Underneath The Hoodie: Robert McDowell Myers
By Kate Reece
Vital Stats
Height: 6’1’’
Weight: 200 lbs
DOB: September 24, 1979
Born and raised: Roanoke, VA
Place of higher learning: (mostly) Radford University
Ask him to recite a Jim Harrison poem from memory about a dog on a short leash and hear traces of a southern accent protract his vowels. Stand with him at a party, and listen as he describes which section of the crowd he’d pick to paint, based on the contrapposto of the subjects or the contrast of the lighting. Ask him to open your beer with a rolled-up magazine, or do a lick on his guitar over a ii-V-I chord progression. Actually—don’t ask him to do any of those things, because he’d immediately sense it wasn’t an original request and be irritated—quietly irritated. Instead, watch the man in action, shredding through a workout after coaching. Or remember him pedaling 100-plus miles through Southwest Virginia’s Mountains of Misery, then riding a quarter of the Tour de France’s mileage for 21 afternoons in July of 2010 (post-CrossFit at 7 am and work during the day). And remember the young man picking strawberries with his mother, jumping at any chance to toss a football with his dad in the backyard, stocking shelves with his grandfather at their local grocery store, and proposing to Ellie June on the coast of California (who fell for him when she learned about his love for Joni Mitchell). To know Robert McDowell Myers is to know dignity, in its silliest, most fun and fun-loving iteration. To know his life is to know adventure.
The boy was born on a Monday, the cusp of autumn in 1979, in Roanoke, Virginia, a small town that epitomizes the term “small town” (current population resting at less than 10,000). But his story starts earlier than his birth, reaching back to his namesake. Both sides of his family can be traced back to the beginnings of the state of Virginia, and his great great great grandfather on his mother’s side was named McDowell Fitzgerald, which was going to be his name. Instead, he was named after his father, Robert. McDowell goes by his middle name to prevent confusion. His parents, “Bobby” and Rosanna, met as teenagers in the early 60’s at a church in Roanoke. In 1972, after Bobby finished his time with the Navy (during which he helped build McMurdo Station in Antarctica), they were married, and soon had their three children—Caroline, McDowell, and Livingston.
McDowell’s story also starts on the land, the idyllic backdrop of his home. The yards of his parents’ house and dad’s father’s house blend together, and both houses are next to his aunt’s house. Behind the three houses, big open fields sprawl wide, some cattle populating one section, with a vast swath of woods framing the underbelly of the horizon. It was there that he would learn to run and play with his brother “Livi” and a couple cousins (who remain McDowell’s best friends), along with some neighborhood kids. They constructed log cabins out of felled trees, hiked around a nearby reservoir, and built fires in pits they dug in the woods. Television held no singular intrigue; it functioned solely as space to let McDowell’s mind rest and process the day’s activity, which often was spent daydreaming and entering the space of his imagination, in the safety of his portion of the earth’s wilderness.
It would be hard to expect any kid of McDowell’s youthful energy to settle down in a classroom, and Rosanna now enjoys telling the story of the week he began kindergarten. He hopped on the bus behind Caroline, his older and wiser sister, went to school, and had a fine and uneventful day. When he arrived home, his parents both looked at him anxiously. “How was school?” Rosanna asked. “Fine,” McDowell replied, shrugging. Both of his parents appeared deeply relieved. The following week before a long Labor Day weekend passed easily enough. But when next Tuesday rolled around, Rosanna went in to wake McDowell up (he woke himself up before the rest of the family on the weekends, so eager to play) and failed. He simply refused. His refusal did not come from an attitude of petulance or laziness. Rather, he had a precocious sense that certain things mattered more than others, and he could summon little interest in the things he felt were less important. Of course, he went back to school, but he would never be a consistently excellent student, except in the subjects that captivated him and felt meaningful on a deeper plane.
