Each month Unbroken Athletic recognizes one athlete in the group that stands out as demonstrating grit, effort, positive attitude and embodies the spirit of Unbroken Athletic. Congratulations to Steve Schultz for being nominated this month by his coaches here at Unbroken. Check out his story below to see why.
What’s your story?
Married to Shelly for seven years (we met at a crossfit gym of course!). I have three adult children, 40, 32, and a 21 year old grandson. For work, I am a Director of Operations for a chain of Nuclear Pharmacies. I am originally from Michigan (GO Blue!!), but have lived in Ohio since 1990. I started crossfit 11 years ago in my garage, and haven’t looked back.
How long have you been training with us?
Almost 6 months
Why did you start?
Honestly, because I needed a break from home workouts, and the previous gym I belonged to required a mask during warm-up, strength, and even WOD’s. Our friend Ginger Kate invited us to check out Unbroken one Saturday and I signed up after the first WOD.
What was the biggest thing that scared you about this type of training? How did you overcome that?
Nothing really about the training. However, it is always a little anxiety producing walking into a new gym. i have dropped in to over 250 different crossfit gyms ( i keep a list with notes about each one), and i still get a little nervous walking in someplace new!
What has been your proudest achievement so far?
Making the Master’s qualifier for the second time this year. I suffered a severe rotator cuff injury resulting in two full thickness tears about 18 months ago. It was bad enough that the surgeon suggested not repairing it and waiting to do a full shoulder replacement. So even with that injury, to still compensate enough to qualify made me really happy. Honestly, I did not even sign up for the Open until after doing the first Open workout in open gym.
What result did you gain from training here that you did not expect?
My bar and ring muscle ups came back. And really without practice. A couple of the coaches just provided me the perfect combination of encouragement and technique and boom here they are again.
What’s your favorite movement?
Burpees, and every variation thereof. Think like Bubba in Forest Gump, (BarFacing, lateral, pull-up, box-jump, borad jump, lol)
What’s your least favorite movement?
Thrusters are the devil!
What are you working towards now?
I made a list of goals over 10 years ago of things I wanted to do in this sport. The list was long, and I have accomplished all but two. A 400lb deadlift, which is getting close, and a bodyweight snatch which stills seems a long way off, unless I drop my bodyweight to about 135 pounds, lol.
Why do you keep coming back?
We have a pretty BadAss crossfit gym at our house, so I am blessed to be able to workout any time of the day with no notice, but I make the 30 minute drive most days, because I work better, and harder with the 530 pm crew and the coaches than I ever could at home.
