Congratulations to our June Member of the Month, Tyler Sgro!

Always fun, highly ridiculous and a great time is what Tyler is about.  His positive outlook in the gym is palpable.  He’s always up for the next challenge and devoted enough to hit his goals.  He’s a great role model, a great friend, and a better and better athlete every day. We caught up with Tyler (not an easy task – he’s fast!) and got his story in his own words – check it out!!  

Q: What brought you to CrossFit in the first place?

A: For as long as I can remember, I played sports. Through high school and college, it was primarily running and then soccer. A lot of college kids get involved in bad things, (i.e. drugs, partying, changing majors every 2 years and pulling a Van Wilder), but I got hooked on soccer and never looked back. Well, the universe decided a few years after I graduated that being addicted to soccer was a bad thing, and a few injuries later, my soccer days passed me by. Not being able to play soccer was super weird, as that was my life for a long time. Even to this day, it’s hard to watch soccer on TV or even go to Battery games. I tried going to the big box gym where I lived before to make wight lifting my new “thing” but every 2 months I’d get burnt out and stop going for months on end. I had always wanted to try Crossfit, but always found an excuse not to do it, whether it was the expense, or time, or (fill in excuse here). Fortunately, when my wife and I moved to the Circle from Goose Creek last year, we started looking into joining another gym and one of our neighbors mentioned that he did Crossfit at Locomotion. I decided to come by and give one of these WODs (I think that’s what the young people call it these days) a try, and well, the rest is history.

Q: What was your first impression?  How has that changed?

A: I’m pretty sure my first impression after doing my first WOD, “Cindy”, was “I’m going to go be sick… bleh.” My second thought was “that was really fun!” I do remember for probably the first month, just about everything I did at Locomotion was new for me. Overhead squat? Never done that before. Jerks? I love Jamaican food! Snatches? (tehehehe). It’s great to look back after going to Locomotion for six months and seeing all of the progress I’ve made and becoming more comfortable with each and every lift. And there are still nights where we do something that is completely new, so the variety is always a major plus, and it makes me remember those first few weeks all over again.

Q: What was your first “bright spot”?

A: I’m not sure I can remember my first bright spot, but the most meaningful bright spot over the last 6 months was re-doing my first WOD, Cindy, and seeing all of the improvement that I had made. The first time I had done this WOD I had to scale portions of it, especially the pull-ups. Re-doing Cindy a few months later, I completely smashed my previous time and was able to do the entire workout as prescribed! It really put things into perspective just how far I had gone in a few months and more importantly, made me want to keep pushing harder.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: Right now the biggest thing I’m working on is developing a good mental game. As an athlete growing up, people always would assume I was in good shape. However, I always felt that I was on the more “slender” side of fit (it’s true! even “in shape” people have body image issues folks!). Because of that, I have to make sure I’m checking in with myself so that I’m going into the gym for the right reasons, which primarily, is to have fun! There are days where my mind drifts and I think “man if I hit the gym 8 times this week, I’ll see massive GAINNZZZZZ!!!! While gains are always a plus, to me, it’s more important to be going to the gym, working out, seeing friends, and having a good time. I look back and appreciate the times hanging out and going through the experiences with everyone more than any gains so far (again, GAINZZZZ are nice, too).

Q: What’s your favorite Locomotion Memory?

A:  So far, top Locomotion memory is the Crossfit Open. That was one of those times where I was doing something completely new, and had a blast doing it. The Friday Night Lights events at the gym were a really cool experience, just being able to hang out with everyone and cheer each other on. It makes me look forward to next year’s Open, as well as all of the other additional events that Locomotion is planning to put on throughout the year.

Thanks for sharing your story, Tyler!!