July 2022 Athlete of the Month: Meet Shannon Donohue We have so much appreciation for our community, and love to highlight one athlete each month that exemplifies hard work and perseverance. Meet Shannon! She brings a great attitude, takes instruction, and actively works to improve.  It's been delightful to watch her grow into a strong athlete. Let's celebrate Shannon's growth by giving her a fist bump the next time you're at the gym. Q: How long have you been going to Terminus? What changes have you seen in yourself (physically or mentally) since joining? I started in January of 2021, so about a year and a half. Physically and mentally I have seen a lot of growth. Since joining, I have been more consistent with exercise than I had been in many years, probably almost a decade. And Terminus provided the first time where heavy strength training is a part of my workouts, so I have started to see muscles that never existed before! Q: How has your journey at Terminus helped you outside the gym? When I joined Terminus, I was at the beginning of a really tough masters degree program, I had just moved to a new city, oh and Covid was still raging and stressful; mentally, I was pretty beat up.  The Terminus workouts gave me daily reminders that I can do difficult things when I put my mind to it and show up, and the Terminus community provided some much-needed encouragement and support. I take the lessons from Terminus to so much I do outside of the gym; show up, have a good attitude and don’t be afraid to push yourself to failure, it’s good to know where that line is. Sometimes it is much further away than I think it is. Q: Who inspires you at the gym, and how do they inspire you? Everyone! People like Sara Hardy, who show up to 8am class like clockwork. Watching so many women workout throughout their pregnancies, many who still kicked my butt while pregnant, and working out next to someone who is injured and still showing up is incredibly inspiring. Perhaps also oddly inspiring, has been watching some of our fittest athletes struggle with a workout, it’s just a nice reminder that we all have strengths and weaknesses and we are all working to get better. Q: How would you describe what it's like to be a part of Terminus? It is a true community! We support and encourage each other, provide recommendations for things in and out of the gym, loan out things. I feel very fortunate to know I have a whole group of people I can go to when I’m in need and in good times. Q:  Tell us about your first day of class at Terminus. I was super nervous, and knew next to nothing about what to expect, but I showed up for a 9:15 class. I walked through the front door, not knowing I should have gone through the garage door. Coach Patrick was the coach and graciously placed me in the back of the room, he then went over the workout, which was going to be deadlifts and burpees. I had tried to do burpees once before, it did not go well, and deadlifts were my least favorite movement, so I was not super excited... But it turns out I had been doing them wrong! And with good instruction, I had a really good workout. I think I was pretty much hooked from that first class. Q: What is something that we may not know about you? I have worked in several jobs and industries, but probably the weirdest was working at a glue stick factory. Q: What are your top 3 memories or proudest moments in CrossFit? I have had some really fun strength PRs, Adrianna and Graham were there when I got 90lbs on my clean and jerk, which was huge for me, and I think they were more excited than I was. At Coach Patrick's 33 WODs in 33 hours event, it was the first time I attempted a rope climb, and I was super proud of myself for being able to get all the way up the rope. Finally, I was pretty proud of myself for competing in the Terminus competition, it was something that is definitely outside of my comfort zone, but was so much fun! Q: Moving forward, do you have any short term or long term goals in the gym? Time will tell if these will be short term or long term, but I really want to be able to do consistent double unders, and full RX pullups and pushups. Otherwise, long term to just continue to show up for classes 5-6 days a week.

