athlete-of-the-month (1)

Meghan Roberts

September 2015

About The Athlete62474_10152553182240391_1914085040_n

Meghan “PR” Roberts just keeps on smashing weights, workouts and life in general outside of the gym. She’s done crossfit in Eygpt, is a dedicated teacher and was one of the founding members of Crossfit Corydon when we started in February 2015. Always a positive attitude and motivator to everyone in class or new people coming in to try it out, she embodies both the strength and community aspects of crossfit. In September, along with the last few months, Meghan has safely, confidently and consistently pushed her performance to new levels and we think this is just the tip of the ice burg of what she will achieve in the future.

A little more about them…

One sentence to describe CFC from your perspective?
A welcoming, close-knit, fun, fitness community.

What is your favourite part of CFC

There are two things that draw me to CFC day after day. The community at this gym is unrivalled. It has a friendly welcoming atmosphere that makes it feel like it’s your home away from home. You will always find encouraging and motivating words from someone, whether it is a coach or another member.

Favourite movement/workout?

For the longest time deadlifts were my favorite because it was my strongest lift. These days I find myself loving squat cleans. There is just something so exhilarating about cleaning up a heavy weight, diving under the bar, and catching it successfully.

Least favourite movement/workout

Handstands! That is probably because I can’t do them…yet!! Being upside down isn’t something that I enjoy so to get me to try and practice them is difficult. Of course if I don’t practice them, I don’t improve. I’m hoping that the handstand fairy comes along one day and sprinkles some of her magic handstand dust on me so I will be able to do them! Hah!

Proudest accomplishment, thus far? 

If you know me at all, you know that I am constantly hitting new personal records in the gym every week. The accomplishment I am most proud of since beginning at CrossFit Corydon is my improved self-confidence. I have been doing Crossfit for over 4 years. During my time at CFC I have increased my strength and conditioning by leaps and bounds and have found a very supportive network of like-minded individuals that are constantly motivating and pushing me to be my best.

This support has allowed me to recognize my strengths and to continue cultivating them to be even stronger. It has also helped me to recognize my weaknesses. One of my biggest weaknesses was a lack of self-esteem/self confidence. Until this past summer, I had always been focused on how I looked instead of how I felt. In the past, I would rely on others to boost my self-esteem with compliments or kind words. Every day was a constant battle with loving what I saw in the mirror or with what I could do in the gym.

Over the summer, while hitting CFC, getting to know other members at the gym, listening to the advice and support from the coaches, my mindset gradually began to change. I found myself starting to love what I could do and what I couldn’t do (and wanting to be better at those things), but I also found myself starting to love me. I felt like a fire had been lit inside of me, driving me to be more positive.

These dayMeghans, I care less about the superficial and more about how I am performing. I compliment myself on a daily basis, and at th
e end of each day, reflect on the positives and what can be improved (in the gym and in my daily life). My mantra that I now live by (and is written on my bathroom mirror) is:

I am sexy.

I am strong.

I am beautiful.

I am amazing.

Reciting this daily helps to keep the fire burning inside of me.

Which coach has the best smile?

There isn’t one coach that has a better smile than the rest. All of the coaches have great smiles and they can all brighten my day in their own unique ways. Here are some of the things that make these coaches great…

Taylor has pretty great hair and always has a story about the workout he did that day or a new exciting PR to tell me about!

Shane always has the best response to “how’s it going?” He loves to give me dating advice and has the most interesting one-liners!

Jason is one of the most positive, motivating people I know. He always puts in the extra effort to make sure you keep going until the very end! He also loves cats!!

Matt loves what he does and because of it is a fountain of knowledge and opinions. He isn’t afraid to tell it like it is or give you a suggestion (or six) on how to improve something!

What got you interested in Crossfit? And what keeps you coming back?

One of my good friends, that I attended university with, had started Crossfit a year before me. She recognized I was struggling with some issues in my personal life and said she would help me get started, and even came to my first on-ramp class with me! I have now been doing Crossfit for almost four and a half years. I love the variety and the competitiveness of the sport. That, along with the supportive community, keeps me coming back, day after day.

What are some of your activities outside of CFC?

I play slopitch from May until October every year. I used to play fastpitch competitively so playing slopitch satisfies my softball craving each year! I also love to travel. I have been to many warm destinations down south as well as to Europe and Africa. I plan on taking off to Europe next summer to explore Italy, Spain and Portugal. I’m a teacher so I spend a lot of my time coaching various sports teams at school.

Do you have any goals set for the near future?

Most of my goals focus around the gym. I have two goals that I am working towards at the moment. I would like to be able to do at least one pull up by 2016! I would also like to podium at Frostfit at Crossfit Winnipeg, in the scaled division.

Little known fact…

I am adopted! If you have ever met my parents or have seen pictures of them, you can see very quickly that I look nothing like them! I have met my birth mother and I have two half sisters that are both amazing hockey players. One of my sisters used to Crossfit too! Both sisters are much younger than me and currently attend university.

Coaches Comments

Meghan brings a sense of attitude every time she comes to the box. She has her mind set on pushing her boundaries, while at the same time staying humble. As a coach, its seems that the hardest part is to simply reign her without slowing her down. She is always riding that thin line between technique and results and has the ability to grow her numbers consistently; sometimes it costs her but she adjusts and goes back to basics and builds from there. The drive she exemplifies is contagious to those who are working out around her. At some point the PR’s may slow down but the work never stops and I love having that attitude at crossfit corydon. – Coach Jason

Like many of our members at CFC, Meghan has seen great gains in performance and movement quality since walking through the doors due to her great work ethic. All numbers on her lifts have been increasing extremely steadily for the past few months – it is truly very cool to watch unfold! But, aside from the numbers, I believe Meghan has made some major strides in two much more important facets of life: self-confidence and nutrition. Self-confidence; every time she walks through those doors, she comes in smiling and bouncing around, poking fun at others (she bullies me in-particularly) and rolls in with a drive to crush what ever is on the menu for the day – this is what I want to see in everyone – belief in one’s self. Nutrition; Taylor referred her to Eat to Perform and from what I know she has followed it perfectly. This shows with her positive gains in performance and body composition. After reading her thank you card she gave us 4 coaches, it struck a nerve and showed me truly how much she has accomplished in this short few months. The girl has swagger, is fiercely determined and gets stronger everyday in multiple facets of life and bakes some badass cookies for coaches. What is not to love? Excited to see what happens in the future! – Coach Matt
Meghan, Meghan, Meghan; what can I say… She is an absolutely stand-out person, personality and athlete. The development that I’ve seen over the last few month in the sheer confidence in herself, her abilities and her movement is unmatched. She is a perfect example of someone who gives 100% in every workout, listens to her body and knows when to go for a max and when to hold back and just get the work in. She is a pleasure to coach and an even bigger pleasure to program for. It’s athletes like Meghan that push the progression of the CFC program itself and challenge me as a coach, programmer and athlete to not only be better but to try to keep up. – Coach Taylor
Meghan is a great personality to have around at the box. The constant PR’s she achieves is a true testament to her hard work in and out of the gym. Meghan has come a long way since I first met her – especially in regards to her Olympic lifts. – Coach Shane

Sincerely,

The CFC Coaching Team