Your King of the Point for April is Brian Cuddyer. Brian is a strong and diligent athlete. You’ll find him on Saturday’s working on his accessory work. We’ve seen him excel in his fitness with a strong performance in this year’s Throwndown and OPEN Night workouts. Brian continues to challenge himself in his weightlifting technique, gymnastics strength and endurance. We’ve shared high fives when getting inverted on the wall for the first time to soon running Ragnar Cape Cod Race. We love working out with Brian because he always makes laugh. Thank you for trusting us and making us part of your day. Congratulations, Brian!
We’ll honor King Brian with his very own workout!
Learn more about King Brian below:
What brought you to East Boston?
I am a born and raised East Bostonian. Native to this area. So lets set the record straight: it’s gravy not sauce and a sub roll is a spuckie.
What drew you to CrossFit?
I needed a new outlet for my energy and frustration. Before CrossFit I would channel all that into playing / touring with my old grindcore band. From there it went into more powerlifting training routines. Then I hit a dark point between injuries, unexpected life curveballs, and depression which kept me away from training all together for a little over a year. At that point my mother (a former Queen of The Point 11/2017) told me to reach out to Javy and check it out.
I came in to meet with Javy on a crazy rainy day. We had a long discussion bout what my past experiences were and what I was looking for. I remember I expressed to him how I feel like a man without a tribe at which he told me they would be happy to have me as part of the crew.
What was your expectation on your first day at CJP? How has your perception changed since that day?
Honestly I came in with zero expectations. I really did not know if I was going to stick with it. Like I said I came into the fold while I was dealing with a dark/low point in my life and mentally was not thinking too far in advance but decided I’ll go through the CrossFit 101 classes and do a few months afterwards.
Part of me was expecting it to be like any other class environment, where all the focus goes to the wet behind the ear novices while those with some experience get a complementary fist bump for the money spent. Over here the coaches and other experienced members help breakdown your technique and help build up your structure even stronger.
What keeps you coming back to CJP?
This is my outlet, my therapy. This is where I go to get my frustrations out which helps clear my mind so I can think better and see things clearer.
This is my vice. I don’t drink or anything so this helps me unwind. That feeling of pushing my body to the point it feels like it is about to shut down but then pushing it a bit further is addictive. Having my friends yelling/demanding one more rep and giving it to them is addictive. When a coach breaks your technique down and all of a sudden things just click is addictive. I keep coming back because I keep chasing that feeling. I want/need that feeling. If there were more open gym time or if they didn’t kick me out at the end of the day I would forward my mail here.
If I had my way I would go back in time and go to school for personal training / sports science. That way I could be more than just a member here.
What are some of the changes you have experienced in your physical appearance, strength and/or body composition. How have you used this outside of the gym?
My body comp has definitely shifted. My strength has gone down a little due to weighing less but that is par for the course and will eventually go back up with additional training. My cardio has improved dramatically. Having asthma my whole life has been a thorn in my side when it comes to endurance and now I am training to run my first Ragnar Relay with my CJP teammates / friends.
One carry over into outside the gym life has been realizing how mentally strong I am. That when the upcoming task seems tough all you have to do is laugh and go after it.
Biggest improvements/struggles with CrossFit?
Biggest improvements: checking my ego at the door, accepting the fact there will be days I will be humbled by a certain WoD / Metcon , lift or skill. I have learned (and continue to learn) how to become comfortable with feeling uncomfortable.
Biggest struggle: HA! Oddly enough this answer is pretty much the same as the improvements, having to check my ego at the door and being humbled on a weekly basis….and double unders.
If you could create your own WOD, what movements would you use?
Deadlifts! Aka my money lift
But yeah, I would mix something I love doing with some stuff I hate doing so I can challenge myself.
Anything involving heavy deadlifts. Either with an increasing ladder of weight or volume.
Mix in maybe a buy in involving heavy med ball slams to get the heart rate going.
Some toes to bar maybe.
And definitely kettlebells either cleans or snatchs, since I feel they don’t get enough love /hate.
But I will definitely be reaching out to Coach to put together a “fun” one. That way I can share the blame.
Meat head nickname (with explanation)?
Oh man I’ve been given so many nicknames throughout my life.
From being called “B” by my family since I was a baby to being called “Doom” by ex-bandmates and other bands/friends we toured or played shows with.
I would like to do something different and let fellow CJP members add their own nickname suggestions for me and why.
Leave some lines and space for this to happen please.
IT’LL BE FUN! Stop by the bulletin board and leave a Nickname 🙂
If you were to encourage someone on the fence of joining the CJP community, what would you say?
What’s the worst that could happen? You give it a shot and you realize it’s not for you. But on the other hand you give it a try and get through the initial humbling “growing pains” and start seeing/feeling progress in your conditioning, in your strength, mental toughness and body composition.
Trying anything new is a gamble and intimidating. Taking this gamble can lead to improvements both physically mentally. That’s a pretty good low risk high reward gamble if you ask me.
Long Live King Brian! 🙂
Honestly, I was thinking it was going to be like the other CrossFit boxes I had been to before CJP. I thought I wasn’t going to last and that my first class was going to be a try out. I was surprised by how much commitment and effort the coaches put into each of us to make us better, a month try out turned out to be 3 years of continuous work. What started as a couple days a week turned out to be a life time commitment.
I was brought to CrossFit because of the functionality it provides for every challenge life versus just bodybuilding or power lifting. CrossFit forces you to break through mental barriers and past what you thought you physical or mental limit was.
We have something at CJP that I see and appreciate at every CrossFit gym I’ve ever vistied: a community of capable, caring judges and athletes of all shapes and sizes united under one goal of helping each other to get as fit as possible. That was my expectation when I showed up here on Day One (June 2015), and that perception hasn’t changed at all in the four years since.