May 2022 Athlete of the Month: Meet Lanier Loftin We have so much appreciation for our community, and love to highlight one athlete each month that exemplifies hard work and perseverance. Meet Lanier! Talk about perseverance... During last years 10k she had a falling incident in the first 400 meters. Bloodied and bruised, she picked herself up and went on to complete the entire race. That will always stand out out as a moment of true grit and determination. Let's celebrate Lanier's "never quit" attitude by giving her a fist bump the next time you're at the gym. Q: How long have you been going to Terminus? What changes have you seen in yourself (physically or mentally) since joining? I started Terminus in August of 2019. I am in the best shape of my life now and continue to surprise myself all the time with how I can push myself. Q: How has your journey at Terminus helped you outside the gym? Terminus has really helped with my mental toughness. The hardest part of any workout is showing up, but I find a way to do it every day. That has translated into getting things done in real life.  In 2021 I challenged myself to run a 5k, 10k, 15k, and half marathon. Running is one of my least favorite things but had the mental toughness to do it and do it on my own. Q: Who inspires you at the gym, and how do they inspire you? Wow what a hard question! So many of the women are inspiring. Sonya, Amy, Jen Emery, Brittany Kidd, Emily, Katie Taylor, I could go on and on. This gym is filled with so many inspiring women and I am so happy to be able to be surrounded by them. If only osmosis worked with strength!! Q: How would you describe what it's like to be a part of Terminus? This is such a welcoming community! I always feel so encouraged by members in class and the coaches. It doesn’t matter if you are the fastest, or lift the most weight, everyone just wants you to do your best! Q:  Tell us about your first day of class at Terminus. The workout was 10 rounds for time and included box jumps. I was clearly struggling and was not going to make it. I remember Patrick coming over to me and checking in. He ended up saying let’s let this one be the last round. I got the mercy cut off. Q: What is something that we may not know about you? I am crafty and enjoy making things. Recently I have gotten into make greeting cards. But you can find me doing my tie-dye, rhinestoning shoes, or just creating in my free time. Q: What are your top 3 memories or proudest moments in CrossFit? It is so hard to pick just 3!! During my first month after a 6am class, Ben made everyone hold hand in the middle of the gym. He then had everyone sing Happy Birthday to me. That little moment made me feel so welcomed and that was when I knew I made the right choice with Terminus. Getting my first kipping pull up! I made it over the bar during the warmup and squealed I was so excited. Finishing the Terminus 10k last year after a nasty fall right in front of homegrown. I had a scraped-up knee, hand, and leg. I thought about quitting and walking back to the gym. Then thought about doing just the 5k.  But I knew I committed to the full race and shouldn’t quit. So I slowly finished the 10k!! Even won the spirit of the race award. Q: Moving forward, do you have any short term or long term goals in the gym? A bar muscle up is on this list!  I am also really excited about our new Terminus benchmark workouts, so I am looking forward to seeing where I fall this year improving over the next year.

March 2022 Athlete of the Month: Meet Ro Carrillo We have so much appreciation for our community, and love to highlight one athlete each month that exemplifies hard work and perseverance. Ro is a self described extrovert who exudes positive energy. Ro's infectious enthusiasm has been a bright spot in our afternoon classes since he joined Terminus last September. Make sure to give him a fist bump the next time you're at the gym. Q: How long have you been going to Terminus? What changes have you seen in yourself (physically or mentally) since joining? I joined Terminus in September of last year, so a little under 6 full months. Physically I feel amazing. I truly shock myself when I do some of these workouts because I don't think I've ever challenged my body as much as I have recently. My gym time is my "Me Time" and I get both a physical and mental workout when I'm at Terminus. Although I feel like death is knocking at my door after some of these WOD's, I feel happy and accomplished after completing them. Q: How has your journey at Terminus helped you outside the gym? I'm generally a pretty positive person, but getting these daily workouts just puts an extra pep in my step for sure. That beautiful positive energy that you absorb at the gym translates so well outside of the gym. It's like going into a candy store and getting all your favorite candy, except you work your butt off and end up with all the endorphins. Q: Who inspires you at the gym, and how do they inspire you?  