Big Man's Journey to CrossFit (Transformation)
trebin
Posts: 12
My name is Mark Nibert and I have recently used CrossFit and made an amazing transformation. I needed to get healthy for my wife and kids. They are the most important thing in this world to me.This is my story.
Inspiration for me comes from a lot of different places. I have always been an athlete and aspired to be a better one. Around 2007 I lost track of where I was and put on a lot of weight. At one point I was up over 300 lbs and all I did was smoke cigarettes, drink soda and play video games. I was also a bad husband and did pay attention to my wife like I should have. During this time I had a job I hated as well and one that stressed me out so I just ate. Here is a picture of me around 2009 after 2 years of this lifestyle took its toll on me. I did quit smoking in 2008 and that accelerated the fat gain as well as I needed something to make up for not smoking. So here I am at 300+lbs and on medication for high blood pressure and I was under 30 years old. I really needed to make a change.
In 2010 I started to work for the Department of Defense (current employer) and they had a free gym on base and also offered employee wellness. This meant that I could take off 1 hour a day 3 times a week to go to the gym. This was finally a job I enjoyed and a chance for me to get back in to working out and lose the weight I had put on. The first year was amazing and I may not have been losing weight but I did start to get a little stronger. Like everyone else I started bench press with 95lbs and was excited when 135 wasn’t heavy any more. I began searching the internet and reading up on lifting and my first stop was on the strength villain site and it eventually led me to start 5/3/1 which was a great program for me that first year. In 2011 I joined the Animal Pak FORVM and that was probably the single biggest factor in changing my mindset and becoming a lifter and getting strong. I met tons of amazing people on the site and they all really helped me out. I lost some weight and then eventually put it back on in my journey to become crazy strong.
After working through a year or so on the Animal FORVM and using 5/3/1 I decided I wanted to do strongman. I wanted to be like the guys on TV, I am 6’5” so I figured I had a shot. So instead of losing weight I ate like crazy, I ate terribly just trying to get a bunch of calories in to get bigger. It worked, I certainly got bigger but not necessarily as strong and jacked as I had pictured it in my head. Who was I kidding; I know why I did it. Dieting sucks and is hard so this was an excuse for me to not go on one. I was also watching the CrossFit games and really enjoying it wishing a guy my size could do it but at 290lbs it just wasn’t going to happen. I was easily twice the size of most of those guys and definitely not strong enough to move my body weight around quickly and efficiently. I just continued to try power lifting and strongman. I got with a great group of guys and trained at Slater’s Hardware w/ Steve Slater and his group. I had a great time and ended my time there with some pretty solid numbers strength wise for me.
Bench: 325
Squat: 425
Deadlift: 525
Push Press: 255
I still wasn’t happy with how I looked and being on medication and in 2013 I worked at the CrossFit Regionals. This is where my life changed for good. I was so amazed with how strong the athletes were and how they were 6’6” 350+lbs that I had to try this for myself. Everyone I met at the Regional’s was amazing and told me that I could do it.
This was about where my surgery came in to play. I have compartment syndrome and needed to have a release done on 2 compartments in order to run or do any strenuous activities that involved a lot of movement. I postponed it initially so I could work the CrossFit Regional’s in June. The surgery was on 6/20/2013 and it was estimated that I would be out around 8 weeks. It was certainly right about 8 weeks or so before I could really start working my way back up on my lifts. This surgery ruined my weight loss and I got up to about 295 lbs by July 13, 2013. I was dedicated to doing CrossFit and realized that I looked and felt disgusting and it was time to make a change.
After talking with Rich at Beyond Limits and deciding to put a team together for tryouts I thought I better start losing weight if I want to even have a small shot at making the cut. I started to diet on my own and starting doing some WOD’s that Rich gave me. They were extremely scaled versions with a lot of assistance exercises just to allow for me to get through the workouts. I remember the first one I ever did
5 pullups
10 thrusters 75lbs
5 rounds for time
This was probably one of the hardest workouts I have ever done. I couldn’t do pull-ups with my bodyweight so I had to use bands. The thrusters were more exhausting then they were heavy but I worked my way through and got it to around 8 minutes after a couple weeks. It was exhausting and it hurt a lot but it lit a fire inside of me.
