Tony Edgerton spent 13 years as a personal trainer working at Globo Gyms. He started at 24 Hour Fitness, worked his way up to management and “hated it,” he says, so he went back to training, logging as many as 220 sessions a month.
Then Chris McDonald of CrossFit X Factor in Portland invited Edgerton over for a workout. That day, it was 300.
“I thought it was awesome because I got beat by a 56-year-old woman,” Edgerton says. “She did more weight than me. She did kipping pull-ups, and I barely could get through any of the pull-ups, and she beat my time by, like, 8 minutes. So I was hooked after that.”
Today, the 34-year-old former collegiate basketball player is the owner and head coach at CrossFit StumpTown, also in Portland. After being open for about a year, the affiliate has more than 100 members.
Unlike single-joint movements at typical gyms, CrossFit offers much more, Edgerton says.
“The difference with CrossFit is you’re going to get that general physical preparedness with it.”
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Additional reading: My Tribe by Jeremy Striffler, published Feb. 16, 2012.