IT’S FINE - It all just takes a little bit of time
Post by Coach Naffy, Operations Manager
“All aspects of fitness take TIME, PATIENCE, AND HARD WORK. You have to be willing to put in the work to see the results you want and to hit your own personal goals.”
A blog post seemed fitting to go along with my Instagram take-over🤪
A little about me - I’m Natalie, Nat, Coach Nat, Naf, & Naffy (just a few of the names you’ll hear me be called while at Mecka & CFMTL). I’m our Operations Manager and a full time coach here at Mecka Fitness and CFMTL! I LOVE MY CAREER. I love helping individuals crush their goals, understand fitness and nutrition a little more than they did before, and use my own experiences to extend that help with a little inspiration.
I started my athletic journey around the age of 4 playing basketball and every other sport under the sun. It seemed fitting though that basketball was my sport of choice - measuring in at a whopping 5’2” full grown (sense my sarcasm).
I played sports throughout high school (Cross Country, Basketball, and Track), so really every sports season. Growing up I dreamed of being an athlete as a career, but again… being a 5’2” basketball player the WNBA was NOT in my future. I went on to play four years of collegiate Division III basketball at Penn State Behrend (branch campus of PSU) where I graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Psychology. I’ve always been a feisty little competitor, so when my run with basketball ended I needed an outlet, and LA Fitness or the YMCA wasn’t cutting it for me.
One night I was sitting watching TV and stumbled across the CrossFit Games (2014.. The year Camille Leblanc-Bazinet) won. This was the moment I realized what my next outlet was. I was inspired that someone the size of Camille could put 200+ pounds above her head. Being a smaller athlete there are not many avenues of sports that you fit into and I figured I’d give this sport a shot for fun.
I started CrossFit at CrossFit FBO in Erie, PA. This was where I kinda learned the basics, but I would say I didn’t really start “consistency” with this type of fitness until I graduated and went back home (joining CrossFit Steeltown in May 2014 which is now called Angry Mike’s Gym).
Like everyone else… I became OBSESSED with this sport. Who would have thought exercising for time would be addicting? I decided I really wanted to pursue competing… little did I know how much is involved physically, mentally and NUTRITIONALLY to excel not only as an athlete but to just see simple everyday gains in the gym. Dylan, our head coach here at Lebo likes to joke that when he met me I told him my diet consisted of poptarts, turkey sandwiches and alcohol (he was my old coach at Steeltown circa 2014 lol) 😒
After having that hard realization of “I can’t move forward, excel, and get better as an athlete or just more in shape person in general” - I made A LOT of changes. SIDE NOTE: WE ALL GO THROUGH THAT TALK WITH OURSELVES. WE ALL STARTED SOMEWHERE.
The summer of 2016 I became very serious about competing at a high level. This had me kick start my diet (I lost 20 pounds… but not in a great way and we can save that for another post), and I started a training program with Dylan. In December 2016 is when I hired my Nutrition Coach and really dug into my lifestyle as a whole, and 4 years later I’m very grateful for that coaching.
These pictures show the same girl, in love with the same sport with the same goals but decided to put in the “not sexy work” to get to her goals.
This picture was taken from the 2019 CrossFit Open, 19.5.
The right side is a CrossFit competition in Erie, PA in 2015.
Over the years of this sport I’ve put in hours of nutrition work, mobility work, strength and conditioning work, etc. Particularly nutrition and mobility work (the not sexy stuff) has been done on my own time, alone without someone there telling me to do it or hold my hand. If you can get over that hurdle of doing the “not so fun stuff” on your own - you’ll have gains. It’s simple but it’s also hard. Like I said - I wasn’t always this way and it took me 2 WHOLE YEARS of fitnessing to start to understand these things (even if I wasn’t competitive I’d still do them because it makes me feel better).
One of the biggest obstacles we face as people who love to fitness is making the not so sexy decisions to see results. If you want to move better in the gym, you need to stretch and do mobility (and maybe even consult a coach trained in this area or someone who specializes in movement to see where you may be lacking or have underlying issues).
If you want to see GAINS in the gym, it’s not just about how much weight you can move… it’s about how you FUEL yourself. If you aren’t properly fueling your body you are doing it an injustice and you are going to get continuously frustrated with progress. If you aren’t practicing movements that are considered “skills” on your own - they won’t just magically happen in a workout.
All aspects of fitness take TIME, PATIENCE, AND HARD WORK. You have to be willing to put in the work to see the results you want and to hit your own personal goals. Not everyone wants to compete, but I know the vast majority (if not all fitness chasers) want to FEEL GOOD, FEEL BETTER, AND BE BETTER and to do these things you have to put in the work.