Jacob: 6th grade

I was born in Oregon but raised in Katy Texas. I started working out when I was 10 and I just loved the challenge. I play baseball. My Uncle Oscar convinced me to work out so we started going to 24 hour fitness. We got bored of the gym pretty quick because we didn’t know what to do every day and we needed help working out. We did get our family to go to 24 hour fitness.

When my uncle Oscar told me about cross fit and showed me a YouTube video on cross fit, I was both scared and excited about my first day of cross fit. This summer I tried cross fit for the first time and instantly fell in love with the extreme workout. I walked in and instantly was greeted by Charles, Pam, and Zippy. Everyone was helpful and VERY nice, supportive and friendly. NHB cross fit has impacted my life in a big way, before going to cross fit I couldn’t even run a mile and I ate crap constantly. Now I can run a mile in under 9 minutes, deadlift 115 pounds and my max vertical jump is 22 inches. My goals are to be able to climb the rope, do pull ups without the band and complete multiple hand stand push-ups. Me and my uncle Oscar want to compete in a triathlon and do the MS 150 next year. Cross fit has impacted my life in so many ways like when we did a ‘workout’ of 5 push-ups 10 crunches and 15 squats we had 5 minutes to finish the workout, I completed the workout in 1 minute and accidently yelled TIME but I was in PE at school not cross fit.  My goal is to always finish before my uncle Oscar and to get my whole family involved in cross fit and one day as adult is to compete in the cross fit games.

Name: Oscar Garza Jr
Profession: Manager Tripp’s Auto Tech Inc.

I have always been the big kid as far back as I can remember. At my heaviest, age 35, I reached 340 lbs. I suffered from sleep apnea, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and was diabetic all due to my weight. My doctor urged me to lose weight and my nephew Jacob, who is always keeping me busy doing everything possible he can think of, also asked me one day if I was ok after we went on a long bike ride. I was really tired and felt horrible. I felt like I was having a heart attack. That was my wake up call to do something with my health. I still haven’t had any of my own children to enjoy and at this rate I feel I wouldn’t have been alive long enough to see that happen.

Jacob and I started going to 24hr fitness and I was watching what I ate.  I got bored quick and I was too heavy to do anything without always ending up with back and knee pain. So I decided to do the Gastric Bypass. It was done 6/07/12 and my weight on day of surgery was 340 lbs. The morning of surgery I told my surgeon Dr. Garth Davis, who is an avid triathlon athlete, that I would be racing him. He laughed and said he looks forward to it.
When I was cleared to lift weight, 3 weeks after surgery, Jacob and I went back to 24hr fitness and we got bored real quick.

I heard of crossfit from officers that come by the shop so I called that box and was told that Jacob was too young for their box. I then called NHB and spoke with Charles. He said that Jacob could work out with me and that he would benefit from crossfit. We both went together sometime in July 2012. We met Charles and he told us to try it for a week and that it would never get easier. It hasn’t, but the results are incredible. My doctor asked what was I doing because my weight loss and muscle gain are way ahead of schedule.

Fast forward to October. I can actually run and I am doing things that I never could have dreamed possible. With crossfit every workout is a challenge. Everybody at the box is so supportive it’s like a family away from your family. The fact that I can see my nephew’s strength, endurance, and his whole personality change because of crossfit, makes it worth the pain. His goal is to always beat me. We’re still trying to convince my wife and Jacob’s family to join us and one day we will drag them out.  My current weight is 210 lbs.