Kris Amatuli
Kris is one of our coaches who like most of the people that came to us, was bored with her current fitness routine. In she enjoyed running and playing soccer but unfortunately she got dealt a hard hand early on in her life, we’ll let her tell the story…
“…a car accident at 19 left me broken and unable to walk. I thought that ANY amount of exercise would be a miracle. Six months later I was walking again, a year and a half later I was running. I was happy just to be around, let alone moving on my own. I was resigned to the fact that my body would never be what it was again and the person that got into the car that day was gone. While I was proud of myself for pushing and proving people wrong, I also felt frustrated and robbed of a life that I hadn't chosen to give up…”
I’ll admit that when Kris came to us, we weren’t too sure of what was going to be possible and what was out of reach, and we had no idea that she would be the rockstar instructor that she is. To sum up what happened over the past 18 months (which is a complete injustice because she came to the gym every day to work hard) we’ll turn the mic back over to her.
“I was barely able to get myself up from the floor on the first day and after a month or two I was doing sit-ups on my own. Six months later my feet were strong enough to complete workouts with double unders and a year later I was able to do pull-ups with no assistance.
Most recently I’ve added toes-to-bars; which for me, is my biggest accomplishment. The surgery I had to have to repair my spine cut through my entire left side, resulting in a lot of damage to all the muscles in that area and NO core strength. I honestly thought that I would work on getting better at everything else that I could do to make up for the fact that I would NEVER be able to touch my toes to the bar. I proved myself wrong and continue to do so. I'm stronger than I was before the car accident”
She got her Level One certification in November and went through our internship program with ease. She teaches the bulk of the morning classes but still finds time to take part in the other group classes and throw down next to her students.
She eats Paleo; loves Michael Jackson, Harry Potter, and handstands. She gets excited for Fight Gone Bad, Angie, back squats, deadlifts, and sumo deadlift high pulls. She doesn’t get so happy about overhead squats, front squats, and Murph.
Kris asked to share this last part with you so you can understand her passion for CrossFit:
“I love CrossFit because I feel like it gave me my life back. . CrossFit has given me more than just physical strength. I am stronger than I have EVER been and I am proving even myself wrong with the things that I'm able to do. CrossFit has taught me that there are ENDLESS possibilities - you just need to get out of your own way. Every WOD is an opportunity to show myself how far I've come. So while I'm NOT the same person that got into the car that day, I'm so much happier now. I’m always going to CrossFit because it's enabled me to do things I never thought I could before and after that day. I spent years having random days that I couldn't help but wish I had my old body back. Now I wouldn't trade the one I have now for anything. I learn something new about my strength, both in the mental sense and physical sense, every workout. I'm also lucky enough to love the people I WOD with because they're supportive but challenge me - it makes CrossFit even more fun!”