I continued to work on the modified WOD’s and slowly get back in to running as well since before my surgery anything over a mile was just incredibly painful and something I couldn’t do at all. The weight loss was slow and I was in the 270’s which was good for me but still not manageable for pull-ups and a lot of the body weight movements that I needed to be able to do in order to do CrossFit.
The gym was holding a contest to lose weight before the New Year and everyone encouraged me to join since I needed to lose the weight any way to even think of being competitive with CrossFit. I needed a diet coach bad and went on the lookout. I ended up choosing Adam Atkinson with Diet Doc and this is the 2nd biggest factor in my changing my life. We began working the macros as this is a 100% macro based diet. I started dropping weight pretty quick and maintaining my strength. Adam told me the record for a 12 week program was 31lbs of weight loss. I decided early on I wanted to not only win the contest and the 500 bucks but break the record for the most weight lost with Diet Doc. My first milestone was getting under 260 then it was 250, 240 etc and I honestly wasn’t sure where or how I would look or feel when I hit the 240’s. This was right around where we had an Animal ABC lifting get together at the gym and Brandon Lilly came out. I was sitting at 241lbs and wanted to deadlift and see where I was at strength wise. He helped me tweak my form as I had to relearn everything as my entire body composition had changed. I did manage to pull 495lbs that day which is only 30lbs off my best at 50lbs lighter.
The contest ended on 12/20/2013 and was 12 weeks long. By the end there were only 2 of us in the running and my life certainly was pretty crazy by the end. The last 2 weeks were especially tough as our 3rd child came early on 12/6/2013 and that left me with 10 days of not being able to train or do anything (other life events hit at the same time which certainly tested my will and dedication to the diet). The last couple days I really pushed myself and probably put 40 miles on our treadmill at home since it was all I had access to. I did a lot of bodyweight timed WOD’s as well to help keep me dropping weight and moving forward. At the final weigh in on 12/20/2013 my weight was 217.2 or 20.13% of my original weight lost. This was an amazing accomplishment for me and I cannot even begin to express how amazing I feel and how much easier working out and CrossFit in general is for me. My plan now is to really focus on the Olympic lifts as well as working on my training to compete in the open. You may not see me at the Regional’s competing this year but I promise I will be there.
My first WOD that I did recently that really showed the progress I made was Murph.
1 mile run
100 pull ups
200 push ups
300 squats
1 mile run
Time: 51:05
Doing this under an hour was a huge accomplishment for me. Three months ago I couldn’t even do 1 unassisted pullup and now I was able to do 100 (kipping) pull-ups. I have also completed Grace in 2:46 and made it through 3 rounds of Barbara. I plan on doing Fran and some of the other benchmark WOD’s in the next couple weeks to see where I stand and use them to gauge my progress moving forward.
Share my page if you enjoyed the journey, I want to inspire those who think they cannot do it. I was a bigger athlete and may not appear to be what you see on TV but I know that I can be just as good as anyone else. I just hope that my story helps others join CrossFit, it truly is a great sport and something that has helped me change my life. Without it I would probably still be around 300lbs and getting out of breath walking up a flight of steps. I am now stronger and in better shape and ready to tackle life.
https://www.facebook.com/markscrossfitjourney?ref=hl
Inspiration for me comes from a lot of different places. I have always been an athlete and aspired to be a better one. Around 2007 I lost track of where I was and put on a lot of weight. At one point I was up over 300 lbs and all I did was smoke cigarettes, drink soda and play video games. I was also a bad husband and did pay attention to my wife like I should have. During this time I had a job I hated as well and one that stressed me out so I just ate. Here is a picture of me around 2009 after 2 years of this lifestyle took its toll on me. I did quit smoking in 2008 and that accelerated the fat gain as well as I needed something to make up for not smoking. So here I am at 300+lbs and on medication for high blood pressure and I was under 30 years old. I really needed to make a change.
