Yorkville Crossfit

This is a true story, written by one of our members and I’m sharing it with his permission. Jeff is 56 years old and he started CrossFit with us when he was 52 years old.

Enjoy his story and let us know what your moment of truth was in comments!

My Taco Bell Moment

Like a lot of people, I was working long hours, dealing with stress, trying to take care of work, family, and everything life kept throwing at me. I convinced myself I was doing what responsible adults do. Take care of work. Take care of family. Take care of everyone else. The only person I wasn’t taking care of was me.

At 5’10”, I had quietly worked my way to well over 300 pounds. Honestly, I have no idea what I actually weighed because I avoided stepping on a scale like my life depended on it. Every Monday I promised myself I was finally going to start eating better and start working out. I even had one of those $10-a-month gym memberships. Every month I’d see the charge hit my credit card, pay it, and tell myself, “Next Monday.” Looking back, that gym should have sent me a Christmas card. I was one of their most loyal customers who never actually showed up. I told myself I didn’t have time to work out, yet somehow I always found time to hit snooze three times in the morning, watch TV for a few hours every night, order fast food, or have another beer. Funny how that works.

One Friday after another brutal week, I left work absolutely starving. My diet that day consisted of coffee, Red Bull, stress, and poor decisions. There was no way I was going to go home and actually cook something. I barely had enough energy to make it through the drive home. So, I swung through Taco Bell and started ordering. Tacos, burritos, Chalupas, Gordita Crunches… Before I knew it, my order had become a small catering event.

The girl working the drive-thru repeated my order back to me, and halfway through it I remember thinking, “Good Lord… she’s going to think all of this food is for me.” The sad part was, it was.

But instead of making the change I knew I needed to make by simply reducing the size of my order, I came up with another excuse. I actually thought, “I know… I’ll order a second Diet Coke. Then it’ll look like two people are eating all this.”

Looking back now, that’s both hilarious and embarrassing. At the time, it seemed perfectly logical. That’s the funny thing about the lies we tell ourselves. They usually make perfect sense until we finally decide to change.

I drove home, demolished every taco, burrito, and chalupa, drank both Diet Cokes, and about twenty minutes later I was sitting in my recliner, staring at my stomach hanging over my lap, wondering how I had managed to fool absolutely nobody except myself. It was honestly one of the most ridiculous moments of my life. For some reason, that stupid second Diet Coke was the thing that finally made me realize I had become really good at making excuses instead of making changes.

Then, that very weekend, I kept seeing groups of people walking and running through my neighborhood wearing these Yorkville CrossFit shirts every four hours doing something called the Goggins Challenge. I had no clue what they were doing, but one thing stood out. They looked like regular people choosing to do something incredibly hard together.

I went home, searched CrossFit on YouTube, and immediately saw all these ripped athletes doing things I couldn’t even pronounce, let alone do. My first thought was, “Yeah… there’s no chance.” But I kept thinking about those people wearing the Yorkville CrossFit shirts.

So I looked up Yorkville CrossFit, filled out the form, and somehow convinced myself to show up that Monday.

I was nervous. I was embarrassed. I was convinced everyone would be staring at the fat guy trying not to die.

The workout was exactly as ugly as you’d expect. I scaled almost everything and spent a good portion of the class wondering if breathing had always been this difficult.

When class ended, though, people started coming over, giving me fist bumps and saying, “Good job.”

I remember thinking, “Good job? Were you all watching a different workout?”

Then Coach Jeanette smiled and said something I’ll never forget.

“You did do a good job. You decided to do something hard. You decided to make a change.”

That was four years ago.

Today I am over 100 pounds lighter. At 56 years old, I am honestly in the best shape of my life. More importantly, I found a community that became family. We celebrate together, suffer together, laugh together, and push each other to become better than we ever thought we could be. Not by making some huge overnight transformation, but by simply trying to be a little better than we were yesterday. Just 1% better. Day after day, those small improvements have a way of becoming life-changing.

Looking back, I don’t wish I had found a better diet. I don’t wish I’d found some magic workout program. I wish I had simply stopped believing my own excuses sooner.

I didn’t wake up one morning and decide to gain 100 pounds. It happened one excuse at a time. And after a while, I got so good at believing my own excuses that they didn’t even sound like excuses anymore. They just sounded like reality.

If any part of my story sounds familiar, don’t wait for your own “Taco Bell Moment.” Don’t wait until next Monday. Don’t wait until life slows down, because it probably never will.

Start putting yourself first.

That doesn’t mean you stop caring about your family, your job, or the people you love. It means you finally realize that giving them the best version of yourself starts with taking care of yourself first. When you become healthier, happier, and stronger, everyone in your life benefits.