McDowell’s life became filled with his family, sports, and music. His parents had signed him and his siblings up for a sport every season as soon as they were old enough, and all three proved to be exceptional athletes. McDowell mostly played basketball and baseball, along with whatever else was in season. He also started racing mountain bikes when he turned 14. Then there was his guitar. At 15, he taught himself to play from a Neil Young book with his father’s acoustic dreadnought (he was raised on the four Bs: The Beatles, the Band, the Byrds, and the Beach Boys, along with other 60’s rock and roll). Learning to play music certainly didn’t help him focus more on school, but even when his parents grounded him, they never took his guitar away or told him he couldn’t play.
For a boy with such courage of his convictions, coupled with an easy talent at most things he set out to do and a sometimes-quick temper, it might have been easy to develop into a wild card, with a passion of the undisciplined sort. Especially as a young male, he needed boundaries—an example of what it looked like to wed masculinity with fundamental goodness. McDowell’s whole huge family contributed to shaping him, but he grew up reading a plaque hanging in his father’s office (which now hangs in Livi’s office), bearing a quote from Act 3 Scene 2 of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”:
Sir, I am a true laborer. I earn that I eat, get that I wear, owe no man hate, envy no man’s happiness, glad of other men’s good…
Those weren’t just pretty words. McDowell’s father is notorious for his “stare”—a look he gives that communicates you damn well better shape up. The Myers’ family edict was simple: Don’t be a jerk. And what’s more: Do good. Bobby’s father was a labor leader, and Bobby followed in his footsteps as business manager at the Laborers’ Union, with a jurisdiction covering Virginia and North Carolina. No slight task in an area that generally despises unions.
McDowell likes to say that if he had been forced to do manual labor his whole life, he would have had a different appreciation for school than he did—the kind of insight that reveals his pragmatic instincts toward compassion, and awareness of the privilege that accompanies the hand he’s been dealt. He bounced around between colleges, never far from home and never quite sure what he wanted to study, always playing music. He was good at showing up for class, mostly out of respect for the professor’s job. He eventually settled on studio art—oil painting and photography—thinking he might go into photojournalism. Throughout college, he gave guitar lessons (and some mandolin) and played bluegrass on the scene in Southwest Virginia with a group of older guys he met at festivals and in bars, who had been playing their whole lives. Between semesters, he helped out at his grandfather’s store and worked various construction jobs. Eventually, he became a field representative for Laborers Local 980, talking to contractors and guys on the job, checking on them and dealing with any grievances. After college, McDowell started working full-time with the Laborers’ Union, training workers to enhance their skills when they were unemployed—work he would do, and do well, for the next eight years.
In 2005, a few years out of college, the boy had become a man (though you should ask him about the “retirement community” he lived in). And then came Ellie June. McDowell‘s cousin Bland went to school at Johns Hopkins, where Bland met a girl named Jen (who he would eventually marry), who happened to be friends with a girl named Ellie. McDowell, who had been going up to Baltimore to hang out on the weekends, first noticed Ellie talking to one of his friends across the room at a bar—a tawny-haired, ballerina-limbed, stunning woman. Aww, shucks, he thought, figuring she was taken. A couple weekends later, they both ended up at the same house party. McDowell was leaning against the refrigerator in front of Ellie, and Jen asked Ellie if she had met him. “Yeah,” Ellie fired back. “He’s the guy that’s full of shit.” McDowell flashed her a grin. Here we go, he thought. This is gonna be fun.
Fast-forward a few more weeks to MerleFest, an annual bluegrass festival in North Carolina. Ellie and one of her friends were going, and McDowell, Livi, and Bland had been going for years, so they all decided to share a campsite. The weather wasn’t great but that night, they sat in the front of the crowd watching the band, and they both happened to look up at the sky in time to see a shooting star gleam past. Later, they were all dancing and Ellie put a flower in her hair. As the party died down, they held hands for the first time. Ellie remembers saying to her friend, “McDowell’s going to be such a good friend. I can see us being such good friends.” McDowell, of course, had other designs. Five full years later, they were married, in June of 2010, and moved into his great-grandparents’ old house at the base of the Appalachians.
