CrossFit Midtown is very excited to announce our May Member of the Month, Carey Bald! Carey has been a member for a little over a year and has been crushing the WODs! Read on to learn more about Carey and her CrossFit journey. Thank you for being such an outstanding member of the CFM community!
Name: Carey Bald
Nickname: CB, Care Bear.
Age: 29
Hometown: Ocala, Florida
How did you get exposed to CrossFit?
My sister brought CrossFit to the Bald Family in 2011 and slowly but surely convinced everyone to drink the Kool-Aid. I abstained for a year, but eventually caved in 2012.
What brought you to CrossFit Midtown?
Proximity to home/work.
What was your very first day at CrossFit Midtown like?
I came into CFM off a year-long hiatus after breaking my foot. I had been “working out” but was super out of shape. I don’t remember what the workout was exactly but I remember that there were push-ups (spoiler alert: I am notoriously bad at push-ups). As we were getting ready to start the workout I assumed I could do them on my knees as I had at other CF gyms and did a few reps as a warm-up. A very pregnant and glowing Brianna Thomas was coaching and just casually walked over to me and said “we don’t do that here”, flipped a box up for me to do incline. I have quite literally been working on mastering push-ups every day since.
What changes have you seen in your overall health and fitness level since starting CrossFit?
I am stronger and fitter than I have ever been but am also nowhere near where I want to be. CrossFit has showed me what I am capable of but has also taught me to constantly reach for a better, fitter, happier version of myself every day.
What kind of changes have you you experienced since starting CrossFit that were completely unexpected?
CFM has completely changed Atlanta for me. When I joined CFM I was still pretty new to the city, didn’t know a lot of people outside of work and was desperately searching for a tribe. Fast forward a full year and I cannot even remember life before finding fellow unicorn (& partner in pizza eating), Elana, trying to out-Rogue Pat, ALL CAPS group chats with #TeamThirdWheel, rolling my eyes at Paul’s lame dad jokes, watching Kathy walk circles around the gym with a kettlebell in the air, arguing with Peach about absolutely everything, and trying to force Michael to tolerate me (I’ve made very little headway here).
Walking into the gym is the very best part of my day every single day. I am so thankful to everyone at CFM who has made me feel like part of the family from the very start.
Favorite WOD: Anything with squat cleans, double unders, box jumps or tire flips (FarmFit, y’all)..
Least favorite WOD:
Giraffe-nastics of any kind. This girl was built to stay on the ground.
Favorite CrossFit Midtown moment:
Holiday Party 2K17. I have memories (& photos) to last a lifetime and can’t wait for this year.
Hobbies, Talents and or Interests Outside of CrossFit:
Friendship, various forms of nerdery, corgis, cycling, golf, tennis, spending all my free time at the pool and lighting up 2nd base on my company’s slow pitch team.
Advice for new CrossFitters: Nutrition, guys. It’s so important. For the first 3 years of my CrossFit journey I didn’t make any changes to my diet and sure, you’ll make gains, but when you dial in your nutrition AND train hard? It’s magic. If I could go back and do it all over again I would make that change so much sooner
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