How I Changed My Life: CrossFit Fiend Owner’s Journey From Embarrassment in the Gym to Building a Community

How Natural Talent Couldn’t Change My Life Without the Work

As a kid, I couldn’t sit still. Unless I was asleep, I was moving. Football, baseball, wrestling—you name it, I was in it. My football team never lost. My baseball team won state. In wrestling, I placed sixth in the state one year and second in novice state another.

I was built for it too. Tall, broad, and strong without even trying. Everyone looked at me like I was a natural.

And that was the problem. I was. I coasted. I didn’t run unless it was practice. I didn’t touch a weight. I just showed up, practiced hard, and leaned on what I’d been given.

It worked for a while. But natural talent only takes you so far. Someone always shows up who works harder. And when they do, talent without grind starts to fade.

From Embarrassment in the Gym to Realizing It’s Not High School Anymore

By high school, the cracks were showing. I was still good—got called up to varsity baseball my freshman year, became a starter by the end of the season—but I wasn’t the best anymore.

The weight room exposed me. I’d load the bar, squat down, and fold forward, chest down and butt up, finishing every rep like a good morning. I asked for help. The coaches shrugged. “Just try harder.”

That crushed me. Not because I couldn’t squat, but because I was supposed to be coachable. I wanted to learn. And instead, I got laughed at.

So I stopped asking. And I started believing a lie—that gyms were places where you get judged, where the strong people laugh, and where weakness gets exposed.

Here’s the truth I wish someone told me then: the gym isn’t high school. Those big guys you see at the racks? They’re not kids. They’re not bullies. They’re adults who know how much work it takes, and they respect anyone who puts in effort. Walk into any serious gym—CrossFit, global, powerlifting—and you’ll see it. Nobody cares how strong you are. They care if you’re showing up and working.

Starting Over Again: How Shame in the Gym Held Me Back Until I Learned to Ask for Help

When sports ended, I drifted. No more practice, no more conditioning, no more team.

I still worked tough jobs—delivering furniture kept me moving—but outside of that? Pizza, drinking, late nights. My weight climbed to 280.

Every couple years, I’d walk back into a gym. And every time, the same fear hit me. The big guys were over by the barbells, throwing weight around like it was nothing. I looked their size, but I couldn’t lift like them. In my head, I didn’t belong there.

So I hid on the machines. They felt safe, but they didn’t change me. I’d stay a few weeks, then quit. I told myself I was busy. But deep down, it was embarrassment.

Looking back, I know the truth: those guys would’ve loved to have me join them. They would’ve stripped the bar, loaded the right weight, and run me through a workout. They would’ve ruined their own session to help me. And they would’ve been proud to do it.

Because when you ask for help, it’s the greatest compliment you can give someone. You’re saying, I admire you. I want to learn from you. That lights people up. It makes them go home happier, makes them better dads, better husbands, better humans.

But I didn’t know that then. I stayed stuck in my head, replaying high school shame instead of giving myself grace.

We’ve all fallen off before. The trick isn’t never falling. It’s treating yourself like your own best friend—picking yourself back up, saying when you’re ready, get back in there.

The Wooden Stick That Changed My Life: Why Going Back to Basics Built My Strength

Then came CrossFit. And for the first time, I had a coach who didn’t just tell me to “try harder.”

He handed me a PVC pipe and said, “This is your deadlift.” For three months, that stick was all I lifted. At first, the old embarrassment crept in. But then something shifted. I realized I wasn’t being punished—I was being rebuilt.

I couldn’t kip for eight months. My first muscle-up took me seven years. But I wasn’t skipping steps anymore. Each stage led to the next: pull-ups, kips, toes-to-bar, chest-to-bar, then finally, muscle-ups. It all made sense because I wasn’t rushing past the basics.

It felt slow at first. One step back. Then maybe another. But then the leaps started: third step, fourth, fifth—suddenly I was moving forward faster than ever. That’s how I ended up here, owning a CrossFit gym, coaching movements I once couldn’t do.

All because I finally admitted: I need help.

And once I asked, I never stopped. I’ve asked bodybuilders. I’ve asked powerlifters. Every time, it’s the same—they stop everything to help. Because they remember. Because they care.

Building CrossFit Fiend: From Embarrassment to Creating a Culture of Belonging

Now I see it clearly. This culture doesn’t happen by chance. It’s built. It’s protected. At CrossFit Fiend, it’s the only thing we accept.

When you walk in, we don’t care what you look like, how much you lift, or what you do outside these walls. What we care about is effort. Your best, every time.

The top athletes here? They were you once. They know the fire you’re walking into. They know how it burns, and they know how it changes you. That’s why they want you in it. Because they know it’s the only way to build the life you actually want—a life with health, confidence, and joy that spills over into everything you do.

And if you’re wondering if you’ve found the right gym, here’s how you’ll know: walk up to the strongest person there and ask for advice. If they light up, you’re home.

Coaching people is my true calling

The Lesson That Changed My Life: You Already Belong in the Gym

I spent years embarrassed, hiding, thinking I had to earn my place. I wish I’d known then what I know now: you don’t.

The second you walk into the gym, you belong.

Fitness isn’t what you can do. It’s what you do. And if you show up, ask for help, drop the ego, and stick with it, you’ll change. Faster than you think. Deeper than you expect.

And when you do, you’ll look back, like I do now, and realize: you were never alone.

Ready to step into a culture built to help you win? Book your Free Jump Start at crossfitfiend.com.

#confidenceinresults #OKCFitness #OKCCrossFit #OklahomaCity #WarrAcres #BethanyOK

How I Changed My Life: CrossFit Fiend Owner’s Journey From Embarrassment in the Gym to Building a Community