Rewind a couple years to early 2008. McDowell, active as ever, was still biking and exploring the mountains. He wanted to find a way to get stronger, but he was reluctant to train at a regular gym, because, “Well, it looked like a whole bunch of no fun.” So Bland called him up one night and told him to check out this website, Crossfit.com. McDowell did, and they completed their first WOD the next day, in an empty garage space at his office, with a set of dumbbells, a barbell, and iron plates. 7 am workouts pulled from Crossfit.com, plus some Olympic lifting cycles, quickly became their routine. They polished off their homemade gym by building their own squat stands, kettlebells, medicine balls, and a pull-up bar (ask him about these), and installed rings stations. Livi and one of their cousins, Chris, joined them, along with Ellie when she finally moved to Roanoke. McDowell found that the sense of fresh pride he felt in finishing workouts, especially the long and brutal Hero WODs, began to have practical applications with his career and how he carried himself. His familiar instincts kicked in; this felt right. He knew they’d found something special.
His instincts led him far enough to get his Level One certification, in the interest of setting himself up to eventually work in the field. He told a coach at his certification in Charlottesville that he and Ellie were thinking about moving to New York and the coach told him to check out CrossFit South Brooklyn, mentioning some good things about a guy named David Osorio. Ellie had found CFSBK on Google Maps even before the coach mentioned it, and when she read through the blog, she knew, These are our people. (She also knew that if they didn’t move close to a gym, in the absence of the mountains, McDowell “might lose it.”)
And move they did, in pursuit of new career opportunities and experiences they wanted to have before starting a family (including the NYC music scene). McDowell’s first class at CFSBK was a noon-er with Fox, and he got on the leaderboard for Annie (Ellie also quickly got up there, almost a dozen times). After his second visit, David invited him to the Competition Class. About nine months later and almost two years ago today, he spoke to David about coaching. He and MeLo started at the same time, in early 2012. He had finished the last of his work with the Laborers’ Union, which he kept doing remotely after moving, and none of the other positions he’d applied for in his line of work panned out. This, yet again, felt right. He still plays music daily, in the privacy of his apartment in Carroll Gardens, and has seen some of his favorite musicians perform in historic venues around the city. He and Ellie aren’t sure where their journey will take them in the near future, but they’re enjoying the ride—and we’re glad to have them as such an integral part of the staff and community at CFSBK.
(And now he does cool shit like this.)
Parting Shots
How he likes his eggs: homemade eggnog
Favorite book: Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath
Favorite lift: Snatch
Pets: Three cats, named Mallory, Tessa, and Hobbes
Something he’d like CFSBK members to know: He is never responsible for the country music—so stop accusing him. If he picked, you’d be listening to Coltrane.
____________________
Bartendaz: Mind Up CrossFit Journal
The Best Kept Secret: Why people have to squat differently The Movement Fix
Total nerd actually owns his own computer
Great write up on a great coach who is always helpful and encouraging to me. One of the reasons I keep coming back and motivated to go CFSBK after years of swearing that I wasn't a 'gym' person is the great coaching staff here – and McD is perfect example. nice.
fyi: just saw this in the NYTimes about a short-track speed skater describing his workout, which includes a few crossfit-type movements: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/the-workout-speed-skating-with-eddy-alvarez/?ref=health
Didn't make it into group class, just about to start my 10 or 12 x 250m sprints on the erg. fun.
Richard.
Great piece on Mcdowell he was my foundations coach and made me feel at home from the first class! loved the part when Ellie says he's the guy thats full of shit….. priceless!!!
Wow, great write-up on a top-notch guy, coach, co-worker and friend!
McD- if I put myself up for adoption would your family be interested?
Loved reading this piece about a great coach.
