Member of the month - Chelsea Sprague
When 20-year-old Chelsea Sprague walked into San Diego Athletics in January 2016, she showed up 30 minutes early to fill out a waiver and talk to a coach.
That was a mistake.
Chelsea’s early arrival allowed her to catch the end of the previous class as they ground through a nasty AMRAP. Aggressive music filled the gym, and “big ass weights were going up and down and they were jumping on boxes,” Chelsea said.
“Shit where am I?” she thought, followed closely by “I am going to die.”
Thankfully, Chelsea did not die, and now, three months into working out at San Diego Athletics, “I’m totally and completely obsessed with CrossFit,” she said.
Chelsea is a student at UCSD, majoring in biology with a minor in fitness instruction. She grew up in Pennsylvania and began riding horses at age five, spending her childhood and high school years riding competitively. After moving to San Diego for school and spending eight hours a day as a riding instructor in exchange for training time on a horse, Chelsea decided she was done riding.
So she stopped, but found she missed being active. She said she started to feel unhealthy, and realized she needed to find a new sport. Enter San Diego Athletics.
Chelsea fits her workouts in around her class schedule, most often attending the 11:00 am or noon class. Although she pursued her sport—dressage—at a high level, Chelsea had never lifted weights or done a push-up before joining San Diego Athletics.
Now, she does it all. Just a few months in, Chelsea can not only do a push-up, she can complete a deficit push-up with a 10-lb. weight on her back.
Chelsea’s favorite CrossFit workouts include “anything with a barbell,” she said, “because I have to push myself.”
In class, Chelsea pays attention and works hard, but does everything with a smile on her face, especially when she learns something new. She said her goals in CrossFit are to be able to do the workouts as prescribed, and “I really want to do a strict pull-up,” she said.
“It’s so much fun,” she said of the classes at San Diego Athletics, “the progress is so rewarding.”