Oh man, this is a hard one for sure. Besides my "Three Peas in a WOD" crew (Diana, Lacey, and I are dorks), there are so many amazing people that truly inspire me and that inadvertently push me to do better and be better. Michael, Ryan, Kenny, Toni, Carl, Bihn, Roxy, Taylor, Lauren, Ruslan, I can really keep going. Let's not forget the coaches, because they're all amazing and I hope they know how much I appreciate each and every one of them. Q: How would you describe what it's like to be a part of Terminus? It's one of the best parts of my day. I know it sounds cheesy and sort of cliche, but I truly enjoy coming in here and doing something healthy for me. Q:  Tell us about your first day of class at Terminus. Oh man, this was a memorable day. I took a 7:30pm class with Cam. By the time we finished with the warm up, I had burned like 300 calories and I asked myself "Can we go home now?" and just laughed because we hadn't even gotten to the WOD. The best part about the class is that they broke down the movements to a beginners level and you tend to learn so much from classes like that. I did not realize what crossfit was until that class. It was like taking blinders off and I realized that this is what I had been looking for. I quickly realized that this was the perfect marriage between programming and coaching. Q: What is something that we may not know about you? I feel like I'm pretty transparent and I talk a lot, so getting to know me is pretty easy if you say hello. I'm an extrovert and I love meeting people so I try to say hi to as many people a day as I can. Q: What are your top 3 memories or proudest moments in CrossFit? When we did our crossfit totals, I was able to squat 325lb and I almost cried. That's something that I'm super proud of. I don't remember who the coach was that day, but they were like "That looked really good, add more weight" and I remember thinking "oh god, ima die". I tried it and I failed, but that failure was so graceful. Learning to do cleans with Barrett one evening when we had a small class at 7:30pm was phenomenal because I got some one on one pointers that made the movement that much more comfortable. Lastly, that same night, we were doing handstand push-ups. Lord knows that I don't like being upside down and I kept thinking that I would hit my head on the wall. I kept practicing and practicing until it clicked and I realized that the best part of coming to this gym is that I constantly prove myself wrong. Every time my mind says "No, I don't think you can do that", my body says "yes you can and you will". Q: Moving forward, do you have any short term or long term goals in the gym? My short list: HSPU, Heavy power cleans, DUs, 350lb on my squats, 450 on DL, and MUSCLE UPSSS!!!!

January 2022 AOTM: Meet Chloe Parker We have so much appreciation for our community, and love to highlight one athlete each month that exemplifies hard work and perseverance. Chloe is the model of consistency. Not only does she show up day & day out, but does so with a smile and infectious positivity. Make sure to give her a fist bump the next time you're at the gym. Q: How long have you been going to Terminus? What changes have you seen in yourself (physically or mentally) since joining? I joined Terminus in August 2019, so 2.5 years. But since that’s mostly been the pandemic, it’s felt like ten years and also five minutes. Physically, passing rays of sun occasionally reveal actual, real shoulder muscles and biceps! Mentally, the purposeful variability of the programming has helped me take life’s curveballs in stride and learn that sometimes yelling loudly is cathartic. Q: How has your journey at Terminus helped you outside the gym? I start every day with a simple achievement: I show up. No matter what else happens that day, I’ve accomplished something. Beyond that, Terminus has helped me embrace nonlinear progress. Consistency means showing up on the bad days *and* the good. Not every day is a PR, and that’s okay – but when I go even on the days I don’t feel like it, I’m consistently better month over month. Trust the process. Discipline is more durable than motivation, inside and outside the gym. Q: Who inspires you at the gym, and how do they inspire you? EVERYONE inspires me! Every single coach is a gem. The 6AM crew deserves a big ol’ heart eyes emoji. It’s also been revolutionary to find a community of women who celebrate strength and see food as fuel. Special shout-outs to Keenan, Claudia, Arielle, Eszti, Sara, Olga, Beth and Andrew, Jen, Jon, Joe, Sonya, and of course my Turducken Games partner, Callie! Q: How would you describe what it's like to be a part of Terminus? Terminus is a support network: we show up for ourselves, for each other, and for the community. I’ve found so many friends here and had the chance to raise money for important causes. Somehow, I stumbled across a group of people who see me every day at my worst, and still seem to like me. And that’s the same group of people I can lift super heavy with on a Friday, then go talk about books and drink beer with on a Sunday. And sometimes we make chili or run 10ks. It’s the best. Q:  Tell us about your first day of class at Terminus. I sidled into the intro class feeling semi-confident. I’d gone to a kickboxing gym for a few years, so I thought my cardio was pretty solid. Things escalated from there. Carter wrote “pain cave” on the whiteboard, and explained how to tell the difference between a hard effort and actual pain. Then we did about a million burpees over the barbell. Then I needed my inhaler. Then I came back to the next class. Q: What is something that we may not know about you? I tap dance! I am a huge fan of theater and grew up singing, playing instruments, and dancing. Q: What are your top 3 memories or proudest moments in CrossFit? *Getting that first kipping pull-up. I told Mark Emery how I’d never done one, and he just shrugged and said “Gun to your head, you probably could.” So I just went for it with that mentality, and it worked! That breakthrough kicked off many others as I gradually built my upper body. The pull up challenge in August cemented my first strict pull up! *Cracking 200 lbs for my one-rep back squat max *Placing 1st in the scaled division of the Turducken games with Callie!! Literally the first athletic thing I’ve ever won. We made a great partnership and came out on top! Q: Moving forward, do you have any short term or long term goals in the gym? Short term, I’m trying to prioritize form over numbers on lifts. I’m rebuilding the ability to trust myself when I go below parallel after an injury last year. I’m also chasing toes-to-bars - they feel tantalizingly close!

