October’s Blade Athlete of the Month is Dom Ortega. Dom has such a great attitude and people can’t help but laugh or at least crack a smile when he is at the gym singing some great early 2000’s pop song. Dom is very humble, coachable, and so encouraging to others. He was a big help with our Barbells for Boobs event as well. Dom has also been dramatically improving on his fitness and also spending extra time on honing in his nutrition to help reach his goals. One last thing, we must not forget the sweet beats he brings to the gym!
Why do you CrossFit?
Simply put, CrossFit has everything. It has weights, cardio, mobility and calisthenics. Movements can be scaled and there are progressions. It has technology to track your progress. It has people to motivate you and help you push through challenges. It’s like having a personal trainer every day. And it has an awesome community, specifically CrossFit Blade has the best community (and best looking people)!
What is your favorite benchmark WOD? (Girl or Blade)
Angie. Like whoa!
What is your least favorite exercise?
Snatch – this challenges me physically and mentally. I can honestly say I was scared of this movement and planned to always hide on days with the snatch, but with some motivation and taking it slow, I’m working at it!
What are your hobbies?
Prerunning (think baja 1000 and desert racing) – both the driving and building aspects.
Practical shooting – I used to compete in pistol competitions for fun.
What is something that many people may not know about you?
I dance like Albert from Hitch. I’m badass like Jason Bourne. Ridiculous like Michael Scott. I wanna be Ryan Gosling (#mcm). And I am pretty good with computers.
What accomplishments are you most proud of?
Any of the movements I had to progress through. When I started I could not do overhead squats, now I can. I couldn’t string together three double unders, now I can do 10+. I couldn’t do toes to bars, now I can. Anything with weight because I had previously never done any kind of weightlifting.
What are you goals for 2014?
Get stronger. Get faster. And be able to do all the movements to Rx workouts.