Great write-up! I don't know McDowell so well, but my limited interaction has left me thinking that he's a great guy and a class act. You can just tell. Coltrane and Steinbeck on top of that? Man after my own heart!
Damn, that is a sweet essay. Well done. McD – you are one interesting dude. Lots to talk about the next time I see you.
Oh, and a union man! Thanks for fighting the good fight.
Fact: I was terrified of McDowell the first few 7am classes that I had with him, until one day when the class did a partner WOD on the row. We were in teams, each rowing 500m sprints. The first one, I crushed, surprising myself with 1:47. But I was terrified of the next two rounds. He crouched down next to me and pep talked me through each one, helping me keep my splits within 10 seconds of my 1st time. The high five at the end of the 3rd round immediately wiped away any fear I had of him, and since then, I have always turned to him for advice and help and have always felt supported.
Can't imagine this place without him and his silly QOD.
Mmyers!* Fridays at 7 just wouldn't be right without him. Gently encouraging while not taking any shit. Love this thoughtful writeup — I'm guessing Margie is behind it?
*Not a typo. One morning McD was calling Noah "Nabbott" and I nerdily mentioned that this would not work as well with McDowell's own name, at which point we started calling him "Mmmmmmyers" for the rest of the class.
McDowell! you are awesome and an excellent coach! Great story! Also enjoy that you have three cats just like us haha.
My first impression was similar to Elie's. But over time, my feelings have also changed and now I love him nearly as much. McD!
Great write up Kate.
I think I have a cramp in my face from smiling so much as I read about the lovely Mr. Myers. What a great guy. I suppose I'll forgive him for telling me he's going to be sick the night of the Miley Cyrus concert I invited him to in April.
Awesome write up, Kate!
Stella, I took the torch from Margie! Thanks for the love, guys. 🙂
I knew I'd like McDowell when he answered a "What's your favorite soundtrack" QOD with The Big Chill. I had so much fun interviewing him and Ellie. They are people absolutely worth knowing. Thanks to David for letting me write this, and thanks to Margie for her help!
MeLo, Arturo, and Josh, I'm coming for you!
What a lovely writeup by the lovely Kate Reece!
I first heard the story of McD and Ellie meeting straight from Ellie and it cracked me up then. It cracks me up again now.
I feel strongly that a Kickstarter campaign to fund the documentary "From Boy to Man: The Life and Times of McDowell Myers, The Wonder of Virginia" (working title) is not out of order.
Great write up on McD and Fox! I enjoy reading the "Under the Hoodie" articles and look forward to them. Thank you all for taking the time out to produce them.
Great write-up!!! Nice to know more about how McDowell got to be so awesome.
Rumor has it that McDowell once wrestled a black bear to submission..The bear had the nerve to try and steal his Capri Sun. No one denies McDowell his Capri Sun!
McDizzle aka Flash Gordon – You bring so much joy to the gym with your flowy golden locks. Thanks for being awesome.
Love the write up Kate!
Great piece about an awesome coach.
Kate, you have a great writing style.
I came across this article and wanted to share…
http://themovementfix.com/the-best-kept-secret-why-people-have-to-squat-differently/
And see what the coaches thought.
Great coach, great write-up. I knew McD was a cool dude, but damn.
On re-reading Kate's excellent piece, McD and Ellie just get better. You have a cat named Hobbes? Awesome. How appropriate for a CF leviathan like McD.
Great funny write-up on a great funny guy. Read like an A&E biography.
Beautiful writing, great human. @Courtney I would fund that kickstarter.
6am with the great McDowell, and Nick
55lbs clean-jerk -work in progress…
90lb front squats -heavy, I might have been a little shallow at times, but felt good overall
20' row cash out
Today I'm wearing my imaginary "I ❤ Front Squats' t-shirt and found this article my chance. FQ rock!
http://www.crossfitinvictus.com/blog/5-reasons-you-should-be-front-squatting/
Spell check hates me. I meant to say that I found it BY CHANCE. And FS rock! …
My first week post foundation at CFSBK we were doing LBBSq and my knees were bending inwards, I was on my toes, and back all arched, McDowell came up to me and told me those are shitty squats and showed me how to do it right. I will never forget that moment, its what makes me show up 5x a week.
