Congratulations to Lane Naugher for being selected as the March 2018 Athlete of the Month. Since Lane arrived back in August of 2016, he has been the silent assassin.  Coming in and crushing every WOD we put in front of him, except when we throw handstand push-ups. Lane works as an orthopedic surgeon so he knows the human body and the great benefits it gets from CrossFit.  For those reasons and many more is why Lane is deserving of Athlete of the month.

Started CrossFit: February 2015

Favorite WOD:  16.4/17.4 and Murph

Least Favorite WOD:  Mary or anything with pistols/HSPUs

Favorite Lift:  Squat

Least Favorite Lift:  Snatch/Overhead squat

I was the typical smallish town Texas high school athlete, playing every sport I was allowed to and my fitness was simply a passive byproduct of no true offseason.  I transitioned to college where intramural sports and trying to mimic my high school lifting routine in the rec center kept me in decent shape.  After graduation, I survived only a single year teaching middle school before starting medical school.  It was during the next decade of medical/surgical training that a poor diet and lack of exercise/self discipline took its toll.  I was overweight and had back pain which would only improve when I was active but still couldn’t find the time (discipline) to consistently make it to the gym or knock out some p90x videos.  A fact not lost on Junior as he gently pointed out that he didn’t recognize me from old instagram photos from that period of time.

CrossFit was first introduced to me by a few college friends that had just begun.  I suspected I would love it if I would just show up to give it a go but always convinced myself that it was too expensive, inconvenient, dangerous, etc to actually go and try.  My wife and mother in law knew I might never make the effort to get started and paid for my first month’s trial as a birthday gift in 2015.  The coaches at Crossfit Richardson in North Dallas worked with me through my on ramp program.  I finished my first baseline workout in around 9 minutes and felt like my lungs were going to explode. I then spent the next 2-3 months in nearly constant soreness.  I could not do pull ups, toes to bar, anything overhead or finish most WODs by the time cutoff.   I had never failed at anything so consistently but was hooked.  I stuck with it and after 6 months was starting to finish workouts Rx. I am now 3 years in and continue to slowly hit new PRs and “firsts” – kipping handstand pushups and muscle ups most recently.

I’ve now been a member at 3 boxes after moves between Texas and North Carolina and have dropped in at many other boxes around the country.  We are lucky to have the coaches and community at Mission.  Thanks for welcoming me and my family.  I jump around classes quite frequently due to varied work schedule and have enjoyed meeting people at all different times. I look forward to the upcoming Open and to many months and years in the future.

Brief side note, I work as an orthopedic surgeon here in San Antonio and spend most of my time fixing knees, hips and shoulders.  I believe Crossfit is safe and wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t believe it – but listen to the coaches!  They know how to protect us from ourselves.  I love what I do at work and love talking shop.  Feel free to ask questions if needed at the gym.  I truly don’t mind answering or giving advice if I can.