet, Super G, Hensley) and everything just started to click. I had a great time and finished second in the novice division.

Future Adventures

I’m looking forward to racing more this year than I have the past few years. I’m running Ragnar with the unofficial Windy City Cross-Country team and I’m thinking about another trail ultramarathon in the fall.

My kids are now old enough where travelling doesn’t involve a metric ton of extra kid-gear. My wife and I are looking forward to taking them to new places and sharing new adventures. Last August we took them to Martha’s Vineyard. I loved the excitement on their faces when I took them stand-up paddleboarding. 

Goals

• Fitness: Flexibility and mobility (especially in my shoulders) is something I really want to make more of a regular part of my training. Double-unders (a personal kryptonite) and ring muscle-ups (I’ve gotten really close) are two skills that I want to spend more time working on over the next few months. The 12-days-of-Christmas is a workout I really like and this year the goal is to do it bodyweight Rx (last year I scaled to ~90% bw).
• Personal: Be the best husband and dad I can be.

Something that most people don’t know about me:

Most people don’t know that I’m a stroke survivor. In October 2003 I suffered a stroke while walking down the street after dinner with some friends. My symptoms included full paralysis on the right side of my body. I also lost the ability to speak clearly.

I was incredibly lucky to be with a friend who was able to drag me to a nearby hospital…and really incredibly lucky that this happened only one block away from an Emergency Room. I was fortunate enough that the paralysis went away after around 90 minutes. It was by far the scariest moment of my life.

What I learned from that was that I was born with a congenital heart defect. It was in the form of a hole in my heart between the two atriums and was roughly the size of my finger. I also learned that I had a genetic blood clotting disorder and was more prone to the creation of clots in my lower legs. I was training for a marathon at the time and my doctors believe that my fitness level was a significant factor in my body dissolving the blood clot on its own.

The fall of 2003 was not a fun time in my life. Training was my stress release valve. I had just experienced an incredibly stressful event and I couldn’t workout. I had the hole closed surgically in January 2004 and was back training as soon as I got medical clearance. I did a Half-Ironman six months after the procedure and set a PR. 

Words to Live By

Life is a collection of experiences…make it a big and diverse collection.