Great write up on an awesome coach.
Wow I knew Mcdowell was a super-nice guy and a great coach but who knew? Great job Kate – that was like reading a good novel! Can't wait to read indepth about the other coaches..
Hey Keith – that was a really interesting article about squatting. Now I feel much better about not having perfectly parallel SuppleLeopard-approved squats!
Great job Kate! Such an interesting read – it's fun to be on the audience side and discover so much about McDowell!
Epic writeup.
Btw McDowell, I would be so happy if you put on some Coltrane some day.
Also: man, it's so glad to see Peter up there as AOTM. I don't have much to add to all the nice things people said about Peter, except that it's all true.
Peter, slow down a bit! Otherwise I'll never fulfill one of my goals of being able to compete with you some day. (as a Crossfitter. I'm sure I'll never touch you as a programmer or a dad 🙂
6am with Nick and Mr. Myers himself:
weighted pullups: 1×35, 1×45, 1×60, 1×70, 1×80 F
I guess the chain weighs a couple pounds too and I should add that to these numbers. Anyone know how much?
Yesterday's WOD RXed with #40 dumbbells in 10:13.
Looking at the whiteboard afterwards, I was pretty happy with this! I sandbagged the rowing and did all the pushpresses in two sets with about 7 seconds of rest between them. I could maybe have rowed a little harder because the box jumps felt pretty good, all of them bounding and at a good pace.
@Courtney, @Laura Mc: I'd back that kickstarter too, and put it in the staff picks to boot.
You're the Man McDowell!!
Great write up on a great guy. I've known McDowell to be a solid dude from day one and he Ellie have come to be good friends of the Foxes. McD is the kind of guy that speaks his mind and will call a spade a spade. Those are qualities I appreciate, and need around me.
—
Keith – we posted that article above today. Great article. IMO- A one size fits all approach is a foolish one.
McDowell, you are the best.
Kate R, what a great writeup!
Amazing write up! McDowell, we're all very lucky you and Ellie made the move to Brooklyn. Any chance that house at the base of the mountains with access to the private gym is for rent?
Awesome write-up on McDowell!
7am private with Josh this morning
C&J – 50, 70, 80, 90, 95, 99, 100 (F jerk) –
C&J 75 x 3 cleans, 1 jerk, x 4 – nice to get some practice at a lighter weight
Clean pulls 90×5, 95×5, 100×5
Front Squat (switched to imperial for this) 240x1x3 – felt pretty good – this is about 90% of my 1RM
Awesome piece on McDowell. Very insightful and beautifully written. Great job Kate.
Great essay and super interesting – fun to learn more about our coaches! Was just inspired to put on some Coltrane and row my first 5k, not-really-for-time but I'm happy with 21:44.
As a lifelong avoider of morning classes, I was very dubious when checking the white board in the evening when some ridiculous times began being posted, attached to the moniker "McDowell." I figured it was Fox playing a joke on me, that he had made up some imaginary Crossfit robot built solely to mock my efforts.
Little did I know that this robot was in fact a real person, wasn't Sean Buchanan's brother, and was a pretty good guy to boot. Always a gentleman, a straight shooter, and a fighter for what's right- whether its union politickin or good squattin, Proud to call him a colleague and good friend.
Also, KReditz is our own Faulkner of the Front Squat. Excited to see what else is in store.
I've been looking forward to this write-up for weeks, and I was FINALLY able to read it at lunch. Thank you, Kate. It's wonderful.
