Jason came to us at a recommendation of a friend. He tried an intense rowing workout mixed with some other movements and while most people would have stayed away after that, Jason came back looking for more. Since then, he has gone “all in” and committed himself to the process of learning complex movements and working hard. His cheerful demeanor, inquisitiveness, and industrious work ethic are all reasons he was chosen for being our Member of the Month. Enjoy his interview below!
Name
Jason Bowers
Occupation
Sales Operations
When did you start CF?
June, 4 2018 (First group class)
What are your favorite numbers and why?
28 (my birthday)
What CF movements do you like?
Rowing, box jump, Farmers Carry, Gymnastic movements. Love workouts that are a mixed bag of movements. I get board easy so I like fast pace changes. I liked the session with the deck of cards. The element of surprise was fun.
What CF movements do you dislike?
Anything that has the barbell holding over head (as my elbow bothers me the most in those movements)
What sports or fitness things did you do before CF?
Have been Snowboarding for 25 yrs, Did P90X off and on the past couple of years, was a swimmer in Middle and High school.
How did you find CF? What was your first workout?
Michelle and I were out to dinner with our good friends Vince and Kristen Fath. Conversation about working out came up, and Vince told me all about Coach Chris and Kanna and invited me to join his session the next morning, which I did. It was mid-May 2018, and was a rowing focused workout with some line sprinting.
What’s your favorite thing about CF?
Life is short so have fun. I always have fun at Kanna due to the chemistry of the members, coaches, workouts and question of the day. It is a great culture of support, learning and fun. I love that I am always learning something, could be a new move or a fine tuning of an existing movement. I love technology so I love the apps to see the WOD every night at 8pm, track my progress and the fist bumps. I also like the body scanner readouts that I am doing every 3 months.
What are your hobbies?
Snowboarding and running kids around to swim meets, water polo matches and soccer games. I enjoy relaxing at a beach, body surfing and boogie boarding. Before kids I was also big into water skiing and wake boarding.
What’s something most people don’t know about you?
I am a West coast kid. Born in San Diego, CA. At age five family moved to Las Vegas, NV. I grew up in Las Vegas age 5 – 25, put myself through college working nights at MGM Grand Hotel as a bellman. After graduating UNLV, I followed a girl and moved to San Francisco in 1996, where we got married and had our first two boys. We moved to Ambler in 2006, where we had our 3rd boy. I also enjoy Tequila and good beer.
What PRs or accomplishments are you most proud of?
The headstand and max box jump are stand outs for me. Sumo-Deadlift PR was surprising to me the one time I did it.
What’s on your CF bucket list?
Getting my form down for all the weighted movements. Doing a legitimate pull up, and doing the transition to a hand stand against the wall
What’s on your general bucket list?
A luxury African Safari. Octoberfest with the family in Munich (when boys are old enough)
What advice do you have for new (or experienced!) CrossFitters?
Just show up. Hardest part of CF Kanna is motivating to get up and leave the house, especially at 5:00am. New members should know how great all the coaches are in helping and modifying movements, reps, etc to fit your individual needs.
Anything else you’d like to mention?
I have only been doing CF for 6 months but I see how it is a journey that is now part of the fabric of my life. I love the small impacts that CF has had on me. For example, noticing how much stronger I am getting, as I do things around the house like moving 40 lbs. bags of rock salt for water softener or carrying the giant laundry basket we have up and down the stairs.
Another example, I am driving the other day and the song “Roxanne” by the Police comes on. I notice my heart rate starting to go up and the thoughts of Burpees come to mind. I just started to laugh. I did two warm up session to that song. One time it was a burpee on the word Roxanne, and the other time it was on the words Red Light. Good stuff.
***Kanna members: Jason’s custom workout TBD***
How does one become Member of the Month? By embodying the mission of CrossFit Kanna of Learning, Working Hard, and Having Fun. By contributing to the community and supporting others in and out of the workout. By being open to coaching and improving oneself for the sake of being better, not to “win” the workout. By just generally being a good person and having a positive attitude. And a lot more, but you get the idea!