Each month we will be featuring one of our awesome CFA athletes here and finding out what makes CrossFit Ampthill such a special place to train.
This month meet Charlie!
(this is her at the Superhuman Games!)
(this is her at the Superhuman Games!)
Name:Charlie Anderson
Age: 34
Occupation:Police Business Development Manager
Age: 34
Occupation:Police Business Development Manager
Started CrossFit in:Technically 2014 but shall we say March 2015
Favourite WOD: Angie… the first girl I “met" :-)
Biggest achievement so far: Competing at the Superhuman Games and surviving!?!?
Describe yourself in 3 words… Determined, Fitter and HUNGRY (OMG I am always hungry these days)
Tell us about your sport and fitness background… I’ve always been into fitness as I needed to be for my job. More about running that anything else. I danced for the first 18 years of my life. I’m a qualified Community Sports leader, enabling me to deliver physical training to young people. Over the years I have found that hugely rewarding and have loved seeing these teenagers grow to develop a healthy attitude to life. Getting them to run a 1.5k log run over obstacles was a huge achievement for the group who wouldn’t even walk if they could get a bus. I’m a Mountain Group Leader and so outdoor walking is a huge passion - I quite enjoyed the three peaks challenge a few years back. I’ve entered countless 10k runs for charity and raised over £4000 for cancer charities. A couple of years ago I completed my first road bike challenge, riding 100k around London, at night, in fancy dress. This led me to complete the UK Police Unity Tour last July and I will be taking my place this year in a yellow jersey as a rear ride marshall. The ride is around 190 miles over 3 days from London to Staffordshire in memory of Police Officers killed on duty. It’s emotionally and physically draining but I love it. I’m still looking for sponsorship :-) https://www.justgiving.com/Pondies-policeunitytour15
I was introduced to Crossfit back in 2014 but didn’t finish my on ramp until March this year. Initially I said I would train twice a week… now I want to train every day. :-) Prior to CF I avoided ANYTHING weights related with the exception of kettle bells…. Now Wednesday is becoming my favourite day.
What are your goals? To have a 100K deadlift would be nice. Like most people in the box, this year I would like to have strict pull ups and handstand press-ups. Mostly though, my goal is to stick with this and watch my body continue to strengthen in a way I didn’t know possible. My biggest goal is to encourage my children to embrace the healthy and active lifestyle. Both are trialling CF kids at the box at the moment. My daughter is already obsessed :-)
Your biggest GOAT (thing you find difficult) Shrugging when lifting…. It doesn’t matter how much I break it down I seem to REALLY struggle with the shrug. Drives me (and the coaches I am sure) mad!!
What are your hobbies, interest, talents outside of CrossFit? Spending time with my children is usually number 1 on my list. I love to read and listen to music. Huge karaoke fan ;-) I love to travel and scuba dive but I don’t seem to get much of it done these days. I’ve recently become an assistant Section leader at cubs. I was a police cadet instructor for years and really enjoy the outdoorsy things whilst working with young people. I find it hugely rewarding.
What sort of changes in your life have you experienced out of taking on CrossFit that were unexpected? I wake up naturally at 5am!! That’s not a normal time of day but I love the 6am WOD. I feel so great for the rest of the day. My clothes all fit differently. I am the heaviest weight I have been in a long time but I am also so much stronger and that is after just a few months. Can’t wait to see how that develops as I continue to train.
Please share your favourite CFA moment… I have two…
1) Team WODs at 6am are BAD NEWS if you can’t count….. never laughed so much when we realised how hard it was to calculate individual contributions….
2) In April it was suggested that I do the Superhuman Games by Aimee…. I laughed. Less than 2 months later there I was, competing alongside 17 others from the box. A great weekend with sunburn and muscle strain :-)
Any advice for people just starting out? Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. It is so easy to feel disheartened when you see others lifting much bigger numbers but we all started somewhere low…. Focus on the form and have fun. I found it really hard to feel confident in the box initially because of this.
