Collin Birkholz: Trusting The Process & Seeing Results

Brief personal history and journey towards beginning your CrossFit journey:

I was always active growing up. I grew up on a Dairy farm so there was always something to do. In high school I was a 3 sport athlete all 4 years, playing football, basketball, and baseball. When I moved to Oshkosh, my active lifestyle started to fizzle away as I became less and less motivated to do anything. I struggled to motivate myself to run a mile on a treadmill. As time went by, and my pants size started to increase, I knew it was time to take responsibility and make a major change to my lifestyle.

 

What brought you to CrossFit Oshkosh?

I had seen the Crossfit Games on TV before, so I had somewhat of an idea of what it was and it did seem like something fun to try. After doing some research into Crossfit Oshkosh before contacting them, I could tell it was the best fit for me. Between the weightlifting, nutritional help, and classes with a coach and other people to enjoy workouts with.

 

Your first impression of CrossFit:

I came to Crossfit knowing I was out of shape, but boy oh boy did I prove myself right after my first WOD. I was gassed. When I saw people that were proficient at movements and lifts I told myself I wanted to be able to it as well as them someday. However, I knew change wasn’t going to happen overnight. I did a 6 week journey and lost almost 12lbs and 5% bodyfat. I was hooked after that. It was nice to see the hard work pay off and I only wanted to get better.

What has been your biggest hurdle since starting?

I would say my toughest hurdle was to stop stepping on my scale everyday and letting that dictate my crossfit success. I knew if I was nutritionally sound, the number on my scale meant nothing. Over the past month or so, I think I’ve stepped on the scale maybe twice and focused more on getting better at movements and that’s made my crossfit experience much more enjoyable.

 

What is your favorite aspect of Crossfit?

I love the people! I struggled to make friends before I came to Crossfit Oshkosh but now, I have gained so many friends through Crossfit that would drop anything to help each other out and they do so much to help out the community. They are some of the greatest people I have met and I thank them for pushing me to be a better person everyday. You all are awesome!

 

What are your current goals in CrossFit?

My current goal is to get better at my ring/bar muscle ups and high volume double unders. I have trouble not doing my bar muscle ups chicken winged and I am still pretty green at ring muscle ups but they can only get better! I can handle 30-40 double unders at a time but they deteriorate pretty quickly and if anyone has seen my double unders I rotate to my right as I do them and I’ve tried everything to get rid of it. I would love to also do a competition someday!

 

What is something we don’t know about you?

My other hobbies include golfing, snowmobiling, and traveling the country with my dad tractor pulling during the summer.

 

P.S. 

Thanks again to Austin for bringing me in and of course the coaches that have gotten me to where I am now. I am forever in debt to all of you! This is one of been the best decisions I have ever made in my life!