In 2010 I started to work for the Department of Defense (current employer) and they had a free gym on base and also offered employee wellness. This meant that I could take off 1 hour a day 3 times a week to go to the gym. This was finally a job I enjoyed and a chance for me to get back in to working out and lose the weight I had put on. The first year was amazing and I may not have been losing weight but I did start to get a little stronger. Like everyone else I started bench press with 95lbs and was excited when 135 wasn’t heavy any more. I began searching the internet and reading up on lifting and my first stop was on the strength villain site and it eventually led me to start 5/3/1 which was a great program for me that first year. In 2011 I joined the Animal Pak FORVM and that was probably the single biggest factor in changing my mindset and becoming a lifter and getting strong. I met tons of amazing people on the site and they all really helped me out. I lost some weight and then eventually put it back on in my journey to become crazy strong.
After working through a year or so on the Animal FORVM and using 5/3/1 I decided I wanted to do strongman. I wanted to be like the guys on TV, I am 6’5” so I figured I had a shot. So instead of losing weight I ate like crazy, I ate terribly just trying to get a bunch of calories in to get bigger. It worked, I certainly got bigger but not necessarily as strong and jacked as I had pictured it in my head. Who was I kidding; I know why I did it. Dieting sucks and is hard so this was an excuse for me to not go on one. I was also watching the CrossFit games and really enjoying it wishing a guy my size could do it but at 290lbs it just wasn’t going to happen. I was easily twice the size of most of those guys and definitely not strong enough to move my body weight around quickly and efficiently. I just continued to try power lifting and strongman. I got with a great group of guys and trained at Slater’s Hardware w/ Steve Slater and his group. I had a great time and ended my time there with some pretty solid numbers strength wise for me.
Bench: 325
Squat: 425
Deadlift: 525
Push Press: 255
I still wasn’t happy with how I looked and being on medication and in 2013 I worked at the CrossFit Regionals. This is where my life changed for good. I was so amazed with how strong the athletes were and how they were 6’6” 350+lbs that I had to try this for myself. Everyone I met at the Regional’s was amazing and told me that I could do it.
This was about where my surgery came in to play. I have compartment syndrome and needed to have a release done on 2 compartments in order to run or do any strenuous activities that involved a lot of movement. I postponed it initially so I could work the CrossFit Regional’s in June. The surgery was on 6/20/2013 and it was estimated that I would be out around 8 weeks. It was certainly right about 8 weeks or so before I could really start working my way back up on my lifts. This surgery ruined my weight loss and I got up to about 295 lbs by July 13, 2013. I was dedicated to doing CrossFit and realized that I looked and felt disgusting and it was time to make a change.
After talking with Rich at Beyond Limits and deciding to put a team together for tryouts I thought I better start losing weight if I want to even have a small shot at making the cut. I started to diet on my own and starting doing some WOD’s that Rich gave me. They were extremely scaled versions with a lot of assistance exercises just to allow for me to get through the workouts. I remember the first one I ever did
5 pullups
10 thrusters 75lbs
5 rounds for time
This was probably one of the hardest workouts I have ever done. I couldn’t do pull-ups with my bodyweight so I had to use bands. The thrusters were more exhausting then they were heavy but I worked my way through and got it to around 8 minutes after a couple weeks. It was exhausting and it hurt a lot but it lit a fire inside of me.
I continued to work on the modified WOD’s and slowly get back in to running as well since before my surgery anything over a mile was just incredibly painful and something I couldn’t do at all. The weight loss was slow and I was in the 270’s which was good for me but still not manageable for pull-ups and a lot of the body weight movements that I needed to be able to do in order to do CrossFit.