Complete the sentence: I love CrossFit and training at CFA because…. I belong somewhere. It is my home from home. I have made some great friends and discovered things about myself that I didn’t know were possible, the whole time in a safe and well structured environment where I know that any risk of injury is minimised by great coaching :-)
Describe yourself in 3 words… Determined, Fitter and HUNGRY (OMG I am always hungry these days)
Tell us about your sport and fitness background… I’ve always been into fitness as I needed to be for my job. More about running that anything else. I danced for the first 18 years of my life. I’m a qualified Community Sports leader, enabling me to deliver physical training to young people. Over the years I have found that hugely rewarding and have loved seeing these teenagers grow to develop a healthy attitude to life. Getting them to run a 1.5k log run over obstacles was a huge achievement for the group who wouldn’t even walk if they could get a bus. I’m a Mountain Group Leader and so outdoor walking is a huge passion - I quite enjoyed the three peaks challenge a few years back. I’ve entered countless 10k runs for charity and raised over £4000 for cancer charities. A couple of years ago I completed my first road bike challenge, riding 100k around London, at night, in fancy dress. This led me to complete the UK Police Unity Tour last July and I will be taking my place this year in a yellow jersey as a rear ride marshall. The ride is around 190 miles over 3 days from London to Staffordshire in memory of Police Officers killed on duty. It’s emotionally and physically draining but I love it. I’m still looking for sponsorship :-) https://www.justgiving.com/Pondies-policeunitytour15
I was introduced to Crossfit back in 2014 but didn’t finish my on ramp until March this year. Initially I said I would train twice a week… now I want to train every day. :-) Prior to CF I avoided ANYTHING weights related with the exception of kettle bells…. Now Wednesday is becoming my favourite day.
What are your goals? To have a 100K deadlift would be nice. Like most people in the box, this year I would like to have strict pull ups and handstand press-ups. Mostly though, my goal is to stick with this and watch my body continue to strengthen in a way I didn’t know possible. My biggest goal is to encourage my children to embrace the healthy and active lifestyle. Both are trialling CF kids at the box at the moment. My daughter is already obsessed :-)
Your biggest GOAT (thing you find difficult) Shrugging when lifting…. It doesn’t matter how much I break it down I seem to REALLY struggle with the shrug. Drives me (and the coaches I am sure) mad!!
What are your hobbies, interest, talents outside of CrossFit? Spending time with my children is usually number 1 on my list. I love to read and listen to music. Huge karaoke fan ;-) I love to travel and scuba dive but I don’t seem to get much of it done these days. I’ve recently become an assistant Section leader at cubs. I was a police cadet instructor for years and really enjoy the outdoorsy things whilst working with young people. I find it hugely rewarding.
What sort of changes in your life have you experienced out of taking on CrossFit that were unexpected? I wake up naturally at 5am!! That’s not a normal time of day but I love the 6am WOD. I feel so great for the rest of the day. My clothes all fit differently. I am the heaviest weight I have been in a long time but I am also so much stronger and that is after just a few months. Can’t wait to see how that develops as I continue to train.
Please share your favourite CFA moment… I have two…
1) Team WODs at 6am are BAD NEWS if you can’t count….. never laughed so much when we realised how hard it was to calculate individual contributions….
2) In April it was suggested that I do the Superhuman Games by Aimee…. I laughed. Less than 2 months later there I was, competing alongside 17 others from the box. A great weekend with sunburn and muscle strain :-)
Any advice for people just starting out? Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. It is so easy to feel disheartened when you see others lifting much bigger numbers but we all started somewhere low…. Focus on the form and have fun. I found it really hard to feel confident in the box initially because of this.
Complete the sentence: I love CrossFit and training at CFA because…. I belong somewhere. It is my home from home. I have made some great friends and discovered things about myself that I didn’t know were possible, the whole time in a safe and well structured environment where I know that any risk of injury is minimised by great coaching :-)
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