  December 2021 AOTM: Meet Seth Oyler We have so much appreciation for our community, and love to highlight one athlete each month that exemplifies hard work and perseverance. Seth brings a tremendous amount of positive energy and a intensity to each and every class. Most importantly we love his welcoming nature. We can't count the number of people who comment that Seth was one of the first people to say hi or hand out some encouraging words during their first time at Terminus. Make sure to give him a fist bump the next time you're at the gym. Q: How long have you been going to Terminus? What changes have you seen in yourself (physically or mentally) since joining? We have been at Terminus around a year and a half. Before joining Terminus I was feeling unconnected with CrossFit in general and considering taking a break to explore other fitness options. Since joining I have rediscovered the fun in CrossFit. Q: How has your journey at Terminus helped you outside the gym? My biggest guilty pleasure is eating and drinking good food. Coming to the gym does 2 things. First; it helps encourage me to eat healthier and maintain the lifestyle for long term healthy living. Second: I don't feel as guilty about splurging on the things I enjoy. Q: Who inspires you at the gym, and how do they inspire you? In all honesty it's the new members. I remember walking in when I first started and how intimidating and hard it was. The courage it takes to stick with it and build good habits is always inspiring. Q: How would you describe what it's like to be a part of Terminus? Terminus is an extremely fit community. At the same time everyone comes in without an ego. We all encourage and motivate one another. In my opinion the competitive aspect of CrossFit is what makes it so fun, but the members at our gym never let that get in the way of a strong, uplifting environment. Q:  Tell us about your first day of class at Terminus. I have been doing CrossFit for more than half a decade. I am also moderately fit; at most gyms this means I get ignored by the coaches. My first day at Terminus Patrick was the coach (as he is for many). I don't remember specifically what was said, but do know it was a sassy comment correcting my form or telling me to check my ego. I appreciated that probably more than he ever knew. The only way to get better (or grow) is to learn, and seeing that the coaches at this new gym were willing to do that was one of the factors that sealed the deal on us finding a new gym. Q: What is something that we may not know about you? I am a pretty big nerd. Before CrossFit I had never played any sports. I love playing DnD and fantasy rpg's. I also recently joined a sifi book club (thanks Michael Blanchard)! Q: What are your top 3 memories or proudest moments in CrossFit? First has to be meeting Chantelle, the first gym we were at brought us together and I don't think anything can top that. (The first time we ever talked was thanks to a question of the day). Second would be the first time I got a bar muscle-up. The first open I did (16.3) had them and I remember staring at the bar for the full 7 min unable to do a single one. After that I spent many hours learning how and made sure I could a least do them if they ever came up. Third is a recent memory, there was a workout at Terminus that I was doing and I could feel pain starting in my back. I stopped the workout to prevent injury and was super happy I did. There was a point where I would have been dumb enough to keep going and risk injury and I think I have gained enough perspective to realize I am in this for the long haul, pushing through and finishing a workout that I know I shouldn't is no longer worth the risk to me and I'm happy I have learned that. Q: Moving forward, do you have any short term or long term goals in the gym? Well just like everyone my goal is to make it to the games (2025 here I come). In all seriousness I gained a few lbs on our recent honeymoon and I would love to burn that off. Long term, my goal is to squat 500, not sure if I can but I'd love to give it a shot.