Troy Bratz, also known as "T-Roy", has been with us since the early days of 2007 in the Metroparks. Since then he has become one of the top performers at CF Cleveland. I've included excerpts from the book he sent me the other day! Somehow he forgot to mention he holds the gym records for the number of times attending a Dave Mathews concert, he's over 100.
Troy’s path to CrossFit began in the summer of 2004, when with almost no structured exercise in his life; he decided to take his health into his own hands. Aside from being an avid high school golfer and very casual sand volleyball player, the Troy Bratz from 5 years ago weighed in at 235 lbs, and 27% body fat, barely squeezing into a size 36-pant and wearing XL shirts. Running and a major dietary change- no red meat and no soda pop- were an obvious starting point, and for the next year and a half Troy focused exclusively on running.
After dropping an impressive 55 lbs, Troy decided to take his new love for physical fitness in a more diversified direction. He tried out his first WOD at Bally’s (or at least as close as one can get to a real WOD in a globo gym). Only five months later, in May 2007, Troy stumbled across CrossFit Cleveland, immediately joining in for the Metroparks workouts. By the end of the summer the competition, guidance, and camaraderie of this tight knit group from the days “under the bridge” paid off and Troy ran a 5K in 20:04, still the best time of his life! As of the gym’s first Anniversary, Troy’s body fat dropped to approximately 13%. He is now 190lbs (all muscle gain). With the support of Bill, Staci, Paul, and Nancy his confidence in his physical ability was clearly skyrocketing.
In January 2008, Troy had his first taste of competition, CrossFit-style, outside of the comforts of CF Cleveland, at the opening of Rogue Toledo. And his competitive drive has been growing ever since! At the NEO CrossFit Challenge this past June, Troy placed 4th overall out of 30 male competitors from across Ohio. He is currently training to compete for a chance to go to the 2010 CrossFit Games. Traveling to other gyms and participating in competitions has made Troy realize just how HUGE this community is becoming- and, to add to his excitement, they are all Crossfit freaks, just like him!
Over the course of two years, Troy went from not even knowing what a snatch or a clean-and-jerk was, to now claiming the later as one of his favorite exercises. His passion for CrossFit is so strong that one year Troy decided to celebrate his birthday by creating a 30th Birthday WOD, to which he then subjected a number of brave souls. But don’t let Troy’s enthusiasm for CrossFit fool you into thinking his success all comes easily. After cracking his chin with a bar, breaking the ceiling with a wall ball, plus a slew of other injuries, Bill and Staci named those faults, “Troys” (i.e. I “troyed” with that push press). Troy has been particularly injury prone in 2009, including a stress fracture on his leg and a broken toe. Of course, that didn’t stop him from coming in to do the WOD…it just slowed him down a bit (to everyone else’s liking). His most feared exercises are still Thrusters and Double-Unders. Troy is also still searching for his first elusive muscle-up. They are all about skill! Today Troy’s ideal WOD would consist of three rounds of seven Clean & Jerks @135lbs, 20 Deadlifts @135lbs, and a 750m run (ahem….Bill…something to consider adding to the rotation).
Running remains high on Troy’s list of priorities, and thanks to CrossFit’s diverse training regimen, has been able to improve upon as well as challenge his running skills within the context of CrossFit. He completed CrossFit Endurance’s Run Certification and as a result, has become a much more efficient runner. Without CrossFit, Troy doesn’t believe he would have had the endurance to ever complete a marathon…let alone two marathons within six months (Country Music Marathon in April and the Niagara Falls International Marathon in October). Other 2009 destination races included Napa-to-Sonoma Half Marathon, Virginia Beach Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon, Philadelphia Distance Classic Half Marathon and the Men’s Health Urbanathlon (in Chicago).
Troy can be found at CF Cleveland Monday through Thursday evenings and early Saturdays…unless he is running a race somewhere. Troy doesn’t take a day of rest. Even on days away from CF Cleveland, he is doing something. Sunday mornings you can find him running the Buckeye Trail with his Fleet Feet running group. On other “rest days” (during the spring/summer/fall), you can find him at a sand volleyball court, usually with other CFers.
Troy’s next big test of his CrossFit skill will be this upcoming spring at the CF Games Qualifiers (location and dates TBA). He is currently building the CrossFit Cleveland Affiliate Team (talk to him if you want to join in on the training).
Troy is still working to convince his girlfriend, Margaret to join CrossFit full time. He is well on his way (or so he thinks…) since she started running this past year and will be competing in her second half marathon this weekend at Strongsville’s Fall Classic.
Troy is the Program Administrator at the Parma Public Housing Agency. He is currently a Graduate Student at Cleveland State University – Urban Planning and Economic Development. From 2000-2005 he lived in various states as a political consultant/field director/campaign manager for a wide assortment of candidates and issues. He holds a Bachelors of Arts in International Relations and Spanish with a minor in Political Science.
Here are some before and after performance stats
EXERCISE 2007 - TODAY
Push-ups 7reps then, 25reps now
Pull-ups 2-3reps then, 25+ (kipping) now
Press 45-75lbs then, 155lbs now
Deadlift 185lbs then, 435lbs now
KB Swings 36lbs then, 80lbs now
HELEN 11:56 scaled then, 8:52 RX’d now
CINDY 13rds then, 19rds now
FGB 235reps then, 342reps now
FRAN 13:13 scaled then, 6:42 RX’d now
5K Run 22:00 avg then, 21:00avg now
500m Row 2:03:0 then, 1:39.3 now
Vertical Jump 24inches+ then, 42inches + now
