October 2023--Mark Campbell

1.Tell us about yourself, your family, your occupation, hobbies/interests.

I am a Husband and Father of 5 with one on the way in December. I am a career Firefighter/A-EMT for the Lawrence Fire/Medical Department starting my 15th year in October. It’s been a ride and I wouldn’t replace it for the world. I like to fish, swim and want to learn to hunt, camp and be more outdoors. My interest are learning and doing new things. I enjoy learning about history and am always up for traveling to a new destination.


2. When do you start CrossFitting? Why did you start? Why do you continue now?

I started CrossFitting in Doc Carroll’s back yard when this all began. We did some aerobic workout with my crew at work from time to time. I started back up because of my wife Emily’s excitement and bizarre lingo. I had to understand the language she was learning. I also needed something different to challenge me and I knew I couldn’t do it alone. I continue to show up because I cannot do this without the great coaching and the camaraderie.


3. Do you remember your first WOD? What were your thoughts after your first WOD?

I don’t remember the first WOD. I remember having some difficult times during the summer a few months after I joined.


4. What do you enjoy most about CrossFit?

I enjoy not having to come up with a workout and I do it because I know I have other members who will show up and help each other.


5. What is your proudest CrossFit moment?

Learning to climb a rope. Then when I drank my 1st beer there after my birthday workout, which now that I recall was one of my most challenging WoDs. I don’t remember it other than having doubts about drinking a beer afterwards.



6. What is your favorite movement or lift? What is your least favorite?

I learned just the other day that my least favorite was not wall walks but box jump over burpees. I told Emily that I didn’t want to join because of my hatred for Burpees and here I am finding something worse. As horrible and awkward as I look I like the clean.


7. Have you had one or two challenging CrossFit goals that you've achieved recently? What are your current goals and how close are you to reaching them?

My initial goal was to do a handstand pushup. I need to crawl before I walk or jog so now my goal is to just do a handstand. Thank you Andy and Doc for helping me figure out some techniques for this. Another goal I have is to be able to do a muscle up. Also, I’m working on double unders.


8. What makes CrossFit different from other fitness programs that you might have tried in the past?

CrossFit’s spectrum covers so many things and throws in fun stuff like rope climbing. Other than that I have only worked out on my own or with co-workers at work.


9. What impact has CrossFit Benedictus had on your life, in and out of the gym?

Inside the gym it is truly humbling how much I do not know and how much I have to improve. Outside the gym I feel like I have more energy, and drive.


10. Tell us about your nutrition and how it has changed, if any, since starting CrossFit?

With the help of my wife encouraging me to use Enzymes for digestion and with the vigorous WODs I have put on 10 lbs and with hardly any change in diet. I have always struggled to keep weight on so for me the weight gain is a positive thing. I struggled for many years trying to figure out why I had so much trouble with different foods and have come to the conclusion, with many experts, that I have an absorption problem. Sugar has always been an issue especially when you find ice cream in the freezer at every fire station and you find yourself stress eating.

11. If you could write a WOD for the classes to do, what would it look like?

AMRAP 8’
10 burpee box jump over
5 cleans (105/75)
2 rope climbs


12. What advice do you have for others about the importance of the dedication of taking care of yourself, of investing in yourself?

For a healthy soul one needs three things: Sacraments, Sacrifice and Prayer. For a healthy body one needs three things: Sleep, Nutrition and Exercise. Cut out any one of these three from either soul or body and you are only running at 66% and that number is hypothetical because who gets good sleep without exercise and vise versa.


13. What advice would you give to someone new to CrossFit or who is thinking about giving it a try?

I did not join for years partly because I thought it was expensive, partly because I was scared of getting hurt but after seeing what the coaches have to offer for experience and knowledge I knew it was worth it a million times over. I also realized that the alternative to good health is visit, tests, and labs which are out of this world more than ever in price. The camaraderie, the coaches and preprogrammed workouts are my reasons for staying.