CrossFit

Strong kids don’t just happen—they’re built. 💪❤️

Our CrossFit Kids program is about so much more than fitness. We help kids build confidence, coordination, strength, teamwork, and resilience through fun, age-appropriate workouts and games.

Every class is designed to help kids develop healthy habits, learn new skills, and discover what they’re capable of—all in a positive, encouraging environment.

Because raising confident, capable kids is always worth the effort.

📍Yorkville CrossFit
DM us to learn more or schedule a free class!
📸

Happy 250th Birthday USA🇺🇸🎇🎉

Let's have an honest and educational conversation about body composition scanners.

Every time you scroll social media you'll likely see a post from someone claiming they got a body scan and gained 5, 6, or even 8 pounds of muscle in just a few weeks while simultaneously losing a bunch of body fat.

Could it happen?

Maybe... under VERY specific circumstances. A true beginner who was previously sedentary, severely under-muscled, under-eating, and then started training consistently might see an unusually large initial change.

But for the overwhelming majority of people?

No.

✅Building muscle is one of the slowest things your body does!

TRUTH⬇️⬇️⬇️
If you're consistently gaining around 1-2 pounds of actual muscle per month as a beginner, you're doing incredibly well. After your first year, progress slows even more.

But what about body scans such as InBody or Fit3D, that show huge muscle gains?

MORE TRUTH⬇️⬇️⬇️
Body composition scanners aren't measuring muscle by dissecting your body. They're making educated estimates based on water, hydration, glycogen, body weight, and other variables.

That's why our Fit3D is just ONE tool we use, not the whole picture.

We use it because it's excellent for tracking long-term trends, not because we believe every single number it spits out.

And we are educated enough to know that the numbers you see after 6-8 weeks don’t tell the real story.

If you come in dehydrated one scan and well hydrated the next...
If you trained hard the day before...
If your nutrition changed...
If your body is holding more glycogen...

The scan can report changes that simply aren't actual new muscle tissue.

The two most accurate tests are under water submersion and Dexa.

And we are never going to try to gaslight you into believing you put on pounds and pounds of muscle overnight!

But we will celebrate other wins besides numbers on a scanner or scale!
✅Getting stronger.
✅Losing inches.
✅Clothes fitting differently.
✅Progress photos.
✅Better health markers.
✅Feeling capable doing things you couldn't do before.

The fitness industry loves flashy transformation claims because they sell.

We'd rather give you the truth.

✅Real results take months or even years and they are absolutely worth it!

So keep showing up. Lift heavy. Eat enough protein. Train regularly!

Because the people seeing real progress for the rest of their lives are the ones who are consistent across months and years!

- Coach J💗

What if you WANTED to go to the gym instead of dreading it💅

SO EXCITED TO FINALLY TELL YOU ALL! We were voted Best of the Fox again!!!!! Thank you all for your years of support!!! This award means so much to us!!!💗🙏🏼🥹THANK YOU to everyone who continues to make our gym welcoming, friendly and supportive! Our trainers and members are the REAL VIPs!!!!!!!❤️

Everyone wants better health.

Everyone wants more energy.

Everyone wants to lose weight, build muscle, feel stronger, move better, and have more confidence.

But wanting those things isn’t enough.

At some point, if you want your body, health, and fitness to change, you have to make different decisions.

You have to do things that are uncomfortable.

You have to do hard things.

You have to take action.

The truth is that everyone has reasons why it’s difficult.

Everyone has a job.

Everyone has kids.

Everyone has injuries, aches, pains, fatigue, stress, school, family obligations, and a schedule that feels too full.

Life is busy for all of us.

The difference is that the people who are most successful don’t wait until life gets easier. They create a plan, build a routine, and then show up anyway.

They meal prep when they don’t feel like it.

They go to the gym when they’re tired.

They choose consistency over motivation.

Because motivation comes and goes. Habits and routines are what create results.

You don’t have to be perfect.

You don’t have to love every workout.

You don’t even have to feel motivated.

You just have to show up.

Show up for yourself.

Show up for your goals.

Show up for the life you’re trying to create.

And here’s the good news—you don’t have to figure it all out on your own.

At Yorkville CrossFit, we make it simple.

✅ Coach-led classes with knowledgeable trainers

✅ Different workouts every day so you’ll never get bored

✅ No guessing what workout to do—we handle the programming

✅ Movement instruction and coaching every class

✅ Modifications for every fitness level, injury history, and ability

✅ A simple whole-food nutrition plan using real food—not expensive supplements or prepackaged meals

✅ Accountability, support, and guidance focused on YOUR goals

Our job is to make fitness and nutrition less overwhelming so you can focus on the most important part:

Taking action.

One workout.
One meal.
One day at a time.

www.yorkvillecrossfit.com