The gym was holding a contest to lose weight before the New Year and everyone encouraged me to join since I needed to lose the weight any way to even think of being competitive with CrossFit. I needed a diet coach bad and went on the lookout. I ended up choosing Adam Atkinson with Diet Doc and this is the 2nd biggest factor in my changing my life. We began working the macros as this is a 100% macro based diet. I started dropping weight pretty quick and maintaining my strength. Adam told me the record for a 12 week program was 31lbs of weight loss. I decided early on I wanted to not only win the contest and the 500 bucks but break the record for the most weight lost with Diet Doc. My first milestone was getting under 260 then it was 250, 240 etc and I honestly wasn’t sure where or how I would look or feel when I hit the 240’s. This was right around where we had an Animal ABC lifting get together at the gym and Brandon Lilly came out. I was sitting at 241lbs and wanted to deadlift and see where I was at strength wise. He helped me tweak my form as I had to relearn everything as my entire body composition had changed. I did manage to pull 495lbs that day which is only 30lbs off my best at 50lbs lighter.
The contest ended on 12/20/2013 and was 12 weeks long. By the end there were only 2 of us in the running and my life certainly was pretty crazy by the end. The last 2 weeks were especially tough as our 3rd child came early on 12/6/2013 and that left me with 10 days of not being able to train or do anything (other life events hit at the same time which certainly tested my will and dedication to the diet). The last couple days I really pushed myself and probably put 40 miles on our treadmill at home since it was all I had access to. I did a lot of bodyweight timed WOD’s as well to help keep me dropping weight and moving forward. At the final weigh in on 12/20/2013 my weight was 217.2 or 20.13% of my original weight lost. This was an amazing accomplishment for me and I cannot even begin to express how amazing I feel and how much easier working out and CrossFit in general is for me. My plan now is to really focus on the Olympic lifts as well as working on my training to compete in the open. You may not see me at the Regional’s competing this year but I promise I will be there.
My first WOD that I did recently that really showed the progress I made was Murph.
1 mile run
100 pull ups
200 push ups
300 squats
1 mile run
Time: 51:05
Doing this under an hour was a huge accomplishment for me. Three months ago I couldn’t even do 1 unassisted pullup and now I was able to do 100 (kipping) pull-ups. I have also completed Grace in 2:46 and made it through 3 rounds of Barbara. I plan on doing Fran and some of the other benchmark WOD’s in the next couple weeks to see where I stand and use them to gauge my progress moving forward.
Share my page if you enjoyed the journey, I want to inspire those who think they cannot do it. I was a bigger athlete and may not appear to be what you see on TV but I know that I can be just as good as anyone else. I just hope that my story helps others join CrossFit, it truly is a great sport and something that has helped me change my life. Without it I would probably still be around 300lbs and getting out of breath walking up a flight of steps. I am now stronger and in better shape and ready to tackle life.
https://www.facebook.com/markscrossfitjourney?ref=hl
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Replies
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Nice work brother.
Congrats!!! :drinker:0 -
Thanks, I have pictures up on my facebook page. I am working on uploading them to myfitnesspal right now. I feel so much better it is amazing.0
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Congrats!!0
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Out of curiosity how many strict straight pull ups can you do? Ive always wondered how those numbers transfer across.0
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Right now I can do about 4 or 5 strict, I do work a lot on strict pull ups as it only helps with kipping ones. I know there is a lot of hate w/ kipping but when you are doing these workouts for time it just saves energy. Pull ups are still new to me as I couldn't do very many at 295lbs lol.0
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I keep getting called skinny, it is just weird to hear.0
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Bro, you are epic!!! Freakin awesome job0
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Thanks a lot, 70lbs was hard to do but I just put everything I had in it. What is amazing is my ability to perform in an athletic setting. I may start up a training diary for everyone to see. It is such an amazing feeling.0
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