Congratulations to Marty Bosworth, Cynergy’s July Athlete of the Month! A well deserved honor, Marty gives 110% to everything he does – his workouts, nutrition, his crazy mobility movements and most importantly his willingness to take on any task needed at Cynergy. He has a solution for everything that needs to be done… and more! Thank you for all of your enthusiasm, support and love for Cynergy! Happy Birthday Marty!
What do you do for work? For 35 years I was a firefighter-EMT, Captain and Chief of the Halifax Fire Department. I retired 10 years ago July 1st. I also own and operate a small part-time business that does property maintenance, construction and solar system troubleshooting and repairs on Saquish Beach. For eight years following retirement my primary job was taking care of my elderly mother who lived with us until a year ago, she’s 97!
What would you like us to know about you and your family? I have been together with my beautiful wife Jo-Anne for 46 years, married for 38 years, we have no children (we “adopt” other peoples kids). We love spending as much time as possible at our Saquish cottage during the summer and traveling to warm places in the winter to feed my windsurfing addiction. (and her dislike of cold weather!)
What is one thing that we may not know about you. My head is full of useless factoids and trivia.
How long have you been CrossFitting? About 3 and one-half years. One of my first WODs included 100 burpees for time, FAIL! I almost didn’t come back after that one!
What time do you typically train? I’m a morning person. I come in mostly at 7:00, 6:00 on Tuesdays and Sunday ALF at 8:00. I really like 7:00 open gym with Deb Pierce and her “gang”, we have a lot of fun! I like the mix of regular CrossFit and ALF.
What is your favorite lift and why? I think clean and jerks are my favorite, I can’t even explain why. I like all the Oly lifts. I never did any barbell lifting until I joined Cynergy. It’s tough at my age with the injuries I’ve had to master some of the complex movements, but I’m too stubborn to give up, and I’m trying to get better at them!
What is your favorite WOD and why? I don’t think I have one particular favorite, but I like any team or partner workout. That’s one of the things I miss most about the fire department is working as a team in dangerous adrenaline-filled situations. The rush of completing a good workout or getting a new skill or P.R. is a similar satisfying feeling. I really like partnering with athletes better than I am; it pushes me out of my comfort zone. I also enjoy partnering with a new athlete. It is very overwhelming to come in and see how good everyone here is, and as the “newbie” you think to yourself “I’m in sooooo far over my head, I can never do this!” I still vividly remember that feeling, and if you can help someone get over that hurdle and feel good about what they did they’ll keep coming back. So many people here gave me that encouragement when I thought I couldn’t possibly do one more rep, run one more step or lift one more pound.
What are your current CF goals? My biggest goals are to stay healthy and injury free, and it ain’t easy! I have a number of chronic medical conditions that really impact my metcon, but I know if I don’t keep training my health will seriously deteriorate. I’ve been plagued with illness, injuries and hospitalizations (NOT CrossFit related!) which keep setting me back, but I’m never giving up! Every time I get frustrated and discouraged, I think back to where I was when I started here, and I know I must keep pushing and moving forward to improve. I want to get better on all my lifts and improve my gymnastics skills. Is a muscle up out of the question at 63?
What are your current life goals? As I stated above, I want to be as healthy as I can and injury free so I can continue to windsurf, work, be active and travel for a long time. I have a friend who still windsurfs almost 200 days a year at age 83, I want to be like him!
What is your most memorable time as a CrossFitter? My first legless rope climbs and being able to compete in the in-house comps last year for the first time, and two row-a-thons post-surgery and shoulder injuries.
How has CF impacted your life outside of the box? It has improved my life tremendously! I kept getting sicker and less mobile after retirement. It was getting to the point where I was unable to windsurf, swim or work overhead without excruciating pain. Pain was a constant, I was short of breath, had numerous recurring illnesses and was overweight; I was circling the drain. I started researching the best ways to get control of my health, and everything I read mentioned exercise. I realized I had spent all my time “fixing” others through my job, repairing and improving everything I could get my hands on. The only thing I wasn’t fixing was me! A friend had talked to me about CrossFit, but I was too ill at the time to consider it. Once I started to feel a little better, I decided CrossFit was going to” fix” me and it has! I have never regretted walking through that door the first day. A special shout out to Carse Brown for taking me under his wing those first few months, I was pretty pathetic!
How would you best describe Cynergy to others? It’s more than just a gym, it’s a community of amazing athletes and a healthy lifestyle. A regular gym gets boring with the same old routines. At Cynergy every day, every workout is new, different and as challenging as you want to make it. No one should be intimidated by the CrossFit name, come in and give it a chance, you’ll be glad you did! Everyone I talked to before I started said I was too old, it’s too hard, you’ll get hurt. I’m sure glad I didn’t listen to them!
I am so grateful to all the coaches and other athletes who have given me pointers, tips and encouragement along the way, it means more than you know, keep up the awesome work!
Any additional comments: Many thanks to Cindy and all the coaches at Cynergy, you all make “the box” the great place that it is! I am especially grateful for being asked to help with the Cynergy LIVE program. It is so satisfying to see my mother-in-law Joyce, Bill, Brenda, Joanne and Janelle exceeding our expectations every class. It’s one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had!
Marty Bosworth Signature WOD
My birthday is July 6th, I’ll be 63, so that’s a recurring theme
“Too Old To Crossfit”
Teams of 3
Buy in: 63 cal row
63 Power Cleans
63 Box Jumps
63 Pull ups
6 Rope climbs
6 100m sled pulls
3 Rope Climbs
63 Walking Lunges
63 Situps
63 Wallballs
63 DU or 126 SU each team member, one at a time