Jason Ballman came in the doors with a mission to be a better person all around in order to be the best version of himself day in and day out. He has truly succeeded! It has been great watching his transformation not only with this workout ability but also with his mental game! He is a stronger individual all-around and is ALWAYS flashing that amazing smile we all love! He is always encouraging other athletes all the while putting in the work to consistently better himself. We are proud of his accomplishments and we hope that you all will help us in congratulating him as Athlete of the Month! We asked Jason a few questions and here is what he had to say:

I found out about CrossFit DeLand by driving by one Saturday morning, on our way out to Ocala. The family and I were driving by and saw a bunch of people running down the road and it looked like torture… And I wanted to do it too… When I started talking about joining up with a CrossFit Gym, my Baby Mamma suggested I try the one in DeLand! We had a baby on the way and I knew if I didn’t start this habit now, I might not ever do it. 3 weeks before my son was born, I got in there and knew I was where I belonged.

I like the atmosphere at CrossFit DeLand. There are people of all ages and walks of life. People at different stages in their fitness journey and we all get thrown together in the struggle to better ourselves. There is a certain special bonding that happens when you get in there with people who are all trying to better themselves, and you give it all you got, day in and day out. These complete strangers become your cheerleaders when you are in the middle of a workout fighting for just one more rep. As you build up your strength and endurance engine, you get to become the cheerleader for someone else who is searching within to find the strength to do just one more. Somewhere along the way, you become family with these people. I really enjoy that.

My goals have changed along the way. Initially, I wanted to do functional fitness. I wanted to get this Dad Bod under control. I want to be able to play with my kids without getting worn out. I set a goal to attend 3 times a week. Then there was the nutrition challenge. For 9 weeks, I got to become disciplined with my eating, increase my working out, and challenge myself physically. I was able to push myself in every area to see what kind of potential I had in me. Right now, my goal is to maintain the lifestyle changes I’ve made in the Nutrition Challenge. Get to know some of the other athletes and learn to be friends with a bunch of like-minded individuals.

The best piece of advice I could give any new CrossFitter would be to leave your ego at the door. There will be folks older than you and smaller than you who are able to outwork you at first. Before you start loading up the bar with the Big Weights, make sure you have the form down and that will help you to avoid injury. Learn to celebrate other people’s achievements, they have worked hard to get to where they are. Get out of your comfort zone and introduce yourself to some people. I like the idea of being able to make friends who are also into CrossFit. One challenge I gave myself was to attend the same class time and I would see a lot of the same people. I would introduce myself to 3 new people each time. Next time I saw them, I’d go over and say hey, and call them by name, and it helped me to get to know them. I still make it a point to do this…

I don’t know that I have a favorite movement. I like the ones that I am strong in for sure. In that case, I would have to say Bench Press. The movements that are more challenging for me are never my favorite, but I feel more accomplished when I am able to get comfortable with them. A good example of a challenging movement that I have gotten much more comfortable with would be the Snatch. One movement I had never attempted before CrossFit was a Rope Climb. I had never tried to do one, nor did I have any idea there was proper form on how to get up that thing. After learning and practicing my form and foot placement in the Rope Climb, I can now successfully get to the top, and with that, I am super proud. Getting down is a different story…