Andrea Kopp – Part One

Andrea’s CrossFit Journey:
I started Foundations at BCF about in September of 2018 after having a year of hospitalizations due to several heart conditions I have had since birth. Exercise had always been a struggle and source of fear for me, because I never knew what was normal and what wasn’t. At 42, I found myself having 3 surgeries within 2 months and being in intensive care needing a pacemaker.
So when I finally recovered from all of that, I decided to get serious about doing something to get fit.  Honestly, I chose CrossFit because it was close to work. Everyone thought I was crazy for going from never exercising to CrossFit.  I admit, I was completely intimidated when I walked in and all of these strong people were finishing their WOD, doing pull ups with sweat pouring off of them and music pumping.  I felt like an alien. I started to cry before anyone could even say hello. But I was tired of feeling bad about myself and being scared, so I committed for 6 weeks. I fully intended to quit after that.  I thought I just needed to jump-start my metabolism and knock a few pounds off to get some momentum. CrossFit is not at all what I thought it would be. I thought it was going to be super competitive with people yelling in your face like a drill sergeant.  I could not have been more wrong.
It was difficult.  Honestly, the difference between success and failure is to just keep showing up.  Without exception the coaches at BCF are very sweet and supportive and their top priority is making sure you are safe, but you will work hard every time.  I could barely do the exercises with my own body weight and I really was the worst one in the foundations class. (You can read about how terrible I was here.).  Luckily, I had nowhere to go but up…and I did, really pretty fast.  Once I learned the basics, I found that each class I could do a little more and had to mod a little less.  Now I am still not doing pull ups or muscle ups or anything close to that…but I am getting stronger each week.
Even though I felt like a train wreck and embarrassed and quite frankly sometimes scared to do things, I knew the only way to fail was to quit.  I had quit so many times before and I had been unhappy with myself for too long. After the 1st 6 weeks, I signed a 3 month contract…still intending to quit after that.  In that time I have gotten so much stronger, leaner, healthier and more confident.  The confidence I have gained in CrossFit has affected other parts of my life as well.  I can’t even count the amount of people on social media and those I see in different parts of the country for work who are fascinated that I am doing this.  My co-workers see me come and go from the office in my gym clothes and ask what the WOD was that day or how much I lifted. These same people sent me flowers and gift cards a year ago because I was in intensive care and now they say my fitness journey is inspiring them to get to the gym themselves.
I still have so far to go!  I am humbled that Tucker and the coaches have asked me to write this story, because I think I am only in the first part of my journey.  I can tell you that if I can do CrossFit ANYONE can do CrossFit. If you are on the fence about the cost, I will say that the cost keeps me accountable.  It is more than many other gyms out there, but the quality of the coaching and the results are so worth it. Also, I am always making sure I use every single class, because the cost is a sacrifice for my family.  I owe it to them to give it my full effort.
I have signed on for another contract but I no longer intend to quit.  I am less anxious, stronger and more confident than ever before. I don’t watch the scale every week like I used to, but somehow whenever I do get on it, I’ve dropped a couple more pounds.  I’ve lost 26 pounds since I walked in the door at BCF 6 months ago. I no longer crop my body out of pictures for social media. Many of my clothes fit better or I have had to just get rid of a lot of them because they are just too big.  Once something doesn’t fit, I donate it because I never want to go backwards again. I spent my whole adult life losing and gaining the same 20 pounds. I feel like I have broken that cycle.
I am still the sweaty mess in the back of the class struggling to keep up most of the time, but I am very thankful to the whole BCF team, who has truly changed my life for the better and inspire me to be my best.  I also want to thank the many members who are so nice and supportive, especially during partner workouts when I clearly am going to slow them down. For the first time in my life, I had an normal EKG. So I am only considering this to be part one of my CrossFit success story.  I think the best is yet to come!