Dave Leys started doing CrossFit in 1999. In the years that followed, his best Fran time of 2:50 was among the best in the world. Leys was also featured in many of the very first videos to appear on CrossFit.com.
“He’s one of the fuckin’ OGs of CrossFit and just like crushin’ it back in the day,” says Dave Castro, Director of the CrossFit Games. “No one could keep up with him back in the day.”
Today, Leys, also known as “DMFL,” is a videographer at CrossFit Headquarters in Scotts Valley, Calif. More recently, he filled the role of video journalist during Regional season.
“I’m learning that you have to try not to be too worried about hurting someone’s feelings (and) realize that you’re the eyes and the ears of the world,” Leys says. “That’s a process.”
He adds: “Good videos are hard to make.”
Likewise, approaching 2010 CrossFit Games champion Graham Holmberg as he’s cooling down on a stationary bike after a Central East Regional event isn’t exactly natural.
“That’s not me—to go and talk to people, especially when they don’t want to be talked to,” Leys explains, “it’s something I’m learning I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.”
And in the gym? Leys is still training and finished 166th in the Northern California Region of the Open.
Video by Sevan Matossian and Matt Krautstrunk
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Additional reading: A Statistical Analysis of the 2008 CrossFit Games by Robert Novy-Marx, published Dec. 8, 2008.