James Cook

Growing up I played a number of sports such as baseball, basketball, football, soccer and swimming. During High school I primarily focused on training/ competing in Baseball and Basketball. During these years the concept of training to get better at something such as sports was something that caught my interest and a passion to pursue. Strength & Conditioning seemed cool to explore making a career of. I would pursue this path in college. I enrolled in a very good school which also had a very strong baseball program. I walked onto their baseball program and was ready to work my ass off to prove myself. Everything was going great, but the pandemic hit and just like that the world was turned upside down. When things shut down, my dad told my brother and I we needed to take this opportunity to make something good out of this. Something about turning lemons into lemonade...some old guy stuff, I guess. We transformed our old beat up 2 car detached garage into a cage to workout in. Old workout equipment was resuscitated. New equipment was quickly acquired or built by whatever means necessary. What started that day with a spark turned into a roaring fire of motivation. When they shut us down, we reinvented ourselves and would not be stopped. We invited friends, and soon we had session running all day. So many needed a place to train. We became Coaches for many. We worked and taught all the main lifts, bench, sumo and conventional deadlifts, push presses, box squats, ass to grass squats, front squats, ZERCHER SQUATS???, and more. It was insane and it was fun. Whiteboards went up everywhere. We started working some of the Olympic lifts. Tires were flipped, yokes were crushed and sleds pulled out in the yard. Pushup clubs were formed, events were planned for competitions amidst bonfires during cold winter nights. Leaderboards written in chalk scribbled on our cinderblock walls. All while tunes cranked and our American flag was a backdrop. For some reason being locked down never felt so free. After almost a year and with the lockdowns lifting I was able to return to college to continue my dreams of playing baseball. Stronger and faster than I have ever been, I was ready. Unfortunately, situations changed and it got to a point where I needed to walk away. I lost the opportunity I dreamt of for years. I went back home to rethink my path in this life. I had heard of CrossFit before, but around the Fall of 2021 my Dad brought CrossFit up to me to see if I'd be interested in training for it. He began sending me some CrossFit workouts to try. The intensity and style of the workouts was awesome! Along with the movements, it seemed so applicable to creating a wholesome athlete and increasing the functional athletic horsepower. At age 22 I signed up for the CrossFit Level 1 Seminar hosted at CrossFit 845. I remember meeting Dave on the first Day, he seemed like a cool dude from our first conversation. A few days after the Seminar I reached out on the website to sign up to get training at CF 845. Wanting to get more involved with this. Christina got back to me I think within 10 minutes to set up a meeting. I got started April 1st 2024 training in the Group Classes. The Coaches and Community were all so welcoming right away. People seemed like they would go out of their way to cheer you on or talk to you before or after class. A couple months later Dave offered me the opportunity to come aboard the Coaching staff. Very grateful for the opportunity to be apart of this community. As a Coach you have a opportunity to impact positive change on someone's life. It is an awesome thing to experience first hand. The interactions, the conversations, the progress. All incredible. Coaching has taught me a lot of things, a few that touch home would be to surround yourself with good people, have love and passion for what you do in life, and keep taking steps forward! LET'S GO!!!!