And my dear friend McDowell: "Stand with him at a party, and listen as he describes which section of the crowd he’d pick to paint, based on the contrapposto of the subjects or the contrast of the lighting." Or, in my case, invite him to your birthday party and end up discussing your favorite Nora Ephron movies at length. McDowell, you're always true to who you and you always manage to surprise me (in a good way). I'm so grateful that I can call you my friend.
A great read on a great coach! Early last year i was still relatively new to CFSBK and hadn't met every coach yet. I barely even knew McDowell's name let alone that he and Ellie are married. We were hosting an event in which Ellie was competing and he gave her a sweet kiss before her heat began. My thought was "Well, i guess they are together. Unless this guy goes around kissing all the ladies before they begin!" Finally, i hit a group class which McDowell was coaching have since looked forward to more! He is a great coach, teacher, and supporter!! (Like McDowell, I also grew up in a small town in Virginia so he reminds me of all the guys i grew up with!!)
needless to say, mcdowell is not full of shit. he's the realest guy i know, and my favorite person on earth (i just had to give him a hard time because i was intrigued by him–very elementary, i know).
kate, you're a lovely writer. can't wait to read more of these about our excellent coaches!
I would expect nothing less than this from K.R.Editz. A lovely piece about a lovely man. I couldn't be happier to have McDiesel on staff representing CFSBK. I'm just hoping he doesn't unionize the coaches…..
Brooklyn Boulders
V0, V0
V1
V2, V2
V2+
V3
High Bar Back Squat
225x3x5
3 Rounds NFT
80' Zercher Keg Carry (115lbs)
10 Strict Ring Dips
Fuck that was hard.
GHD Supine Holds
1:00
:30-:15-:15
:15-:15-:15-:15
lol
What a fantastic article! Kate you amaze me with your writing skills daily. Hopefully when I come to visit I'll get a chance to take a class from him! Well done!! 🙂
Melissa
Whitefish, Montana
Big Mountain Crossfit
Yay McDowell! Really enjoyed reading this! Great job Kate!
Awesome write-up, awesome dude.
BRUTAL open gym tonight
Snatch
40×3 50×2 60×1,1 65×1 70×1 75×1 80xF,F
70xF,1,1 75×1 80xF,F
Back got a little tweaky on the second 80kilo attempt the first time through. Backed off and things felt fine so I tried again a couple times…including an excellently epic fail.
Clean and Jerk
70×1 80×1 90xC,1
90 felt WAY too heavy for 90, so after I got an ugly one I backed off for a complex of:
Clean > Front Squat > 2 Jerks
80×1,1,1
3×1:00 planks with 1:00 rest between.
McDowell!! The guy's got class.
@Noah – that's funny
Beautiful article Kate.
Felt like a long time since I'd been at open gym. Fun to see so many people working on so many different things, including lots of active lying around in preparation for Sunday.
It was a tense day and a long week, but for my cfsbk hour tonight, I couldn't get rid of my damn grin, which stayed with me all the way home.
Great write up. Miss you all. Hopefully will be back soon. Shoutout to my birthday brother Mcdowell.
Ps love the Shakespeare quote–
Embodies my own dad.
Thanks for all the kind words from all of you on here and in person at the gym. And a huge thanks to the wonderful Kate Reece for such a great essay (which made it all seem interesting).
I couldn't be happier at CFSBK, and that is because of all of you as well as my incredible boss and fellow coaches I look forward to working with daily.
When I first came to CFSBK I was reluctant to leave the 'community' I had at my old 'gym', which was made up of my brother, two cousins (one of which has literally been my best friend since the day I was born), and my beautiful wife. So, needless to say, I was nervous about throwing myself into a new crew of people. It makes me proud to be a part of the community at CFSBK; what is more, I have been lucky enough to develop some friendships that will continue to grow and evolve for a long time to come.
Thanks again for each of your posts, they all made me smile or laugh in some way.
Final parting shot: Intensity without volume, that's the goal on the bandstand. And off.
-RMM