Our athlete of the month for March is Andrew Duplin (AKA Dups).
Dups has been apart of the Tradewinds family for almost two years now and over the last few months has really stepped it up with his commitment to bettering himself. Way to go Andrew!
Check out his full interview to learn more about this months AOM!
CFT: Where are you from?
Andrew: Winthrop Highlands born and raised
CFT: How long have you been doing CrossFit?
Andrew: Since May 21st 2018
CFT: What motivated you to try CrossFit?
Andrew: My wife Heather. She had been going to Tradewinds for a year or so when we started dating. I was a “gym rat” back in my teens and twenties. I lost that passion and accountability. My job can also be mentally draining and time consuming. I had taught myself every excuse in book not to exercise. When I first started dating Heather, she would tell me about the movements, the WOD’s, her PR’s and I started to meet the people in the gym that quickly became our friends. It was encouraging and different enough.. I gave it a shot and I haven’t looked back.
CFT: What group class do you usually attend? –
Andrew: Heather is ms. consistency with the morning classes. I started there with her, but I am not a morning person, ha. I attend mostly night classes with some mornings and noon classes thrown in depending on my daily work schedule.
CFT: Did you have a fitness background prior to starting CrossFit?
Andrew: Youth and high school sports such as baseball and football. I started lifting weights for that in middle school. Today, I play golf when I get the opportunity.
CFT: If you could program your dream WOD, what would it be?
Andrew: I love a good strength day where I can test myself against a weight I have yet to PR. However, a prefer a good WOD that includes a barbell (no thrusters) and other movements such as pull-ups or box jumps.
CFT: What is your proudest accomplishment since joining Tradewinds?
Andrew: Really, just showing up. There’s been a few weeks that I’ve gone 5-6 days of the week and I wouldn’t have assumed that to be the case. From there, it’s learning and improving on movements I couldn’t do before such as kipping pull-ups, squat snatches or handstand push-ups. I like becoming a novice again and gradually showing progress.
CFT: How has CFT helped you in your everyday life?
Andrew: It gives me another degree of commonality with Heather and gives us a hobby to share. Selfishly, I like that I’m hitting the golf ball another 10-20 yards.
CFT: What do you like to do outside of the gym?
Andrew: I’m a social person. I enjoy going out with family and friends. I like to get outdoors whether it’s golfing or fishing.
CFT: What is your favorite song to workout to?
Andrew: Anything upbeat in categories of rock or old school rap.
CFT: What’s one thing you’d tell someone who is curious about trying CrossFit but not sure if they could do it?
Andrew: Enjoy being a novice and trust the progress.
AOM Final Thoughts:
Andrew: I’ve had a very good experience as a CFT athlete to date. I was at a period of my life where I needed something different to spark renewed interest and energy for fitness. I was not interested to walk back into the standard gym and do the same routine over and over again, just to do it. Due to that disinterest, I was not being accountable to myself and to my body. We’ve all been in that rut. That rut becomes the new norm because it snowballs. You don’t have the same levels of energy, you can’t go as hard or fast as you were used to and you don’t recover as fast. You lose confidence and accountability. CrossFit helped me turn those tides I was fighting against. It wasn’t easy in the beginning, but I leaned into it, enjoyed being a novice and trusted the progress.
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