Coach Shane without his signature hoodie and sweats
**Reminder: No group class this Sunday at 12PM**
Underneath the Hoodie: A Coach's Spotlight
By Margie Lempert
We thought it might be fun for you all to find out a little more about the people who subject you to squats, burpees and the name game. You know we love to get people strong and fast, but there's a lot more to us than shouting 3,2,1… Go! Each month, we'll find out about a different SBK coach. I couldn't think of a better person to kick things off with than Mr. Shane Williams.
Vitals
DOB: 11/19/79
Height: 6'
Weight: 210
Place of Birth: Charlotte, NC
Place of Higher Learning: Dartmouth
Years in New York: 5
Years at SBK: 3
Let's start at the beginning: little Shane had lots of dreams. He wanted to be a writer, a soccer player, a film director, an extreme skier…. but with each dream, at some point he discovered it required hard work to achieve, so he thought "Screw that" and moved onto something else.
Before CrossFit, Shane was into muay thai and kickboxing. In fact, when I met him back in February of 2009, he had been cutting weight for his first fight, which kept getting pushed back. Poor Shane was so hungry! And then the damn thing never happened. But it was ok, because he became very quickly ensconced in our little world. We were downstairs at the Lyceum back in those days. And Shane wore glasses.
Shane's official intro to CF was at The Black Box. He had heard of some place in Brooklyn, but since it was called CrossFit South Brooklyn, he assumed it was way the hell out in Coney Island. After about 6 months of lurking around on CFSBK's blog, he finally decided to come by. Damned if it wasn't a 20 minute walk! I kinda recognized him from the Black Box when he walked in (I, too, had spent time there), and was happy to see his cute self (who didn't have a crush on Shane at some point??). Shane totally dug the vibe, though was a little weirded out by the other new guy. We were doing an approximation of "Eva" that day, and Shane was under the impression that this older gentlemen was some homeless dude who wandered in only to get his ass kicked so bad that he never came back. Shane thought we'd killed him. Well, eventually Jack returned and now we can't get rid of him.
But back to pre-CrossFit Shane. His other life love has been film. Westerns and 70's kung fu are his preferred genres, with Once Upon a Time in the West and Enter the 36th Chamber as two of his top pics. For several years, Shane was location scout on the show Rescue Me, interspersed with production work on several big films. Apparently, George Clooney is super cool and can pick locks with credit cards. But the film gig wasn't really doing it for him, so as he got more and more into CFSBK, he dropped Rescue Me and focused on becoming the trainer extraordinaire we all know.
Shane has really evidenced himself as a student of the body; he programs educational workshops for our training staff and loves to geek out on anatomy. Hips are his fav. They are huge strength and stabilizing centers, but can also place major limitations on the rest of the body if they get tweaked.
Parting shots
Claim to fame: Shane's Dad, a well known Reverend in Baltimore, plays himself in the 4th season of The Wire. As a result, Shane got to party with the best character ever written. Omar.
Favorite way to eat eggs: over easy, nice and runny, fried in bacon fat (despite childhood associations with gooey yolks and The Fly).
Team CFSBK Competes in WOD 11.5 This Weekend!
Only two WODs left in this year's open sectionals. The final two events will be held at CrossFit Long Island City. Good luck to the CFSBK crew on these last two WODs!
Next Saturday CrossFit Virtuosity is hosting a party to commemorate everyone's hard work!
Location: CrossFit Virtuosity
Date: Saturday, April 30th, 2011
Time: 7pm until late.
Suggested attire: Fancy Shmancy!
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The Whole 9 Crew wants you to "Kill Your TV" Whole 9
Speal vs. Khalipa: An Early Test of 11.6 Crossfit Games
Pull-up shoulder Conking Fix and Better Folding for Toes to Bars/Good Mornings Mobility WOD
Is Sitting a Lethal Activity? NY Times
